If you or your loved one is thinking about moving to a facility with assisted living Camarillo, don’t be shy to bring Fido along! Medical studies are revealing that seniors who receive assisted living care and own pets enjoy a surplus of benefits. Realizing this fact, facilities who provide assisted living Camarillo and other places are allowing dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, small mammals, and even horses to live with their elderly companions. See what all the fuss is about with these health benefits below.
- Owning Pets Improves Your Physical Health
Having a furred, feathered, or scaled friend around can do your body a world of good – they help lower blood pressure and heart rate, reduce stress and prevent the risk of stroke and heart disease. They also promote you to exercise by giving them walks, playing with them, and other active tasks.
- They Help with Mental Health, too
That warm fuzzy feeling you get when your pet is around isn’t your imagination…it’s good for the brain! The American Journal of Critical Care reports that pets help you fight off depression, and other studies show that they improve memory retention, prompt reading more, and decrease sundown syndrome in Alzheimer’s patients.
- Pets Enrich Lives and Restore Purpose
Combined with mental and physical health benefits, caring for a living creature can rejuvenate a senior’s confidence, independence, and sense of purpose. A pet’s perspective of unconditional love and focusing on the present is also rewarding and eases a senior’s worries about tomorrow.
- Pets Create and Strengthen Connections
Having pets in an assisted living Camarillo facility can break the ice for new or shy residents. Animal showings broaden seniors’ horizons, too. But perhaps the most touching thing about pets is when they heal seniors from heartbreaking tragedies. One pet parrot, for example, helped its owner and her friend cope with the passing of her friend’s wife several years ago. The two are now married and enjoy living with the bird at an assisted living facility.
- Pets are a Holistic Remedy
From a medical perspective, it’s important to note that all of the benefits pets provide to seniors are completely natural. No drugs are required, which means no side effects, allergies, or adverse reactions. And that can lead to significant savings on time and resources for the facility – and better-living qualities for its residents.
In light of all this, having pets in an assisted living Camarillo facility is a no-brainer. If you or your loved one is concerned about looking after a pet, ask the facility about making arrangements. The benefits of pet ownership weigh far more than its burdens.
