11/28/2014
Children of military families benefit from pets
Most of us know having a pet in our lives is beneficial to us and to everyone in our family. New research has shown that living with a dog or cat is especially positive for children from military families.
It’s a given that having parents serve in the military and be away for long periods of time is hard on children. A Tufts University study reveals that children with strong attachments to animals cope better than those who don’t have a family pet. The report in Science Daily supports the belief that “along with other key resources, strong attachments to animals may help military-connected children develop resiliency and other positive developmental traits.”
“We were interested in seeing if the specific stressors faced by military-connected families could be mitigated by interacting with animals,” says Megan Mueller, Ph.D., a developmental psychologist and research assistant professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. “We found that kids with deployed parents who had developed a deep bond with a family pet reported having better coping strategies in dealing with the stress than those without such ties to a companion animal.”
Close to 300 children in grades 6 through 12 with parents in the military took the survey study. About 70 percent of the youth surveyed had family pets and most of them had some involvement in taking care of those pets. Some of the children reported they fed, played with, and (if applicable) walked their pets.
The study also found that children who bonded with their pets were confident and caring, and that children with at least one deployed family member had higher levels of stress than those with parents who were home.
“It isn’t enough to be around animals,” Mueller says, “Children need to be engaged in that relationship. Strong attachments to pets may foster a more proactive attitude about handling stressful problems and could serve as a bridge to developing and maintaining peer relationships during stressful circumstances.”
A guest with Meadow and Pearl!
Thank you so much to everyone for your generous gifts from our Amazon wish list!!
Amazon often does not put packing slips in the boxes and they never give us your contact info so we are not able to personally contact you to thank you. Please know that we deeply appreciate your kindness and are very grateful to you for your support!
This list is from several days of boxes :)
Pixie laying in a box!
| Thank you Aerial Williams for the cat litter! |
| Thank you Ann Shaw for the cat food and cat toys! |
| Thank you Anthony McFarland for the weazle ball! Thank you Arden Myers for the scratch kube! |
| Thank you Diane Bullock for the cat toy, cat tree and charcoal filters! |
Poppy sitting in the cat tree!
Thank you Denise Carpenter for the cat food and cat toys!
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| Thank you Jennifer Jackson for the cat litter! |
| Thank you Lindi Lagman for the cat toys! |
| Thank you Lorinda Davis for the cat toys and cat food! |
| Thank you Matthew Silverman for the cat litter and swifter extender kit! |
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Holly drinking from her fountain!
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As you do your Christmas shopping we hope you will use smile.amazon when you shop at amazon, they will donate money to us from them not you for everything you buy from them.
Oreo loves his treats from amazon and the charitable donation they give us from people who use smile amazon!
Thank you to the wonderful people who share their auctions with the cats!
You may find lots of them at
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-SIGNED-WATERCOLOUR-PAINTING-KATE-DANIELS-CHRISTMAS-KITTEN-/171557319063?pt=Art_Paintings
One vote every 24 hours.
Popcorn is wondering if you voted yet!
Taking pre-orders now for the Calendars!!!!
We will start taking pre-orders soon for calendars and will try to ship them by the 1st of December. They make great Christmas gifts and what a great way to start the new year with one!
Don't forget we have our annual Christmas tree decorating fundraiser! It makes a great gift for someone who has everything! Here is the link: http://blindcatrescue.com
Cora under the Christmas tree!
Do you walk or run? The Droid app is finally ready. If you pick Blind Cat Rescue as your charity, every time you walk/run they will donate to the cats!
Link: http://www.resqwalk.com/
CFC #67324
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