Animals Save The Day Again

We know better than anyone that animals are equally as important as our human counterparts. What we recently uncovered is more and more proof supporting this fact.

In Australia, a new initiative bringing the elderly and hens together seems to be working a treat.

Hens are helping people in the fight against dementia and depression. An interesting concept to us at the Dementia Cafe.

This isn’t the only initiative of it’s kind. There are others here in London too. Read more here.

We are vegan, as some of you already know, I’m sure, so we’re all about cruelty free and befriending animals but for any of you that need more convincing…

We received an email from Esther the Pig‘s owners over in Canada last month. One of Esther’s owners Steve told us the following:

“We had a very moving message from a follower a few weeks back, in which she told us a story about her mother who is suffering from Dementia. She said her mother had been having a really hard time, as was she, and one afternoon while with her in the hospital, she happened to open her phone and started looking through Esther photos. She showed some to her mother, and they sat and smiled together as they scrolled through the pictures and videos. It doesn’t seem like much, but this lady was beside herself, saying she hadn’t seen her mother smile for months.

It really touched us, and showed us that Esther‘s magic goes so much deeper than her primary goal of teaching people to be kind to animals, and hopefully adopting an Esther Approved lifestyle. It was, and still is a very emotional moment for us…”

We thought this was beautiful.

That’s not all, according to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology pet owners exhibit stronger self-esteem than non-pet-owners. Pet owners are more extroverted and less fearful than people who don’t own pets apparently! Winning.

Pets have also been known to help with allergies, they can help reduce negativity and they reduce loneliness and make us humans feel supported. Aren’t they just great?! Studies show that pets can provide as much support to a person than a family member. Experts reveal that animals can reduce stress. We’ve heard of stroking cats to reduce stress but is this the case for any animal? Hmm…

What we do know is that medically, pets can reduce blood pressure, that’s gotta be a good thing right?!

I would say our favourite point is that animals draw others to us. Animals are natural conversation starters. Anyone who’s ever had a puppy will tell you this! A normal walk down the street may take 5 minutes. With a puppy, make that half an hour. The squeals of “Awww!” and “Isn’t s/he cute!” Will keep you longer than expected.

But what about dementia specifically and speech? -When communication becomes an issue and memories are hard to access…how about an afternoon tea with a pig or a kitty? They’re not gonna judge you, whatever you decide to discuss with them. The beauts.