‘It’s almost magical’: how robotic pets are helping UK care home residents

Animatronic cats and dogs have helped staff at a Bedfordshire care home to avoid medicating some residents with dementia“You’re bloody lovely ain’t you,” said Frances Barrett, as the robotic cat she was stroking flicked its ears and whiskers one lunchtime this week at the Oak Manor care home in Bedfordshire.The resident was one of several who live with dementia playing with the home’s small menagerie of animatronic animals that were originally designed to entertain