They move, make noise and respond to your touch, but these animatronic animals are not your typical toy. The 20 dogs and cats currently sitting in the Crook County Senior Service (CCSS) office are designed to be companions for people suffering from dementia – and research suggests they can have a significant impact on quality of life.
Schmidt’s Kitty is a robotic pet, one of a new breed of electronic cats and dogs that can pant, yawn, whine and wag; some even have an audible heartbeat. They have been designed specifically for older people, especially those with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. The lifelike animals can be soothing and can provide much needed companionship or a distraction from dislocation or pain.
DUBLIN — To help ward off some of the isolation and loneliness elderly dementia patients in hospice care have been experiencing during the pandemic, workers at one organization have come up with a creative idea: robotic animals to bring them comfort.
WAILUKU, Hawaii – Robotic pets being a great substitute for pet-loving seniors who can’t take care of a pet any longer. Maui and Kauai Counties gave hundreds of them away to low-income seniors in January.
Virginia Kellner got the cat last November, around her ninety-second birthday, and now it’s always nearby. It keeps her company as she moves, bent over her walker, from the couch to the bathroom and back again. The walker has a pair of orange scissors hanging from the handlebar, for opening mail. Virginia likes the pet’s green eyes. She likes that it’s there in the morning, when she wakes up. Sometimes, on days when she feels sad, she sits in her soft armchair and rests the cat on her soft stomach and just lets it do its thing. Nuzzle. Stretch. Vibrate.