The Benefits of Animal Assisted Therapy, also known as Pet Therapy
Pets are known for giving unconditional love. Both patients and caregivers have found comfort and healing in this ally. Pets, especially dogs, cats, birds, and fish provide a welcome diversion to a challenging situation. What pet owners know instinctively, science has proven through formal animal-assisted programs and therapies worldwide.
Pets help us three ways:
1.) As companions, they give good company. Pets make their owners feel loved and accepted, regardless of their “faults.” Pets don’t ask anyone to be perfect or healthy.
2.) Pets change the perspective of the patient and caregiver. With a pet, people think of themselves less as victims (“Why did this happen to me?”) and more as responsible, nurturing people. Pets need to be fed, given water, and exercised. Pet owners often feel needed, which gives them an additional reason to live. They know something will miss them when they are gone.
3.) With little effort on the patient’s part, animals can help them relax, vent their concerns, and encourage their social interaction. Dogs and cats, especially, like to be petted, and those playing with them enjoy the additional benefit of relaxing effect of touch.
In animal-assisted therapy, both patients and caregivers have fun and get exercising. Because their thinking is distracted to the pet experience, they often see a decline in stress-related symptoms.
In general, interacting with pets can be very healing. You’ll want to be alert about possible allergic reactions and infections, though. Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly and sweep up pet hair when possible, and keep your pet as healthy as you can with regular feedings and exercise.
If you want more information, contact one of these organizations. If they are not in your area, they might be able to recommend a group that is.
• Denver Pet Partners
• Pathways Animal Assisted Therapy
• Dog Play
|
 |
| Becky and
Howard young celebrating happy, healthy moments
while on vacation. |
Becky
and Howard Young were always thankful for their
family’s "blessed life," but Howard's
bout with pancreatic cancer taught them just how
blessed they were.
The first signs
that something was amiss with Howard’s health
were fatigue, weight loss and jaundice. They went
to a family friend who had treated them for years,
looking for answers.
“Because
we knew our doctor well, we heard the initial
news in a home setting. When we understood how
serious it was, we needed to focus on Howard’s
health,” says Becky. Additional testing
confirmed presence of pancreatic cancer. Howard’s
cancer required a complex surgery which brought
him to the hospital for the first time, Becky
by his side.
“I was at the hospital Monday – Friday,
7:30-4. I didn’t want to leave him,”
she says “I helped with sponge baths and
assisted wherever I could.”
Becky saw how important
it was to understand what her family was facing.
“With this kind of disease, you have to
be your own advocate. I researched the disease
and the treatments and learned a whole new medical
vocabulary.”
When Howard was
released from the hospital, Becky continued to
be educated about caring for him. Because Howard
was healing from major abdominal surgery, one
big challenge at home was nutrition.
“I had to
learn about feeding tubes – how to clean
them, how to attach them. I thought, ‘I’m
going to be doing that?’ But I did,”
she says with a smile. “He got better so
he didn’t need the tubes for very long.
Then, I learned how to use a needle to give him
some medicine.”
With the chemotherapy
and radiation that followed his surgery, Howard’s
course of the treatment lasted nearly a year.
During that time he was readmitted to the hospital
twice.
“My husband
had always been in a traditional role in our family,”
Becky continues. “There were times when
I needed to take on some of those responsibilities.
For example, I learned how to pay bills on the
computer. Howard has always been a wonderful provider
and husband and father, and he assumed all his
roles back just as soon as he could.”
Like most caregivers,
Becky was consumed with her husband’s recovery
and put her own needs on hold. “At one point,
I had missed my annual exam and was about to miss
it for the second time,” she says, but Becky
realized she had to take care of herself. “‘My
children need a healthy parent,’ I thought,
so I went. It was what I needed to do.”
The children, three girls, were then ages 17,
14, and 10. “Howard’s illness really
affected them, but luckily they had outlets. They
had sports to focus on and other people besides
their parents to talk to, like their grandparents
and members of their “Young Life”
group at the Presbyterian church.”
The family’s
faith had also been a big part of the healing
process, according to Becky. “God led us
through. He connected us to people to see this
cancer through – medical professionals,
family and friends. You get to see so much good
in people. Friends and people he worked with had
a chance to tell him they loved him, respected
him, and when the prognosis wasn’t good,
said their goodbyes. We had friends around, true
friends. I wrote a lot of thank you notes.”
Howard has since
healed beautifully and will celebrate 5 years
free of disease in December. Both Howard and Becky
listen and support others who are facing similar
cancers or cancer-related challenges. “I
have learned not to overreact to minor things,
and I’m careful not to pretend I know what’s
the right thing for them to do. Everybody’s
situation is different.”
“The biggest lesson I learned is that material
possessions mean nothing. What a blessing it is
to have life itself,” she says. “I
think our children have the benefit of that lesson.”
My husband often jokes that ‘Without the chemotherapy,
the surgery and the radiation, it would have been
a great experience’,” she finishes.
“We are better people for going through
this.
Do you have a story you'd like to share?
Submit
your Caregiver Sharing Story to The Compassionate Caregiver Online.
|
