Pets in hospitals

Lamb

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Do you think pets should be allowed in hospitals for their owners to heal faster with the comfort and love of their pet nearby?

How about comfort dogs who visit hospitals?

Of course, those with allergies would not be near the animals.
 

tango

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Do you think pets should be allowed in hospitals for their owners to heal faster with the comfort and love of their pet nearby?

How about comfort dogs who visit hospitals?

Of course, those with allergies would not be near the animals.

If people are in private rooms and the animals don't affect other patients, in theory at least I don't see a problem.

My problem comes when one person's right to something starts to override another's right. Personally I don't like having dogs around so if I was on a shared ward and someone else had a dog there it would cause me stress, which would mean that something that may help their recovery would slow mine. It would also be unfortunate if someone discovered an allergy after someone's pet had been around.

In a way I'd also have to wonder just how it would be managed. If I was well enough to be on top of what my cat was getting into I would probably be well enough to do it out of hospital; if I wasn't well enough to keep on top of things then I'd have to wonder who would do that. It probably wouldn't be much fun for the cat being put in a box twice daily and ferried to and from a strange place.
 

psalms 91

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If people are in private rooms and the animals don't affect other patients, in theory at least I don't see a problem.

My problem comes when one person's right to something starts to override another's right. Personally I don't like having dogs around so if I was on a shared ward and someone else had a dog there it would cause me stress, which would mean that something that may help their recovery would slow mine. It would also be unfortunate if someone discovered an allergy after someone's pet had been around.

In a way I'd also have to wonder just how it would be managed. If I was well enough to be on top of what my cat was getting into I would probably be well enough to do it out of hospital; if I wasn't well enough to keep on top of things then I'd have to wonder who would do that. It probably wouldn't be much fun for the cat being put in a box twice daily and ferried to and from a strange place.
I love dogs and have no problem with it but the fact is that if a dog is in an area then that area has to be deep cleaned or else you run the risk of allergies being affected for the next person entering. Perhaps if they had a room or two where pets wer eallowed
 

NewCreation435

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I think pets should be allowed. When I worked in a nursing home we had people who would bring therapy dogs to the facility often to see the residents and they always loved it
 

faramir.pete

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Yes! We let children in don’t we? And in my experience most pets are better behaved and as clean as any child!


Pete from Peterborough UK
 

Josiah

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[Disclosure: I LOVE animals! I have a pet!]


WHAT IS IT suddenly with all these "companion" and "comfort" animals?????????

Suddenly, we're seeing them everywhere..... These are not "seeing-eye" dogs (they've been around for decades and are very rare) but animals for "emotional support." Often essentially "purse dogs." My recent 5 hour flight cross country included a lady with some small furry dog in the cabin - I assume a "comfort animal." Last time I was at Disneyland, I saw several people with small animals - something very new. Attractions now have little pet cages near where you board the ride, I assume to "keep" these animals while the person goes on the attaction.

There are people VERY allergic to pet dander or to certain animals (my sister-in-law among them). MUST they put up with such in stores, at restaurants, even on airplanes? And animals DO carry certain diseases which occasionally can impact humans. People did fine for centuries without all these "comfort" animals.....
 

tango

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[Disclosure: I LOVE animals! I have a pet!]


WHAT IS IT suddenly with all these "companion" and "comfort" animals?????????

Suddenly, we're seeing them everywhere..... These are not "seeing-eye" dogs (they've been around for decades and are very rare) but animals for "emotional support." Often essentially "purse dogs." My recent 5 hour flight cross country included a lady with some small furry dog in the cabin - I assume a "comfort animal." Last time I was at Disneyland, I saw several people with small animals - something very new. Attractions now have little pet cages near where you board the ride, I assume to "keep" these animals while the person goes on the attaction.

There are people VERY allergic to pet dander or to certain animals (my sister-in-law among them). MUST they put up with such in stores, at restaurants, even on airplanes? And animals DO carry certain diseases which occasionally can impact humans. People did fine for centuries without all these "comfort" animals.....

I can't help thinking that if you can't cope with flying without a dog (that other passengers in a very confined space may find objectionable, given "comfort animals" aren't trained to anything like the standard of guide dogs or other genuine assistance dogs) then you can't cope with flying, period. Honestly, for me being in a confined space for several hours is unpleasant enough without being next to someone with a dog that is barely under control. Frankly the same goes for children - when children run up and down the aisle making a lot of noise when I need to sleep because I've got a four hour drive after my eight hour flight I don't see why it should be considered acceptable. If nothing else the shrieking in a confined space with no means of getting away from it makes an already unpleasant experience even more stressful.

I wonder to what extent the issue is that people have decided they would really like to take their dog to (place dogs aren't allowed for a good reason) and simply found a way to force the issue such that nobody can challenge them. Just one of the problems relates to the training (or specifically, the lack thereof) that these animals have. Years ago I knew a lady who was a wheelchair user prone to epileptic seizures, and she had a dog that helped guide her, could perform a few day-to-day tasks for her, and could also alert her when she was about to have a seizure so she could take appropriate preparations. Even as one that doesn't care for dogs I found absolutely nothing about her dog to be even remotely objectionable. One day I met her for lunch and, having helped get her to a table the dog curled up under the table and didn't move until it was time to pay the bill and leave - if I hadn't already known it was there, there was no way I'd have known about it.

One problem with even this situation is that if someone else in the restaurant had been highly allergic to dogs the immediate question is whose rights take precedence. Does my disabled friend get to eat where she chooses, potentially inflicting suffering (albeit unwittingly) upon another diner? Or does the existing diner get to insist that my disabled friend eat elsewhere because the presence of the dog will cause them major problems?

At present it seems everything is slanted such that the slightest mention of a disability means that no questions can be asked and the person's word has to be accepted as-is, but having allergies or phobias relating to the provisions made for one don't count as a disability so other people just have to deal with it.
 

Imalive

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Yes! We let children in don’t we? And in my experience most pets are better behaved and as clean as any child!


Pete from Peterborough UK
I found it really annoying when I just had a baby and ppl came visit w a sick child. Go away w those filthy germs. Or a nurse sniffing above you. I think the dogs are cleaner.
 
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