Therapy Cats Work on Labor Day

Instead of taking the day off, my human and I had a therapy cat visit at the big hospital. My human especially liked this idea because she didn’t have to deal with much traffic. Normally it takes us about 25 minutes to get there. But on this visit, it was a quick 15-minute trip. I liked that too, because less time in my carrier in the back seat is always a good thing!

Many of the areas we visit, like the Cancer Center and Labor and Delivery were empty today, so we spent most of the time in Pediatrics. I was happy to give quality time to the kids there, and their parents too. Because who wants to spend Labor Day either sick in the hospital, or having a sick kid there?

The first girl I saw got really excited when she saw me. The moment she said the words, “Kitty!” I knew we were in the right place. Both her parents were there, and her dad told me how much she loved cats — and that she’d never had a chance to pet one. So I was really happy to spend some quality time with her. She’d just had her abdominal area operated on, so my human made sure I stayed by her side, and didn’t walk on her (which I sometimes do with the patients).

The next girl was with her mom, who only spoke Spanish. Fortunately, the girl spoke both Spanish and English because my human used up her four Spanish phrases pretty quickly. (In case you are wondering, the phrases are “Tengo gato terapia hoy,” “Se llama Summer,” “Como verano en ingles,” and “Ella tiene nueve años.”) Anyhow, the girl, in English, told us a lot about her cat at home, and how much her mom loved cats. The last part was obvious because her mom was so happy to see me!

By the way, both these girls were exactly the same age as me — nueve años, or 9 years old.

The next kid I got to visit was a 10-month old baby. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t often visit infants. Usually they don’t really get a lot of benefit from seeing me. But this boy was up, awake and having fun with his mom, so we stopped by for a few minutes. He even got to pet me a little, which was nice because at that age, every new experience is pretty awesome.

The last patient in Pediatrics was a girl who had mild asthma. I normally don’t visit those patients either. But my human popped her head in to let her and her parents know I was there, and they wanted to see me. Fortunately, it was a big room. That way I was able to come in and do some tricks for the girl and her family while keeping a safe distance from her. I do like showing off my tricks! It would have been nice to snuggle with her, though.

That was pretty much the extent of our visit. We only had a few minutes after that to look around some waiting rooms, but like I said, it was a quiet day.

Here are some more of my hospital visits:

• Therapy Cat…Or Entertainer…Or Both?
• Quiet and Happy Therapy Cat Visit
• Thanksgiving Week Therapy Cat Visit