Pets - whether dog or cat, guinea pig, parrot or pet goat - have a wide-ranging impact on our lives. Not every person or family is "pet friendly" but those which are often find surprisingly satisfying depths of caring, love, devotion and support in their feathered, furred, scaly or rough-skin companions.
It's often a synergetic relationship that can soothe, animate and comfort us.
We've seen many stories about the roles of pets in caregiving: incidental or direct, our pets often provide comfort to both the afflicted as well as the care-givers. An example: recently, michelewln posted a diary called The Cat Who Became a Caregiver and later followed with Art for my Mom that contained beautiful computer-generated artwork that she'd created depicting the special feline.
For those of us who welcome pets into our lives, we are ready, willing and able to enter that special synergistic relationship that comes with being a pet owner (or, in the case of cats, "owned by" a pet).
Have you got a special pet story to share - whether directly experienced, or that you'd learned of from others or the news - about the role a pet has played in the caregiving process? Well, now is the time to share it. In the comments below, post your tale and share it with others.
The original piece I intended to post today isn't quite finished - it's long, with lots of links and good info regarding pets as, and for, caregivers. As with many things lately, life gets in the way: I needed about 25 minutes to complete it (about an hour ago) and, immediately after telling someone about my intended publication time, I had to respond to Malamute Jack getting sick in the other room.
And so it goes.
Please treat this as a CareGiving-related Open Thread. Thank you.