Pets and Seniors

There have been several articles written about the effect of pets on seniors. Most of them have been very positive. It seems that pets actually can improve the health of us "old folk"....guess it just comes down to having something else to care for and love.

I know from experience the pleasure we get from our two cats. Our oldest, Bell, is a classic tabby, about 14 years of age now. She looks after her younger sister, Tiger (she actually looks like a Tiger), who's about 4 months old. Bell was part of two cats my wife adopted.

Bell's twin sister, Missy, passed away about 10 years ago, just after I met my wife, Bonnie. Actually, both Bell and Missy are "He-She's". They were given girl's names, but when they visited the vet to have them fixed, they found out that they were both boys! Bell and Missy grew up as girls, but were boys....talk about confused cats!

Bell grew up for most of her adult life alone. Several years ago, we adopted Midnight, a black and white cat. Unfortunately, Midnight got lost one day, never to be seen again (we actually believe a coyote got her). Midnight liked to play and was always getting into things. One summer it was unusually dry, and a lot of wild animals came out of the surrounding hills to look for food and water. One afternoon, I saw Midnight playing with a possum in the back yard. She didn't know it was a wild animal, probabily thought it was another cat! Well, it bit her and tried to rip her up, just trying to protect itself. I'm sure the possum didn't want to play!

A few months ago, as my wife was leaving for work, she heard a mewing coming from the bushes outside our house. She called for me to come out. I found a small kitten, scarred and cold, huddling in the leaves, under a bush. I promptly picked him up and took it into the house. Bonnie went to work. The kitten cried, and cried. I guess it was both cold and hungry. Well, I fed it, and sure enough, she stopped crying. Tiger had become part of our family. Bell didn't like sharing her parents for awhile. After all, she was the Queen, and had the run of the house, both inside and out.

It took a couple of months before Bell finally accepted Tiger. Even now, at times, Bell still gets fed up with Tiger, and "cuffs" her with her paws....Bell's old now, and I'm sure there are times when she wants to be left alone. Tiger is a kick. She's full of energy and as a kitten, into everything. She likes to sleep on our bed at night, and tries to ride Bell like a cowgirl riding a horse!

I'd encourage any of you seniors to think about getting a cat or dog. Even if you don't have a large space for them, both dogs and cats are relatively easy to care for, and don't require a lot of effort from you. Rather than paying for them through a store, consider saving one through a animal shelter or pet rescue services. There are many around, and I've listed two links that will get you to a directories of pet shelters and rescue sites in California.

Here's the links:http://www.rescuers.com/
http://www.petbond.com/

Please share your experiences with your pets....do you find them fun and do you think they improve your health?