Research shows that having a pet can improve the health of people around the world. Those with pets often experience an increase in physical activity, lower blood pressure and stress relief, among other benefits, according to the American Heart Association.
These effects reign true for seniors, as well.
For seniors, having a pet is connected to lower blood pressure, which leads to improved heart health, among other possibly less noticeable things such as improved mental stimulation and mood, Susan Kurowski, executive director of Pets for the Elderly in Cleveland, said. The charity’s mission is to provide companionship to seniors through pet ownership, helping pay fees to participating animal shelters throughout the United States while saving the lives of companion animals in the shelters, according to its website.
“It seems to help everything from getting exercise to taking better care of oneself because there is someone – or something, depending on how you feel about those things – relying on you,” Kurowski said.
When it comes to reaping the benefits of owning or spending time with pets, it’s often easier for seniors to do so with a pet that they can call their own, she explained. If someone’s health begins to decline, they might not be able to or want to leave their house to spend time with a friend’s pet.
In Kurowski’s experience, people may even decide to take any medical treatments more seriously if it means they get to spend more time with their beloved pets, she added. Part of the reason the late Avrum Katz, founder of Pets for the Elderly, continued to do so much for his leukemia treatments was to spend more time with his dog, Sammy.
“(Katz) became ill with a fast-moving form of leukemia in his final year and was taking all the treatments and doing so much because he wanted to have more time with his dog,” she said. “He wanted to see Sammy get older with him and so, truly, he had that dog right there relying on him. I’m sure that, especially being as ill as he was, he would not have gone out to visit a neighbor’s dog or something along that line.”
Seniors looking to adopt a pet can reach out to shelters that work with older pet adopters, Kurowski said. And, if someone does not feel ready to adopt a pet, there are also animal fostering programs that allow them to take care of pets while still searching for the animal’s permanent home.
Through fostering an animal, people can get short-term experience taking care of a pet to help them decide if adoption is something they would like to go through with, she added.
For seniors who may not have the means to adopt or foster a pet but would still like to spend time with animals, there are also different volunteer opportunities that can be taken advantage of, she added. For example, people can reach out to local veterinary offices or pet-oriented organizations to see if they need volunteers.
“There are various programs at various shelters, whether they are in our program or not, throughout the U.S. where they have everything from just ‘come and spend a day with a pet’ (or) regular visits,” Kurowski said. “Some have people come in and read to the pets – generally that’s children rather than a seniors, but there are so many programs for volunteering to help walk (dogs) or to help do anything like that.”