photo by Shmuel Thaler (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Munching on his favorite foods -- carrot tops and basil -- Sam, a 4½-year-old Rex Mix rabbit, waits patiently with owner Heather Mietz Egli for his friends outside the Pacific Coast Manor in Capitola. One by one they show: Sadie, a full-blood rescue collie; Daisy, a 6-year-old mixed poodle; Abby, a small, adorable scruffy-hair mix breed; and, the youngest of the group, Cheyenne, a 2½-year-old full-breed Labrador.

These pets and their owners, members of an all-volunteer nonprofit called Furry Friends Pet Assisted Therapy Service, visit once a month for an hour of unconditional love with the residents at this skilled and long-term senior care facility. Mietz Egli saw an ad in the paper for Furry Friends and thought Sam would be a perfect candidate because he loves being petted and is really social.

"People don't get touched, hugged, loved and kissed enough," said Mietz Egli, who joined the volunteer team at Pacific Coast Manor PCM after reading an alarming statistic that nearly 80 percent of senior residents in long-term care facilities receive little to no visitation. more...

photo by Bill Lovejoy

A tan and white rabbit is Heather Mietz Egli’s partner when she visits a nursing home, children’s hospital or the Alzheimer’s unit of an assisted living facility near her home in Santa Cruz, Calif. Mietz Egli has dogs, cats, rabbits and rats as pets, and wanted to provide pet therapy after reading a story about animal-assisted activities in a local newspaper. But it wasn’t until she adopted her rabbit, Sam, two years ago that she felt she had an animal whose disposition was right for the job.

“A rabbit needs to enjoy being petted and interacting with people,” says Mietz Egli, 36. “It’s important that he doesn’t spook; he doesn’t get twitchy or jumpy. Sam reacts well to being picked up. He’s a very mellow, placid creature who loves to be fawned over.”

That’s what patients do when Mietz Egli arrives with her beloved bunny. “The neat thing about the rabbit is he can sit on their lap,” she says. “People just want to hold him. His coat is really soft; it’s just like velvet. They fuss over him like he was a little baby.” more...