Pet therapy has been widely known to have a multitude of positive effects and improve patients’ well-being physically, psychosocially, and emotionally. It involves animal-assisted activities and animal-assisted therapy to provide opportunities for motivation, education, or recreational to improve a person’s quality of life.

Animal-assisted activities are often conducted by volunteers and have nonspecific goals. Some cases include having animals brought into medical facilities, such as hospitals and long-term care facilities, to let them interact with patients. This allows patients to disconnect from their sickness and help them feel secure and content.

Animal-assisted therapy, on the other hand, has specific goals and is performed by a program. It involves with trained companion animals into therapeutic settings with individualized treatment benchmarks. The results usually show improvement in personal and social development, mental health, self-esteem, and nurturing skills.

It has been widely known that pet therapy was used mostly with dogs providing a feeling of joy, a desire to live, and a possibility of increasing healing process. We have observed numerous friendly and calm dogs have a fantastic impact on patient outcomes. Moreover all the doctors, nurses, and other staff members light up too when we see these great animals.  Unfortunately, we had to temporarily suspend pet therapy program during the COVID-19 epidemic. But we look forward to seeing our pet colleagues back on the wards very soon!!!

To learn more about pet therapy or to become a volunteer, please visit here

Author Anna Chung Patient Care Coordinator