You may have met a therapy dog in your travels, but have you ever heard of a therapy cat? Just like dogs, cats can be trained as therapy pets. Cat therapy can assist mentally, physically, or emotionally challenged humans who may do well with animal interaction. Therapy cats may spend time with children or adults in the hospital, or they may visit schools or nursing homes. Therapy cats are small, soft and snuggly.
What Makes a Good Therapy Cat?
Love on a Leash (LOAL), which provides certification procedures for pet parents looking to get their animals into pet therapy, provides guidelines for what makes a good therapy cat. Besides needing to be calm and love human interaction, they should also be able to:
- Ride unstressed in a car before visits
- Be house-trained well enough to not have an accident
- Wear a harness and leash
- Be at ease around other animals
Meet Draven the Therapy Cat
Draven was born on May 10, 2012 and adopted from the Rainbow Animal Refuge in Pennsylvania. His new family was made up of his human parents and two kitty sisters. While Draven got along well with his furry siblings, his parents noticed he had a special appreciation for humans. "We began to notice he had a quality our other two cats did not; he enjoyed the company and attention of humans — any humans — a lot! He wasn't afraid or leery of strangers in our home, he tolerated car rides and he even purred while at the vet's office! He was just a very calm, laid-back kitten," says his human mom, Jessica Hagan.