Help Pets, Help Your Health

Benefits of pet ownership for senior citizens

How would you like to lower your blood pressure, improve cognition, get more exercise and lower your health care costs? It may be as simple as adopting a pet. Studies from the National Institute of Health, as well as researchers at the University of Missouri, have found a link between these health benefits and pet ownership. Local seniors have found not only health benefits, but also wonderful companionship from their pets.

�We get it all the time,� said Thomas Sanders, adoption counselor at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri. �Situations where the husband or wife has passed away, and they are looking for a companion, often a low-energy pet that will lick them and sit on their lap. They come back talking about what a difference it has made.�

Sharon Stanley of Cape Girardeau has found that to be true. After her dog of 14 years passed away, she wasn�t looking for a replacement, but saw a loveable retriever mix on the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri�s Facebook page. Her niece in Los Angeles saw the same picture and forwarded it to Stanley. With over 237 likes and shares, she thought her chance of being able to adopt that particular pup was slim, but when she called the next day, the dog was still available for adoption.

�It was my dog! It was meant to be!� says Stanley of her dog, Malia. �I felt like the stars had guided me to her. I feel like I�m her match, or her mother � I�m what she�s looking for.�

In addition to the happiness that companionship brings, physical benefits result from the exercise and care that go along with having an animal.

"Our results showed that dog ownership and walking were related to increases in physical health among older adults," states Rebecca Johnson, a professor at the MU College of Veterinary Medicine and the Millsap Professor of Gerontological Nursing in the Sinclair School of Nursing in the report, �Senior Adults Can See Health Benefits from Pet Ownership.� �These results can provide the basis for medical professionals to recommend pet ownership for older adults and can be translated into reduced health care expenditures for the aging population.�

The National Institute of Health found dog walking may encourage participants to take part in other physical activities, thus providing a myriad of physical and mental health benefits.

Social and emotional benefits from having a dog include a sense of routine and purpose.

�They bring light to the home,� says Karen Honaas, a Cape Girardeau resident who recently adopted a Yorkie from the Humane Society. �The joy of walking into an empty house and having a tail wag � it�s nice to have confusion back in the house.�

Honaas� dog joined her household after her four children had left home, and helped fill the void left by their absence. She says she has had time to bond with and train her puppy, Elsa Marie, since retiring two years ago. Honaas also serves on the Humane Society�s Raise the Woof committee, an annual fundraiser that was held February 24th.

Contact the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri at (573) 334-5837, at www.semopets.org or through their Facebook page if you are interested in adopting a pet.