Animals are naturally sincere, allowing people who interact with them to behave naturally and spontaneously.
Every animal is a warm, alive and delicate creature that can be touched, stroked, held in your arms or lap, cuddled, and even kissed. It has a relaxing and reassuring effect on us, mainly because a pet accepts people for who they are without judgement.
Animals are naturally sincere, allowing people who interact with them to behave naturally and spontaneously. The positive effect resulting from interactions with animals is derived from the joy that comes from it. Gentle touching, stroking or massaging stimulates the secretion of endorphins, the hormones of happiness, and also a natural pain reliever.
Contact with animals also stimulates the immune functions of the human body and reduces the levels of stress hormones (cortisol and noradrenaline). Animals are also a source of good humor, laughter and fun, and everyone knows that laughter is healthy.
No wonder that animals are sought after as carers, teachers, therapists… Zootherapy, also called animal therapy, is one of the natural therapies that utilize the beneficial effects of contact with animals on human health and well-being.
The most popular forms of zootherapy used in Poland are:
- Hippotherapy, or interacting with a horse
- Kynotherapy, or interacting with a dog
- Felinotherapy, or interacting with a cat
In addition to the above forms of therapy, onotherapy (interacting with donkeys and mules) and dolphin therapy are also available.
Hippotherapy
This is one of the forms of multi-profile rehabilitation, having simultaneous effects in the motor, sensory, mental and social aspects, used regardless of the patient’s age.
Hippotherapy primarily affects the correction of body posture, regulation of muscle tension, improvement of balance, coordination, sense of rhythm, stimulation and normalization of surface feeling, increase of self-esteem and reduction of emotional disorders.
Kynotherapy
This is a set of activities aimed at therapeutically influencing people through their interaction with a dog. It has been proven that even something as simple as stroking or hugging a dog has a positive effect on humans.
Kynotherapy helps mainly in overcoming the fear of dogs, stimulates the senses of hearing, sight and touch, exercises concentration of attention, improves motor skills, shapes and develops the ability to show emotions and feelings (not only those related to contact with animals), teaches independence, and improves the efficiency of the circulatory apparatus (tongue, lips, jaws).
Kynotherapy uses dogs with a mild character, especially Labradors, retrievers, Newfoundlanders, Bernardine, husky, collie and German shepherds.
Felinotherapy
This therapy works through contact with a cat. In the case of cats, the therapeutic effect is achieved by petting and purring, which reduces blood pressure and has an anti-stress effect.
This type of therapy has a positive effect on the psyche of those involved – it clearly improves their mood, lowers the level of anxiety, breaks down barriers and inhibitions, especially in people who are afraid of animals or allergic to their coat.
Cats, as is well known, have an independent nature, therefore felinotherapy employs cats who are not afraid of noise, tolerate travel well and are not stressed by the company of several people around. Cats are used in therapy for all age groups, regardless of the physical fitness of the patients in treatment – they do not require a lot of effort when performing therapeutic exercises.