Tweet

Share

Animal-Assisted Therapy, better known as pet therapy is a type of therapy that involves a specific animal and is designed to improve the physical, social, emotional and cognitive functioning of the patient, as well as provide educational and motivational effectiveness. Although controversial and disputed by the scientific community, in recent years pet therapy has become more and more popular. Here are 5 animals frequently used in animal-assisted therapy.

Dogs

Therapy with dogs is commonly agreed to have been established by Elaine Smith, an American who worked as a registered nurse for a time in England. She noticed how well her patients interacted with a Golden Retriever that visited the hospital and when she returned to the US in 1976 she started a program for training dogs to visit institutions.

Man’s best friend is by far the most common animal used in pet therapy. Therapy dogs can be found in hospital, nursing homes, children's homes, rehabilitation centers, mental health facilities, elder care centers and working with people with learning difficulties.

Therapy dogs are not required to be of a specific breed, but they are trained to respond to the patients needs. They can listen to children while they read them books, play simply structured games, do tricks or simply stay with the patient. Dogs are mainly used to relieve depression and anxiety, calm and motivate hospital patients, increase physical activity and lower blood pressure.

Dolphins

Highly controversial, described by some as a dangerous fad, disputed by the scientific community and praised by others, dolphin therapy is becoming an increasingly popular choice for psychological problems and developmental disabilities.

The majority of studies have concluded that there is no compelling scientific evidence that dolphin assisted therapy is a legitimate therapy and only helps with a fleeting mood improvement.

Dolphin therapy is mainly used for patients suffering from neurological disorders like chronic fatigue syndrome, enuresis, phobias, depression, neurosthenia, infantile autism syndrome and cerebral palsy.

Cats

Cats have been associated with humans for thousand of years and are the most popular pet in the world. Cats are mainly used in nursing homes to keep company to the elderly who have physical ailments such as strokes, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis and grooming the cats is great therapy for people with muscle conditions.

Short hair cats have been used in the past but more recently long haired cats are being used, like Persians cats, very well suited in animal assisted therapy because of their calm nature and unconditional love.

Cats are also thought to alleviate negative moods; they can reduce blood pressure and dispel feelings of depression, anxiety and loneliness. Therapy cats are especially beneficial to Alzheimer patients, by stimulating both memory and forgotten emotions. Cats are also put to work with children and teens in mental health facilities to encourage children to learn responsibility and hygiene.

Horses

Horses have been domesticated around 4000 BC and these magnificent animals are the first ones to have been used in animal assisted therapy. Horse assisted therapy has physical, psychological, educational and social benefits. Ponies, miniature horses and calm, even tempered and well trained horses are used for therapy.

Therapeutic horseback riding is an Equine Assisted Activity where specific riding skills are taught and has been used to help autistic children and people with orthopedic dysfunctions such as scoliosis. Beneficial to both children and adults it can help confront fears, develop social skills and can teach companionship, friendship, responsibility, leadership, vocational and educational skills.

Hippotherapy is a treatment that uses the multidimensional movement of the horse to provide motor and sensory input and has been used to treat patients with neurological or other disabilities, such as autism, cerebral palsy, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, head injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, behavioral disorders and psychiatric disorders.

Rabbits

Pet rabbits are being used in animal assisted therapy due to their social nature and the fact that they can easily find companionship with humans and even cats and dogs.

To be suited for animal assisted therapy the rabbit needs to have a sense of adventure, no fear of the unknown and be acclimated to different surroundings, sounds, and people.

Rabbits are commonly used in nursing homes to provide companionship, alleviate stress and loneliness and improve general mood. They can also be used in hospitals, with autistic children, violent prisoners, mental home inmates, nursing home patients and wayward teenagers