11 Ways Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) helps
Caring for elderly patients is demanding, and can be thankless, but it’s an immensely important service in the lives of the patients and their families.
Not only is it taxing of your body and mental resolve, but it can be difficult seeing human beings suffer as they age.
That’s why it’s wonderful to inject some extra happiness into the lives of elderly men and women who may struggle to find joy otherwise, whenever the opportunity arises.
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) introduces cats, dogs, and other small animals to men and women in therapy, in hospital, and in other care settings. Interaction with these animals has been shown to bring significant health and well-being benefits, including reducing stress and anxiety, decreasing feelings of loneliness, and reducing pain.
We’re very excited about bringing animals to these people in order to improve their lives and increase their happiness, so we’ve put together an infographic outlining 11 ways therapy animals make lives better.
By simply introducing short animal visits to the elderly, the ill, the mentally disabled, and other patients, studies have shown benefits that we can use to bring happiness and even longevity to those we care for.
Considering the rising cost of health care in many parts of the western world, and the squeeze it puts on care workers, we feel strongly that AAT as a less expensive and non-invasive treatment option should be introduced in more situations and in more jurisdictions. By spreading the word of the amazing benefits with the infographic below, we hope to spread awareness and introduce more patients to these wonderful dogs, cats, and birds.
Check out the graphic below, please share it to help us spread the word, and if you’d like to learn more about each individual point made, please visit us at Catological.com to see the full article, including links to the studies cited.
Bio:
Emily Parker is a proud cat parent of her two black cats, Gus and Louis (even though Gus only has one eye!). She helps cat parents love their cats better by providing helpful articles on her website, Catological.
