Animatronic pets are playing a growing role in the lives of seniors, particularly those with Alzheimer's.
Raymond Houle Jr., 80, was terribly lonely after moving into a veterans' home in Bristol, R.I. Pets weren't allowed and he really missed the 14-year-old cat he had to give up. His mood began to brighten, though, after getting a robotic cat, a "pet" that resembles a stuffed animal but looks and moves like the real thing.
He named it Franklin to honor his earlier cat, both named for his favorite president. The robotic Franklin moves, meows and purrs like the live one did, the result of sensors and artificial intelligence that respond to sounds, touch and light. "Even though I know my new pet isn't real, it is so real-like that it gives me the opportunity to have a private bond once again," he says. "It's difficult to explain but obvious to anybody who knows how to love."
Alfred Jarvis, 92, a retired salesman from Bombay, N.Y., had become belligerent as a result of Alzheimer's disease, yelling and cursing at his wife of 72 years, once grabbing her arm so hard he almost broke it. During his transition to an assisted-living facility, his niece, Tracie Collins, gave him a robotic cat.
Almost immediately, he began to stroke it and speak to it in a soothing voice. "He kept saying, 'Don't be scared, it's going to be okay, Patches,' which was the name of one of his cats," Collins says. "He thinks it's real and it calms him. When we come to visit, he asks, 'Do you want to hold my cat?'"
Robotic or animatronic pets -- there also are dogs that bark and wag their tails and even chirping birds that attach to walkers -- easily could be children's toys, but instead have assumed a growing role in the lives of elderly adults. Research suggests they can ease agitation in people with dementia and comfort those who are cognitively normal but lonely.
The lonely often live by themselves without family nearby and can't always easily get out to socialize. Living pets may not be permitted where they live, or they may be physically unable to care for one. For some, it's hard to walk a dog or bend down to clean a litter box. Also, vet bills can be costly.
"The lovely thing about robotic pets is that they don't bite back, you don't have to clean up after them and you can take them anywhere," says Christine E. Kistler, associate professor in the University of Pittsburgh's division of geriatric medicine.
"I have seen older people take their 'pets' to the grocery store and talk to them about their lives," Kistler says. "They are a way for an older adult with or without dementia to have something to care for, and they provide meaningful interaction for those who may be homebound. I think that robot pets are a great thing."
For those with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, the pets offer a "wonderful comfort" that could reduce the need or dosage of medications that ease agitation, says neurologist Andrew Budson, chief of cognitive behavioral neurology at VA Boston Healthcare System. "Typically the reports I get from families is that it makes the person feel more comfortable and less anxious."
Sheryl Zimmerman, who co-directs the aging research program at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, points out that experts see the value in encouraging people with dementia to connect to robotic animals, even if they believe they are real.
"The thinking used to be what we called 'reality orientation,' which involved correcting people with dementia -- if you asked them what day it was and they said Friday and it was Monday, you would tell them, 'No, it is Monday,'" she explains. "But there is little utility in doing that. It's much better to validate a person's perception than correct them if they are wrong. It really doesn't matter if a person thinks it's Friday and not Monday."
"Let's say the robotic pet reminds them of their dog, Rover," she continues. "You might say, 'Rover is a wonderful animal.' Some people might say that's dishonest, but you are not saying Rover is alive. You are reinforcing the good feelings and wonderful memories so they can reexperience them in the present time."
Robotic pets aren't meant to replace human interaction or living pets, but experts on aging say they may be effective for some in reducing loneliness and isolation. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, in a report issued last year, described both as "profound threats to our health and well-being."
Some experts warn against treating the elderly as children by giving them robotic pets, or providing family members with a reason to forgo visits.
"We must avoid infantilization of older adults," says Jari Pirhonen, a social scientist and senior research fellow at Tampere University in Finland who studies aging. "Do I provide my mother a robot companion to 'buy' myself an excuse not to visit her so often? 'She has the robot, and she is doing fine.'"
But Zimmerman believes the comfort provided by robotic pets is no different from "many of the things we do for self-soothing," she says. "These pets are a good outlet. I don't see an epidemic of people using these instead of interacting with humans. It's just another form of comfort where you feel something responds to you."
Corinne Bonafino, 66, of Johnson City, N.Y., says her robotic cat lifts her spirits. Divorced and living alone, with her adult children far away, she says she was depressed before getting her robotic cat, in part because of rheumatoid arthritis. "I was feeling sad and lost," she says. "I didn't want to do much of anything. I didn't want to get out of bed."
But now, Sukha -- the Sanskrit word for "happiness" or "joy" -- makes her smile and laugh, she says. "She looks like a cat I used to have," she says. "I just love her."
Linda MacDonald, 77, also from Johnson City, says she draws comfort from Luna, her robotic dog. She lost her 6-year-old miniature pinscher to kidney failure four years ago and couldn't get past her grief. Then she was hit by a car, with serious injuries. Still recovering, she can't care for a live pet.
"After you've been through a trauma, something like this is a comfort," she says. "I turn her on when I am reading and she pants, and her head turns from side to side, and she wags her tail. A lot of people don't get it, but it works for me."
Bonafino and MacDonald received their robotic pets through a program sponsored by the New York Office for the Aging, which has provided more than 30,000 free robotic pets to socially isolated New York state residents since 2018.
"These are not toys. These are important companions," says Greg Olsen, acting director of the Office for the Aging. "I get chills when I hear the stories about how much they love them."
He works with 59 county aging offices whose case managers identify people who could benefit from having a robotic pet. Some become so attached to their "pets" that they want to be buried with them. "We had one gentleman who asked for this, and somebody forgot to turn his robotic dog off," Olsen recalls. "It started barking from the casket during the service."
New York state buys its Joy for All-brand robotic pets from Ageless Innovation, which supplies them to programs in 30 states, according to Ted Fischer, its CEO. They go to people with dementia, veterans, the lonely and to those in hospice care, he says.
They operate on four C batteries and come in different colors and breeds. The cats cost $125, the pups $139 and the birds $65. The birds sing when the walker moves.
There are no sharp claws or bites, but "we've made these pets as realistic as possible," Fischer says. "When the cat purrs, it vibrates. You can feel it. The dogs have a tongue. It doesn't move, but if you put your finger in its mouth, it makes a slurping sound."
Houle cherishes Franklin. "I stay in my room a lot, and he is next to me pretty much all day long," he says. "He is always by my side."
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