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Canadian universities embracing in-residence animals for therapy purposes

Students at some schools are now allowed to bring therapy animals of various kinds with them. (Thinkstock)
Students at some schools are now allowed to bring therapy animals of various kinds with them. (Thinkstock)

University can pile on stress to unbearable levels. In the old days, the advice was to grin and bear it. Happily, schools these days are adapting to allow students to deal with issues that in the past could have derailed academic careers.

At the University of Calgary, on-campus student Casey* deals with her anxiety disorder by cuddling with one of her two roommates; the one with four legs, a tail, and a litter box. Normally, cats are a no-no in university residences. But a doctor’s note gives Casey permission to keep her furry friend close, allowing her to relieve tension and put her focus where it belongs: on her studies.

“I’ve just had a lot of anxiety, just from assignments and midterms and keeping up with everything and being away from home,” she says.

“The cat helped to relieve some of that anxiety and to lessen the frequency of episodes.”

UCalgary is one of several Canadian schools that now allow therapeutic, or “comfort” animals in residences. The University of British Columbia also has a pet on campus and has had others in recent years. Lakehead, Ryerson, and Dalhousie are among others that also allow pets in special circumstances.

Not all schools make the allowances, but it’s part of a recent trend of embracing animals as a therapeutic answer to stress. More common are “puppy rooms’ that pop up during exam breaks, where students can roll around with a few dogs to break up a caffeine-fueled study binge.

Casey is the first student to bring an animal into residence at UCalgary, but the school isn’t the only one debating the issue.

“I would say in the last year or so that question has come up more often,” says Lakshmi Sangaranarayanan, the school’s manager of housing services and residence education. “(But) this is the first year we’ve gotten a request for an animal for emotional reasons.”

To get permission for a pet on campus, students need medical documentation that states they need an animal for emotional reasons, as well as proof of vaccinations for the animal, and the permission of any roommates. In Casey’s case, her “other” roommate is a childhood friend who was more than happy to have a feline on the premises.

There’s also a $250 fee to pay for a deep clean of the residence room at the end of the year.

Even for a cash-strapped student, that fee may not seem like much when considering the benefits.

While Casey may currently have the only animal on campus, that’s likely to change in coming semesters. Canadian schools have been wrestling with increased reports of anxiety and depression among students. Student debt burdens have risen, competition for advanced degrees is tight, and at the end of the tunnel is an uncertain jobs market.

Compounding the problem is that many students are living away from home for the first time, with emotional supports unavailable.

For Casey, who grew up with animals, having the cat helps bridge a gap to home.

“I was just missing having an animal around,” she says. She got the cat in April, and the two have already formed an attachment.

“I think she can kind of sense when I’ m not feeling the best, and she’ll come up to me and sit beside me,” she says.

Cats and dogs in residence may still be a rare thing, but many schools have embraced the idea of animals as a student de-stresser.

Judy Sauvé, chair and founder of Therapeutic Paws of Canada, organizes dog visits to hospitals, seniors’ residences and universities, where the demand for a brief dose of canine company at exam time can be high.

It’s quite a shock to think that these university and college-level students would stand in line for 2 and 3 hours just to get in a room so they can sit on the floor and cuddle with a dog,” she says.

Standing in line hardly seems like a recipe for relieving stress, but studies show that interactions with animals can reduce tension, help mood, and sooth depression, at least in the short term. Maybe a quick dose of unconditional love can go pretty far.

“Some of them are on their way to exams or just lonely for the pet that they’ve left at home,” says Sauvé. “We get a lot of requests to come back again. So it’s obviously a benefit to those students.”

*Name changed to protect student’s identity