Anyone have a therapy cat?

LTS3 said:

 
I don't have a therapy cat but I do know of someone who does. Her blog is here: https://abyaday.wordpress.com/ There are entries with pictures of her cat at hospitals visiting patients. Here's one: https://abyaday.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/aby-a-day-november-8-hero-saturday-photo-hunt/

Typically to become a certified therapy animal, one must take therapy certification classes with the pet. Some certification places may have pretty strict requirements and restrictions for the pet like not being on a raw food diet and must be up to date on vaccinations. Even hospitals and such have specific requirements on what therapy animals are allowed.

Sometimes if you keep in contact with the therapy certification place they'll let you know of places and events where you can bring your cat to do some therapy sessions or just a "meet and greet". The pharmaceutical company I work for occasionally has a HUGE therapy dog (a Leonberger) come in for company events.

I think it's great that you want to get into therapy animals and volunteering

I kind of want to do it but my Aby doesn't qualify for any certification class because I feed a raw diet. That and my Aby has a "feline ADD" (he has a two second attention span) and has a habit of (gently) biting fingers and anything he can get his mouth onto

My other cat is too shy around strangers.

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cocheezie said:

 
I do not have a therapy cat, but I have snuck a cat into the hospital to visit his former owner. We made sure the door to the room was closed and blocked so that it didn't open unexpectedly and the cat could escape. We placed the carrier on the bed and just left the door of the carrier open. While the cat was interested in seeing its old owner, it took awhile for the cat to come out and then it was only interested in getting a feel for such an unfamiliar space. This cat is very doggy and easy going and friendly and chatty.

The second time the original owner was in hospital, we couldn't do it. The hospital was trying to completely wipe out a c. difficile bug that was making its way through the hospital and all animals were banned for a couple of months. Infections can travel as one person pets the animal, and then the next person pets the animal, and the next ... Something to keep in mind as you explore the therapy cat process.

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