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Our Mews Bulletin

Purrviding mental wellbeing: cats as therapy animals

18/3/2019

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A cat provides comfort at the Rose Physical Therapy Group, USA. Photo: Damon Bowe
At a New York care home for people with Alzheimer’s disease, an elderly female resident tries in vain to find her long-deceased parents. She becomes increasingly distressed but rather than being sedated is given an elaborate toy cat that responds to her touch and purrs. As she pats the robot cat, a sense of calm returns to her recently imploding world.
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In Australia, more than 62% of households own a pet. It’s not that long ago that the idea of companion animals making an important contribution to human well-being, especially mental health, would have been dismissed as, well, all a bit fluffy. Now there is a growing body of evidence that animal-human interactions can promote a sense of calm, improved self-worth and reduce anxiety, depression and loneliness. It’s perhaps not surprising then that the benefits of these interactions are gaining traction, not only in households, but also in various therapeutic settings such as nursing homes and hospitals. Animal-assisted therapy is helping to improve patients’ mental, physical, social and emotional functioning.

The terms ‘therapy animal’ and ‘assistance animal’ are often used interchangeably. While definitions and norms differ from country to country, fundamentally they are two different things. In general, assistance animals are dogs or other animals that are individually trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities. In Australia, only assistance animals are legally defined and protected under disability discrimination laws. Examples include guide dogs for the blind and, particularly in the United States, ‘psychiatric service’ dogs to assist ex-service personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dogs have been used as assistance and therapy animals for some time. The role of cats as therapy animals is not yet at such a developed stage, probably by virtue of their independence, sharp claws and general reluctance to enter a cat carrier!

However, the tide might be starting to turn. In South Australia, a community based provider of psychological treatment programs has established “Australia’s first Cat Relaxation Room” in which three trained therapy cats complement mindfulness activities, mediation and yoga.
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Over in New York, like many patients with memory loss, the distressed woman is only intermittently aware that her feline comforter is a toy. It might not be real therapy cat but it’s providing safe and real therapeutic benefits. And perhaps that’s all that really matters.
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Should we elect cats rather than politicians?

12/3/2019

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Larry, Chief Mouser, 10 Downing St
In today’s ever more interlinked and fast-moving world, politicians of all political colours or persuasions frequently seem to be cat-napping on the job - detached, out of touch and less and less capable of addressing people’s needs. It’s therefore reassuring to know that just a short hop from the mother of parliaments, a growing band of quite hairy office holders are bucking the trend.

There are currently five cats in various UK government departments, recruited after staff and politicians complained, not about yet another Brexit-related conundrum, but something a little more tangible and perhaps even scarier - a rampant mouse and rat problem. 

King of the political cats is Larry, a brown and white tabby, twelve years old and now a rather handsome elder statesman. Before inadvertently assuming office in a balmy and pre-Brexit 2011, Larry was a stray. He was plucked from political obscurity by Downing Street staff who rescued him from perhaps the mother of all animal rescue organisations, Battersea Cats and Dogs Home. 

Without the need for any party room chicanery and with little fanfare, Larry was appointed the Prime Minister’s Chief Mouser. Not only was Larry parachuted into the heart of politics, rubbing shoulders with a visiting Barack Obama and stealing the ham from his sandwiches, he found himself occupying an extremely desirable home in the heart of Westminster with round the clock police protection. 

As Theresa May gamely clings on to power in the face of almost daily Brexit-induced challenges and vitriol from one source or another, Larry seems utterly oblivious to the increasing mayhem and angst enveloping his embattled tin-opener. Indeed, Larry continues to bask in a warm glow of mass popularity, affection and, yes, trust that he will faithfully do what he is employed to do, commodities that most twenty first century politicians, wherever in the world they ply their trade, can only dream of.

Larry’s rescuer, Battersea Cats and Dogs Home,welcomed its first stray dog over 150 years ago, in 1860, and since then has re-homed more than three million animals; an amazing achievement and testament to its unwavering vision that every dog and cat should live in a home where they are treated with love, care and respect.
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That mission statement should perhaps resonate more in the human world, including the world of politics, than it currently does and would perhaps go some way to restoring the public’s faith in governments and revolving door politicians. Theresa May’s Chief Mouser, and all currently or formerly homeless cats around the globe, would doubtless agree. In 2012, Battersea Cats and Dogs Home revealed that Larry's popularity had resulted in a surge of 15% more people adopting cats. No wonder he’s still in office.



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