Introduction To Pets

“Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet- Colette”
It goes without saying that pets have always madeexceptional [Link]
idea of a pet has dramatically evolved over time. Pets are no longer furry little
buddies who give us company, but have become an important and integral
part of our lives. They are treated more like a family member, and given more
respect be it in the terms of celebrating their birthdays, taking them on trips or
even taking them to places solely meant for pets like dog water parks.
Pets stay devoted to us no matter what and love us unconditionally no matter
what the situation be. They can sacrifice their lives just to protect us. Our
happiness matters the most to them.
Nowadays, people who own pets are no longer called ‘owners’ of the pets, but
are rather called “pawrents”.They are more like a blessing than just some
[Link] are said to provide an immense amount of happiness. Just
interacting with them increases the levels of oxytocin.
Some keep pets as companions while some have pets to assist them with their
disabilities. The latter ones are known as service animals. They provide
assistance to the people with disability like physical, sensory, psychiatric,
intellectual, or other mental disability. Different types of service animals are:
 Guide Dog: They are wisely trained and act as a guiding tool for people
with severe visual impairments or blind.
 Hearing or Signal Dog: They are trained to alert the people with
significant hearing loss or people who are deaf.
 Psychiatric Service Dog: They are specially trained to help disabled
[Link] decrease the effects of mental episodes by being able to
spot them. The tasks carried out by them are prompting the person to
take their medications, providing safety checks or room searches, or
turning on the lights for people with PTSD(post-traumatic stress
disorder), stopping people with dissociative identity disorders from self-
harming, and protecting the disoriented people from danger.
 SSigDOG (sensory signal dogs or social signal dog): They are trained to
assist autistic people. The dog alerts the owner to repetitive, distracting
 movements that are prevalent in people with autism, enabling the
owner to halt the action.
 Seizure Response Dog: They are trained to assist people with seizure
disorder. They serve the person depending on the person’s needs. They
stand guard over the person having seizure or may go look for help. Few
of them learn to predict the seizure and warn the person to sit down or
move to a secure place.

Emotional Support Animals:

Although all pets have an emotional connection with their owners, but
to be an ESA they need to be prescribed by a licensed mental health
professional to the person with mental health illness.  A therapist,
psychologist, or psychiatrist will determine if an animal’s presence is
required for a patient’s mental health. Owning a pet may reduce
someone’s anxiety.
Animals that can be emotional support animals are:
 Dogs
 Cats
 Mice
 Rabbits
 Hedgehogs
 Birds
 Rats
 Minipigs
 Ferrets
 Hamsters
 Guinea pigs, and so on.
Emotional support animals help in alleviating the symptoms that are
associated with mental health illness. They also helpin calming and relaxing,
lowering anxiety, alleviating loneliness, enhancing social engagement and
interaction, normalizing heart rate and blood pressure, reducing pain, reducing
stress, reducing depression and increasing pleasure.

In conclusion pets whatever size or breed they come are always there for us
and help us reflect a positive attitude towards our life.