Monday, April 6, 2009

Retirement Villages that ban pets, piss me off!

It has been scientifically proven that interaction between humans and pets increases the dopamine levels in one's brain (the chemicals that make us feel good). Organisations take dogs to visit the elderly, the disabled, children in hospital and orphanages because they know contact with animals will increase the physical and emotional well being of these people.

My friend Lilian is in her 80's. She moved to a retirement village with a little dog called Dee Dee. Last week after 16 years of companionship, her dog had to be put down. Lilian says of Dee Dee "She gave me more than I ever gave her. She looked after me! When I came home she was always welcoming. She was another breath in the house and the sound of her snoring was music to my ears. I relied on her for 24 hours of affection."

Lilian is not allowed to replace her pet. So who will wake Lilian up every day? Who will walk with her in the evenings, watch TV with her and sleep by her bed at night? Who will fill the hole in Lilian's heart?

My mother also lives in a retirement village and would love to have a dog to cuddle and take for walks. But the rules say no pets.

Who are these cretins who make these archaic rules? Wake up!

Pets are critical for the emotional and physical well being of many of the elderly and should be considered a therapeutic necessity.

5 comments:

  1. I'm with you all the way, MA Beagle. Making an elderly person put down their fourfooted companion harks back to the poorhouse where your elderly husband lived in one section and elderly you lived in another!

    Dima's Mom

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  2. Hi Dima's Mom. I agree. They are still stuck in the time of Dickens who wrote a lot about cruelty to people never mind animals! We should have moved a long way forward in our thinking since then.

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  3. My mum thinks she would like to move to a R,village but every time she looks at them its says NO dogs and now she is very upset as her human family live a long way away and she thought it would be good for her in her old age but cant find one that will let her take me, the ones she has looked at have craft,swimming pools etc and she is excited about them but not me ! i am soooo mad as i know it makes her happy when we go for walks and it does us BOTH good to get the exercise, and the companionship we have is just great, so please give some thought to the happiness and contentment of the tenants that they are built for in the first place.

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  4. Dogs barking, cats pooing on my lawn, my dopamine levels have never been lower... can you recommend oe of these retirement villages that bans pets?

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  5. I hate the noise of my lazy neighbors' barking dogs. When I retire I want to live some where in peace and quiet.

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