Monday, 21 July 2014

Pet Therapy - Sunrise Senior Living.

I've mentioned before that we have two dogs, Sassy and Trixie, and how our fluffy friends are part of the family.

Trixie the eldest of our fluffy family is 9 and has been a loving part of my life since she was an adorable little puppy.  When I was suffering from depression a few years ago my mum and sister bought Trixie for me after they read about the benefits of pet therapy.  They hoped that having a pet to care and be responsible for would give me a positive focus and the routine of caring for my new fluffy friend would help keep me busy and active.  They also hoped that having a dog that needed walking would help encourage me to leave the house which I hated doing at the time with the extra physical activity of taking my dog for walks being good for my physical and mental health.


Having Trixie in my life who offered me unconditional love and companionship in an otherwise isolated and lonely life helped improve my mood.  For me Trixie was a ray of sunshine breaking through the darkness of the depressive and lonely world I was living in. 

As Trixie was such a positive, uplifting force in my life about a year after she entered my life I wanted to get her a new fluffy friend to play with.  When I was looking for a new puppy to join our family I met an adorable litter of Bichon Frise puppies, and when I saw Sassy I fell in love with her big eyes and lovable face.


The love and companionship I got from Trixie and Sassy helped get me through my darkest days and I am truly grateful to them.  Having experienced the therapeutic benefits of having a pet I truly believe that pets can help improve a person’s health and mood.

It has been scientifically proven that interaction with pets provides many therapeutic benefits and that pet therapy improves mental and physical health.  The therapeutic benefits of pet therapy can help an array of health problems and medical conditions.  Pet therapy can also help people of all ages, from children to the elderly.

Realising the therapeutic benefits of pet therapy Sunrise Senior Living advocates pet friendly care homes.  As Sunrise Senior Living believe that pets can help their resident’s mental and physical health, Sunrise have either a pet cat or dog at each of the Sunrise communities for residents to interact with.

To highlight the benefits that having a pet in your life can bring and showcase the wonder of pets Sunrise Senior Living have created the infographic below.


*  Infographic courtesy of Sunrise *

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