Multi-talented 81yo: pets vital in retirement villages.

There’s an old joke that goes, how is a cat like a light bulb? Pet lovers will know the punchline: the cat lights up the room with his or her love.

Sue Edmonds is one of those pet lovers. It’s why the 81-year-old agreed to move from the lifestyle block she’d owned for 23 years to Roseland Park Village, a retirement village in Hamilton East and part of the Karaka Pines Villages group.

Unlike some aged care facilities, residents of Karaka Pines Villages – which has complexes in Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, Waihi Beach and Christchurch – are able to take their pets with them when they move into the units.

“I’m not sure if I could have moved if I wasn’t able to bring Sharly, my eight-year-old cat with me,” admits Edmonds, “particularly since Sharly had been dumped before I adopted her. I wasn’t going to abandon her too.”

The mother of three adult children moved into Roseland Park Village last year, having found her Hamilton lifestyle block was getting too much for her.

“I had two goats, two cows and two donkeys I had to feed out twice a day when there was no grass. At my age, it began to get too much, so my kids suggested it might be time to downsize. I looked around and found Roseland Park Village and realised it would suit me perfectly.”

Fortunately Edmonds’ former property sold within three weeks and she easily found homes for the cows and the donkeys, the latter sent to a donkey sanctuary that Edmonds visits often. She and her beloved Sharly moved into their new home in October.

“Being able to bring Sharly was like having part of my old life here. Sharly immediately felt at home and settled in right away. As did I, although I’ve been divorced for 26 years and lived on my own for years, so to suddenly be surrounded by 54 neighbours was a bit of a change!”

Edmonds says she knows of four or five other residents who brought their cats with them, and all of them enjoying walking their pets around the village complex. “Every evening Sharly and I go for a walk and the other residents love to say hello and pat her.”

Edmonds, whose career has included stints as a secretary, policy analyst and owner of a snack vending business, has also worked as a journalist, writing columns for the Waikato Times and various magazines about farming.

“As a journalist, I know how to do research and there’s a lot of research about the benefits of seniors being able to bring their pets with them. Pets, according to the experts, keep older adults healthier and happier, they improve morale, reduce depression and stress and increase social interaction.”

One of the latest studies, released in December, found pet ownership was associated with slower rates of decline in cognitive skills in older adults living alone. Studies also show pets can provide a routine and sense of motivation, thanks to regular feeding, exercise and cleaning, as well as reduce isolation and loneliness.

“Owners with pets have been shown to take less medication and make fewer visits to the doctor. If a drug could do for seniors what their pets do, it would be a sure winner,” says Edmonds.

Another factor that prompted Edmonds’ move to Roseland Park Village was the fact the village allows owners to keep their capital gains.

“Most residents in retirement villages only get back what they paid for their home, minus a fee, but when you sell a Karaka Pines Villages unit you get to keep any capital gains made. It’s a much fairer way of doing things which really appealed to me.”

Moving into Roseland Park Village is yet another chapter in the colourful life of Edmonds who was born in the UK to a father who flew jet bombers for the air force and a mother who drove ambulances during the war. She moved to New Zealand as a child and has since lived in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, where she worked for an MP in the Beehive.

Currently, the energetic Edmonds spends her days writing articles and poetry as well as painting abstract art: “I’ve also written a memoir which I’ve had edited and am now looking for a publisher.”

The decision to move into a retirement village, she says, is a major one. “If owning animals is a big part of your life, then that will play a part in where you move to. I have no regrets about moving into Roseland Park Village, because I was able to keep Sharly and will eventually be able to keep my capital gains.

“Plus the sense of community here is amazing. I recently underwent knee surgery and the other residents were so nice to me, driving me around and helping me when I needed it. I’m so glad I made the move”.

For more information visit karakapines.co.nz