5 Ways to Celebrate Your Pet
National Pet Awareness Month is interestingly named, to say the least. Whether you have a dog who gnaws on your shoes or a cat who slips her paw under the door when you’re in the bathroom, most of the time you’re very aware that you have a pet. But we here at 1FUR1 would like […]
Pet Therapy Brings Senior Citizens Closer to Others
We have discussed before the benefits of therapy animals for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, but in honor of Senior Citizen’s Day 2015, let’s delve deeper into the human-animal bond of senior citizens and therapy animals. Senior citizens suffer high rates of depression due to loneliness, from the passing of a spouse, lack of visits from […]
From Cardboard Box to Selfie Stars
While cats have always been popular pets, they have arguably exploded in popularity due to their cute antics being shared in photos and videos on the Internet. In honor of National Cat Adoption Month, I caught up with my friend Caleb Peng of Caleb Peng Productions and chatted with him about his cats Cheggy and […]
Pet Preparedness for Natural Disasters
With tornado season well underway in the midwest and southeast and hurricane season about to begin, now is the perfect time to discuss pet preparedness for natural disasters. June is National Pet Preparedness Month, and though we at 1FUR1 hope you never have to use this information, here are some tips to keep you and […]
The Difference between Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Activities (AAA): Part 2 of 2
Last week we looked at animal-assisted therapy (AAT) in the rising field of therapy programs that involve animal participation. This week we will discuss animal-assisted activities (AAA), another branch of these therapy programs. AAA (not to be confused with the American Automobile Association) is where animals visit with residents and/or patients in nursing homes, hospitals, […]
The Difference between Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Activities (AAA): Part 1 of 2
Here at 1 FUR 1, we support programs that help animals and people alike. Two terms we often use for these programs are animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and animal-assisted activities (AAA). Both have been shown to be very beneficial for animals and humans alike, but there is little information out there about the difference between the […]
Animals Helping Humans, Part 4: Wildlife
We have previously covered popular animals helping humans such as dogs, cats, and horses and the parts they play in animal assisted therapy and activity (AAT and AAA, respectively). Now we delve into more unconventional therapy animals: elephants, dolphins, parrots, and alpacas. Elephants are widely revered for their intelligence and friendliness, so they are popular […]
Animals Helping Humans, Part 3: Horses
Equine animal-assisted therapy is beneficial in that horses are very good at mirroring the mood of the human they work with. Horses also need more grooming than cats or dogs, and patients find the repetitive motions of grooming to be calming. People in physical therapy who ride horses often find that the calm walking gait […]
Animals Helping Humans, Part 2: Cats
At first, cats seem like unlikely therapy animals because they are fiercely independent and affectionate on their own terms. However, cats are gaining popularity in the animal assisted activity (hereafter known as AAA) world because of their ability to increase the attention spans of patients with ADHD, autism, and Alzheimer’s disease. Plus, petting a purring […]
Man’s Best (& Oldest) Friend
Animals and humans have worked together in therapeutic relationships for more than 12,000 years. Scientists proved this when they found a 12,000-year-old human skeleton in Israel, holding close the skeletal remains of a puppy. The history of the human-canine bond starts even earlier than that, however humans and wolves, the ancestor of our domestic dogs, […]