iSavta | 08.11.2020

As a caregiver, you might be wondering if a pet will be good for your senior patient. There are of course pros and cons in having a pet. But let us help you decide by listing down the benefits of pets for senior adults. 

 

1. Doing more physical activity - Senior adults who have pets can enjoy staying active and having more physical exercise with walking the dog and playing with them. With owning a pet, there is a sense of responsibility in cleaning out the cages or the places where the pets are. It becomes a routine that will help them get up and clean or feed these animals. 
2. Better heart health - Lower risks of heart disease because lowering tension and stress in senior patients can lead to lower blood pressure levels and healthier cholesterol levels. Staying active with these animals is also one of the reasons for this. 
3. Staying social - Just by talking about pets gives the senior adults an opening for new connections and communication with family and friends. Some even join pet shows which also helps them meet with like minds. 
4. Elevating mood - It is believed that senior adults interacting with pets have reportedly increased happiness levels thus relieving them of their stress and depression. 
5. Giving the seniors a sense of purpose and security - It also known that most of senior adult pet owners cherish their pet animals especially with the loss of their significant others or just by living alone. Companionship and communication with another living being in the house helps them to feel needed and loved. Just with feeding their pets, they feel once again needed by their furbabies. 
6. Service dogs can help them - Service dogs are specially trained to help their senior owners with physical disabilities and mental health challenges. 

 

More about Taking Care of Pets

 

There are different kinds of animals that you can take on as pets. Different kinds of dogs, cats, birds, reptiles and other animals of different shapes and sizes can be a pet for your senior adult. In this note, make sure that you also know the challenges of these different pets so that you will know how to take care of them and how you can maintain cleanliness in the home and in their home. As caregivers, you can help in taking care of these pets. 

 

You may visit rescue centers so you can check if you can rescued animals. Also you need to check for possible allergies of your senior patients for any kind of fur or other allergens brought about by their chosen pets. 

 

More than anything, there are a lot of intangible benefits of having pets at home. Our goal is that our senior patients can still have another push for their physical and mental well-being. Help your senior adult to choose the right pet for them. Dogs and cats are more popular choices but take note that there are a lot of other pets that they can choose. A wag of a dog’s tail or a lick from a cat can increase happiness levels exponentially.