Therapy Cat – Service Training & Certification

Therapy Cats – How to Certify?

Many of you might have come across therapy cats before. Therapy cats can help humans who are sick and depressed and provide them peace of mind and relaxation. They provide them comfort when they feel emotionally lost. Thus, helping them feel better. In this article you will come to know about the therapy cats and how you can adopt them. You will also be able to find out on how the therapy cats help different people and how can your cat be trained so that it can become a therapy cat. This guide will get you all the answers to your question about therapy cats and how therapy cats help save lives in their own way, which is unimaginable but true.

Therapy Cat

The Therapy cats are those cats who are trained and certified to help adults, teens and youngsters by interacting with them. Similar to other therapy animals which are helpful in interacting with humans, therapy cats also are helpful in providing comfort to those people who are struggling with physical and emotional issues.

Therapy cats are more popular nowadays as they have worked wonders for many of their humans. It has been proved that animal-human interaction has always been beneficial. Therapy cats help treating many emotional and physical stress such as:

•       Physical illness in the disabled and elderly people.
•       Aggressive behavior in youngsters and teenagers.
•       Distress in patients when at a hospital.

These cats can be commonly found in care homes, rehabilitation centers for drug and alcohol, detention centers for juveniles and many facilities which deal with patients having emotional stress. The therapy cats are known to ease the pain of their humans who are suffering from health disorders. They have been known to help in treatment of patients with heart strokes, suicidal depression and autism. Many people claim that cats are whimsical and dangerous but these therapy cats are helpful and well-mannered and certified by professionals. Thus, the therapy cats can be very reliable and helpful while treating patients with emotional or physical distress.

How to Get a Therapy Cat?

If any of your relatives or you need help while being treated at a facility, you can always find comfort by appointing a therapy cat. You don’t need to join any therapy organization to get the benefit you can simply ask for using the benefits without becoming a member of the organization. There are many non-profit organizations that have animal therapy and they allow people to take benefit of this when they hold events or even visit people who want to take the benefits of human to animal interaction.

As these therapies have become very popular nowadays, many animal therapy centers have come up in the city and suburbs giving many options of therapy programs. Some of the well-known organizations which deal in therapies even visit school and hospitals to help people. It is always better to contact the certified organizations which deal with therapy animals. There are many pets which can help people with coping with mental and physical traumas. However, if you want your cat to be a part of the therapy, make sure they are trained and certified. Because regardless of the organization that you have chosen, the cats which help the people, are certified and well trained.

Can Therapy Cats be kept as Personal Pets?

If you want to get benefit from Cat therapy you don’t have to be admitted to a facility or a nursing unit. You can get a prescription which would allow you to become the owner of the therapy cat. This prescription would provide you many benefits and privileges such as permission to keep a cat in a no-pet dormitory or building, or even using airlines which has no-pet on-board and many other inclusions.

Getting a Therapy Cat

Many cat parents take an extra step forward and volunteer for the good of the community and train their personal pet, pay for their training courses, prepare them for the exams, get their certification done and also provide membership fees. You will not find the therapy cats for sale or adoption. You can get the opportunities of getting an interaction at:

• Facilities where therapy cats provide therapy.
• Get a prescription for yourself.
• Train your own pet cat to become a therapy cat.

You should know that if you want to turn your pet cat into a cat for therapy, it is not easy and it obviously is not cheap. However, it helps many people to get through emotional and physical distress. The Denver Airport provides therapy cats for passengers who are tired or stressed. This initiative was known as the CATS program.  Many people even benefited every year from the efforts of non-profit organizations which would include cat therapy. Most of the therapy is generally attended by teenagers and kids.

Training Your Pet to Become a Therapy Cat

If you are an owner of a therapy cat there are many benefits you get, as an owner. However, the best reason is knowing that your cat along with you has been able to help many people. When you adopt a cat and train them to become a therapy cat you get a chance to make a human life better by their interaction with your pet. If you decide to join the organization which helps people to overcome their disabilities and distress you may be helping more people than you can even imagine.

Therapy cats do help humans in a very positive way and they can even help people who have strong suicidal symptoms. Thus, these pets are worth training in every way.

Training

The Therapy cats are found to be very obedient and love to interact with humans. This means that your cat should understand the basic commands and respond accordingly. Cats are generally found to be funny and misbehavior is one of their basic traits. You can’t allow the untrained cat to be around people who are in distress or very sick. Therapy cats should be very comfortable in the presence of a stranger, or noisy kids or people who are unstable. For doing this you need to let your cat socialize with strangers and make them know unfamiliar sounds or scents. When the obedience level of your cat increases the chances of your cat becoming a therapy cat becomes higher. However, you should make sure that you don’t force your pet into doing something they are not liking. If you are unable to train the cat you can always get professional help. You need to understand that even if your cat is adorable, not every cat can become a therapy cat.

Requirements

Training your cat is not the only thing you need so that it can become a therapy cat. There are many other requirements. The organization that provides the certificate has certain standards which you have to meet to get the therapy cat certification. There are certain rules that they have:

• Age limit (kittens should be at least 1 year old)
• Health documents
• No raw diets in food.

Some of the organizations even check if the cats have lived with their parents for more than 6 months or not. Some check if the cats are comfortable while they walk with a leash. These rules are set for the benefits of people who would be taking the therapy sessions with your pets.

Certification

You have to pay a fee if you want your cat to get a certification showcasing that it is a therapy cat. This is necessary even if you have trained your cat well by spending a huge amount of money on their trainers and behaviorists. Paying for the certification is mandatory. The certification is an official document stating that your cat is a therapy cat. Both you and your pet will have to overcome many tests and inspections from inspectors who will be checking and judging the health and behavior of the cat. Your cat has to pass the test, only then will it get a therapy cat certification. Because looks do not matter when it comes to certification of therapy cats. After the tests are completed the cat is on a probation period of a few months where the kitty will be allowed to visit unknown people in many facilities.

Application

There are many organizations which you can shortlist, that are involved in cat therapy. They run special programs which focus on therapy by pets. They always welcome new volunteers into their organizations. You are allowed to enroll your cat in these organizations as they can help people who are suffering and can gain benefit from the therapy. You can also get in touch with the vet if there are any therapy programs which they are running in any of the organizations, which they are aware of. Even programs which are done on a low scale do benefit people. Each organization which is involved in these activities have only one goal and that is to help make the world a better place to live.