Dogs, cats, fish, canaries… will pets soon be allowed in nursing homes ?

Les personnes âgées pourraient bientôt être autorisées à amener leur animal de compagnie en Ehpad. ILLUSTRATION MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

The government said it was in favor this Friday, March 1, of welcoming pets into nursing homes. In fact,   establishments are now free to authorize or refuse their residents to have animals. A right to discretion of the establishment that the government wishes to make compulsory.

Go to a retirement home, okay, but not alone. The government said it was in favor this Friday, March 1, of elderly people being able to move into nursing homes with their pets.

"Humanize" nursing homes

Because entering a nursing home is often described as a "break" for older people, who see their habits and benchmarks disrupted. "Add to this the forced abandonment of an animal is intolerable", recently declared the deputy LR Philippe Juvin, at the initiative of the measure that&#39 ;he wishes to include in the bill "Aging well".

Approved by the deputies but rebutted by the senators, who prefer to leave establishments the choice of welcoming or not pets, as is currently the case, the text must be discussed again by parliamentarians on March 12 during a joint committee. 

Je confirme les propos de ma ministre déléguée : je suis favorable, dans le prolongement de l’amendement de @philippejuvin, à ouvrir la possibilité dans la loi d’accueillir les animaux de compagnie en EHPAD. Respectueuse du travail du parlement et de son calendrier, j’invite la… https://t.co/yIWRcO8uGU

— Catherine Vautrin (@CaVautrin) March 1, 2024

For its part, the government supports the measure. "I am in favor (…) of opening up the possibility in the law of welcoming pets into nursing homes", indicated on X the Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity Catherine Vautrin, inviting elected officials to take up this social issue with a view to further humanizing our nursing homes.

Supervise the practice

According to a recent Ifop survey for the 30 million Friends Foundation, 86% of French people are in favor of welcoming pets into nursing homes. The organizations representing the establishments are also in favor. 

This would mark "a significant step forward in improving the quality of life of the elderly", indicates& ;nbsp;Jean-Christophe Amarantinis, president of Synerpa, the main union of private nursing homes, at Franceinfo. 

He admits "the benefits of animals on the well-being of residents" but insists on the importance of "framing this practice in the internal regulations of establishments for health and cohabitation reasons.

Next spring ? 

Dogs, cats, goldfish, and birds could thus land in retirement homes, said Fadila Khattabi, the Minister for the Elderly and Disabled People, on France 2. But "we will have to be realistic", we will not be able to bring "an animal like a boa", specifies the delegate minister.

 In Paris, a working group bringing together directors of nursing homes from the public and private sectors is working on a charter to define the conditions for welcoming new residents with their animals .

If parliamentarians approve the entry of animals into nursing homes, the measure could come into force this spring.