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Do Pets Provide Therapeutic Benefits to Their Owners?

As any pet owner knows, a loving dog or cat can lift the spirits and make a gloomy day seem not so bad. More and more medical research is also providing incontrovertible evidence that pets are a viable instrument for therapeutic treatment of the elderly as well as those suffering illness. Those who have bonded with their own pet never needed this scientific validation; the good feelings that naturally overflow as they bond with a beloved pet has always been proof enough.



Scientific studies have consistently provided factual data to support this anecdotal proof, however. For instance, several studies have concluded that children who grow up learning to treat a family pet as a member of the family tend to mature into adults with a greater empathy toward other members of society, especially those who are of a different culture or have non-traditional values and mores. Scientists believe that the ability to recognize the worth of a lower species instills in children a greater capacity for recognizing that differences in adult perspectives doesn't necessarily hinge on the either/or proposition of right versus wrong. Likewise animal specialists who study behavior have indicated that the actual physical connection that is experienced by playing with a dog or stroking a cat fires off synopses in the brain that open up the pathway to emotional connection.

 

The good news as far as therapeutic advantages is that there also seems to be the same type of brain stimulation during adulthood. Even better is that the act of physically connecting with a warm, loving animal isn't relegated to the brain, but the entire body. One example of this is the trend toward allowing elderly patients who have been detached from familial responsibilities necessitated by the need to provide comprehensive care that only a nursing home can allow to bring pets into their rooms. Studies have shown that elderly people who take on the responsibility of caring for an animal inside a nursing home live longer than those who are merely abandoned there. Meanwhile, those people suffering from things such as hypertension or anxiety benefit from the therapeutic elements of pet ownership by a reduction in blood pressure or nervousness. Patients who have actually suffered a heart attack recover more quickly and live longer if they own a pet than those who don't own one. The therapeutic benefits of pet ownership doesn't even require physical contact: the relaxing effect of doing nothing more than watching a tank in which bright and exotic fish slowly swim back and forth has been found to reduce blood pressure as well. The numbers bear out the intensely advantageous effects of being a pet owner: At least one scientific study resulted in the startling figures showing that among 92 patients whose heart conditions mandated hospitalization, the patients who owned pets were far more likely to still be alive one year after leaving the hospital than those patients who did not own pets.

 

Even children who have been abused or neglected and become socially withdrawn almost to the point of catatonia are subject to the positive effects of pet therapy. Several studies have been conducted that indicate that many children suffering from severe trauma who have been resistant to all other forms of therapy respond quickly and intensely to the introduction of a pet. Even children who haven't necessarily suffered great physical or emotional trauma can benefit from the well-being a pet provides. For example, many children suffering from the effects of parental divorce have had their difficult transition period facilitated by being allowed to have a pet. In cases where this is the first pet the children has ever been allowed, the adjustment often proves to be even easier.

 

Any kind of pet, whether furry or feathery, large or small, mammal or reptile is capable of providing therapeutic benefits to a wide range of human beings. Not all people respond the same way; just as there seems to be both dog people and cat people, there are people who will derive therapeutic benefits only from a dog or cat or bird or fish or whatever. Likewise, not everybody necessarily benefits. A good part of pet therapy is dependent not upon the pet, unfortunately, but the person and his or her desire to benefit.


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