I finally did my first therapy cat visit for the new year! My human and I were the only team at the hospital today, so we had a lot of work to do! The bad part about being the only team is that we can’t quite get to everybody because there’s not enough time. The good part is that since there’s no dog team, I am free to walk on my leash as much as I want. When there’s a dog, I often am stuck in my sling, because dogs are so curious about me! And we therapy pets are supposed to stay at least 6 feet apart from each other.
It was an odd day. The few adults we visited mostly spoke only Spanish. (My human really needs to brush up on her conversational Spanish). We visited a lot of kids and their parents. The parents asked my human a bunch of questions: how did I get to be a therapy cat, did we have other cats at home, how did I learn my tricks?
The conversation my human liked best was with one mother whose child loved me. The little girl wants to grow up to be a veterinarian, and she really would like to volunteer to help animals. Right now she is too young for most organizations, but my human suggested maybe she could be a steward at a cat show. The stewards are the ones who wipe down the judging cages after the cats have been judged, and they are often children. I always liked checking out the stewards when I was being judged at cat shows. It’s one of the few things I miss, just being a Pet Me or Ambassador Cat.
The other odd thing was that some children, like the one above, couldn’t get enough of me, but others kind of ignored me! In the Rainbow Room, a waiting room I visit frequently at this hospital, one little girl petted me and introduced me to a dinosaur stuffy… and then she went off and played with a bunch of other things! She kept coming back every now and then, but she was a very busy kid.
Then, there was a little boy who was in bed, getting ready to be checked out. The nurse had just pulled out his IV and he was crying in pain. He was so upset that he did not want to pet me, even though he loves animals. But the parents wanted my human and I to stay around so we did, and my human talked about when I’ve had to wear an IV. (I hope I don’t have to do that again anytime soon — I’m with the kid on them.) And even though the little boy didn’t touch me, he kept looking at me, and I think I helped him to calm down just by being there. Sometimes it works that way.
It felt really good to be back!
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