In nursing homes, data show that pet-therapy reduces the use of prescription drugs for participants. At JABA's Adult Day Healthcare Center, dogs especially trained for interaction visit twice a month. They include pets like Molly, the deerhound, Charlie, the golden retriever, and Tealie, the black labrador. Their handler, Elizabeth Roy, runs Blue Ridge Therapy Dogs, an organization that takes pets to visit nursing homes and other adult care facilities. Patients that never talk will start to chat speaking to the dog or cat directly or even speaking to the handler about a special animal in his or her life.
Animals offer total acceptance, no matter what a patient's physical or mental disability.
Therapy dogs and cats come in all sizes, breeds and shapes, but have in common calm, gentle and people-positive personalities that encourage patients to interact with them. Though therapy animals are specially certified, almost all of them are simply the loving pets of volunteers. Many seniors steer away from pet ownership because they feel that they are too old to deal with a rambunctious animal. But, by selecting an animal carefully, seniors can find dogs or cats that have all of the gentle charms of therapy animals and will fit perfectly into their lifestyle. Cats are wonderful pets for seniors.