By Natalie Valios

Any one who has ever had to deal with the death of a much loved pet will know how devastating it is. Non pet owners might not realise that it really can be like grieving for a family member.

Pets give unconditional love and become an integral part of your life. If you are an elderly person living on your own, your cat, dog, budgie etc can be of even more significance in your life. They become your constant companion, something to cuddle, talk to and see you through the lonely times.

So I was horrified to learn that 10 years ago, Anchor Trust estimated that 140,000 pets were given up each year because their owners were moving into care facilities where pets were not allowed. Even more upsetting, it reckoned that of these, 38,000 pets were put to sleep.

The Society for Companion Animal Studies published research at the end of last year which found that only 29% of care facilities routinely allow pets. Given that pet ownership among older people has been shown to be of huge benefit to their health and well-being and that if they aren't allowed to keep their pets when moving into care they can become depressed and go through a grieving process, it's hard to see why the importance of pet ownership still fails to be recognised by so many care providers in the UK.

Some countries have actually legislated to protect older people's right to keep their pet when they move into care. What a shame that in a country which prides itself on being full of animal lovers, that hasn't happened here. 

Read the complete post at http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/social-work-blog/2009/01/any-one-who-has-ever.html