Dementia, Depression, and Therapy Dogs

by Courtney Mroch | More from this Blogger

16 Apr 2008 02:04 PM

Since my mom is now living with us, I've been trying to better understand how to negotiate her dementia. One of the things I knew would help would be Murphy, Mr. Meow, and Tabby. That's how it was that we launched an informal but very personal pet therapy project.

Homework Assignments

Another thing I'm doing is reading anything and everything I can on the subject. One book I stumbled across at the library was Keeping Busy: A Handbook of Activities for Persons with Dementia. It was the "outcome of a program of activities for persons with dementia, developed at the Alzheimer's Care Center in Gardiner, Maine."

It's been a wonderful resource in helping me better understand my mom's condition, moods, and how my actions (and reactions) factor in. They also had a chapter devoted to discussing the role and impact pets have on the lives of dementia patients.

Pets and Dementia Patients in Care Facilities

The situation for the patients and pets discussed in the book are a little different from my mom's case. The patients in the book lived in a care facility and shared the pets who also called the facility home. (They had visiting-pet programs too, but there were cats and dogs the care facility had adopted that lived there.)

In a sense I guess our home has become a care facility for my mom, and we do have to share the pets with her. But it's also different.

For instance, the author of Keeping Busy explained how jealous and possessive many of the patients got about the therapy pets. One case that stood out was how one man stashed a cat in his drawer so no one else could have it. Tabby has for sure laid claim to my mom but so far she's sharing her. (We're seeing a sort of reverse problem --Tabby doesn't like to share mom with us!)

Actually, it sounded like for the most part the residents shared the dogs, cats, and birds well. And the animals provided companionship to each of them in kind. Like my animals, the care facility pets also seemed to pick certain tasks to help with. Like Murphy does with his Grandma Dorothy, most of the dogs enjoyed accompanying patients on walks.

"How wonderful!" I thought. Stray animals get a home full of people to love them.

Ah, not necessarily...

Therapy Dogs Get Depressed?

I was stunned when I read: "The right dog can be a valuable addition to any program, but the animal needs to be able to leave its 'work' at night. Dogs living in residential situations tend, very simply, to grow depressed. Lethargy and social withdrawal...are common."

At first this shocked me, but as I thought about it more it started to make sense. Just as we become attached to them, so do they become attached to us. We mourn the passing of friends and family, so why wouldn't they? Especially pets working in care facilities where death would be even more common. After all, just as our pets are more than "just pets" to us, the patients in the care facilities certainly become more than "just patients" to them.

Related Articles

The Strays of Our Lives

What Do Pets Know That We Don't?

Can They Sense Death's Presence?

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Learn more about Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a wife, a proud pet parent, and a writer. She's been with her husband, high school sweetheart Wayne Pryor, over 20 years, married 11 of those. She's "mom" to Mr. Meow, a.k.

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