Do you know what the biggest problem with treatment cats is? It’s not training (cat or human). And it’s not finding the “right” cat. It overcomes the prejudices and myths surrounding cats, and how appropriate it is to be a therapeutic animal.
Even today, people still believe that cats are too independent, lonely and unable to train them to become effective therapy pet partners. If you’ve been following my blog or social media for a long time, you’ll see that it’s completely wrong. You also know that there are probably a lot of hardworking cats like me. Cats visiting hospitals, nursing homes, schools, or other facilities can do something good with their fluffy presence. But many people, and many facilities, still don’t understand that.
What do they need to change their minds? Such a study (funded in Belgium) has recently been published. Not only can cats make good treatment animals, there is something unique that offers in this type of work.
Overcoming the myth that cats are antisocial
What’s crazy about this study is that “there is an increase in cat involvement in animal support services (AAS), which is surprising given that cat behavioral needs are perceived to be inconsistent with conditions associated with AAS involvement, leading to the assumption that cats as a species are not suitable for AAS.” Therefore, this study was acutely necessary because this study showed that it was not the case.
Therapy cat work further improves cat’s temperament
The realization that cats exist with traits that are useful in the work of treating animals (duh!) was just the beginning. They also found that working in therapy can help people interact socially with and strengthen cats’ ability to be satisfied with handling. This indicates that while cats may tend to be more friendly and easier to go than other cats, these traits can be taught to some extent.
This makes a lot of sense from my own personal experience as a therapy cat. After learning the treatment routine, it’s become easier to do important things, such as being with people in the way they need to.
Would you like to come more?
It was early research and admits that they are still learning a lot about cat and animal support work. I hope there will be more research that will delve deeper into this as it will ultimately improve training for treatment cats. Now, half of the humans on the Therapy Pet team are almost making it up as they progress! Ask my human, or other volunteers about therapy cats.
