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Imagine being hospitalized while your elderly dog becomes so distressed in your absence that they stop eating.

One cold, rainy Saturday, I watched a mother-to-be on bedrest during her first pregnancy persuade her medical team to roll her outside on a stretcher so she could comfort her aging dog in the hospital traffic circle. Cars passed, visitors hurried by, and staff looked on with concern. But the tenderness between the patient and her dog was unmistakable.

It was also a reminder that people will go to extraordinary lengths to stay connected to the animals who anchor them.

Stories of patients sneaking pets into hospitals, or slipping outside for a quick reunion, are legendary. But there is a safer, more welcoming way to bring patients and their beloved animals together.

At the University of Maryland Medical Center, a formal policy allows patients to receive visits from their own dog or cat. The policy, known as Visitation by Patient’s Personal/Family Pet, reflects a compassionate practice shaped by pastoral care, supported by clinical oversight, and informed by research showing that animals can play a measurable role in human well-being.

How Personal Pet Visitation Works

These visits are not casual drop-ins. They are carefully coordinated to protect the patient, the family, staff, and the animal.

A visit may begin when a patient requests it, when a member of the care team recognizes the importance of the patient’s pet, when a patient has a long hospital stay, when the patient or pet is experiencing stress from separation, or when a patient is nearing the end of life.

Pastoral Care meets with the family and, when appropriate, the patient. The pet’s veterinarian verifies the animal’s health. The patient or family signs the required release. The attending physician writes an order, and nursing leadership and Infection Prevention are notified.

Unlike therapy-dog programs, these visits involve the patient’s own pet. There is no outside therapy-dog organization assuming responsibility for the visit. For that reason, the visit is scheduled, escorted, and supervised by a representative of the pastoral care team.

The goal is simple: safety, dignity, and sacred connection.

Sacred Moments, Shared Grace

Across faith traditions, animals are recognized as teachers, companions, and sources of comfort. The book of Job reminds us: “Ask the animals, and they will teach you” (Job 12:7). Many saints and spiritual writers have echoed that truth, inviting us to notice how animals offer presence without pretense.

In hospital rooms, that presence can be profound.

Over years of coordinating personal pet visitations, several themes emerged.

Dogs often understand more than we expect. Families sometimes worried that an energetic dog would be too excited or difficult to manage. Instead, many dogs arrived calm and focused, seeming to sense the seriousness of the moment. One mastiff lay perfectly still on a stretcher beside his owner’s bed for hours. The patient had suffered a spinal cord injury and could not use his arms to pet his dog, but the dog remained present beside him.

Good-byes matter. In one case, two friends had agreed that if anything happened to one of them, the other would care for his dog. After a devastating motorcycle accident, the surviving friend drove 200 miles to bring the patient’s golden retriever for a final visit. When the visit ended, the dog appeared to have aged in that single hour — a quiet witness to loss.

Comfort can be simple. A teenage girl hospitalized for diagnostics asked to see her cat, who had become part of her support system during a new health challenge. Although she was being discharged the next day, the visit proceeded. When I returned to escort her father and the cat out, the patient was curled up with the cat on a windowsill, crying softly as she said good-bye for the night. Her father later said it was the best encouragement she had received during the entire six-day stay.

Why Personal Pets Are Different

Therapy dogs bring joy, comfort, and connection, especially when a patient’s own dog or cat cannot visit. But when patients can be reunited with their own animals, the experience is different.

It is familiar.

It is grounding.

It is home.

In every visit, I was reminded that healing is not only medical — it is relational, emotional, and often four‑legged.

The Personal Pet Visitation Program pre-dated the Medical Center’s therapy-dog program and continues into its twentieth year. Although I have since left the Medical Center, the program’s legacy continues to inform my current work developing Pawsitive Spirit, LLC, which provides spiritual care for people and their pets.

Spiritual Care for Pets and People

HUD’s ESA Shake-Up: A Virginia Reality Check

Emotional support animals are back in the national housing spotlight.

In May, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity issued new enforcement guidance that significantly narrows how the agency will evaluate animal-related reasonable-accommodation complaints under the federal Fair Housing Act. Under the new federal enforcement posture, HUD says it will focus on cases involving animals individually trained to perform disability-related work or tasks. Untrained emotional support animals are no longer being treated by HUD/FHEO as presumptively reasonable accommodations for pet-policy waivers.

That is a major shift — but it is not the same thing as saying every ESA housing protection has vanished overnight.

The Fair Housing Act itself was not rewritten by Congress. Courts may still evaluate individual cases. Private legal claims may still be brought. HUD has also indicated that future rulemaking may follow. Most importantly for DaVinci Digest readers, state and local laws still matter.

In Virginia, assistance-animal protections have their own statutory language. Virginia law defines an assistance animal to include an animal that provides emotional support related to a person’s disability. Virginia law also says an assistance animal is not a pet and is not required to be individually trained or certified.

Virginia law further addresses pet fees, deposits, additional rent, documentation, responsibility for physical damage, and the importance of reliable disability-related support.

The takeaway: this is not a DIY legal moment. Renters, housing providers, advocates, and pet professionals should avoid relying on old assumptions, internet ESA certificates, or social-media advice. Anyone facing an ESA or assistance-animal housing issue should review current federal guidance, Virginia law, and qualified fair-housing resources before making decisions.

This article is provided for public education only and is not legal advice.