1 As far back as the 1790, the owners of a senior citizens’ home in York, England , encouraged patients to spend time with farm animals, believing that this would help their mental state more than the sometime harsh therapies used on the mentally ill at the time. In recent years, scientists have finally begun to find proof that contact with animals can increase a sick person’s chance of survival and has been show to lower heart rate, calm upset children, and get people to start a conversation.