Pets give patients a paw up on recovery

Molly Masland

Imagine being laid up in a hospital and, as you’re wheeled down the sterile hallway, along strolls a three-foot-tall horse wearing yellow rubber booties and a backpack full of daisies. No, you’re not having a morphine-induced hallucination, you haven’t died and landed in some kind of surreal Barnum & Bailey heaven. You’ve just met Lucky Boy, one of the thousands of animals making the rounds at hospitals across the United States.

Fifteen years ago it used to be unusual to see a dog or cat in a hospital, but now even miniature horses like Lucky Boy are lumbering down the corridors. And as animal-assisted therapy continues to grow in popularity, a range of pets worthy of Noah’s Ark is turning up in medical centers – everything from pot-bellied pigs, pigmy goats and parrots, to pet chickens, giant rats and llamas.

'Animals motivate people'
The greater presence of animals in health-care settings comes amid increasing evidence that pets are good for us and can play a significant role in patients' recovery. Sometimes known as "pet therapy," animal-assisted therapy and activities have become an important tool for doctors and rehabilitation specialists.

"Animals motivate people to participate in their therapies, brighten patients' days, give them a chance to talk about the animals in their lives, and give them the opportunity to forget that they're in a hospital," says Dianne Bell, coordinator of the Delta Society Pet Partners program, which helps train and register animals and their owners for volunteer positions in health-care settings.

Currently there are more than 8,000 Delta Society Pet Partner teams in the United States and a handful of other countries, says Bell. Each makes an average of three visits per month and is likely to touch the lives of more than 540 people per year. And these figures don't include the hundreds of other volunteer teams registered through different programs.

Exercise and more
At the Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., Lucky Boy the miniature horse regularly visits with patients and contributes to the rehabilitation team's efforts. Originally started by Jena Munson, a certified therapeutic recreation specialist at the hospital, the animal-assisted therapy program also incorporates dogs and cats.

Many of the patients that meet with the animals have had spinal-cord injuries, strokes or diseases of the central nervous system. By petting and grooming the pets, they get exercise, improve their fine-motor skills and are able to work on their balance, among other things.

"I look at this type of therapy as one of my tools in my arsenal to maximize a patient's recovery," says Dr. Thomas Franco, medical director at the hospital's Rehabilitation Center. "My goal is to keep the patients interested and stimulated and extending themselves."

The work the animals and their handlers do offers patients much more than an opportunity to move around and stretch their limbs. It can serve as an icebreaker — a chance to draw out people who are emotionally shut down or depressed — or a way to help improve their memory by memorizing the names of different parts of the animal. One patient, Munson recalls, refused to speak with any of the hospital staff members but would happily talk to Lucky Boy.

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