Catherine’s cuddly creatures bring new lease of life to care home residents

However, it’s not just Catherine these animals provide friendship for, as she regularly takes a selection of them to visit residents at Seapatrick Care Home in Banbridge.

The idea to bring pets into a care home setting first came to the Craigavon native, like a bolt out of the blue, almost a decade ago, when she was living in England.

“I had an epiphany in 2015. I have type one diabetes and have always been an animal lover. I was living in Plymouth at the time and it hit me that if anything happened to me, and I ended up in a care home, I would not be able to have animals around me,” said Catherine.

“That made me realise there are probably a lot of people like that in care homes at present and I set about trying to change that. Living in a care home shouldn’t mean you have to lose the things you have enjoyed doing throughout your life.

“At the time I had three guinea pigs and I borrowed three from my friend Rachel and I started calling round to an old folks home asking if they wanted some pet therapy. I rescue animals and had the idea of rescued souls going to homes to rescue souls.

“I visited Thorne Park Care Home in Plymouth in March 2015 and that was my very first visit with therapy animals.

“I then visited the Glentor Centre at Torr Home in Plymouth and they booked me for a second visit. It was a great feeling seeing the residents’ faces light up.

“The whole thing really took off from there and I was visiting Glentor every fortnight and Honeyborne House every Friday but looking back on this time, I would say my best memories come from my visits to the dementia home at Waypoints.

“One lady in the home was suffering from hearing loss but really loved our visits. From the second she spotted us coming down the corridor she couldn’t wait to see the guinea pigs. She loved having them on her lap and really got a lot from our visits.

“Staff used to come and take videos and photos of our visits with her, it really perked her up and it was great for her family too. There was real interaction with these animals, and it was incredibly heartwarming to see.

“The manager of the home also told me that in the build up to, and for a short while after my visits, there was never any staff sickness. These visits were therapy for the staff too.”

While delighted her animals have such a positive impact on so many people, Catherine is aware that not everyone loves animals and is determined to respect their views and living space.

“Respect is a vital aspect of all of this,” says Catherine.

“I am aware that I am going into a care home, so there are a lot of different personalities at play and some people don’t want animals in their home and that is their right.

“Before I bring animals in, I always try and talk to the people and explain what I’m doing and try to find that middle ground.

“I explain that I want to bring the animals in but will keep them away from them and won’t bring them into their seating area and stuff like that. I want to work with everyone. It’s very important that everyone is respected.”

Moving back to Northern Ireland in 2019, Catherine was determined to continue her visits to care homes with her animals and had some initial success with Laganvale Care Home near Moira.

Then, COVID-19 hit, and that brought an abrupt end to Catherine’s care home visits.

Lockdown had a profound impact on Catherine’s pets. They were growing used to having her as the only point of human contact and Catherine began to wonder if they would ever be able to get enough socialisation to make a return to care homes possible.

Thankfully, restrictions began to ease and leading pet retailer Jollyes came to their aid.

Having always shopped at Jollyes in Plymouth, Catherine was able to build up a rapport with the helpful and knowledgeable staff at the pet people’s Lurgan store, where her pets are now considered regular visitors.

“I have always shopped at Jollyes – I am there more often than some of their staff!” said Catherine.

“I really got to know them in Jollyes Plymouth and they were always great with me and when I moved back home, I started striking up the same relationship with staff in Lurgan. In a weird way the pandemic probably helped this relationship grow as we had more time to stand and chat.

“I remember bringing one of my ducks, Mr Puddleduck, into the store in 2020 as I wanted to get him desensitised to people ahead of bringing him to a care home – so Jollyes Lurgan really is where it all started again.

“The staff in there are fantastic, I don’t have words strong enough to describe how truly brilliant they have been, they have really gone above and beyond for me in the last few years.

“They have developed a close bond with my pets and that is great to see – one of my geese, Lucy Goosey has been in quite a few times. She has taken to standing guard at the door when she goes in. She even met the big bosses when they came to the store.

“We are now regularly visiting Seapatrick Care Home and Jollyes staff have even come to the home with me and brought some of their animals too, I am thrilled they are supporting me like this and bringing some of their animals along has been a big boost to.”