According to surveys, over 75% of American households have pets. Americans spend over $75 billion on their pets for food, medical care, toys, and grooming. Pets are an integral part of most Americans’ lives.
In fact, many of the 85 million families with pets consider them part of the family. Pets can be critical to their owners’ mental health. Studies prove that people with pets are more relaxed and have improved mood. People with pets generally have a greater sense of well-being and purpose. In fact, pets for seniors who are recovering from extreme medical trauma, such as major surgery, can decrease seniors’ anxiety and depression.
Moreover, pet owners have more opportunities for socialization. Socializing with pets and other animal lovers relieves feelings of loneliness.
These emotional and mental benefits correlate directly to improved health. This is particularly true with pets for seniors. Pets for seniors bring many health benefits including:
- Lower blood pressure. Stroking a pet and not only reduce stress and anxiety, but can actually cause blood pressure to decrease.
- Reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels. While there is not a single explanation for this improvement, most people attribute a drop in cholesterol and triglyceride levels to the increase in opportunities for exercise that pets bring.
- Stimulate brain activity. Playing with, and caring for pets helps to improve cognitive skills in seniors.
Making up your mind to get a new pet is a major commitment. This is doubly true when adopting pets for seniors. Due to the potential for mobility limitations, risk of damage to the senior’s home and possessions, and patience for training, puppies, kittens, and other high-maintenance animals are usually not ideal pets for seniors.
However, seniors can still avail themselves of all the health, social, and emotional benefits to pets. Here are ten tips for seniors adopting a new pet:
Engage in Some Self-ReflectionAdopting a pet is not to be taken lightly. Once you have adopted a pet, you are responsible for caring for the pet. Before adoption, you should consider how the pet will fit into your life:
- Finances. Pets can be costly. A healthy dog or cat can cost as much as $1,000 per year for food, routine veterinary examinations, boarding, grooming, vaccines, and preventative medication, and supplies. If the pet is not healthy, the cost of medical care and medication can increase the annual cost dramatically.
- Free time. If you work long hours, you will likely need someone else to care for the pet. Whether that responsibility is taken on by a pet sitter, friend, or family member, they have to be able to feed, exercise, and monitor the pet when you are not home.
- Travel. Travelers should be prepared to take the pet with them or board the animal at pet or dog kennels while they are away. Traveling with pets can be rewarding and fun, but can also be costly since many pet-friendly hotels and motels charge an extra pet fee.
- Commitment. Pets are a member of the family. You must be prepared to care for the pet around the clock, every day of the year. If that is too large of a commitment, having a pet can make both you and your animal unhappy.
Some residences come with restrictions on pets you can own and keep in your home. When you rent, these restrictions would come from your landlord. If you own, these restrictions may come from your community’s homeowners association (HOA). In either case, the restrictions may limit the number, type, and size of pet you are allowed to keep in your home.
If your choice of pet falls is not restricted, make sure that you read all the rules about pet ownership and comply with any notice requirements. For example, your landlord may permit you to own a cat, as long as the cat is litter trained, kept indoors, and listed on a disclosure form. You will want to make sure you comply with any rules, since a violation could mean substantial fines or even eviction, in the case of rental properties.
Conversely, if restrictions prohibit your pet of choice, you may be able to ask for a variance from your landlord or HOA. If you are a reliable tenant or HOA member, you may be given an exception to the rules.
You should also be aware of any local ordinances or state laws about animal ownership. For example, if you really want a pet boa constrictor, you may find that your city or state has laws about boa constrictor ownership.
