LLama Pet Therapy.
As a nurse-turned-patient, I know firsthand how important pet (a/k/a fur) therapy is. I’ve written about my own source of fur therapy in the form of my beloved Buzz.
Here’s the thing: pet therapy is the real deal. There are all kinds of different types of animals who serve as pet therapists. The most common of which – and with whom I worked – are dogs. In fact, there are approximately 10,000 therapy animals in the United States. Of those – this is the cool part! -14 are llamas. That equates to a mere 0.14%.
It sounds bizzaro, right? I mean, good gracious, we are talking about llamas! However, I have to say that I have been the beneficiary of llama love. Two years ago – as I was finishing radiation – a dear friend took my daughter, a/k/a Suddenly Seven and me to visit a llama farm. Yep. It was one of the coolest, most heartwarming & uplifting outings that I had had in a long, long time.
Just as is the case for other animals, llama therapists must qualify to see patients. For example, they must be at least two years old, have never been bottle-fed, and undergo a variety of tests checking how they react to stressful situations.
Recently I came across an article published last year by Colors Magazine about a photographer by the name of Jen Osborne who accompanied two certified llama therapists as they visited the Bellingham Health and Rehabilitation Center in Bellevue, Washington. This is a story filled with Silver Linings that at the very least, will brighten your day.
Adorable. I'm also a little afraid lamas will spit at me, but these lamas look lovely 🙂 How could they not brighten someone's day? 🙂 ~Catherine
They do have a tendency to spit, but I have a feeling that the llamas in Bellevue are screened for spitting behaviors. 🙂
Thanks, Catherine!
I think animal therapy is just wonderful! But my jaw would probably drop to the floor if a llama walked indoors for a snuggle. What a silver lining for these folks to touch the softness of these unusual therapy animals. Those folks at the Bellingham Rehab Center in Bellevue, Wa. look delighted by the llama's visit.
I had a leather coat once, lined with llama, and it was divinely soft and warm. Probably had I seen one up close like you and Suddenly Seven did, I would have felt differently about wearing their fur.
I know, right Carolee? So darn cute! The Silver Lining about their fur…is that they are sheared, like lambs. I don't think that they are killed for it. At least I hope not!
Ahhh , will do it again !
Please! Please! Please!
Hollye, you are correct about llamas being sheared, like sheep, for their fur. So I would guess that makes it politically and environmentally correct to wear coats, etc. made from llama fur.
Thanks, Carolee! Phew.
Hola! Hollye,
It was so lovely meeting you today, apropos of this very particularly amazing post of yours, I am so glad you got to meet Tallulah, the furry titleholder of my heart. Great Post!
xxx
Isa
p.s.: So VERY proud of you! Felicidades! = ISBN-10: 1476743711
🙂
LOVED meeting you today, too! The Silver Lining of my day – for sure! Oh and that Tallulah…so precious! xx