Therapy Cat Tales from 1/25/12

Tabby writes:


Sorry I didn't write about our visit two weeks ago!  We were job-shadowed by two students from Benson High School, and it was fun showing them what we do.

Today was rainy, but we were inside for most of the big downpours.  I had my nice raincoat for the small showers.  Typical weather for January where we live.  It snowed a couple days, but now is back to rain again.  While we were waiting for the rain to stop, buses to come, and on the bus, we heard a lot of cat stories!  We always love hearing about other people's cats, and they love telling us about them.

One lady told us a horrible story about three cats each jumping out a window and drowning in the water tank, all years apart.  That story wasn't so nice, but she decided to not have cats as pets again.  She loved visiting with me, though.  Another lady had a bad story that has a good ending.  She decided to use a cheap flea product on her cat.  She got it from Safeway, where they don't carry Frontline, Advantage, or other veterinarian-approved flea products.  Her cat lost all her fur and had to go to the vet because she was being poisoned by the flea medicine.  She is just now starting to grow back her fur, but not her tail fur yet.  Please, please, PLEASE only use Frontline, Advantage, Advantix, Revolution, or other top-of-the-line flea products on your pets!  Please do not use Sargents, Hartz, Bio-Spot, or other cheap products.  They're not worth it!

We heard about a kitty who loved to sleep in a baby-doll buggy!  One day, his people couldn't find him, and were looking all over the house for him.  They found him in the little girl's room, asleep in the buggy, curled up with the doll and blanket!  A lady on the bus told us about her sister's cats, who live with her because her sister lives with her.  They have as many cats as we do!  One of their cats got hit by a car when he was just a little kitten, but he lived and is doing well now.  A lady on the MAX light-rail train told us about a cat she rescued when he was about 4 months old.  He was down to skin and bones and the vet didn't think he'd make it, but he survived and is a big cat now.  She also has a girl cat who came to her doorstep and was probably thrown out of a car.  That family also has two new kittens, a present they got last Father's Day.

They are still working on the ceilings at H., but I wasn't interested in looking up the ladders today.  Now it seems normal to see men up ladders into the ceiling.  Our friend Dr. W. died a few days ago.  We'll miss seeing him and his visitors.

G. was sleeping when we went to see her, but she woke up right away and petted me, scritching my forehead the way I love.  A. was sitting beside her, smiling as he watched G. pet me.  E.  didn't have her kitty pillow around her neck today when we went to visit her, so she smelled a little different (the pillow has lavendar in it), but I let her pet me anyway.  She put her hand down on my stroller at one point, and I put my arm across her hand to comfort her.  Another E. was talking with her niece, M., so we didn't want to interrupt, but M. called us in because she wanted to see me.  It turns out that M.'s afraid of cats!  She wasn't afraid of me, though!  :)  >^..^<  She wanted to know all about me, my training, and exactly what my job is.  S., who is that E.'s roommate now but used to live upstairs, was telling M. all about me and S. and I demonstrated together how I love to snuggle on beds and with my friends.  We also showed how I ask for pets by putting my paw up to tap the person.  M. was very impressed, and told our supervisor that.  She also told our supervisor that her aunt E. loves when I and the therapy dogs come to visit, always calling her after the visit to tell her all about it!

We went upstairs to see P., who was very glad to see us.  I visited with her for a long time, staying just within arm's reach so she could scratch my ears.  I played a game with her with my tail.  Not the regular game of tails, but a different game.  She likes to hold onto my tail, wagging it back and forth, then letting it go.  She'll pet me from my head to my tail, then hold my tail again and let it go.  I slap her hand with my tail, then she pets me from head to tail and holds my tail again.  We play this way because she is visually-impaired.  I know she can't see my tail well enough to play regular tails, so I play this only with her.  In the hallway, we visited with two new friends.  I might see them again, if they want to visit with me next time.