| There's plenty of research that confirms how great | | | | raised on a smallholding where all the animals lived |
| pets are as healing companions for elders. This is even | | | | outside. When she first came to our care home, she |
| more true in dementia, a great loneliness of a condition | | | | would shudder when any of the cats or dogs came |
| that can often be comforted with the addition of cat | | | | by her. |
| and birds to the caregiving housdehold. | | | | I'd sit with her and encourage her to pat one of them |
| She had never had pets. She didn't even like them. | | | | or stroke another one. Gradually she came to tolerate |
| That's what her sons told us. | | | | and eventually to enjoy them. She also took over as |
| Their mother was a 79-year-old woman who had | | | | their adoptive grandmother. |
| been a German-Jewish refugee. She had escaped | | | | "Are all the cats inside?" she ask me at night. "Are |
| Germany just jackboot strides ahead of deportation to | | | | they all safe?" |
| a concentration camp. She was very houseproud and | | | | They never became the support that pets are to |
| thought animals were dirty. | | | | those accustomed to them, but they amused her and |
| She never allowed the kids to have a dog or a cat for | | | | demanded something from her. Responding to that |
| that reason. However, in the fourth year of her | | | | helped her adjust to care home life. |
| dementia, Ginger came to stay. He wandered into the | | | | Living with dementia is a very absorbing process which |
| front yard and immediately sat on her knee. We found | | | | also often bores people. They need an easy pal |
| her smiling indulgently as she petted the huge warrior | | | | whose friendship is undemanding and constant without |
| ginger tomcat. He had a half-eaten ear, a tiny stump of | | | | too much discussion. That would be your average cat |
| a tail and a particularly Buddha-like smile that day. | | | | and dog. Or singing bird. It's pretty hard to be less than |
| Same for Hannah. except for the tail and the ear. | | | | pets want. And they never criticize when you say the |
| "Why Hannah!' we caregivers chorused. "Who's your | | | | same thing over and over. They don't even think |
| new friend?" | | | | there's anything wrong with you. |
| "Ach!" she said with an eloquent German gesture that | | | | David, a 77-year-old man I cared for in Oregon, had |
| meant anything she wanted it to. Ginger became her | | | | never had a dog. His wife wouldn't let him. After her |
| close companion, very often sitting on her capacious | | | | death and my moving in, he invited my dog to live with |
| lap or sprawling on the bench beside. Once I heard her | | | | us. Nothing delighted him more than to watch a big red |
| saying to him, "Oh you are such a handsome boy -- | | | | curly haired ruffian in paws charging through the house |
| vel, not a boy -- vel, votever you are -- you are very | | | | to leap on a precious Persian rug and crash into a rare |
| sweet." | | | | Japanese painted cabinet. |
| It was really interesting to hear her sons say how she | | | | "Never mind, he's okay!" |
| didn't like pets while she was besotted with Ginger. | | | | Sometimes, I think people with dementia like animals |
| And I've seen that over and over. | | | | because they get away with behaving badly. A force |
| Patty was an 89-year-old farmer's wife. She had been | | | | of nature in lives constrained by loss and incapacity. |