Hello Sweet Readers!
Those of us who have animals don't stop and think about the benefits of having a pet, we just know that they make our lives more interesting and fill our lonely hours with unconditional love and devotion and companionship. It doesn't matter what it is, a dog, a cat, a bird, a rat, a snake, a fish, or even a tarantula, it’s always there to give affection and doesn't ask much in return.But there are statistics proving that there are therapeutic benefits to having a pet. In an article for Discovery Health, Christine R. McLaughlin writes about a cardiologist who has 3 dogs in his office. Dr. Stephen Sinatra had two chows and a Norwegian elkhound that greet his patience in his office. He says that they have the effect of calming on most of his patients and himself. He claims that between patients he goes into his office for a moment and pets his dogs and looks into their eyes and this renews him to go in to the next patient. He claims his office is calmer and that he practices better medicine when the dogs are in the office. He is the head of the Heart and Longevity Center in Manchester,Connecticut.
http://health.discovery.com/centers/aging/powerofpets/powerofpets.html
In the same article, there is also information on how the petting of an animal can induce relaxation for both the owner and the pet. How heart rates lower and blood pressure drops for both. There was a study down at the State University of New York, Buffalo, that followed 48 stockbrokers. During the test, 24 of them were given a pet and the other 24 were only taking their medication. In the 24 who had been given a pet, there was a significant drop in their blood pressure and stress levels.
Dr. Alan Entin says "Pets can be emotional lifesavers as well, because they help people adapt, adjust and deal with many changes and losses in life. Pets' unconditional love gives their owners a sense of worth and responsibility when caring for them; pets can help people learn about the continuity of life — birth, death, loss and grief — and offer a sense of intimacy. They are even a way to help couples prepare to have children."
There is also and organization called Animal Assisted Therapy where they take animals of all kinds into nursing homes and juvenile detention centers to interact with the residents. According to the World of Animal-Assisted Therapy organization: "A wide range of human health professionals and practitioners recognize what many people in the animal care giving fields and everyday pet owners have known for years: that pets can be good for our health and well-being. Companion animals are being introduced into the therapeutic regimens of many health care institutions: nursing homes, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, psychiatric institutions and others.
Therapeutic riding programs improve the motor skills and coordination of the physically challenged. Pets help inmates in correctional facilities and juvenile offenders to learn empathy and compassion. Autistic children swim with dolphins. In short, wherever people have special needs, someone with creativity and an animal with the proper temperament can probably create an imaginative way to being pets and people together for mutual benefit."
The following is a link to a site that will give you the history of AAT, there was just too much interesting information for me to try and condense it for you here. It would take up way too much space and I might miss something of benefit to some of you. Thus my decision to just give you the link and let you read for yourself if you are curious.
http://www.artcbt.com/AnimalAssistedTherapy.htmlI don't need an fancy medical study or research laboratory to tell me the benefits I have gained from owning my cats. Although the saying is true, dogs have owners, cats have staff. But all of that doesn't matter when I sit and watch my crazy cats chase each other and my big boy sit in the middle of the floor and listen for them to come back past so he can jump one of them. He has limited eyesight, so he doesn't just take off running like they do because he could run into something. He hunkers down and tilts his head and you can just see his little mind deciding where they are then when they run past……pounce! It’s extremely funny how they have learned that 9 am is breakfast and that they get ¼ of a can of cat food each.
At about 8:45 they begin to gather in front of my chair and start staring at me. Then about 2 minutes till 9 I will ask each of them by name if it is time for breakfast and each of them meows their answer. They don't let me forget breakfast time and if for some reason I have dared to sleep in and am still in bed, I get the waking up ritual of pouncing on and putting cold wet noses on any uncovered part of my body. Sometimes I wonder how I would have made it through some very low times in my life if I hadn't had an animal to fill my life.
Until Next Week, Dear Ones, Love & Many Hugz! Leeza