Therapy Cat Magic Is in the Simple Things

My human and I were the only therapy pet team at the big hospital today, and we got to work right away. We stopped at the waiting room on the way to the elevators and visited with some of the people there. One nice woman asked a lot of questions. They were all the usual ones, like, asking if I was my human’s pet and what kind of cat am I. But my human never gets tired of answering them.

We went up to Pediatrics and saw several young patients, all of them boys. The first two were toddlers with their mothers. Often toddlers can be grabby because they are still learning about animals and how to behave around them. But both these boys were very sweet and gentle about petting me. The second boy lived with a cat, but his mother said the cat didn’t like him. My human noticed that he made noises through his teeth that sounded like hissing. I didn’t mind it, but my human mentioned that their cat at home might be taking it the wrong way.

The third boy was a few years older, school age, and he was the first one I got to visit in bed. (The other two boys were up and wandering around.) He petted me a lot, but he was more interested in examining me than in cuddling. He looked into my ears, which I didn’t mind. Then he asked my human if I had my claws, and she told him yes, but they were very short. She showed him how to see my claws by gently pressing on my paw pads. When we finished, my human spent extra time telling me what a good kitty I was. I don’t know why it was such a big deal, but I guess most cats would not like being handled like that.

Our final stop was at Behavioral Medicine, and one of the staff was about to go in the locked entryway, so we didn’t have to call in and wait this time. We visited with two patients, a man and a woman. The Behavioral Medicine visits are always special. One former BM patient from a while back saw me in my therapy cat vest on Tiktok! She commented that a cat had come by when she was in the “psych ward” (her words, not mine!) and it made her so happy she cried. Even though I believe she saw Josie that day and not me, this totally explains why we do our therapy visits.

Other posts you’ll enjoy:

• A Nice Therapy Cat Visit
• A Sweet Therapy Cat Visit
• My Bed-Free Hospital Visit

2022 Somali Cat Calendar Starring Summer Samba
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