5 cute animals that take therapy to a whole new level

Help comes in many forms!

 Lori White
07.22.15

1. When it comes to being a therapy pet, Wasabi the tortoise is a pro.

Wasabi was recently certified by Therapy Pets Unlimited in Baltimore.

Image via Therapy Pets Unlimited, used with permission.

Sure, Wasabi looks like a rock, but she also is a rock to folks who are ill or who are alone who have access to her companionship.

Her owner, Lisa Chicarella, said to The Huffington Post: "She's not a goldfish in a shell. She is an intelligent animal. She can learn. She has and shows emotions."

As they say, "A therapy pet is born, not made."

This got me thinking. I'm used to seeing visions of adorable Labradors and golden retrievers when I think of therapy pets, and many therapy pets fit that mold.


Image via Therapy Pets Unlimited, used with permission.

These dogs in particular are bred to be friendly and stable, so it's no wonder they're so popular. Dewey-eyed puppies with hearts of gold are no stranger to the therapy pet world, but if Wasabi the tortoise could do it, I thought:

What other animals are out there, comforting us humans with their rock-solid temperaments?

Turns out, quite a few. Dogs have some serious therapy pet competition.

This is just a random image of llamas, but it's kind of soothing. Imaging hanging out with these guys! Image via Sheila Sund/Flickr.

2. You can be a buck-toothed and huggable llama and be a therapy pet.

Yep. There's a llama named Rojo that's been therapy certified. Her human, Lori Gregory, dresses Rojo up in flowers and hats, and they visit local hospitals near her hometown of Vancouver, Washington. As Kelly Schmidt of the Providence Children's Center in Oregon told CNN:

“[Rojo is] such a quiet, gentle, peaceful soul … it's like he really knows how special he is and how special the kids are. ... It's very a contagious spirit to have Rojo around because it's just so unusual."

3. You can be a super tiny mini horse.


On a scale of one to soothed, I'm feeling pretty soothed. Image via Pete Markham/Flickr.

From the website of Therapy Horses of the Gentle Carousel:

"From the children and first responders of Sandy Hook Elementary School / Newtown, CT to the tornado survivors of Moore, OK and child trafficking victims in Washington D.C. these little horses bring their special love where it is needed most."

4. You can be a pregnant dolphin!



In Key Largo, Florida, there's a facility called Island Dolphin Care created by Deena Hoagland, who was also a licensed clinical social worker. Her son, Joe, had a stroke after his third heart surgery. After she saw the incredible progress Joe made after he began swimming with dolphins at age 3, she founded Island Dolphin Care.

Here's just one review of a child named Jack's time with Squirt, pictured above:

"Island Dolphin Care was never a place where I expected Jack to start walking or talking. All we ever hoped for was for Jack to have fun. It wasn't always easy. I waited everyday to see if Jack's sensitivity to the coolness of the water, his allergies, his lack of sleep, his mood in general would affect his swim with Squirt every morning. However, each time we come back, Jack has more fun than the last time. His progress in and out of the water has improved more than I could imagine."

5. You can even be a pig. A big black potbellied pig named Buttercup.


Dramatization of Buttercup as a child. Look into its eyes. See love. Image via Marianne Perdomo/Flickr.

Lois Brady, a speech and language pathologist, was looking for a portable therapy animal who would also be good with the kids she worked with. She researched dogs first but then came upon a unique choice. A potbellied pig named Buttercup.

She told VetStreet:

“Many of our students have aggressive behaviors. A pig can definitely take a blow — and not turn around and want to attack."

And better yet, this pig is so novel, it's opening the minds of her students.

“Students love him because they have no preconceived notion of what a pig should be. He's so visually curious to them that they're immediately drawn to Buttercup. Kids who can't remember how to spell their own name remember everything about him, from where he sleeps to how many siblings he has."

Who knew all these animals have what it takes to be a therapy pet?

Now, don't get therapy pets confused with service animals. A therapy pet is an animal trained to provide comfort and support to people in need, particularly in times of grief, trauma and stress. A service animal is an animal trained to do tasks for a person with a disability. The fact is, the Americans With Disabilities Act only recognizes dogs and some mini horses as service animals. But therapy pets, as we see here, are all around us!

Looking at all of the animals in the animal kingdom that are there to offer a helping paw (or claw or hoof) is a great reminder that help is all around! And to never be afraid to ask for it.

And if it takes a tortoise, a llama, a mini horse, a dolphin, and a pig to give it, so be it.

environment health mental health animals
Most Shared
Packard Foundation
Packard Foundation

The doctor behind a revolutionary cancer test says it all started with the support of her refugee parents

As a child, Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia's parents didn't ask her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Instead, her father would ask, "Are you going to be a doctor? Are you going to be an engineer? Or are you going to be an entrepreneur?"

Little did he know that she would successfully become all three: an award-winning biomedical and mechanical engineer who performs cutting-edge medical research and has started multiple companies.

Bhatia holds an M.D. from Harvard University, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT, and a PhD in biomedical engineering from MIT. Bhatia, a Wilson professor of engineering at MIT, is currently serving as director of the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, where she's working on nanotechnology targeting enzymes in cancer cells. This would allow cancer screenings to be done with a simple urine test.

Bhatia owes much of her impressive career to her family. Her parents were refugees who met in graduate school in India; in fact, she says her mom was the first woman to earn an MBA in the country. The couple immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s, started a family, and worked hard to give their two daughters the best opportunities.

"They made enormous sacrifices to pick a town with great public schools and really push us to excel the whole way," Bhatia says. "They really believed in us, but they expected excellence. The story I like to tell about my dad is like, if you brought home a 96 on a math test, the response would be, 'What'd you get wrong?'"

Keep Reading Show less
bioengineering stem women in science cancer research
Packard Foundation
True

Watch Sandy Hook Promise's 'school essentials' PSA, but prepare to be gutted by it

This is not normal.

Sandy Hook Promise/Facebook

Someday, future Americans will look back on this era of school shootings in bafflement and disbelief—not only over the fact that it happened, but over how long it took us to enact significant legislation to try to stop it.

Five people die from vaping, and the government talks about banning vaping devices. Hundreds of American children have been shot to death in their classrooms, sometimes a dozen or so at a time, and the government has done practically nothing. It's unconscionable.

Keep Reading Show less
school shootings gun control gun violence
Education & Information

Mom shares a heartwarming photo of the school custodian comforting her autistic daughter

via Hollie Bellew-Shaw / Facebook

For those of us who are not on the spectrum, it can be hard to perceive the world through the senses of someone with autism.

"You could think of a person with autism as having an imbalanced set of senses," Stephen Shore, assistant professor in the School of Education at Adelphi University, told Web MD.

"Some senses may be turned up too high and some turned down too low. As a result, the data that comes in tends to be distorted, and it's very hard to perceive a person's environment accurately," Shore continued.

Keep Reading Show less
Education & Information
truth
truth

A funny new video nails the disturbing truth behind e-cigarettes

Truth

Don't test on animals. That's something we can all agree on, right? No one likes to think of defenseless cats, dogs, hamsters, and birds being exposed to a bunch of things that could make them sick (and the animals aren't happy about it, either). It's no wonder so many people and organizations have fought to stop it. But did you ever think that maybe brands are testing products on us too, they're just not telling us they're doing it?

I know, I know, it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but that's exactly what e-cigarette brands like JUUL (which corners the e-cigarette market) are doing in this country right now, and young people are on the frontlines of the fallout. Most people assume that the government would have looked at devices that allow people to inhale unknown chemicals into their lungs BEFORE they hit the market. You would think that someone in the government would have determined that they are safe. But nope, that hasn't happened. And vape companies are fighting to delay the government's ability to evaluate these products.

So no one really knows the long-term health effects of e-cigarette use, not even JUUL's CEO, nor are they informing the public about the potential risks. On top of that, according to the FDA, there's been a 78% increase in e-cigarette usage among high school and middle school-aged children in just the last two years, prompting the U.S. Surgeon General to officially recognize the trend as an epidemic and urge action against it.

These facts have elicited others to take action, as well.

Truth Initiative, the nonprofit best known for dropping the real facts about smoking and vaping since 2000 through its truth campaign, is now on a mission to confront e-cigarette brands like JUUL about the lack of care they've taken to inform consumers of the potential adverse side effects of their products. And they're doing it with the help of animal protesters who are tired of seeing humans treated like test subjects.

The March Against JUUL | Tested On Humans | truth www.youtube.com

"No one knows the long-term effects of JUULing so any human who uses one is being used as a lab rat," says, appropriately, Mario the Sewer Rat.

"I will never stop fighting JUUL. Or the mailman," notes Doug the Pug, the Instagram-famous dog star.

Truth, the national counter-marketing campaign for youth smoking prevention, hopes this fuzzy, squeaky, snorty animal movement arms humans with the facts about vaping and inspires them to demand transparency from JUUL and other e-cigarette companies. You can get your own fur babies involved too by sharing photos of them wearing protest gear with the hashtag #DontTestOnHumans. Here's some adorable inspo for you:

The dangerous stuff is already out there, but with knowledge on their side, young people will hopefully make the right choices and fight companies making the wrong ones. If you need more convincing, here are the serious facts.

Over the last decade, 127 e-cigarette-related seizures were reported, which prompted the FDA to launch an official investigation in April 2019. Since then, over 215 cases of a new, severe lung illness have sprung up all over the country, with six deaths to date. While scientists aren't yet sure of the root cause, the majority of victims were young adults who regularly vaped and used e-cigarettes. As such, the CDC has launched an official investigation into the potential link.

Sixteen-year-old Luka Kinard, a former frequent e-cigarette-user, is one of the many teens who experienced severe side effects. "Vaping was my biggest addiction," he told NowThis. "It lasted for about 15 months of my high school career." In 2018, Kinard was hospitalized after having a seizure. He also had severe nausea, chest pains, and difficulty breathing.

After the harrowing experience, he quit vaping, and began speaking out about his experience to help inform others and hopefully inspire them to quit and/or take action. "It shouldn't take having a seizure as a result of nicotine addiction like I had for teens to realize that these companies are taking advantage of what we don't know," Kinard said.

Teens are 16 times more likely to use e-cigarettes than adults, and four times more likely to take up traditional smoking as a result, according to truth, and yet the e-cigarette market remains virtually unregulated and untested. In fact, companies like JUUL continue to block and prevent FDA regulations, investing more than $1 million in lawyers and lobbying efforts in the last quarter alone.

Photo by Lindsay Fox/Pixabay

Consumers have a right to know what they're putting in their bodies. If everyone (and their pets) speaks up, the e-cigarette industry will have to make a change. Young people are already taking action across the country. They're hosting rallies nationwide and on October 9 as part of a National Day of Action, young people are urging their friends and classmates to "Ditch JUUL." Will you join them?

For help with quitting e-cigarettes, visit thetruth.com/quit or text DITCHJUUL to 88709 for free, anonymous resources.

truth
True