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Companion Animals in Aged Care
Animal companionship is widely known to enhance the quality of life for older persons in care. Maintaining this companionship when an older person moves into care, assists with the transition and fosters a person-centred care approach.
It is also acknowledged that co-residence may not be possible in all circumstances.
Below is a bundle of resources aimed at providing guidance, assessment, risk identification and care planning to support older persons, animals, and care providers to enable co-residence of pets and residents in residential aged care. The following resources address companion cats and dogs with the expectation that the resident is responsible for the costs and provision of care with assistance from a guarantor and support from the care provider.