Pet lovers are a special breed. They think of their pets almost like people. To be sure, we often love our pets as much as we love people. Sometimes patients in hospice care can be comforted by a visit from their pet. But is it allowed? And is it a good idea? The team at Suncrest Home Health and Hospice of Phoenix has some advice for you about bringing pets to hospice care.
Why Pets in Hospice Care Are Good
Why Pets in Hospice Care Are GoodRecent research has shown how pets can improve the mood and even the health of nursing home patients. They help relieve loneliness, depression and anxiety, and they can even help reduce blood pressure.
Pets are a lifeline for many people. Because pets provide unconditional love, a patient who is no longer able to do much physically can still feel useful to a pet just by cuddling with them.
Why Pets in Hospice Care Are Not Good
Historically, pets have not been allowed in public places such as stores, schools, offices, hospitals and nursing homes. One of the main reasons is sanitation. Certainly in a hospital or restaurant, the presence of an animal can pose health risks.
Another reason to make a no-animals-allowed rule is that some people may be allergic — even deathly so. Allowing animals in public places may not be fair to them.
Further, the animal may not be well behaved and could cause problems by running around, damaging their surroundings and disturbing others by barking or jumping on them.
And lastly, some people just don’t like animals. Whether they are afraid of them or have another reason to dislike them, these people are uncomfortable in the presence of animals.
Pets in Hospice: A Compromise
While pets can never be allowed into a sterile environment, they may sometimes be allowed in common areas. Rules are made for a reason, but in hospice care, we do everything in our power to accommodate the wishes of our patients to help them achieve greater happiness in their final days.
Getting to see, touch, pet and hold their beloved pets again can be an enormous mood-booster to hospice patients and can even temporarily improve their health. Visits can be helpful to the pet too, as they undoubtedly have been missing their owner.
Because you cannot explain to a pet the circumstances surrounding their owner’s health the way you can to a child about a relative, it can be sad and distressing to watch a pet continually walk around the patient’s home looking for them. If the pet can see them and smell them, they can better come to terms with the situation.
Pet Visitors at Suncrest of Phoenix
If you want to bring a hospice patient’s pet to visit them in hospice, talk to the facility manager about arranging a visit. At Suncrest Home Health and Hospice of Phoenix, we do everything we can to accommodate our patients’ needs.
