Animal care program


Made for people with hardships, sorrow, depression, loneliness or other difficult to treat ailments, and make their life happier. It has been an experimental program for a while but has now rolled out to be a treatment you can get from your local doctor or other professional.  
It is scientifically proven that though they cannot cure your illness animals can make you live longer just by being present in your life and giving you unconditional love. Most people will experience more energy and happiness, which will make you think of other things than you being sick or feeling ill.
  Love for your life, joy and a sense of happiness and contentedness can come from many different things in life, but it has been proven that almost anyone would feel more of one of those feelings with a loving animal by their side.  

The treatment plan

  Get a referral from a professional, and you can be a part of the program! You will then get a day where you can come and meet the available care animals, and see which one speaks to you, and you will get your friend with you home! With this care program, you won't just be left to yourself to fix your problems as a carer is assigned to you as well. They will check up on you once a week, to make sure you and the animal are doing well, and just to have a conversation about your wellbeing.   If you don't feel like either you or the animal are having a good time with each other and would like to try and care for another animal, you can certainly do that! You just get an appointment to come back and look at the other animals, and we'll figure it out from there.   You will not be obliged to care for this animal until the end of its days, and can at any point you'd like, return it to the care home where it will be loved while looking for a new care person.  

The animal sanctuary

  In each town where the program is offered, a dedicated barn and house are used to house the care animals. The sizes of the sanctuaries greatly vary, as it both depends on the town and the common animals around.  
With animals from all species you can think of; mouse, cat, dog, goats and cows - any kind of animal can be your care animal!
  The sanctuaries are maintained by a small permanent crew, that takes care of the animals and makes sure they get food and love. A bunch of volunteers helps as well, as the animals need to get cleaned, playtime, scritches and love, but also the indoor and outdoor areas need cleaning from time to time.   No animal is getting neglected as this program is both meant for humans to feel good but also for the animals to feel loved and appreciated.

Details

Recention of the program

  When the treatment program was first proposed, people in the medical industry frowned upon it and scoffed "why would a simple pet help anyone if they are sick and ill?".   And of course, the statement above is right, because how would a furry little friend help anyone? But what they didn't understand was, that a lot of illnesses are worsened by the mental state of the person dealing with it. If you are in a dark place and feel like your fought long enough, the body and mind can almost work together in shortening the time left before the patient dies away.   Because if you feel like there is no reason to keep fighting and you are getting tired, you might just cut your time left in half.   So the program is not meant to cure anyone, but rather to make sure people keep trying, and keep fighting for their life!  

Mental illnesses

  Though it's difficult to prove, there has been evidence of the program helping people that suffer from all kinds of mental illnesses. The program itself is not enough to "fix" it all, it is no magical cure, but it does help together with therapy to get most patients on the right path.

Where do the animals come from?

  The care program is filled with animals from all kinds of situations; unwanted, donated, left behind by their dead carers, or just from breeding the animals in the sanctuary. Most of them are donated from owners in town that couldn't sell them or have too many of whatever animal it is.   In that way, the program is here to help the animals as well, as they might not have had a loving home if it wasn't for the program! It's a win-win situation, really!


Cover image: by CatRobi