Calgary seniors communities should be more pet friendly says researcher
A researcher at the University of Calgary is calling for seniors' communities and affordable housing to become more inclusive for older adults and their pets.
Along with providing emotional support and other health benefits, pets can be a financial challenge for some senior owners, says Dr. Ann Toohey, a UCalgary researcher and adjunct assistant professor and manager of the Brenda Strafford Centre on Aging.
In Canada, 40 per cent of adults between age 65 and 69 have a pet, while only 22 per cent of adults aged 80 and older have one.
Not only can vet bills and grooming be expensive, walking a dog can be an overwhelming prospect, if not physically impossible in some cases due to mobility limitations, and some owners fear what will happen if they are forced to move to a non-pet-friendly residence or if their pet outlives them.
Part of Toohey's research has centred on a unique social service program called Pet Assist, which is delivered by the Calgary Seniors’ Resource Society.
The program sees a team of volunteers help disadvantaged and isolated seniors with pet care, which including anything from walking and administering medication, to driving an animal to the vet.
“There are increased barriers some older adults face with pets later in life and that brings up issues around ethics and social justice," said Toohey.
"We need to ask ourselves, ‘How can we promote social inclusion by giving our aging population the dignity of choice and the support they need to keep their pets later in life?’”
In order to protect their pets, some seniors will go so far as to not disclose their own declining health to doctor out of fear of losing their pet.
Others face increased anxiety about paying for pet food or pet bills.
Toohey is encouraging leaders, planners and architects to consider new ways to create more age-friendly communities that include better availability of appropriate housing and policy changes that are more socially inclusive to older adults and their pets.
“Pet Assist is a really important initiative because it not only provides social interactions, but keeps pet situations from getting out of control when an older person can no longer care for an animal on their own," said Toohey.
Another area of research is the use of robotic pets in care settings for people with dementia.
Toohey is currently leading an interdisciplinary research team looking into the ethical implications of introducing robotic pets as alternative companion animals for those who can’t care for a true pet.
While the research is in its early stages, Toohey says there has been growing interest in robotic pets during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.