Cruel care homes deny elderly residents the right to own a pet
Care homes deny residents the right to own a pet
A report has revealed that 61% of UK care homes for the elderly are continuing to refuse residents the right to keep animals, in spite of much publicised evidence that caring for domestic animals is beneficial to health.
And the numbers of sheltered housing and residential care homes banning pets is increasing.
An expert psychologist who has dedicated many years to studying the effects of the relationships between owners and their pets, and has recently analysed more than 200 residential homes for the study said:-
“We have gone backwards. Separating elderly people from their pets when they go into a home can be deeply traumatic. Often the pet is the last tangible link with a partner who has died.
They can be the difference between coping and crumbling. They are vital to elderly people’s quality of life.”
The ban on pets in UK residential units is in stark contrast to other counties including, France, Norway, Switzerland and USA where the laws stipulate that residential care providers must agree to house the pets of their elderly residents.
As UK Citizens continue to live longer than ever before, more and more of them live alone and are more likely to require housing in a residential unit at some point in their lives, and to date more than 25% of retired UK citizens are believed to own a domestic pet.