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What Pets Can Do: Health and Healing

Posted by Colleen Young, Connect Director @colleenyoung, Sep 15, 2017

I was visiting a community hospital recently, waiting in line for a coffee. Across the lobby was a large, beautiful dog. As visitors and patients stopped to pet the dog and talk with the owner, you could literally see how their faces lit up with smiles and their bodies relaxed.

In the week leading up to exams at my daughter's school, they bring in therapy dogs for the students to interact with. It helps reduce anxiety at a very stressful time for students. For many people, animals provide countless health benefits.

Cats, dogs, birds, fish, hamsters: How have animals comforted you, helped with recovery or promoted good health for you?

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marylou705 | @marylou705 | Jan 2, 2019

We just lost one of our rescues. She was an 18 yr old Siamese who developed bladder cancer. We had her for two years after her first Mommy was killed in a motorcycle accident. What a sweet shrieky dear she was!

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1 reply
lioness | @lioness | Jan 2, 2019

@marylou705 I'm so sorry I had to put my dog down he was 15 so know how you feel

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Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Jan 2, 2019
In reply to @lioness "My husband and I use to take our dog to the nursing home brightened up the..." + (show)
@lioness

My husband and I use to take our dog to the nursing home brightened up the patients in there you could see it in there eyes

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@lioness Wonderful! I did that too with my lab. My father in law had Alzheimer's and was in a nursing home for awhile. He liked my dog, so I took the dog to visit a lot, and it was really hard to get the dog back to come home because so many residents wanted to hold him and feed him their goodies. It really did brighten their day and made them happy. My dog liked it too.

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1 reply
JK | @contentandwell | Jan 2, 2019
In reply to @marylou705 "We just lost one of our rescues. She was an 18 yr old Siamese who developed..." + (show)
@marylou705

We just lost one of our rescues. She was an 18 yr old Siamese who developed bladder cancer. We had her for two years after her first Mommy was killed in a motorcycle accident. What a sweet shrieky dear she was!

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@marylou705 My daughter's dog has kidney problems. They take really good care of her and are careful of what they feed her so hopefully she will live a long life.
JK

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Mentor
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | Jan 3, 2019
In reply to @jenniferhunter "@lioness Wonderful! I did that too with my lab. My father in law had Alzheimer's and..." + (show)
@jenniferhunter

@lioness Wonderful! I did that too with my lab. My father in law had Alzheimer's and was in a nursing home for awhile. He liked my dog, so I took the dog to visit a lot, and it was really hard to get the dog back to come home because so many residents wanted to hold him and feed him their goodies. It really did brighten their day and made them happy. My dog liked it too.

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That is such a great story, @jenniferhunter!

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petangelkat1 | @petangelkat1 | Jan 7, 2019
In reply to @hopeful33250 "JK, @contentandwell If I were you, I'd keep hubby and forget the dog! Teresa" + (show)
@hopeful33250

JK, @contentandwell

If I were you, I'd keep hubby and forget the dog!

Teresa

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Did you mean to say divorce the man and keep the dog?
I did that! It was the right choice!
Pets love unconditionally. Can’t say that for many people!

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petangelkat1 | @petangelkat1 | Jan 7, 2019
In reply to @marylou705 "We have rescue cats, tho I grew up with a myriad of pets. Two of mine..." + (show)
@marylou705

We have rescue cats, tho I grew up with a myriad of pets. Two of mine have a limb missing, one is 18, one has lymphoma, and one has IBD! It is such a joy to me to cater to their special needs, and they give love back in spades. Did you know that the frequency of a cats purr is healing? Both to the cat and to the doting owner?

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Research shows that owners of cats are 54% less likely to have a heart attack.

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Mentor
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | Jan 15, 2019

Thanks @jenniferhunter, I'm going to post that to my personal FB page as well!

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1 reply
Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Jan 15, 2019
In reply to @hopeful33250 "Thanks @jenniferhunter, I'm going to post that to my personal FB page as well!" + (show)
@hopeful33250

Thanks @jenniferhunter, I'm going to post that to my personal FB page as well!

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@33250 I already shared it to my facebook page.

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