I love doing therapy cat visits at the big hospital! The security person at the front desk knows me by name. And I started working the moment I arrived. A couple of visitors were looking over at me while my human was signing in. So she set me on the counter in front of them. They were delighted!
After a brief stop at the Cancer Center (the patients were sleeping, but I visited with the nurse), we went up to Pediatrics. I got to see three different girls.
The first one was in bed, groggy, but she wanted to see me. My human set me on her bed, and she petted me a little while her mom hovered around, petting me. She admitted that she was probably enjoying the visit more than her daughter! But that’s okay, I’m there for the parents too. They really need stress relief.
The second girl was a teen who was by herself. I settled down with her on the bed and relaxed. The girl had a movie on the TV with a scene that involved soldiers and rogue killers chasing some women through a hellish cityscape. My human couldn’t stop looking at it, and I think it kind of disturbed her. (She does not enjoy that type of movie.) Meanwhile, I was almost dozing with my chin on the girl’s arm and making her happy. It’s a good thing one of us was working!
I only saw the third girl briefly. She was a very pretty child who was a little afraid of me, but who still petted me. Her mom was there and she really enjoyed my visit too.
By then, it was time to head over to Behavioral Medicine. They had two women and a man to visit with me. I had lots of fun hanging out with them and posing for photos. My human chatted with them and showed them a video of me in my Teddy bear costume, and one with the peach kitty. When they heard the story about my candy striper bow tie, one of the nurses said that she had been a candy striper! We were enjoying ourselves so much that we ran overtime. That means it was an especially good visit, one of my best.
Can you believe I’ve been doing visits at this hospital since 2016? It may be big, but it’s almost like a home away from home by now.