Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 22

Why Aren’t There More Therapy Cats? The Myths – and the Truths

There is a big demand for therapy cats. Being a therapy cat who’s active on social media, that’s really obvious. So many humans are sad they don’t have therapy cats in their area, and they let me know. A lot of them mention that hospitals they’ve stayed in have therapy dogs…but as we all know, it’s not the same as spending time with a kitty. Because if you’re a cat person, you want the kind of warm fuzziness that only comes from felines.

One of the main reasons there aren’t more therapy cats is that there are a lot of myths that still exist about cats. Some of these falsehoods are even believed by people who love us kitties. So let’s look into those first.

The Myths About Therapy CatsCats aren’t suited for therapy pet work
Actually the opposite is true — with the right temperament and proper (and ongoing) training, cats make the perfect therapy animal. They’re smaller, softer and cozier than a dog is. A good therapy cat has an immediate calming effect on those around them.
 Cats are antisocial
The main reason a cat winds up antisocial is their exposure to humans…or lack of it. Cats that are handled from birth, or a very young age and exposed to many different sounds, environments, and human interactions have a great chance at becoming well adjusted, social animals. That was certainly the case with me.

As a show quality kitten, I had all this, and other training, like getting used to claw trims and baths. (Both these are needed for therapy cat work.) But a cat doesn’t need a pedigree to get this kind of training. People who foster rescue kittens can do the same thing.

That said, not all cats (or cat breeds) easily lend themselves to therapy work. But the same is true of dogs. (More on that later.)
 

Cats can’t be trained for this type of work
Training a cat to be part of a therapy pet team is different from training a dog. In fact, the whole training process with a cat is different from dog training, in both attitude and approach. But it’s not hard. You just learn a cat’s natural predilections and lean into them.

For example, some therapy cats are better in a stroller when they are making their rounds. I’d probably jump out of a stroller, but I’m fully leash trained. So I either walk on my leash or my human has me in a sling carrier.

Temperamentally, each therapy cat tends to have their specialties. My old therapy cat pal Josie was way more of a snuggler than me. Her human would hand her over to a patient and she’d go limp. I prefer choosing how I want to interact with people. And I do tricks like ring a bell, so my human often incorporates that into visits, especially children.
 

Some facilities are reluctant to allow cats as therapy pets
Sadly, a lot of hospitals and other facilities buy into the above myths, and others. Like they are worried a cat will scratch or bite, or that too many people will have allergies.

Therapy cats temperamentally are extremely unlikely to bite or scratch. We trust our handlers (our humans) to protect us, and we’re rarely faced with threatening situations anyway. My claws are trimmed so short that they can’t even be felt unless you handle my paws. And any animal can cause allergies. I’ve been in rooms with people who are allergic to dogs. And if someone says they’re allergic to cats…we just don’t visit with them.

Not All Dogs Are Suited for Therapy Work

That’s right! Actually very few dogs are right for therapy work. Dog owners tend to be more hands on with them than cat people are with their cats. So dogs do have a bit of an advantage with that. But there are lots of reasons a dog couldn’t do therapy work. Here are a few.

Therapy dogs need a calm, well-behaved temperament
If a dog is anxious, shy, aggressive or excitable, they are not good therapy pet material. Any type of resource guarding disqualifies a dog. They need to be willing to share toys, space, and their handler. There actually aren’t that many dogs that fit this criteria for a good therapy animal.
 Poor training
A dog’s human needs to spend a significant amount of time making sure the dog is well trained. Therapy dogs need to be oblivious to distractions, to sit, stay, heel, know commands like “Leave it,” and stay calm in the most hectic and noisy of environments. Some facilities don’t want dogs to lick their patients, and that takes training too.

The therapy pet evaluation for dogs is pretty detailed, and it’s not easy to pass. Cats just need to be harness and leash trained, accept handling by humans, be calm in big noisy rooms — and not be upset by the presence of dogs.
 

Some dogs just don’t want to meet strangers
This may surprise people who have had random dogs run up to them, but not all dogs are friendly! Some dogs have no interest in making new friends, or being hugged by strangers. So of course they wouldn’t make good therapy animals.The Real Reason Why There Aren’t That Many Therapy Cats

It really comes down to their humans! Having a therapy cat is a lot of work. It’s a time and training commitment. The therapy cat’s owner has to be comfortable around hospitals, the elderly (including those with dementia), and children.

It makes me wonder about my human, since she was totally resistant to all this! But she felt that there was such a need for therapy cats that she had to just get over all her dislikes. But not all cat owners can or want to do that. Some are very introverted, and have a hard time interacting with people. Some people have cats as emotional support. The therapy cat relationship is almost the opposite — the cat needs their owner/handler as emotional support on visits.

Here are some other reasons that make therapy cat work hard for some people.

The emotional toll
People who are highly empathetic might find doing therapy work difficult to handle. It can be emotionally overwhelming to be faced with sick kids, or old people who ask you the same question multiple times. I’ve visited people who we later found out died.

Fortunately my human is not an empath. She’s not uncaring (or she wouldn’t be doing therapy pet work), but she can keep from becoming too wrapped up emotionally in situations. So visits aren’t as draining on her as they might be for others.
 

All the rules!
Every facility has its own routines and set of rules and you are expected to adhere to them. Since the majority of places therapy pets visit are medical facilities of some sort, these rules are especially important and can’t be bent. One hospital we used to visit made their volunteers take tests regularly. We had to know what all the codes meant, like Code Red (fire or smoke), Code Pink (infant abduction), Code Blue (medical emergency), etc. Plus what to do in a lot of emergencies.

People who have a hard time following rules will have a hard time doing therapy work. My human is famously a rule breaker — but that actually puts her at an advantage because it also means she knows what the rules are. And she realizes that therapy cat visits are not the places for rule breaking. Nowhere else is safe, though!
 

Worrying too much about the cat
It’s important for a therapy cat’s owner to know how to deal with situations in which their cat may be harmed. But they also have to know how to do it without freaking out. When a toddler grabs my ears or tail, my human is right there to separate little fingers from me, but she does it without becoming upset. When we’re dealing with someone with severe dementia, my human keeps a close eye on them to make sure I’m safe. But she keeps a cool demeanor. If your heart rate increases every time someone else handles your cat, then therapy pet work probably isn’t for you.
 The time commitment
You need to commit to regular visits to facilities. You can’t just show up whenever. And when you are scheduled, there are people relying on you to be there. So there’s both a time commitment, and you have to be consistent. This is also good for your cat, because as you know, cats like routines, and it helps keep up their social skills. But if you can’t commit to keeping regular visits, this sort of volunteer work isn’t for you.
 You’re anti-vax and/or hate needles
Most facilities require that you have an annual flu shot. And to get certified, my human needed to get an MMR and a Tdap vaccine. Actually she already had the latter — she got it after Binga accidentally bit her once. But she needed to have it again after 10 years. Plus she has to have a tuberculosis test every year. If anything is stopping you from getting these, therapy pet work is not for you.

So there you have it — the real reasons why there aren’t that many therapy cats! I wish there were more of us, but it’s not the easiest form of volunteer work. Did any of these reasons surprise you? Let’s discuss it in the comments.

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Visiting With My Assisted Living Pals

I had lots of fun during my therapy cat visit to my assisted living pals! I wasn’t sure how things would go at first. It was drizzly outside and most of the residents in the big room were napping on the couches or in their wheelchairs. But two of my regulars — the lady who likes to get high fives and the cat-loving red haired lady — were ready to greet me.

After I visited with them, I went over to the nonverbal woman with heavy hands. She was awake this visit, and she petted me for a long time with her free hand. In her other hand she was holding a piece of paper with a photocopy of a magazine picture and some sort of drawing she’d done under it. She showed it to my human and even said something to her! It was pretty amazing.

One of the staff members took us around to some of the people in the wheelchairs. One of them was a talkative Spanish speaking lady I’ve visited with before. She always chatters a lot to my human, who can never keep up with what she’s saying. Then we sat next to another Spanish speaking lady who said she was scared of cats. My human and the staff member tried to tell her how nice I was. It must have worked because she petted me.

One woman my human and I made sure to visit was a lady who used to enjoy visiting with me. She loved seeing me so much it made her cry. But her dementia got worse to the extent that she stopped recognizing me. She was sitting at a dining table right next to the big room with a vacant look in her eyes. My human brought her over to me, and her eyes focused just enough for her to reach out and pet me. For us, that was a win.

As we were leaving, one of the elderly ladies who likes me was talking with a few residents and staff, and she was happy to see me. And she reached out and hugged my human while I was in my sling carrier. It was a nice way to end our visit to the residence.

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Cat Training: Touching the Latest Silly Random Things

It’s been a while since I’ve had a training session where I get to touch random things! As most of you know, one of my specialties when it comes to modeling and working with brands is placing my paw on their items. And this is how I keep in practice. The sessions always start off with the bell, because this is what I’m most familiar touching.

Then my human finds things around the house and places them in front of me. Like this small plush cat.

And this mouse. For some reason, I had a problem with these plushies! I was a little rough on them.

I was a little better with this wooden folk art fishing cat.

And I never even knocked over this light up mystical book decor once!

Here’s (almost) everything I touched in this session, and you can see the video below. Spoiler alert — it is kind of silly!

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Opening Turret Season With Beautiful Portraits

Because we’ve had some overcast and rainy days, turret season started a little late here. (As you may or may not know, we can only use the turret for photo sessions six months out of the year because of the direction of the sun.) So I didn’t have my first turret photo session until this weekend. Not only is it light enough in here for video sessions, but if my human moved a foot or so to the right, the lighting completely changed. Check out the photos below to see what I mean. No secret messages because they really don’t need any!

Did you like them? The funny thing is while we were taking them, my human wasn’t sure if she was getting anything! She didn’t realize how well they turned out until she downloaded them.

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Outtake Fun

I had quite a few opportunities for outtakes this week! Any photo session that requires accessories is bound to produce a few.

The hat alone was practically an outtake machine!

Remember my post about obscure cat facts? My human had a couple different ideas for a photo to accompany it. One had me wearing a graduation cap and gown. You can see why that concept didn’t get used.

When my human takes photos of me before or after a therapy cat visit, sometimes I get so excited I can’t sit still for very long! My human caught in in a little hop here.

And that’s it for the outtakes! I hope they gave you a smile. If any of them really made you laugh, let me know in the comments.

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Evening Shopping Trip

Usually I go shopping during the day, because my human thinks it’ll be less crowded. But this time I got to go in the evening! My human has been to this pet shop at night and it’s pretty quiet, so she figured it would be okay for me to go.

And it was! No dogs showed up the whole time I was there. And practically the first thing I did was jump up on the check out counter and bury my face in the Barnyarn Buddies. I will be honest, it may have been my favorite part of our shopping trip.

And I also got to check out the chews and other cool, smelly things in the dog aisle.

I couldn’t even decide what to check out next!

The cat toys would be a good place, I figured, and they had some new ones there.

Plus I also tested out a scratching post.

Eventually we wound up in the cat food section, because the whole reason we were there was because I was out of cat food.

It was a very fun shopping night! I hope I get to come back again soon.

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8 Obscure Cat Facts You DIDN’T Know!

My human is a cat expert, in case you haven’t guessed. So she knows more about cats and cat behavior than most people (except for her other cat expert friends). But even she didn’t know these 8 facts, or if she did, she didn’t know the explanation behind them. So here’s your chance to find out how good you are at cat trivia! Bet you didn’t know all (or maybe any) of these.

You know how two cats will bond with a mutual grooming session? There’s actually a term for that — allogrooming.
 The oldest known pet cat predates Egypt! Archaeologists found it buried next to its owner in Cyprus in 2004. Surrounded by treasured artifacts, the cat’s grave is estimated to be about 9,500 years old.
 Most of you know that cats have a third eyelid as an extra shield against dirt and other debris, and that helps lubricate the eye. But did you know what’s it’s called? Its scientific term is palpebra tertia or nictitating membrane, but it’s also called a haw.
 Cats can get a form of motion sickness from watching fast-moving objects on a screen. While it’s probably not the same kind of nausea as human motion sickness, it still can cause disorientation and anxiety. The intensity a cat experiences this type of distress can vary between felines.
 Cats have a thin layer of muscle attached to their skin and fascia, and that’s what makes their skin twitch in that quirky way. It’s called the panniculus carnosus and it’s spread through the back, chest, abdomen, and the upper part of the back legs.
 A cat’s cerebral cortex contains 250 million cells — just one million fewer than a bear’s! This is in spite of a bear’s brain being 10 times larger than a cat’s.
 Not only do cats have emotions (as anyone with a cat knows), the part of their brain controlling emotion is almost identical to a human’s.
 Most of you know that cat’s can’t taste sweet because they lack those specific receptors on their tongues…but did you know how many taste buds they do have? 473!

I hope you enjoyed these, and that you learned something new about us kitties! Were you stumped? Let me know in the comments.

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He Still Won’t Venture Too Far Inside

The peach kitty came by for a visit! But even though it was a little chilly outside (which is why I had a light hoodie on), he was reluctant to come into the enclosed patio.

He would come in just enough to get treats.

But mostly, he stayed just on the other side of the threshold. And this isn’t even officially “inside.” It’s sort of in between outside and our living room.

So I did what I always do with him — I came outside to meet him there.

He was very happy to have me outside with him.

I think he may still believe there’s a chance I’ll come live outside with him. As if!

We’re always both happy to get treats, no matter where we are.

After a while, my human wanted to back inside, and like he usually does, he wanted to walk me to the door.

He will take treats in the enclosed patio but only after my human goes into the living room. It’s hard, convincing him that inside life is good! Maybe he just likes the freedom of being outdoors.

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My Latest Therapy Cat Visit With the Kids

I got to visit the children’s hospital this week! Which I always enjoy. The moment we went to the lobby, I was ready to go to work, and jumped up on one of the sofas, next to a mom and her teen daughter. I head butted them right away so they’d pet me.

One area had a table surrounded by sofas full of patients and their families. So my human put me on the table with my bell so I could do some tricks. A couple of little girls really enjoyed my tricks, and wanted high fives from me. A lot of high fives! When they were called to the exam rooms, my human and I went too.

It was a busy day full of patients in the rooms. The first one I saw was a teen boy with his mom and dad. His dad was holding the boy’s big plastic body brace. They were nice. Another patient I saw was a little girl. The doctor came in at the end to tell her mom she didn’t need to come in for two years! I don’t know what she was there for, but that had to be good news.

One really fun thing is when my human opens an exam room door and the patient’s face instantly lights up when they see me. The ones who are really excited to see a kitty just have this glow. One of these was a little girl who had really wanted a cat. Her mom explained that her dad said no so they got a little dog instead. Even though they love the dog, she did acknowledge that it wasn’t the same as having a cat. So we spent a lot of time with the girl so she could have a kitty fix.

We finished our visit up in rehab. The physical therapists are always very busy with their patients, so we try to stay out of the way and only spend a couple of minutes with those who want to see me. But I still got a little quality time with three girls who were there.

It was a fun and really gratifying day.

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Silly Mardi Gras Session

Yes, you’ve seen these props before. But I’ve never shot a Mardi Gras video with them. So my human thought it would be fun to do that. And it was!

I will say that we got a couple of nice photos while we were shooting the video.

But mostly this is what we got.

And this! But we did get a fun video out of the session too, and you can see it below.

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