Dogs can bring a smile to many people along with an immense amount of comfort during difficult times. Dogs form strong bonds and connections with their owners and they can lend that companionship to others through pet therapy. Also known as animal-assisted therapy (AAT), this type of therapy is a formal session with an animal and a person to work together to reach a set of goals a patient has.
What Is Pet Therapy?
Pet therapy is an interaction between a person and a trained animal for someone who is recovering or coping with a health problem or mental disorder.
Many different types of animals are used in pet therapy, with dogs and cats being the most common. However, many other animals like horses, rabbits, birds, guinea pigs, and many more are used for this type of therapy. The animal chosen usually depends on what the patient’s goals are.
This kind of therapy can especially be great for chemotherapy patients, residents in long-term care facilities, hospitalized people, individuals going through post-traumatic stress disorder, people with mental health disorders, and many other conditions or issues. Both children and adults can benefit from this type of therapy.
Pet therapy can also sometimes be used during a medical procedure as people tend to be calmer during a procedure when an animal is present for it.
Pet Therapy Benefits
There are many benefits to pet therapy when a person is on their specific journey. In general, when a person is around a pleasant animal, endorphins are released, and this happens during pet therapy as most people do experience a calming effect on their mind and body. When someone is calmer, they can be less stressed and feel less pain and at the same time, their overall mood and outlook improves.
Other pet therapy benefits include a decrease in loneliness, a reduction of boredom and anxiety, lower blood pressure, improved cardiovascular health, and more.
How To Get Started
Whoever is managing a person’s treatment or care, so your doctor or therapist will be the one to administer pet therapy based on the direction given. The right kind of animal is then decided on based on the person’s goals they are trying to reach. Different organizations work with different healthcare providers who connect an animal and its owner/handler to a patient.
Animals' behavior and health are reviewed if they are part of a pet therapy program and the animal’s owner has training and different evaluations so patients have the best experience they can.
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About Natural Farm
In 2018, after years of searching for high-quality, natural dog treat products, we decided to bring them to the market ourselves. That’s how Natural Farm was born—we wanted to present the industry with what it lacked the most: natural dog chews, treats, and bones, sustainably sourced from local suppliers and produced in our own human-grade, FDA- and USDA-approved facilities, where every product is lab tested for quality and contamination.
Natural Farm is committed to pets, people, and the planet. We give back to communities and pets in need, support reforestation efforts and nonprofits, and our products are packaged using recycled materials.
