This post is sponsored by Sleepypod
Meet Summer, a spectacular six-year-old Somali who shares her adventures on her blog sparkle Cat. She was born on March 10, 2014, and was given the full name of RW GP Tajhara summer Samba. She is an award winning show cat whose happy, friendly disposition made her an ideal candidate to be a therapy cat. We are big fans of summer and have been following her blog for a long time. I recently had a chance to interview Summer’s human, Janiss Garza, and I think you’ll delight in learning much more about this playful, mischievous and sweet kitty.
Tell us a little bit about how you got Summer.
I’ve wanted a therapy cat because the mid-1990s when I found out about the Delta society (now Pet Partners). I’m 100% a cat person, and if I were in a medical facility or other facility, I wouldn’t really have any interest in seeing a therapy dog. I would, however, love to see a cat! So I’ve always thought that I ought to pay it forward by being a therapy pet volunteer with a cat.
Finding the best cat was the hard part, especially for someone like me, who won’t own much more than a couple cats at once (my outside limit was three). I couldn’t just keep getting cats until the best one came along! Although I’ve mostly had rescues, I did have one breed cat, a Somali, and it turned out her breeder had some lines with outstanding temperaments – partly genetics, and partly how they were raised. She was showing a couple of kittens in mid-2014, and the girl in particular was very sweet. By coincidence the Somali I already had passed away around the same time (she had been sick for over a year), so I had room in my life for another cat. I got summer with the full objective of training her for therapy work.
How did you train summer for her therapy work?
Summer started competing at cat shows when she was four months old, so I continued doing that, even traveling with her to different states. cat shows tend to be very noisy and chaotic places, with announcements over speakers, and people hustling about, often with a cat in their arms. All this is actually good training for a future therapy cat, who will have to deal with noisy, chaotic medical facility wards.
Another thing required of show cats that is good practice for therapy work is that they need to be bathed and have their claws trimmed before each show. Her breeder started her off on both claw trims and baths as soon as she was old enough. This is also required of therapy cats. While bathing has never been Summer’s favorite activity ever, she has learned it’s part of what she does, and knows that if I’m putting her through that, it typically implies there’s an adventure in her near future!
One thing atypical of many show cats is that many exhibitors don’t want their cats touched. It messes up the grooming, and if the person has handled or touched other cats, it could spread disease. I allowed everyone to pet summer so she could become accustomed to being touched and cuddled. I don’t know how we are going to deal with this post-Covid, but I hope at some point she can be petted again at public events. She really misses it.
Just a note: a cat does not have to be pedigreed to complete in cat shows. Both TICA and CFA have household Pet categories for rescue and mixed breed cats. I consider shows good training for a cat that will be going out in public.
Describe a common therapy visit.
It differs, according to where we’re going. If we are going to a hospital, I sign us in and we have certain wings and areas scheduled for visits that day. At one hospital, we do bed visits, and we go from room to room, asking if the client wants a visit from Summer. If they do, I lay a fresh sheet down on the bed, and summer curls up on the sheet next to them. She typically starts kneading and purring. I did not instruct her to do that – she just started doing it naturally when we started visits. I chat with the client and any visitors. typically they ask me questions about summer and the therapy group we’re part of. If we are going to a waiting area, I just let summer walk on her leash, and if someone wants to pet or interact with her, I let them. I keep an eye on the interactions constantly, especially if it’s a child, or someone who is developmentally disabled, to make sure summer is safe and the person does not even come one inch within harming her.
Another medical facility we visit is a Shriners, which is all outpatient children. There, we visit the waiting area, the exam rooms – and they even let us into the surgery prep and recovery rooms.
Occasionally, we do an outside visit, like at a fair, or giving a speak with a group. typically I use a smaller carrier to transport summer to her visits and carry her around in a sling inside the hospital, but for these I use the Sleepypod bed carrier, and it becomes her home base. She can sit in the bottom part of it while I’m talking, or she’s hanging out at thenullnull