Pet Therapy: Some Hospitals Allow Patients' Own Dogs to Visit
Madison Fleaks had been in Texas Children's Hospital in Houstonfor over six months waiting for a heart transplant. She was born with a congenital heart condition.
Not yet two years old, she may have forgotten much of her life at home. But she still remembered her two dogs; their photograph sat framed next to her hospital bed.
"If you said anything about the dogs, she would point and want to kiss the picture," said her mother, Tabitha Fleaks. Madison has been in and out of hospitals, she said, enduring multiple surgeries.
"She has been sick her whole life. All she knows is me, her dad, and the two dogs."
So when her dog Kodiak showed up in her hospital room one day, Madison was thrilled.
"It was amazing," Fleaks said. "She just lit up. She literally screamed when he walked into the door."
Texas Children's is not the only institution to allow some patients to have visitors of the canine variety. ABC News reached out to hospitals around the country and found that many have pet therapy programs, in which a trained owner-volunteer will bring a dog to the hospital for patients to enjoy. These programs have been said to help patients with their mood, pain, and comfort levels.
A growing number of these hospitals have taken their pet therapy programs even farther, allowing patients to have visits from their own pets.
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