Companion ‘pets’ help combat loneliness for seniors

Many pet owners can likely attest to the happiness and comfort that comes from having a pet in their home, especially if they’re cooped up inside most of the day. That feeling of isolation is fairly common among the senior population, especially with the pandemic, so the Tompkins County Office for the Aging has worked to provide pets to older adults in need — only these pets are robots.

Caryn Bullis, deputy director at the Office for the Aging, said that social isolation among older adults has long been an ongoing issue due to a multitude of factors, with the pandemic only worsening the situation.

“With Matilda’s Law coming out and just for the safety of this vulnerable population, people stayed home,” she said. “They didn’t go out. They didn’t do any sort of daily activities that they might have done prior to COVID. And even those folks who had friends and family around supporting them were even isolated from them as well because they couldn’t see them.”

Nearly two years after the pandemic began, the pandemic continues to exacerbate seniors’ loneliness challenges, often making it harder for them to see and interact with other people. The pandemic has made addressing this issue difficult for the Office for the Aging, but the organization has worked to think “outside the box,” converting many of its programs — like pairing seniors with a friendly visitor — to a virtual format.

One “out-of-the-box” idea that has helped many older adults is the office’s Companion Robopets program. While the name might conjure images of small toys that kids play with, Bullis said they’re a very different kind of robot.

“I think ‘animatronic’ might be a better term,” she said. “They are not real. However, I will say, … they are incredibly life-like. The cats purr and meow and nuzzle and snuggle, and the dogs bark and whimper and move.”

The pets are from the brand Joy for All Companion Pets. The animatronic cats are roughly the size of an average-size cat and come in three different patterns, and the dogs are all roughly the size and look of a young golden retriever. All pets are covered in “fur” that actually sheds, helping to provide a soft surface for plenty of petting. But they don’t require all the maintenance that comes with owning a live animal.

“They really can help someone feel like they have purpose,” Bullis said. “You can say the same for a real pet. However, they won’t accrue vet bills. They don’t have to go out and buy food. There’s a little less responsibility as far as financially or just being able to get out and get things for the real animal versus having this animatronic animal. Some older adults may be frail or unable to even let an animal out to go to the bathroom or something like that. So, it kind of takes all of that away for those folks who might be unable to actually care for a live pet. But it still gives them that connection and sense of responsibility and purpose that a live pet would.”

The Office for the Aging’s program is actually part of a statewide program that began back in 2019 with a study conducted by the New York State Office for the Aging (tinyurl.com/yaxkngr6).

“What they did was they wanted to kind of gauge the effects these animals might have on socially isolated and lonely older adults,” Bullis explained. “So, they piloted it in 12 counties … in New York state with 60 pets. They took 30 of the dogs and 30 of the cats and distributed them to these counties to socially isolated and lonely residents. They used a loneliness scale — I think it was a six-point loneliness scale — to determine who the participants would be in the study. So, they really kind of honed in on those socially isolated folks.”

And the results were simply “staggering,” Bullis said.

“Seventy percent of the participants reported feeling far less isolated and lonely after a year of having these pets,” she said. “Historically, pets like these are often used for dementia patients or people with Alzheimer’s or memory issues. But more and more research is finding that they help across the board with any sort of social isolation or loneliness. So, after that, the New York State Office for the Aging then obtained more funding and was able to distribute to the rest of the counties these pets that we were then distributing out. And then luckily, we have been able to secure funding to purchase more and get them out to residents.”

The response from Tompkins County residents who participate in this program has been “amazing” across the board, Bullis said.

“It’s been great, and it’s been a lot of fun for us,” she said. “We’ve received voicemails and letters from people who … just love them. They name them, so it’ll always be like, ‘oh, my dog Dottie is just a lifesaver, and we have so much fun together.’ And they really are so grateful and so thankful and really talk like it’s a real-life animal with a name that they are taking care of, and it’s been a lot of fun. So, the response has been just great.”

With such a high success rate, it’s no wonder that the local Office for the Aging is hoping to expand the program going forward. Fortunately, the program is already well funded mostly thanks to contributions from pet owners, though folks aren’t required to contribute to benefit from the program.

And if a companion pet isn’t for you, Bullis said her office has plenty of other services to offer to help combat loneliness.

“I just want to make it clear that we’re here,” she said. “So, anybody who is feeling isolated or lonely, or if you are caring for somebody that you’re concerned about as far as not having so many social connections, … please reach out to us. And if it’s not a companion pet, we can maybe try to help them in some other capacity. But … we’re here, we’re open, and we’re able to help people as we can.”

Learn more about all that the Office for the Aging offers at www2.tompkinscountyny.gov/cofa.

Thinking Ahead appears in the fourth edition of each month in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.