A Therapy Cat Day Visiting Adult Patients

It was a rare all-adult day at the big hospital. We stopped by the Rehab wing, and there were several people to see there. Two of them were bedridden. The first woman was delighted to have me lie down on the bed with her. Her birthday was the day before, and even though it must have been miserable to spend it in the hospital, she was cheerful and happy. Her good mood was infectious. I wound up purring and making happy paws while I spent time with her.

The next woman was elderly, and only spoke Spanish. The first thing she did was have me face her and she chattered away at me in Spanish. My human (who knows some Spanish, but nowhere near enough) had no idea what she was saying. But that didn’t matter because I did. She was telling me how beautiful and special I was. Well, okay, everyone tells me that, but I like it best when it’s just between me and the patient, and my human isn’t part of the conversation. I had a nice time with her too.

Then I visited with a middle-aged man, who was sitting up in a wheelchair. I sat on his lap, and he had no idea how special this was because I’m not really a lap cat. But I was in a relaxed mood after the previous patients, so it was easier for me to just hang out. The speech therapist came by to work with him during our visit, and it turned out that he had recently acquired two kittens! So he was happy to see me too.

By the time we finished in Rehab, it was time to go over to Behavioral Medicine. They had three patients to visit with me, two women and a man. The man liked me well enough, but the two women went crazy over me! One of them kept kissing me, and the other wanted me to give her high fives. They both wanted high fives, actually, over and over again. They were very nice, but it was kind of exhausting! By the time we were done there, my human and I were both tired.

When we got home, my human crashed out for an hour. I got a second wind right away and the moment she was up, I was wondering where my dinner was. I’m still not used to getting it an hour later than normal. I may get extra treats during my therapy cat visits, but I still work up an appetite, especially on busy days like this one.

Here are some of my early visits, from the first hospital where I only visited grown up patients: