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Therapy Pets
The majority of our pets are dogs: small (4-pound Japanese Chin) to large (210-pound Mastiff); from 6 months to 17 years; energizer bunny (Jack Russell) to couch potato (Greyhound). We love and welcome them all.
Other pets over the years have included numerous wonderful cats, bunnies, guinea pigs, ferrets, chinchillas, pot-bellied pigs, birds, a pygmy goat named Gracie, Henry, a dwarf hedge hog, and several miniature horses. And, quite possible the world's only therapy duck, who walked, on a leash, down the hospital hallway and on the elevator with a group of dogs, wearing a diaper made from a camouflage jockstrap!
Caring Critters maintains that any animal is a potential therapy pet with the exception of reptiles. Salmonella is always present on reptile skin. In November, 1999, the Center for Disease Control released figures stating that each year 75,000 cases of salmonella are directly attributed to pet reptiles. Since the majority of the clients we serve are physically or mentally unable to wash their hands after petting, the possibility of infection is dramatically increased. This is a risk we prefer not to take.
