Robopets for elderly person with dementia

[rookiemere]

Poor DM is in a bad way. She has lost most of her sight and hearing, can’t really talk anymore and is in pain and bed bound due to her osteoporosis. I noticed when DH brought our dog into the care home the other day, she seemed to enjoy stroking him, despite not being a huge fan in the past.
I therefore wondered if she might get some comfort from one of those robopets marketed for the elderly. I could just buy one, but as the decent ones cost over £100 I wondered if anyone had any experience of them and if they were useful or not.

I don't have experience of that, but my grandmother with dementia absolutely loves her furbie! Laughs, strokes and talks with it as if it is a baby, so think robopet sounds like a great idea!

It might well be worth a try. The only thing I would say is that, with my grandmother, most new things were rejected as she didn’t recognise them as belonging to her. She just kept trying to give them to us to take away. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thanks for responses. Dm is not good with new things, I also worry about it dropping and her trying to catch it.
I have a review with the care home on Monday so will discuss with them then

Might it be too complicated with WiFi and things potentially going wrong. Updates, charging and so on. Have you tried a cuddly toy?

My mum is the same. She won’t accept anything new as it’s not ‘hers’ we tell her it’s a present and she thanks you but then forgets again.

A family friend with dementia managed to order herself a robotic cat online! She is obsessed with it. But she won’t switch it off at night as “I could never do that to her” and at times it meows and keeps her awake. But she is absolutely besotted with it.

Thanks for additional responses. Sounds like a great resource for your friend @BibbityBoppityTwo!

I do worry that she might not accept it or find it too childish and be insulted. Her type of dementia presents as agitation and focusing on tiny details. I could try an ordinary cuddly toy, but I think it’s the responsiveness of the robot one that might be appealing.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother.
My mother had dementia and was in a care home for several years. Several of the ladies in the care home loved their cuddly toys, including my mother, they seemed to find it comforting to hug and talk to them. I bought her one for every birthday and Christmas and with the ones she co-opted from other residents she ended up with a large collection.

The robot pets I've seen on the Alzheimers site contain batteries so you would need to check if the care home are okay with her having access to batteries (risk of her putting them in her mouth).

I would try the cuddly toy option. If it doesn't work, you haven't spent much money finding out.

Thanks @catofgloryI might try bringing along my childhood toy to see if that helps at all.

If you look on Amazon there are lots of very realistic looking breathing animals for a fraction of the price of the therapy pets. You could buy one of those and try it sitting on your knee and see if your DM is interested and wants to hold him. My DM had a lamp with jelly fish in it. She loved it and although she knew at that point they weren't real she would still sit and watch them.

https://www.robopets.co.uk/product-page/orange-cat

I know a lot of people with dementia who have these particular cats. They are generally very well liked (some people do try and feed them now and again!). They purr, roll, put paw up to their face.

I personally find them a bit creepy but they are popular!

There’s a new version of a labubu but a different brand that has some movement, could be worth a look?

Mirumi they’re called

My mother who has dementia and has just gone into an EMI dementia care home has one. It works very well for her. Sometimes she thinks it's a small child.

DMs physical condition has taken a bit of a turn for the worse so it looks like a robopet may not be needed. But who knows she has pulled through a lot.

Sorry to hear that - I hope she does pull through and the robopet has a chance to be useful 😊