For those of you that have pets, you know how calming it can be, after a stressful day, to come home to a loving dog or cat. Just watching them play can lower stress levels and believe it or not, lower blood pressure. Medical studies have shown that pets can improve emotional and physical well being in humans.

Bringing animals into a learning situation is very beneficial to children. Love, compassion and empathy are vital concepts for challenged children. It’s amazing to see what happens as children who are violent, enraged or depressed as they interact with animals from an animal assisted program.

Within a matter of minutes the children are returning the affection of the animal and start petting and grooming it. In any situation it’s difficult to stay angry and upset with the world when you have a fuzzy critter nuzzling and kissing you wanting to be loved.

“Pet therapy” is now widely used in nursing homes, prisons, hospitals, and schools to reduce loneliness, anger, depression and stress. Researchers have found that elderly people with pets make fewer visits to the doctor, and that cardiac patients survival rates are higher.

In older people one of the most serious diseases is – loneliness. That doesn’t sound like a medical reality, but people do die from broken hearts. An elderly person who has lost a life long partner, or is medically impaired and can’t stay active, can literally give up on life.

Dogs and cats help overcome the pain of loneliness by supplying companionship and affection., For a person who lives alone, pets can also be a source of security and protection. Everyone knows the value of a hug. But if hugs aren’t available, a pet in the lap is the next best thing.

Testimonials

Mary was our twelve and a half year old cat, and she had been sick for about a month. She had had so many tests done, but the doctors still couldn’t find out what was wrong with her. On our last visit to the vet, we were referred to a specialist in Toronto, in hopes of, finally, getting a diagnosis. During this time, we also had a Reiki healer working on Mary, but it was long distance, and it didn’t seem to be working. All we knew was that Mary was getting worse! We felt hopeless! So, we decided to look for a Reiki healer, who could come to our house. Cindy was the only one who called us back, and she was able to come the very next day!

  When Cindy came over, we were comfortable with her right away! She took her time to work with Mary. Then, she asked us if we wanted to know the truth. Of course we did! So, she went on to tell us that she felt cancer, as soon as she walked through the door. She also felt that it started in her bones and it had spread throughout the rest of her body. When we asked Cindy if we had to put Mary down, she told us that we would know what to do on Monday, but that she would not make it to the specialist appointment on Wednesday. We were really taken aback, because we knew Mary was getting worse, but we were not expecting her to die. We really thought that whatever was wrong with her could be fixed.

  The next day, we started to doubt Cindy. Since we had only met her once, we decided to take what she said with a grain of salt. But that Sunday night, Mary stopped eating and took a turn for the worse. We knew right then and there that Cindy was right! Because we knew what was going on, we had just enough time to change our schedules, so that we could spend the last precious hours with Mary. We were so grateful!

  Our experience with Cindy was amazing! She really helped us through a difficult time by giving us answers, when no one else could. We highly recommend that anyone who has a pet, to include Reiki as a part of your pet’s regular health check-up.