WORDS BY ELIZABETH CAMPBELL PHOTOGRAPHY BY RON LACH
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hen 78-year-old Carol lost her husband of 52 years, the silence in her home felt suffocating. “I’d go days without speaking to another person,” she recalls. That changed when she adopted Oreo, a senior rescue cat. “She’s not just a pet—she kind of makes my world go round.” Carol’s experience reflects a broader truth: pets are powerful allies against the isolation many seniors face. A 2023 study in the Journal of Applied Gerontology surveyed 1,200 adults aged 65+ and found that pet owners reported “significantly lower loneliness and depression” during the COVID-19 pandemic, with researchers concluding that pets provided “emotional stability and routine.” “Relieving loneliness often is huge,” say says Darlene Sullivan, a Client Coordinator at United Disabilities Services, who regularly matches older adults with canine companions. “Dogs like to live on structure, and so for seniors the dog is the reason to climb out of bed in the morning.”
“And it increases social interaction,” she
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