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The first ‘pet therapy’ programme to be held in Nepal has proved to be an outstanding success.

Kathmandu Animal Treatment centre (KAT) and Bal Mandir children’s home teamed up with the help of Mitrataa Foundation to hold the first ‘Dr Dog’ session at the home.

Mango (the loveable Tibetan Terrier KAT mascot) and Tara (a paraplegic dog) were the stars of the show for the tiny children at Bal Mandir.

For some of the little tots who had never before interacted with dogs, it was at first frightening, but within a very short time both dogs and children were tumbling and playing.

Jan Salter, KAT Founder, said: “The response from the children that were physically and mentally challenged was a joy to watch. The exchange, which lasted over an hour and a half, left the children with radiant smiling excited faces. Wow, what a success! By the reaction we have had today, I hope we can attract other institutions to follow Bal Mandir’s lead.”

Bal Krishna Dangol, deputy director of Nepal Children’s Organization at Bal Mandir, said: “It has been my dream to have this kind of interaction between animals and the children at Bal Mandir. Animals help stimulate minds and communication. And as we have just seen so clearly today - it has been far better than I expected. We will make this a regular feature for our children.”

KAT and Bal Mandir were first introduced by Adam and Rebecca Ordish of Mitrataa Foundation. Mitrataa had been approached by Bal Mandir seeking support for this type of program. “After extensive research and some fundraising the Foundation, which conducts many projects in Nepal focusing on education initiatives for women and girls, we introduced Bal Mandir to KAT and the result has been beyond our wildest dreams”, said Adam.

In the UK and many other countries Pet Therapy is well-established at venues ranging from hospitals to homes for the elderly. Well-respected scientific studies have also shown that peoples’ mental and physical health shows a quantifiable improvement after regular interaction with animals.

KAT was founded in 2004 and carries out a programme of animal birth control and rabies vaccination amongst street dogs to reduce suffering and benefit the community.

Street and community dogs are caught each day, taken to KAT Centre, treated for conditions such as worms, fleas and mange, and then sterilised and vaccinated against rabies. Once they are fully recovered they are released back where they came from with an identity mark on their ear.

KAT receives no government funding and is reliant on donations.

Since it began, KAT has sterilised and vaccinated over 5,400 dogs – preventing around 55,000 unwanted puppies being born.

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