Mary Allen
Cats usually choose the people with whom they develop a close bond. Nevertheless, they are suitable for supportive therapy for sick people. You can find out how this is possible here.
Animal-Assisted Therapy with Cats – Is It Possible?
Animals have long since established themselves as excellent therapists for humans. Disabled or traumatized children swim successfully with dolphins, horses help depressed people with their calmness and balance and dogs are particularly sensitive to their sick owners due to their pronounced pack behavior. But purring house cats can also have healing paws with the right properties. Basically, any cat can be used in therapy, but it must meet certain requirements. You can find out what these are in this post.
Many therapists already swear by four-legged support in their work with patients. Cats are often part of the party, who take care of sick, depressed, and demented adults or autistic children together with their mistress or master. In technical jargon, this is referred to as animal-assisted therapy. The cats mostly live with the specialists, together they form a well-coordinated team. The cat is either present in the practice or accompanies its owner to the home visits
What Is the Role of the House Tiger in Therapy?
The main task of a therapy cat is to build trust with the patient. Cats are communicative animals that approach people completely impartially. They are curious and do not know any reluctance. They don’t care whether they have physical defects and they don’t shy away from it if the other person behaves differently. Particularly at the beginning of therapeutic treatment, there is often a great distance between patient and therapist, which can be bridged much faster by the four-legged helper. The therapist and patient quickly start a conversation about the cat and suddenly treatment is no longer the top priority.
House Cats Cheer Older and Lonely People Up
The animal support has also proven itself during visits to the retirement home. With their friendly and cautious approach, cats are quick to win over the elderly and lonely. This can be observed especially when a velvet paw has made itself comfortable on its lap and can be petted purring. This brings variety into everyday life and ensures a clear relaxation.
Physical complaints are often pushed into the background during the mewing visit and patients suffering from dementia visibly thaw and perceive their surroundings more consciously. Animal helpers are also indispensable from a medical point of view. Often the elderly’s heartbeat calms down when they are around the cat, which can even lower the blood pressure.
The Animal Helper for Children Too
Cats are also widely used in therapy with children. For example, when small patients suffer from ADD. Attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity disorder is widespread in children today. The house tiger immediately attracts the attention of the young patient through its presence alone and has a calming effect. Sometimes a successful therapy session is only then possible.
Cats can also provide valuable support for children with autism. Autistic children tend to be extremely reluctant to respond to anything new and strange. They find it difficult to assess the feelings of those around them and they take many statements literally. That is why they usually withdraw when an adult approaches them who does not come from the familiar environment. A cat, on the other hand, approaches children in a completely neutral way and does not present an autistic child with any tasks that they cannot solve. If the velvet paw wins the trust in the child, this will in many cases be passed on to their master or mistress, or they will rule in a much more open-minded manner. The therapy cat gives the therapist access to the patient and thus enables a path to healing or relief.
Is Every Velvet Paw Suitable for a Therapy Cat?
In fact, many house cats are also suitable for therapy cats, because special training is not required. However, the velvet paw should bring some behavioral traits with it from the start so that it can be used successfully in the treatment of people. A balanced being is certainly an advantage. In general, cats must not be afraid of people and should be open to new contacts. Cats that are very people-focused are best suited as therapy cats. If the therapist is often out on home visits, his purring assistant should be willing to travel and have no problem with a transport box or basket. In addition, it should not be a downright outdoor walker who uses every opportunity to get outside.
Cats’ adaptability can also be of great benefit in therapy. Cats that live with a handicap, such as blindness or a missing body part, show patients through their natural behavior how to overcome fears or traumatic experiences. Therefore, cats from an animal shelter or animal welfare are often suitable as therapy animals.
What Do You Have to Consider if Cats are Supposed to Help Them Heal?
If your cat is to help you treat your patients, it is important that he or she is completely healthy. She must be vaccinated and regularly wormed. A parasite infestation should be prevented with appropriate spot-on preparations or a special collar. In addition, your cat should be house-trained especially in unfamiliar places.
In therapy with sick or elderly patients, in particular, it is important that the cat cannot transfer any bacteria that could damage a possibly weakened immune system. Therefore, you should refrain from BARF-compliant feeding (nutrition with raw ingredients) with a therapy cat and ideally give a dry food. If a patient has a cat hair allergy, the house tiger should better stay at home or avoid the practice room.
Conclusion:
Cats are extremely adaptable and also very curious. These are ideal conditions for using your cat in animal-assisted therapy. If the patient then also has a strong relationship with people and presents himself impartially in the manner of a cat, the ice for the patient is broken very quickly. Especially when it comes to children who often react with rejection to unfamiliar adults. If the therapist owns a cat, the first step in building trust has usually already been taken.