Robotic Pet Cats Improve Behavioral Symptoms In Adults With Dementia, Study Shows

Can robotic versions of our "furry friends" also provide some mental health benefits apart from giving emotional support to older adults? A new study has found that robotic pet cats can also help improve mood and cognition in adults with dementia.

Pet therapy, also known as animal-assisted therapy, includes guided interaction between a person and a trained animal. This method typically uses cats and dogs, although horses, guinea pigs and even fish have also been used, and it often needs the involvement of the animals' handlers.

This method has been known as a "cost-effective and therapeutic intervention" to improve mood and behavior in older adults, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) noted in a news release. However, people with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias (ADRD), who tend to experience psychological and behavioral symptoms, are usually given medications such as antipsychotics that may have side effects.

For their study, published in the journal Issues in Mental Health Nursing, a team of researchers tested the effectiveness of "non-pharmacological therapeutic interactive pet (TIP)," in this case interactive robotic pet cats, to improve the mood/behavior and cognition of 12 people with mild to moderate dementia, who were attending adult day centers (ADC).

The participants knew that the pets were robots, and each of them got to name their furry friend, which even had their own collar and personalized nametag.

Researchers monitored them over the course of 12 visits and assessed the participants' mood and behavior, as well as their cognition, and found that the robotic pet cats actually helped improve their mood scores over time. More than half of the participants also scored higher in the cognition test "with slight to moderate improvement in attention/calculation, language and registration."

"In addition to improving mood, behaviors and cognition, these robotic pet cats provided our participants with an alternative way to express themselves," study co-author Lisa Kirk Weise said in the FAU news release. "Importantly, improving overall mood and behavior in individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias may also improve quality of life for their caregivers and family members."

For instance, participants interacted with their robotic pets by smiling at them and talking to them. Some also expressed sentiments such as "the cat is looking at me like someone who listens to me and loves me," the researchers noted.

"Participants stroked and spoke often to their pets. Several family members reported participants sleeping with their pet following the program's conclusion," they wrote. "TIP proved to be a safe alternative method to improving mood/behavior in persons with dementia attending an ADC."

A video provided by FAU shows how the robotic pet cats meow and generate cat-like movements when being stroked.

Since these furry friends were not alive, there were no concerns about their safety and needs such as food and vaccination, FAU noted. There were also no issues about the participants' safety due to possible allergic reactions.

"Since there is no cure for dementia, our project offers a way to address symptoms naturally and without the use of pharmacological treatments, which may or may not be effective and have possible detrimental side effects," study lead author Bryanna Streit LaRose said in the FAU news release. "Our intervention was affordable, safe, and noninvasive."