Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  Senior Living Outreach

    Posted 09-02-2025 01:48 PM

    Hi All.

    I've been contacted from a senior living facility about partnering with them to set up visits for their residents.  I'm trying to think of new ideas to take to a senior group. I'm familiar with the small community and it is literally 5 minutes away from my home.

    It will likely be only me (and occasionally our vet tech, so whatever I set up I need to be able to manage it on my own. 

    Already on the table: Therapy dog visits, quarterly vaccine clinic for the residents, educational discussion re: pet care, safety, adoption, short-term dog foster, doggie day trips, ect...

    I used to take my therapy dog and participate in school reading programs for children who are struggling, as well as a long-time visit to a lovely little lady who had dementia. 

    I'm trying to think of something new, fun, and interesting to try. Any suggestions? Again, we are very small so it will most likely be just me. 

    Has anyone done a Therapy Dog Book Club or Reading Program for adults? If so, what did it look like?

    Thank you for any and all suggestions!

    Enjoy your day!

    Ann


    #CommunityPartnerships*

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    ann traynor-plowman
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  • 2.  RE: Senior Living Outreach

    Posted 4 days ago

    Hi Ann, this is wonderful. A simple therapy dog reading/chat group or pet-and-reminisce session works great, easy to run solo and very meaningful for seniors. 💙



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    Otilia Girjoaba
    Care Director
    Loving Adult Family Home
    Bothell
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  • 3.  RE: Senior Living Outreach

    Posted 4 days ago

    Our shelter currently takes our therapy dogs for visits (which is always a huge hit) but we have even been talking about how to incorporate kitten season into the mix this year. One idea is that if we had a litter of bottle baby kittens at a shelter who have not yet secured a foster home and are stable enough to travel, we could bring them and have the sweet seniors care for the kittens for a few hours. It would not only help out the shelter staff who are beyond stretched thin and feeding kittens every few hours is not feasible, but it would provide an educational angel for the senior visits. We haven't acted on this yet, but we are noodling it around as an idea!



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    Katheryn White
    Adoption Counselor/Grant Writer
    PAWS Shelter of Central Texas
    TX
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