The practice of animal therapy has grown in popularity in recent years and offers many benefits. Properly trained animals are able to visit hospitals, children’s wards, retirement centres, and home-bound patients, brining joy and life into their day. It offers the patients socialisation, and companionship without the responsibility of a pet.
Medical research has proven that animal therapy can help shorten hospital visits, can improve well-being, and lower blood pressure. In many of the cases studied, the patients anticipate the visit from the animal, and these feelings of anticipatory joy help with the healing process.
Those that have been trained in animal therapy have an understanding of how animals and people communicate, and understand the healthful effect on children and adults. Many of the dogs used in therapy are certified as therapy dogs, and have received obedience education prior to this certification. The dogs that are part of the animal therapy program are trained to behave appropriately in many things that might disturb untrained dogs, such as noisy areas, elevators, and public locations.
If you are interested in training your pet for animal therapy, you need current vaccination information, and a certificate of good health from the animal’s current doctor. The dog should have the ability to be trained, and understand basic social behaviours like not being aggressive toward strangers, walking in a crowd, and having a loose leash when moving. Other directives such as stay, sit, and down commands are also helpful. The most important quality a dog must have to participate in animal therapy is the ability to be friendly and calm toward people.
Animal Communication as part of Holistic Animal Therapy
Language is based in telepathy, and the symbol or idea that accompanies a sound is what gives the words its meaning. All living creatures are telepathic, and the object of animal communication is to gather meaning from the animal’s point of view. Animals are aware of their surroundings and themselves, events, and emotions. Their perspective is different than the human perspective, and it can serve to deal with behavioural and health issues, especially in the situations of emotional issues. Animals are able to understand communication from humans in ways that other humans often do not understand.
Having the ability to understand the animal’s perspective can be helpful when dealing with emotional and behavioural issues. It can help to identify and resolve the health issues, and many other situations. Animals are trying to tell us stories, and teach us lessons, and if we are willing to listen, we can learn a great deal from them. The are affected by humans, and their thoughts and feelings should be considered.
Energy work and Holistic Animal Therapy
There are a variety of different forms of energy work. All of them share the goal of affecting the energy flow in order to produce balance both inside and outside of the body. Therapies such as Reiki, Shiatsu, and Acupressure are some of the better known therapies in energy work.
Energy work comes in many forms or modalities, all sharing the common goal of affecting the flow of vital energy (Chi or Qi) to produce balance intrinsically (within) and extrinsically (in relation to the surrounding world). Animals have the same energy that humans have, and it can be affected in the same way that a human’s energy flow can be affected. The animal understands this energy, and they are responsive to energy work, and often position themselves in a manner that shows where they need balancing.
Homoeopathy and Holistic Animal Therapy
Homoeopathy matches therapies to disorders by viewing the symptoms that are present, as well as the personality, physiology, and temperament of the patient. Many times there are no side effects to homoeopathic remedies, except for natural occurrences such as itching and vomiting, and other responses to a body detoxifying itself.
Animals respond well to homoeopathic treatment, which can be given orally or added to their water or food. Most treatments that are used in human remedies can be used for pet remedies in homoeopathy. Animals can be patients of herbal medicines, manipulative therapy, acupuncture, and a variety of other treatments.
There are no studies that show that homoeopathic treatments work for animals, but there are rarely side effects that are serious enough to warrant avoidance of the treatments. It is best to speak to a veterinarian about any treatment you give your pet, but most will tell you that the worst case scenario is that the treatment will have no effect whatsoever on the animal.
Holistic Veterinary Medicine and Holistic Animal Therapy
The American Veterinary Medical Association maintains that all qualified vet care is homoeopathic because the animal’s environment is always considered. They urge owner’s to be wary of those that claim to offer a specialised, or higher quality care, just because they incorporate alternative treatments in their practice. Many vets are open to the idea of holistic care, and often you may find ones that specialise in alternative treatments. Qualified vets will look at the animal’s health history, their living environment, and their emotional stresses when treating the animal. Any treatment practised on your pet by its vet should be practised in accordance with that doctor’s licensor.
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