Animal assisted therapy dates back to more than 150 years. In one of the many studies conducted in 1980 on the benefit of animals with people who had experienced a heart attack, results showed that those who owned pets actually lived longer than those who did not have any pets. Another study showed that even something as simple as petting or cuddling with a pet dog can significantly reduce blood pressure.
More recent studies are showing that there are long-term health benefits of animal assisted therapy. According to Psychology Today, when people interact with animals, or their own pets, the person’s as well as the dog’s level of the hormone oxytocin increases. Animal assisted therapy has been used to treat various ailments as well as helped to rehabilitate prison inmates and at-risk youth.
It is not just dogs that are therapeutically beneficial. At the pediatric unit in the Rush University Medical Center located in Chicago, medical staff has recently been using mini horses to comfort their young patients. The sick children were reportedly overjoyed, making their way out of their rooms if they were able to, to catch a glimpse and pet the two horses that are about the size of a large dog. The horses even made their way into the rooms of patients who were too sick to get out of bed. Though they have a history of using animal assisted therapy for their patients, this was the first horse therapy visit for the hospital, and more are already in the works. The two therapy horses have visited nursing homes as well as centers for the disabled.
The NY Post spoke with Robyn Hart who is the hospital’s director of child life services. Hart stated, “We have long had animal-assisted therapy here at Rush and just seen the enormous benefits that animals can have on most children – just the joy they bring, the unconditional love.”
Dr. Caroline Burton of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida fully supports animal-assisted therapy but acknowledges the skeptics who claim there is no hard evidence. Most of the evidence comes directly from reports made by patients. She claims that further studies need to be conducted to see if the animals actually reduce the length of a hospital stay and reduce the number of times the patient has to go back into the hospital. Critics also worry about the germs that are being brought into the hospital; Burton’s studies have shown no infections in patients from any of the interactions with the various animals she uses in her studies.
While it is true that further studies need to take place to get some hard evidence, it is pretty undeniable that a sick child would not be overjoyed at a mini horse walking into their hospital room to give them a nuzzle. Nursing homes that use animal-assisted therapy report the delight on the resident’s faces. Some of the people living there have no family to visit them, or may be experiencing dementia, but mostly everyone can experience the pure joy of a kiss from a loving dog, or snuggle by a purring kitty.
By: Lauren DiDonato