Benefits of Pet Therapy in Elderly Assisted Living

When working in elderly assisted living care facilities, you need to ensure that the elderly people are most comfortable. You should incorporate all the essential structures to help them lead a happy life. While interacting with each other helps them maintain social skills, using pet therapy also encourages them t be happier and more fulfilled.

Pet therapy involves using animals to improve the quality of life for people in elderly assisted living setups.  The animals used could be domesticated dogs and cats or even farm animals. Before the animals are used by elderly people, they must go through obedience training, be well socialized and understand how to live with seniors.

Here are some benefits of using pet therapy among elderly people.

Emotional Benefits

As people become older, they may have some emotional needs that require therapy to be satisfied. You might observe loneliness, anxiety, depression and other emotional problems in such people. However, pet therapy can help resolve issues.

When you encourage elderly people to use pet therapy, you’ll help boost their self-esteem and confidence. Having a pet to care for helps elderly people feel important and more confident with their skills. They also form strong bonds with the animals and know they have close friends with them.

It also helps elderly people improve their social skills. With the pet animals around them, elderly people feel more confident having conversations with other pet owners in elderly assisted living homes. They become pet bond friends and lessen their feelings of loneliness and detachment.

People in elderly assisted living homes struggle with depression, anxiety, and loneliness, especially after being separated from their loved ones. With pet therapy, you can help them form relationships with their pets and build new homely environments with them. This helps reduce the feelings of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

Mental Benefits

Elderly people struggle with mental stimulation, and this affects their mental health. However, introducing pet therapy in your elderly assisted living setup will help the elderly people get stimulated mentally. They’ll feel challenged by the responsibility of taking care of a pet.

A cat’s purr or a dog’s wagging tail can have a calming effect on anyone. When you introduce pet therapy to your clients in elderly assisted living spaces, you’ll be giving them space to feel the love that pets bring. The pts will help them reduce their anxiety and be more calming, especially for elderly people with dementia.

Physical Benefits

Elderly people need as much exercise as possible to keep them healthy. What better way to get them to exercise than walking a dog or playing with a cat? When a pet owner takes their dog for a walk, they’re not just exercising the dog. The walks also allow the owners to get a portion of their daily exercise needs.

More intense activities such as horseriding and swimming also allow an elderly person to exercise their body. With regular involvement in such activities, your elderly people in elderly assisted-living homes will be in better physical shape than ever.

Spending time with animals helps elderly people lower blood pressure and the risks of other lifestyle diseases. The physical exercises and calming effects of owning and taking care of a pet position them better at leading a healthier lifestyle.

Encourage Pet Therapy in Elderly Assisted Living

Meeting the dietary and social needs of elderly people helps them get used to and love their lives in elderly care homes. However, if you want to improve their experience, you can introduce pet therapy. It’ll positively impact their mental, emotional, and physical well-being.