Understanding Pet Therapy: Pet therapy is any kind of interaction between a person and a trained animal. It is used with the goal of helping a person cope with and recover from health and mental challenges. The therapy goals can be about physical therapy, therapy for seeing eye dogs, and even therapy for elderly that are lonely, depressed and people suffering from anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.

Dogs and cats are most common, but benefits have been experienced with fish, guinea pigs, horses and other animals. Depending on the type of therapy needed, the type of animal chosen depends on the patient’s goals.

Pet therapy is becoming more and more common due to the benefits experienced by patients. For elderly living at home, having become widowed, depressed or no longer feeling useful, animals provide unconditional love and help patients feel purposeful and may even give them a will to live.

Pet therapy has proven to be more beneficial with more healing properties, both physically and mentally, than many medications. With these benefits and basically no downfalls, pet therapy is growing and becoming more and more common in many long term facilities and in home therapeutic environments. As the owner of a home health care agency, I am and will continue to suggest the use of animal therapy with almost all of our patients…Pets rule!!