Bring Your Pet to Drug Rehab
Pets are like family, and ensuring they are well cared for is a priority for all pet owners. When deciding you need help for drug or alcohol addiction, pet care while you are away can be an obstacle to seeking help. A person may avoid rehab because they do not have pet care available or do not feel comfortable leaving them with someone else. The excellent news is pet-friendly drug rehab in Beverly Hills that allows you to bring your pet with you and better focus on your addiction recovery without worrying about your pet’s well-being.
Bringing your pet to rehab can be beneficial, and they can play a vital role in the recovery process for many reasons. Not only do they provide unconditional love, but they can also keep you accountable and mindful of other lives depending on you. They can boost mood positively and get us outside interacting with the world. A pet can also make the rehabilitation process less lonely. Overall, bringing your pet to drug rehab can increase your chances of completing a program.
Pets and Mental Health
Pets provide companionship that can have many benefits on our mental health. Because addiction is a mental health disorder, pets can significantly improve the outcome of addiction treatment. Rehab is a very stressful process, but having your pet can make the recovery process more manageable. They are a great source of comfort and motivation and can help us live healthier lives. Some of the ways pets help our mental health include:
- Reducing anxiety and depression. A study during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that pet owners were significantly less depressed than non-pet owners during the pandemic.
- Reducing stress by lowering the stress hormone cortisol.
- Playing with a dog, cat, or other pet elevates levels of serotonin and dopamine, chemicals that cause happiness and relaxation.
- Increase physical activity and being out in nature because pets need to be walked every day or taken for a run; they are a great way to ensure you get more exercise, boosting mental health.
- Help you feel needed, which can motivate recovery because you do it for someone who needs you rather than just yourself.
- Pets can increase self-esteem and confidence by offering unconditional love, especially for those who feel isolated and misunderstood.
- They add structure to your day. Having to feed, walk, and care for a pet creates a daily routine, which can help make you feel more grounded and focused.
- Pets support social connections. Not only do they help us get out more into the world, but they also help relieve social anxiety and provide a common topic to talk about with strangers.
Benefits of Pet-Friendly Drug Rehab
There are many advantages to having your pet with you during your time at rehab besides the many mental health benefits. Having your pet with you helps reduce anxiety and fear of ensuring they are well taken care of while you’re at rehab. The recovery process can be long, and depending on the severity of your addiction, your inpatient rehab program can last several months. Finding pet care for that length of time can be very difficult, as well as emotionally challenging because you miss them and may worry about them. Bringing your pet to rehab can help remove those stressors so you can focus on recovery, as well as increase your chances of completing a program.
Pets offer unconditional love and comfort, making the recovery process less lonely. They can sense their owners’ moods and help comfort them when the process gets more complicated. They can also provide a sense of home, reducing feelings of homesickness.
Drug and alcohol addiction can wreak havoc on the brain’s regulation of certain chemicals. A central part of the recovery process is helping patients find ways to increase these chemicals, and having your pet there is one of the ways to support this as well.
The recovery process also focuses on helping patients build a routine to reduce cravings and the likelihood of relapsing, which pets will force people to do whether they want to or not. Owners are more likely to stay on track and keep their routines because another living creature relies on them.
Pets can also help create a sense of community by helping their owners connect with other pet owners and having common ground. They provide another community that does not revolve around addiction and recovery and helps build new connections.
Caring for a pet creates a sense of responsibility, helping to motivate sobriety because someone else is relying on them. Feeling needed can help a person in recovery feel there are others dependent on them getting healthy and giving them something to live for.
They can help a person in recovery focus on something else rather than drugs or alcohol. Many people in recovery will attest that keeping busy helps them stay sober. Having a pet can fill the void of idle time and not feel alone and bored.
Pets can also lower blood pressure and heart rate. Long-term alcohol and drug abuse can lead to many health issues, including high blood pressure and irregular heartbeat. Having your pet with you can help regulate these again.
What to Consider Before Bringing Your Pet to Rehab
When looking for pet-friendly drug rehab in Beverly Hills, make sure to check in if they have any regulations, such as size and weight limits, and that your pet meets their criteria. All patients who bring their pets to rehab are responsible for feeding, cleaning, walking, and exercising their pets, as well as keeping them safe.
Call the rehab center beforehand and let them know you are bringing your pet so they can make the proper accommodations for you and what you need to bring with you. In general, you will need to make sure your pet is up to date with appropriate shots and should bring their records with you to show that. You should also bring any medication they may need, toys, food, pet waste bags, litter boxes, bowls, leash, and collar, as well as their bed and blanket, and anything else they usually need to feel right at home.
You will also be responsible for your pet’s behavior and ensuring it does not disrupt other residents. Many facilities may require patients who bring their pets to stay in a private room, which may be more expensive. You will also need to clean up after your pet and make sure they are kept smelling fresh not to bother other residents or staff.
Pet-friendly rehab in Beverly Hills is just like a traditional rehab program with the same goals and treatments. Like traditional rehab, the main goal is to get to the root of their issue and build a treatment plan around their individual needs. You may need to go through the detox process, which may be supported with prescription medications and followed by a combination of different counseling methods such as group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and individual counseling.
Pet Friendly Drug Rehab at Muse in Beverly Hills
Muse Treatment Center is dedicated to helping meet any individual needs you may have, including making our facilities pet-friendly. We understand the critical role pets play in our lives and that their comfort and care can be just as important to you as your recovery. We also see the many benefits of having your pet with you during rehab and want to do anything and everything to increase your chances of a full recovery.
Offering pet-friendly drug rehab in Beverly Hills ensures you are more comfortable, and the recovery process is less hard on you. You and your pet’s comfort are of utmost importance to us. We are also aware there are not many high-quality rehab facilities that offer pet-friendly accommodations, which makes us want to provide this service along with exceptional, evidence-based drug and alcohol rehab to the Beverly Hills area.
Our customizable medical detox program and inpatient and outpatient care programs are available to our patients who decide to bring their pets along. You can rest assured that it will help and support you along the way and provide a connection to a supportive sober community after your program with us is completed. If you or a loved one is looking for pet-friendly drug rehab in Beverly Hills, please give us a call at (800) 426-1818 today to speak to one of our addiction specialists who can answer any questions about our pet-friendly rehab and help you figure out if Muse Treatment is the right program for you.
