What is Pet Therapy?

It is a commonly known cliché that dogs are man’s best friend. Through many years of domestication we have been able to get dogs to build lasting friendships with many individuals and work together in building a society. Although this was not exclusive to dogs various other animals also played a valuable role during the advancement of human civilization. The domestication of animals has indirectly opened us to a new route of mental health therapy. Pet therapy is a guided interaction between a person and a trained animal, which is also accompanied by a trained animal handler. The purpose of pet therapy is to help someone recover from or cope with a mental health problem or mental disorder.

Dogs and cats are most commonly used in pet therapy but fish, guinea pigs, horses, and other animals that meet a certain criteria can also be used within therapy. The type of animal chosen depends on the therapeutic goals of a person’s treatment plan and how receptive the individual is to the animal. This factor usually is dictated by the individual undertaking treatment or at times multiple people for comfort or recreation. Pet therapy is also known as animal-assisted therapy (AAT).