I had my therapy cat visit at an assisted living facility this week. It’s run by the same company as the other assisted living houses I visit, but it’s totally different. I go to an activity room on the second floor and a small handful of people come in and hang out with me for a while. There’s a table in the middle of the room, and usually I’m on the table with the residents sitting around me.
The fun thing about this place: even though I rarely come here, there’s one woman who remembers me by name. She always comes to see me. This visit started off a little strange though.
After my regular resident sat down, these two women showed up, and one of them was really annoyed I was there! She didn’t even want to be in the room with me. She wasn’t allergic, she just kept saying, “No cats.” The woman who came in with her clearly wanted to visit with me, but the angry woman kept trying to make her leave. Her friend just waved her away, but the angry woman kept hanging around in the doorway and making a bit of a scene.
Usually my human is really sensitive to people who don’t like cats. She respects their need to not be around me. But she sensed that instead of a legitimate fear, or some sort of result of dementia, this woman was just being entitled and having a tantrum because she wasn’t getting her way. So she stood her ground and said that maybe her friend wanted to stay. Eventually, the woman left in a wave of grumbling and bad attitude. Everyone was relieved she was gone.
Her friend, it turned out, was hearing impaired. She carried an erasable tablet, and she used it to ask my human for her name and my name. She also wrote down her name for us. I did a lot of tricks for the residents while I was on the table. The woman did little hand claps every time I completed a trick. It was really cute.
I took photos with most of the residents who came by. And I got to do something I almost never do during my visits! My human noticed some Christmas decorations sitting on a bin, including a gold tinsel wreath with bells. It was the perfect size for a hoop, so she had me do little jumps through it for the residents. I love hoop jumping, so that was really fun, and the residents were impressed. Plus I got lots of treats.
My human signed us up at the last minute for this visit, and I’m glad she did.
Other posts you’ll enjoy:
Familiar Faces at the Assisted Living Homes
Visiting the Seniors on a Hot Summer Day
Sometimes the Quiet Therapy Cat Visits are the Best
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My visit to this assisted living facility was mostly fun, but something strange did happen!
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Summer’s Fabulous Cat Life
