The mission of the Royal Canin Foundation is to highlight the positive role of cats and dogs in our lives. Here you can discover their proven benefits on human health, as well as their unique abilities, and get to know some of these exceptional cats and dogs.
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Everyone knows that pets provide companionship, affection, protection and that unique bonds are formed with owners. In addition to being a source of love and friendship, numerous scientific studies have evaluated the many ways in which they are good for our health.
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Dog exposure during the first year of life is associated with a decreased risk of childhood asthma at the age of 6, as says a large, nationwide study on children born from January 2001 to December 2010 in Sweden.
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Cat-assisted therapy can be beneficial for Pakinson’s patients : indeed petting and grooming the animal may help to better control hand tremor.
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Dog owners are four times more likely to meet the activity guidelines of 150 mins per week, says a survey conducted in West Cheshire UK, in July-August 2015.
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Trained dogs are clearly able to discriminate the seizure odours of patients experiencing seizures.
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80% of pet owners said their pet makes them feel less lonely, and 85% of respondents agree that interaction with pets can help reduce loneliness.
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The level of anxiety of seventy-eight children aged 10 to 13 participating to a study was reduced after interacting with a dog.
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Dog ownership is associated with a 24% reduction in risk of all-cause mortality, reports this meta-analysis of 10 studies with over 3.8 million participants.
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Pet ownership has the potential to contribute to the maintenance of cognitive function within the psychological realm and thus promote successful aging.
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Pets are estimated to save UK National Health Service up to £2.45billion a year.
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Couples who owned a dog or cat have lower blood pressure and heart rate compared to people who didn’t and that these increased less during stressful times.
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While the purr does generally represent contentment for cats, it can also express nervousness, fear, stress and even pain sometimes.It’s likely that purring has communication, appeasement, and healing properties.
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Military veterans are one group that is disproportionately affected by PTSD. It is estimated that at some point in their life, 7 out of every 100 Veterans (or 7%) will have PTSD.
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As time has passed, we started to see and treat cats and dogs like little humans, without knowing if its good for them or not.
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Belgian Shepherd dogs (Malinois) are attentive, active dogs that boasts all the qualities to be a good service dog: dynamic, hardy and strong, with a great stamina, a very well-developed sense of smell and an ability to concentrate for a long time
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While domestic housecats have been clocked anywhere between 48 and 56 km/h = 30 to 35 miles/h Bengals are known for being fast, up to 72 km/h (45 miles/h)
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In the wild, cats race up trees and make spectacular leaps to avoid danger and hunt out food. Many domestic cats try to reconnect with these instincts, even when they live a cushy indoor life.
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Cats have a super-refined sense of smell : with up to 200 million scent receptor cells, whereas humans only have 10 million odor-sensitive cells
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Cats have an extraordinarily broad hearing range, from 48 Hz to 85 kHz for sounds of 70 dB SPL. A healthy cat can pinpoint, to 3 inches (7.6cm), the location of a sound being made 3 feet (0.9m). They also pick up sounds 4 or 5 times farther away than humans.
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A cat can see in the dark through their eyes that reflect the light : their retina contains a special layer called the tapetum (tapetum lucidum) which acts like a mirror and reflects the light back.
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Compared to just 206 in the human body. The cat’s tail is an extension of the spinal column, and consists of mobile vertebrae called caudal vertebrae. The number varies according to the individual (from 14 to 24 bones), and they reduce in size towards the tip of the tail.
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Human fingerprints are found on the finger tips. In cats, the location is the muzzle : each cat has their very own unique nose. Nose leather is the hairless part of the tip of the nose, where the cat’s nostrils are located.
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Researchers from Dalhousie University in Canada discovered that the average dog appear to know about 89 words and phrases Highly intelligent dogs can respond to over 200 words that their owners. This special ability is a strong asset when it comes to educate assistance or therapy dogs,
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Equipped with an acute sense of smell, some dogs sense when a diabetic’s blood sugar level drops. Diabetes Alert Dogs are trained to recognize hypoglycemic episodes and alert their owner – most likely reacting to scents produced by chemical changes triggered by the glucose imbalance.
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Golden Retrievers are good–tempered, loyal, easygoing dogs who make wonderfully adaptable companions. Intelligent, keen and biddable, with a strong need to please.
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With 220 million olfactory cells, Labradors are truly the breed with the best olfaction enabling them to identify changes in human odour caused by certain medical conditions: like detecting mark melanomas (skin tumours) by sniffing patients, and prostate or ovarian cancers by sniffing urine.
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Ragdolls are incredibly docile, gentle, affectionate, and easy going making it an ideal breed for assisted therapy where the pet is providing therapeutic contact.
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Disaster search dogs have become vital lifesavers across the world since their introduction during the middle of the 20th century. Their outstanding sense of smell and hearing, calm, intelligence, loyalty and versatility enable them to excel in search and rescue tasks.
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Cat’s whiskers are a finely tuned piece of sensory equipment full of nerve endings and tipped with a proprioceptor that’s extremely sensitive to vibrations. They help cats judge distances and tight spaces – and decide whether they can get through. And even detect air currents in the dark for heightened night vision.
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A dog's sense of smell is 1,000 to 10,000 times more powerful than humans. Their noses are lined with 300 million olfactory receptors.
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Each cats and dogs serving in the projects are unique and help human friends in need with their specific abilities and unconditional love.
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Lupo was born on September 17, 2011. He is now 12 years old and enjoys a happy retirement with his trainer’s family. Milka was born on March 13, 2020, and replaces Lupo in the Argentinian volunteers' rescuers ACECC team. (Asociación Civil Escuela Canina de Catastrofe) Besides being trained for search & rescue missions, both dogs are super companions, and really enjoy family life.
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Kira indicates by a gentle bark or a strong nudge. Very, very often the dog’s nose is quicker and smarter than any technical equipment. « I can totally rely on Kira. She has enhanced considerably my life and activities, She gives me back a good feeling of normality. I cannot imagine a life without her » - Karin
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Nougaro and Owen took part to the study : « transcutaneous breast cancer detection by canine odorology » from January 2020 to March 2022. Prince was the 1st dog to start the threshold study straight after his training period.
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Rancho serves as a legal assistance dog, for the Nîmes courthouse and provides emotional support to beneficiaries involved in legal procedures.
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Ono is approximately 8 years old. She is a therapy dog and provides comfort, companionship and emotional support at Floga –Parent association of children with cancer. During the visits, she is highly cooperative and delicate in the way she seeks affection from children. Ono was evaluated and trained at the “Save a Greek Stray” shelter. She loves being petted and lounging in the sun.
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Ragdolls are incredibly docile, gentle, affectionate, and easy going making it an ideal breed for assisted therapy where the pet is providing therapeutic contact. Diletta has a truly extraordinary soul. She helped people for six years through therapy sessions, especially children in hospital within the Pet Therapy projects of Frida’s Friends Onlus. Her daughters, Cloe and Ginger, have inherited her great empathy and are now involved in the project.
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Indra & Lucy were born on October 9, 2021 Indra works with about 70 children every week. She likes stealing your lunch, her cat friend Pusia, and to ride in a car. Lucy works with about 80 children weekly, in different places (kindergarten, care institutions, etc..). She can find food everywhere and loves licking ice cubes. She likes many things but prefers a hard floor to any kind of dog bed
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Assistance dogs for children with ASD improve family’s life quality, since results show they help to improve sleeping quality, reduce escaping patterns and the level of stress in public spaces.
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“When you have children with neurological alterations, one challenge is the cognitive fatigue. This means that, due to the effort they have to make to achieve their goals, they get tired very quickly. The dog makes this fatigue disappear, because when children are happy, there is really no fatigue” Dra. Berta Zamora, 12 Octubre hospital.
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Ellie has a training and visiting certificate according to the IAHAIO (International Association Human-Animal Interaction) and PADA (Personality Assessment of Domestic Animals) system. Ellie passed the ASB test. (search and rescue dog)
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Her mission is search and rescue dog of the Canine Center of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. She took part in searching for people notably in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine. She also went in after the earthquake in Turkey and contributed to save lives of people under the rubble.
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