The healing powers of pets. July 15, 2009
Posted by ourfriendben in pets, wit and wisdom.Tags: healing powers of pets, pets, pets that heal
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Silence Dogood here. Anyone who’s ever suffered the loss of a beloved pet knows the power of a new pet to heal that aching loss. By focusing on the physical and emotional needs of the helpless new cat, dog, bird, or other pet in our home, we move beyond agony to a true, if different, love. But pets have the power to heal us in other ways as well.
I subscribe to RealAge, a website devoted to improving human health and prolonging human life through nutrition, exercise, and other natural means. And, being a cat and dog owner, I also subscribe to their sister websites DogAge and CatAge. Yesterday’s CatAge e-mail emphasized the benefits of pet ownership on human health, contentment, and well-being. (And please note, though the e-mail came from CatAge, the findings were equally valid for all pets, so dog, bird, and bunny owners, listen up!)
I expect we’ve all heard of the therapeutic benefits that dogs can give residents of nursing homes, and how they can brighten the lives of patients in hospitals, especially children’s hospitals. Reiki practitioners, who work with healing energy, have long observed how pets, and cats especially, seem natural “Reiki sponges” who soak up the beneficial energy and then pass it on to the people they love. But there’s more. Here are some of the CatAge findings:
* People with pets not only have a lower risk of developing cardiovasular disease, they have better and faster recovery rates if they do develop it than non-pet-owning peers.
* Breast cancer survivors with pets reported greater feelings of support and control during their recovery.
* Pets protect older people from loneliness and isolation, and significantly reduce dementia.
* People with pets not only suffer fewer minor ailments, but fewer doctor visits than their non-pet-owning peers. (Our friend Ben and I have certainly found this to be the case. Neither of us has been to a doctor in years.)
* Men with AIDS who owned pets suffered less depression than those without pets.
Wow! In case you needed an excuse to have and love a pet, beyond the joy pets bring us, here are some to consider. But I, of course, consider the love and joy our pets bring us and our families to be excuse enough. Sometimes, I even think it takes the love of a pet to make us truly human. It is when we see ourselves through their trusting, loving, patient eyes that we truly see ourselves, and know ourselves for the first time.
‘Til next time,
Silence
So true and add to that music and a garden and there is contentment all around.
Donna
Right you are, Donna! Music, a garden, a loving pet, and a nice cup of tea or glass of wine and suitable treat, and all’s right with the world!
I don’t know how to say this without sounding unusual .. but so far in my life, the most intense sense of loss and sadness has come from lossing my beloved pets .. seeing them suffer through an illness .. doing everything under the sun to make them comfortable and keep them with us .. then that overwhelming dread of having to decide to put them to sleep because they needed to stop suffering and we had to let go.
Their unconditional love and trust is the most beautiful and touching experience in our lives. The sorrow is unexplainable to people who don’t have that connection in their lives and yet there is a special bond with other pet lovers that understand this.
I can’t imagine my life without the furry little souls that have passed through it and continue to enrich it.
I am truly grateful for them.
I don’t think you sound at all “unusual,” Joy! The complete trust, the total love, the beautiful innocence and precious vulnerability of our pets are pearls beyond price. Admittedly, my own greatest losses so far have been my mother and grandparents, perhaps because my own childish innocence and adoration brought out that same unconditional love in them for me, but every pet’s death is marked on my heart as well, and will be always, until we meet again.
Oh this is such a hard post to read. My dog died less than a month ago and I still am having trouble with it. We decided for now not to get another dog – a decision I totally was in agreement with at the time, but the house seems so empty without one. I work from home and I’m so used to having company.
BTW studies have also show that infants that have at least two pets in the house have a lot less chance of getting asthma and allergies later in life, so pets can be very beneficial to kids too.
Get one now, Daphne! Just make sure it’s not an impulse buy. I work from home as well, and after our Molly died, couldn’t have made it without Shiloh. Thanks for the info about kids and pets. maybe that’s why OFB and I don’t have asthma and allergies!
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Patricia
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