As a care provider, you’ve probably heard of pet therapy for care homes.
You might have heard that inviting dogs, cats, or other animals into your care facility can help your service users. But how does it help, and how can you get started?
Alternatively, maybe you’re interested in training your pet to support people in care homes.
In this article, we’ll explain what pet therapy is, the benefits of regular animal visits, how you and your dog can become a canine therapy volunteer, other animals that can provide pet therapy, and how to find and implement pet visits in your care home.
Table of Contents
What is pet therapy in care homes?
Pet therapy, sometimes also known as animal-assisted therapy, is where a trained animal visits people to provide companionship and support. The animal visits provide a bit of entertainment, and can be a real comfort to many people.
It’s becoming increasingly popular in care homes, day centres, and even hospitals across the UK.
What does a therapy dog do? Generally, they’ll come in for regular visits and allow residents to spend time with them, stroking them and playing with them.
Canine therapy is the most common type of pet therapy, but some people might use other animals, such as cats, rabbits, and even alpacas!
What are the benefits of pet therapy for care homes?
Many care home residents will have had pets when they were younger. For some clients, living in a care home might be their first time without having a pet around. When your residents are animal lovers, it’s easy to how they’ll benefit from pet therapy.
But, pet therapy in care homes offers a variety of benefits for everyone. Just like the importance of nature for people in care, animals can make a real difference to service users, and enrich their lives.
Some of the benefits of pet therapy include:
Emotional wellbeing:
Spending time with animals can help reduce feelings of loneliness, anxiety and depression.
Cognitive stimulation:
Residents may want to discuss the animals, and reminisce about their own pets. This might be especially helpful for clients with dementia. Pet therapy can also give service users a sense of purpose – particularly if they can share tips on caring for a particular animal.
Social interaction:
Pet therapy sessions might bring residents together, providing a common interest for them to bond over. Spending time in a group with the animals can encourage conversation, and make the care facility seem more like home – especially for people who have always had pets around the house.
Stress reduction:
We know that stroking animals can lower cortisol levels and increase oxytocin production – both of which can help service users feel more relaxed. Regular visits from pets can also help distract clients from worries or discomfort, and give them something positive to anticipate.
Physical health:
As well as the emotional effects, pet therapy in care homes can even improve your service users’ physical health. Stroking animals can help lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Depending on your residents’ mobility, spending time with animals may even encourage them to become more active, as they might want to engage in play with them. This might lead to better cardiovascular health, improved motor skills, or even better balance and coordination.
As a care provider, bringing pet therapy to your clients can really improve their wellbeing. It can work well with other activities, such as art therapy in social care, to enhance your residents’ quality of life.
How can I become a pet therapy volunteer?
Now you know what pet therapy for care homes is, and what a therapy dog does, you might want to become a volunteer yourself – maybe you think that your pet would be a good comfort to older people.
Becoming a pet therapy volunteer involves a few key steps. You need to make sure that your pet is well-prepared for visiting care homes and supporting residents, and that they would feel calm and confident.
If you’d like to provide pet therapy for care homes, here’s what you should do:
Assess your pet’s suitability:
They should be fully grown – while puppies are cute, they’re likely to be much more excitable and hard to control. Do they have a calm, friendly temperament? Are they comfortable around strangers?
Complete the application process:
You can apply online with a recognised organisation like Pets As Therapy or Therapy Dogs Nationwide. They’ll ask for some details about your pet.
Complete assessments and training:
Your pet therapy organisation might have some mandatory training and assessments for you and your pet. They’ll probably want to evaluate whether a dog can follow basic commands, and how they react in different environments. You may need to attend some orientation sessions, and learn about working in different care settings.
Pass any needed health checks:
You’ll need to make sure that your pet is up-to-date with all of their necessary vaccinations and other health checks. You might be asked for proof of this. You’ll also need to make sure that you groom and clean your pet regularly.
Complete your registration:
Once you’ve passed all of the organisation’s checks, you’ll probably be asked to agree to follow a code of conduct, and sign a registration form or contract.
When you and your pet are certified, you’ll be able to start visiting people and providing pet therapy. Your therapy organisation may be able to give you some contacts in the local area, or you could reach out to local care homes yourself.
Canine therapy training programmes
If you want to provide dog pet therapy, you may be wondering how to get a therapy dog in the UK certified. You’ll probably need to do some specific training with your dog. When you apply to a pet therapy organisation, they’ll help you arrange this.
Therapy dog training costs in the UK might vary, depending on the programme and your dog’s existing abilities, but it might cost between £200 and £1,000. These costs might include:
- Initial assessment fees
- Training course fees
- Certification and registration costs
- Equipment and materials, if needed
Training for canine therapy dogs could take between four weeks and 12 months, depending on your dog’s current skills, and the type of support you hope to provide.
Therapy dog training will typically cover:
- Obedience and basic commands
- Socialisation
- Coping in different environments and situations
- Specific therapy skills for various settings, such as care homes or hospitals
- Training for you as the dog’s handler
While this might all sound rather complicated, investing in proper therapy dog training means that you and your pet are well-prepared to provide the best support for your future clients.
Therapy cats in the UK – and other animals
Although dogs are one of the most popular choices for pet therapy in care homes, other animals can also support residents.
Therapy cats are becoming increasingly popular in the UK. They are sometimes calmer than dogs, and their purring can have a very soothing effect on residents. They’re ideal for care homes with less space, and are often happy to simply sit on a client’s lap and rest.
Some other animals that might be used include:
- Birds, including budgerigars, canaries, cockatiels and owls
- Rabbits
- Guinea pigs
- Miniature horses and ponies
- Alpacas
- Farm animals such as chickens, goats and pigs
Many of these animals will need less training than dogs, but may still have to pass some health checks or other certifications, depending on the organisation.
If you’re a care provider trying to decide which type of animal to bring in for pet therapy, consider the needs and preferences of your residents. Do any of them have allergies? Are they scared of certain animals? Offering a range of therapy animals might ensure that all your service users can benefit from pet therapy in your care home.
How do I find animal-assisted therapy near me?
If you want to run pet therapy sessions in your care home, you’ll need to start by finding pets and volunteers who can visit.
You may have staff members with pets who have a calm temperament. If they bring them in to visit, you should suggest that they take out insurance. You should also check whether your care home or organisation has any policies and procedures relating to animal visits.
If you’re looking for external therapy dog visits in the UK, here are some organisations that might be able to help you find volunteers:
- Pets As Therapy is a national charity. They assess and register dogs and cats for therapy visits in the UK, and support them to visit care homes, hospitals, and schools. Their website has a search function to help you find pet visits for the elderly near you.
- Therapy Dogs Nationwide provides visits to care homes, hospitals and hospices across the UK.
- Therapet provides a canine therapy service across Scotland.
Additionally, some local animal rescue centres may run outreach programmes – contact shelters near you to ask whether this is something they can offer.
And, of course, you can always search online for “pet visits for the elderly near me” or similar, to find local organisations or people who can help.
How to implement pet therapy in care homes
When you’re introducing pet therapy for care homes, you’ll need to consider a few things before you start.
Assessing your residents for pet therapy
You’ll need to assess service users individually. Find out whether they have any allergies that may be affected by pet visits, and check whether they have any phobias or dislikes of certain animals.
Discuss their favourite animals with them, and consider their preferred styles of interaction. If they’re normally quiet and have mobility difficulties, they may prefer visits from cats or other quieter animals, for example.
Ensure that any planned activities are tailored to their needs and abilities.
Choose appropriate therapy animals
Depending on your residents’ preferences and needs, you may prefer to find dogs, cats, or other animals to visit.
If you bring in volunteers from a pet therapy charity, they will already have assessed the animals for suitability. You’ll know that they’re calm, healthy and well-trained.
Create a safe environment for animal-assisted therapy
Set up a specific area for pet visits, and make sure that staff members are on hand to supervise. Using care home software can make it easier to schedule carers to help with activities like pet therapy.
Remind residents of the need for good hygiene – you may need to set up hand sanitising stations nearby.
Train your staff and volunteers
If any of your care team are dubious about the benefits of pet therapy for care homes, you may need to educate them. If your pet therapy volunteers come from an organisation, they may have their own literature that explains the importance of animal visits.
Ensure that your staff team can recognise the signs of stress in animals, so they know to support residents to have safe interactions with them.
You may also need to provide some training and guidance for your pet therapy volunteers. Your care home or wider organisation may have policies about training, background checks, or other procedures for volunteers and regular visitors.
Monitor and evaluate the pet visits
Regularly assess how your residents are feeling about the animal visits. Ask for their feedback, as well as comments from family members and the staff team.
You could monitor the effect of visits by:
- Asking residents to fill in questionnaires about their mood before and after pet therapy sessions
- Recording changes in blood pressure and heart rate before and after sessions
- Tracking any changes in medication usage
- Noting changes in social engagement, reminiscences and verbal communication over time
Take any feedback into account, and make changes to the pet therapy programme accordingly, to make sure that it’s supporting your residents well.
Conclusion: pet therapy for care homes
Pet therapy can have a huge impact on residents in care homes. Whether you look at canine therapy, therapy cats, or any other animal, it’s easy to see that service users can see a range of benefits – both emotionally and physically.
The key to great pet therapy for care homes is making sure that you tailor sessions to your residents’ needs and wishes. This includes taking their preferences into account before starting pet visits, and regularly checking in with them to measure outcomes.
Pet visits for the elderly can really enhance their lives, helping them to reminisce, feel a sense of purpose, and enjoy themselves in the moment, regardless of age or health challenges.
