{"id":20348,"date":"2026-03-11T09:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/these-3-pets-serve-as-caregiving-companions\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:09:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:09:52","slug":"these-3-pets-serve-as-caregiving-companions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/these-3-pets-serve-as-caregiving-companions\/","title":{"rendered":"These 3 Pets Serve as Caregiving Companions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edwina Perkins<\/strong>
\nOrlando, Florida<\/p>\n

The sound of whimpering woke me in the middle of the night. It was our 11-month-old Bichon-poodle puppy,<\/a> Beethoven. He sniffed at our closed bedroom door. He had never done that before. You already went outside, <\/em>I thought. What could it be now\u2014a bad tummy?<\/em><\/p>\n

I rose to take him downstairs for another bathroom break when I heard a noise in the hallway. I opened the door. My mother-in-law, Stevie, stood there, looking confused.<\/p>\n

Mom had moved in with us a couple days earlier, and the house was still new to her. She was totally healthy except for her memory\u2014she had dementia. We had planned to move her into a care facility in her hometown of Seattle, but she refused to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think God wants her to come live with us,\u201d I said to my husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re sure,\u201d he said. We already had four kids and a puppy in the house, but we could manage. At least I hoped we could.<\/p>\n

Beethoven followed me as I led Mom back to her bed. Is this what you were whimpering about? <\/em>I wondered.<\/p>\n

When Beethoven cried again the next night, I opened the door and there was Mom\u2014standing in the hallway, looking bewildered. This time, Beethoven passed me and walked to her room, as if guiding her back to safety. Mom followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat dog <\/em>needs to leave,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t sleep with animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, he\u2019s not staying,\u201d I said as I tucked in the comforter around her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s his name again?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeethoven.\u201d<\/p>\n

His work done, our dog trotted back to our room. This became an almost nightly routine. Same actions, same conversation.<\/p>\n

Ever since we\u2019d gotten him as a two-month-old, Beethoven had been my <\/em>dog. He would follow me from room to room like a little shadow. But now that Mom was in the house, I noticed he paid more attention to her<\/a>. The days she was most agitated, he would jump on the couch and lay his head in her lap. I\u2019d often find her watching TV, absentmindedly rubbing his back. Other times Beethoven had only to scratch the front door and Mom would let him out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat dog got out again,\u201d she would say. She never learned his name.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d run to the open door. \u201cKids, Beethoven escaped!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes one of my kids would make a desperate leap and grab Beethoven before he reached the neighbor\u2019s yard. Other times we gave up and he\u2019d come home later.<\/p>\n

I began taping notes near all the exits. First asking nicely not to let Beethoven out, then insisting, \u201cDo not open the door.\u201d Nothing helped. Mom had grown up with outdoor dogs. She just didn\u2019t understand that letting Beethoven out without a leash turned into an unplanned game of catch me if you can. Several times a day he escaped and we chased.<\/p>\n

Once, I was busy in the kitchen when I noticed Beethoven was whining loudly at the front door.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not getting out this time,\u201d I said to him.<\/p>\n

I turned to remind Mom not to let him out, then realized she wasn\u2019t in her usual spot on the couch. Nor was she anywhere on the first floor. I looked out the front door. There she was, wandering around the yard.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom!\u201d<\/p>\n

I led her back inside.<\/p>\n

Beethoven became Stevie\u2019s constant companion for the three years she lived with us. He always seemed to know when Mom was somewhere she was not supposed to be.<\/p>\n

Eventually the day came that Mom needed more care than we could provide for her, and she moved back to Seattle, living in a facility near my sister-in-law. Beethoven sat at the top of the stairs by Mom\u2019s room for many evenings after she left. But he stopped whimpering by our bedroom door. He knew that his job was done.<\/p>\n

Not bad for that dog.<\/em>\n <\/p>\n

Donna deNobriga Winningham<\/strong>
\nCookeville, Tennessee<\/p>\n

I walked into the living room after a long day at work as a nurse practitioner. There was my 93-year-old mom<\/a>, Eleanor, right where she always was at this hour\u2014drinking a glass of wine on the couch. She had moved in with us after my father passed away six months earlier, and I worried that she was lonely. I was gone most of the day, and my husband, Jim\u2014though retired\u2014sometimes went to run errands or check on his own folks 45 minutes away. Who could she talk to?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow was your day, Mom?\u201d I asked, sitting down next to her. \u201cI hope you weren\u2019t too lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, no.\u201d She shook her head. \u201cI had my friend Sherlock to keep me company. He\u2019s way more fun than Dr. Phil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherlock was my African grey parrot. I had bought him as a tiny, featherless hatchling three years earlier. Not only did he grow into a beautiful bird\u2014with dark feathers and a bright red tail\u2014but he was intelligent too. African greys are known as the Einsteins of the bird world, and Sherlock loved to entertain us with his uncanny renditions of Jim\u2019s cell phone ringtone, soda cans being cracked open and even me telling our golden retriever to \u201chush!\u201d<\/p>\n

While he and Mom didn\u2019t exactly have conversations, Sherlock often chose to perch next to her and keep her company<\/a> when Jim and I were out. Sometimes Sherlock would imitate Jim\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, Eleanor,\u201d he would say.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, Jim,\u201d she\u2019d say.<\/p>\n

This would go on a few times until Mom realized it wasn\u2019t actually Jim talking.<\/p>\n

Mom and Sherlock took care of each other. Though Mom wasn\u2019t able to fill Sherlock\u2019s food and water dishes or change the newspaper on the floor of his play yard, she kept an eye out and was quick to tell Jim or me whenever any of those chores needed doing. Sherlock was her faithful companion. Together they\u2019d bird-watch, Mom\u2019s lifelong hobby. They would sit by the window in her bedroom and look at the birds picking at our feeders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been checking the feeders all afternoon,\u201d she would say when I got home from work. \u201cThe one that holds sunflower seeds need to be refilled right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I would slip on my rubber boots and head outside to the feeders. Mom would wave from the window, Sherlock by her side.<\/p>\n

Mom passed away last winter at the age of 94. Though my sweet parrot has never said, \u201cI miss Eleanor,\u201d I know he does. He still sometimes says her name.<\/p>\n

Monica Morris<\/strong>
\nMagnolia, Illinois<\/p>\n

It was just after Christmas, and I was visiting Mom in her rambling farmhouse outside Tiskilwa, Illinois. Punkin, the family cat, was resting on my dad\u2019s old chair at the kitchen table. I filled the sink with soapy water for lunch dishes and checked Punkin\u2019s bowl on the floor. Still full. He gazed up at me with luminous golden eyes.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to eat until Bill comes back, <\/em>he seemed to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might as well eat, kitty. He\u2019s not coming home.\u201d It broke my heart to say it out loud.<\/p>\n

Bill was my dad. Punkin had barely eaten since Dad\u2019s passing in November, after a bout of pneumonia. My mom and the six of us kids tried to carry on, but our grief lingered. A palpable thing.<\/p>\n

Punkin\u2019s too. He left Dad\u2019s chair only to use the litter box or jump onto the kitchen table, where he would sit and stare at that chair\u2014as if willing his best friend to appear.<\/p>\n

\u201cPunkin can\u2019t go without eating,\u201d Mom said. \u201cHe\u2019s not young anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely he\u2019s had some food,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

Mom shook her head.<\/p>\n

We were both worried. Mom about Punkin. Me about Mom. Punkin had been Mom\u2019s comforter<\/a> during Dad\u2019s illness, and she relied on him now that Dad was gone. Mom wouldn\u2019t be able to cope if something happened to him. None of us would.<\/p>\n

Punkin loved my mom. He used to perch on her shoulders, nuzzling her head, while she was reading. But he was Dad\u2019s best friend. Dad had discovered the tiny orange kitten in the barn 17 years ago, abandoned by his mother.<\/p>\n

There must have been something special about Punkin even then. My dad wasn\u2019t usually a cat person. He had livestock to take care of and a farm to run. Fields to plant and harvest. Hay to bale. Cats were just what killed mice in the barn.<\/p>\n

Yet Dad fed the kitten even before he fed the cattle. Punkin returned his devotion, following Dad to the barn for chores. He trailed behind Dad to the machine shed and waited for him to come back out after lunch. When Dad rolled down the road on his tractor, Punkin held court on the front porch with the other cats, watching for his buddy\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he purrs, I feel myself relax,\u201d Mom had once said to Dad.<\/p>\n

Dad had nodded. Punkin\u2019s ability to sense their need for comfort and company\u2014especially as they grew older\u2014was his best gift. Mom needed that now more than ever.<\/p>\n

I found myself praying as I did the dishes. Please, God, let Punkin know how much we need him to be okay. Let him eat.<\/em><\/p>\n

I drained the sink and turned to wipe down the table. Dad\u2019s chair was empty. I looked under the table. No cat. I stared at his bowl. Some of the food was gone. He\u2019d eaten. Finally.<\/p>\n

I peeked into the living room. There was Punkin on Mom\u2019s shoulder. It was the first time he\u2019d curled up with her since Dad died. She reached up to stroke him, and he stretched out a paw to pat her cheek.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right,\u201d she said to him. \u201cWe\u2019re all going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

I smiled. If Punkin could go on without Dad, so could we.<\/p>\n

For more inspiring stories, subscribe to <\/em>Guideposts<\/strong><\/a> magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edwina Perkins Orlando, Florida The sound of whimpering woke me in the middle of the night. It was our 11-month-old Bichon-poodle puppy, Beethoven. He sniffed at our closed bedroom door. He had never done that before. You already went outside, I thought. What could it be now\u2014a bad tummy? I rose to take him downstairs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358,191],"tags":[210,164,74,25],"ppma_author":[1289,1290],"class_list":["post-20348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-caregiving","category-pets","tag-caregiving","tag-cats","tag-dogs","tag-family"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThese 3 Pets Serve as Caregiving Companions - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"These 3 Pets Serve as Caregiving Companions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Edwina Perkins Orlando, Florida The sound of whimpering woke me in the middle of the night. 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