Cat Immersion Therapy

Cat immersion therapy (my modified name for this!) is using the power of the cat in images and sound to bring joy to a person who is isolated in hospital. Hospitalized happy people recover faster than unhappy people don’t they?

This is an uplifting story that brings into sharp focus the benefit of the cat companion to human well being. It a story that is an antidote to the nasty attitudes of cat abusers, haters and shooters.

Without waffling on needlessly I’ll present the video. It is a good video. You’ll like it.

Maga is isolated

Apparently Maga (Maga Barzallo Sockemtickem) is isolated from other patients and people to help avoid contracting an infection as she has a compromised immune system due to cancer. She is undergoing a bone marrow transplant.

Maga loves cats and misses her cat. I am very impressed with the hospital staff and the guys and ladies who imaginatively set up this 3,000 cat slide show with sound effects using an Apple Mac and some sheets! Wow. Love that. The cat pictures came from well wishers and are on Facebook. The hospital looks fantastic.

I love the way Maga strokes the sheet. She just loves to be in contact with her cat.

Cats and dogs are often used as therapy animals. There are countless examples of sick people benefiting from contact with animals. Here are two articles on dogs and cats as therapy animals:

- Felines Are Great Therapy Animals for Autistic Children

A Therapy Cat Owner Is A Remarkable Individual

Why are dogs and cats such good therapy animals? My answer is: they bring us back to nature. The put us in touch with nature. Nature is where we find our roots. And they are innocent and without malice. Domestic cats are utterly reliable and predictable. These are reassuring traits.

Here is a still image from the video in case the video goes offline:

Cat Immersion Therapy

My thanks to Dorothy for spotting this story.

Note: This story has been republished from 2012 because it is so nice. It needs to be ‘brought forward’ to highlight how animals enhance our lives. Therapy animal are widely employed to assist in recovery.

    Did you find this article useful and interesting? Can it be improved? Please tell me in a comment. I am always keen to improve the site for animal welfare and reader enjoyment.

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Thanks for that Michael. Sorry to go slightly off-topic but this story you linked me to fits into a larger pattern of things I have noticed alot lately. Many people, including myself, meet and love a sort of ‘landmark’ or extra special cat whom they lose in one way or other after a short period of a year or perhaps a bit more. Darlene seems like a classic example. Just the other day I read the ‘about Marley’ bit on ‘Marley’s Fund’ website. Its a story of a lady who loved and lost a very special cat to her and started a whole fund for bettering the lives of cats, inspired by her cat Marley.

In my story I did not mention my boy Red who I lost after just a year. He was a kitten from my friends cat’s litters who adopted me actually, and he changed my life after so much time without my Lilly – he really was there for me and we spent so much time together and he came to live with me when I finally got the flat I mentioned and brought Lilly to Switz. I literally could not speak for close to 3 weeks after he died. He was just over a year old. I still have very bad days and cannot walk home the same way because I think of him being home when I get there.

…And I have read other’s stories of a particular cat that marked their life for a relatively short time. I’ve seen enough of this type of thing in my reading that it forms a pattern in my mind. I expect therefore I will read it again anew.

In all these cases the cats are perfectly happy and their guardians and they have total love for each other without any gaps or inconsistencies or time apart. The person then goes on to live with more cats and to really immerse themselves in cats in one way or another.

Poor Darlene, she doesn’t know what happened to Rascal. I was lucky that I buried Red myself. I had no regrets, I gave him 100% always so I feel like I did everything right. He was not my first cat – not at all, but very special. Perhaps it was the timing, that was for sure some part of it. I don’t know how he died, I found him, but I have my suspicions. The only bad week he ever had was the week I locked him in when we first moved in together. He was born outside and grew up to 6 months outside. No matter how much I tried I could not keep him indoors. He would not accept it. I tried. He was the happiest cat I ever saw. We played at least 2 or 3 hours every day, outside, together. Thats alot of time I can tell you. I still play with my cats for hours every day. But me and Red was a special thing. I never loved anyone or anything so much as I love him.

Have you seen a similar pattern? Well, apart from Darlene and Rascal?

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Comments

Cat Immersion Therapy — 8 Comments

marc(Switz) on August 14, 2012 at 12:30 pm said:
No doubt her cat misses her too! They must have a very loving relationship. Living with cats has slowly inspired me to look after myself better and lead a more mentally and physically healthy lifestyle. I have kicked some bad habits and really sorted myself out such that I take pleasure in many of the smaller things in life, and I certainly agree with the saying ‘a home without a cat is just a house’. I have 3 cats now and they are my familly really. It’s a god feeling and I agree with Michael that they bring me closer to my roots and the natural order of things. For a year I had to live without my one cat Lilly while I looked for the right place for us to live before bringing her to Switzerland from the Slovenia where I was previously living. So for a year I missed her very much. I actually ended up compensating for that by spending alot of time researching cats and reading about them. Infact, I would say that being forced apart from her for so long resulted in huge expansion and rise in my interest of in cats in general. I guess being apart made me realise just how much she meant to me and how much I was missing. Luckily I had a friend with cats and actually kittens too so I immersed myself in her cats too. It was a learning experience but I can surely say that this girl Maga must have really loved those pictures. I spent a year looking at pictures and reading about cats and it really helped me. Now I have my Lilly home with me in a house I chose especially because I knew it would be the right place for her to be. I have 2 kittens now who came to live with us just 2 months ago. Lilly has always lived with a few other cats so she is happy to have ‘hr’ kittens now. All very happy and healthy. I understand that this ‘Immersion Therapy’ serves its purpose perfectly for Maga. Cats and Dogs have the potential to bring us endless health and motivation.
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- Michael on August 14, 2012 at 3:22 pm said:
  Great comment Marc. I am thinking of another women who so tenderly loves her cat and her previous cats. She has a genuine and innocent love that is rare. Her name is Darlene Burrow. Here is a post she made about a cat she lost.
  https://pictures-of-cats.org/the-cat-i-found-and-lost-and-loved.html
  Darlene has written more stories like this. Every time I read them they touch me.
  Reply ↓
  - marc(Switz) on August 15, 2012 at 7:36 am said:
    Thanks for that Michael. Sorry to go slightly off-topic but this story you linked me to fits into a larger pattern of things I have noticed alot lately. Many people, including myself, meet and love a sort of ‘landmark’ or extra special cat whom they lose in one way or other after a short period of a year or perhaps a bit more. Darlene seems like a classic example. Just the other day I read the ‘about Marley’ bit on ‘Marley’s Fund’ website. Its a story of a lady who loved and lost a very special cat to her and started a whole fund for bettering the lives of cats, inspired by her cat Marley.
    In my story I did not mention my boy Red who I lost after just a year. He was a kitten from my friends cat’s litters who adopted me actually, and he changed my life after so much time without my Lilly – he really was there for me and we spent so much time together and he came to live with me when I finally got the flat I mentioned and brought Lilly to Switz. I literally could not speak for close to 3 weeks after he died. He was just over a year old. I still have very bad days and cannot walk home the same way because I think of him being home when I get there.
    …And I have read other’s stories of a particular cat that marked their life for a relatively short time. I’ve seen enough of this type of thing in my reading that it forms a pattern in my mind. I expect therefore I will read it again anew.
    In all these cases the cats are perfectly happy and their guardians and they have total love for each other without any gaps or inconsistencies or time apart. The person then goes on to live with more cats and to really immerse themselves in cats in one way or another.
    Poor Darlene, she doesn’t know what happened to Rascal. I was lucky that I buried Red myself. I had no regrets, I gave him 100% always so I feel like I did everything right. He was not my first cat – not at all, but very special. Perhaps it was the timing, that was for sure some part of it. I don’t know how he died, I found him, but I have my suspicions. The only bad week he ever had was the week I locked him in when we first moved in together. He was born outside and grew up to 6 months outside. No matter how much I tried I could not keep him indoors. He would not accept it. I tried. He was the happiest cat I ever saw. We played at least 2 or 3 hours every day, outside, together. Thats alot of time I can tell you. I still play with my cats for hours every day. But me and Red was a special thing. I never loved anyone or anything so much as I love him.
    Have you seen a similar pattern? Well, apart from Darlene and Rascal?
    Reply ↓
    - Michael on August 15, 2012 at 10:06 am said:
      Red had more play time than most cats have in a long life. That was amazing. I agree that 2-3 hours play is awesome. Sorry to hear about Red, though. My first cat was a complete darling. I was indirectly responsible for her death and never got over it. She died in 1994. I have her ashes. I deliberately don’t think about it. I am not sure why some people form complete attachments to a cat companion. I have a feeling it stems from a person’s formative years and difficulties during those years which gives the person a particular sensitivity and empathy towards vulnerable creatures.
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      - marc(Switz) on August 16, 2012 at 8:15 am said:
        Yes, 3 hours is alot, and every day after work I would be so excited to go and see him I was practically running. For the first time in a long time I was for a start not in a human relationship and I really felt so happy hanging out with Red.
        My therapist said that she thinks (this relates to what you said about formative years) – …the fact I was shipped off to another country, England, when I was 8 years old and spent the next 10 years of my life in the boarding school system had a profound effect on my later life. She thinks the that the one place I find peace and freedom and solice is when I spend time with cats is a direct result of my upbringing. I hated boarding school, and at first I was the only french kid there to make matters harder. I have reached a point now in my life after several decent relationships and alot of friends and social life stemming from also growing up in London during my off-school time – where I have less time for people and I dont need to upgrade my social life constantly. Infact I truly enjoy spending time with my cats more than people these days and that started taking shape when I met Red and his littermates, some time after being separated from Lilly.I have lived all over the world and in big citys for the most part, and now I am moving away from it all. I would rather be with my cats now. Its a little anti-social but its the truth and I don’t feel I should fight it. I am also quite happy. I love my cats more than the people who have been in my life, because they dont put pressure on me. My avoidance of pressure and people and problems stems from the pressure of being in boarding school with hundreds of kids and strict rules. Ironically, because of that I am quite socially agile/able, and it puzzles people that I choose to spend time ‘alone’ as they see it. I of course know its quite the opposite, I am not alone at all. I suppose this is still about cat immersion – but sorry to go off topic on this thread.
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Ruth aka Kattaddorra on August 14, 2012 at 10:40 am said:
Such a lovely video. I hope Maga’s bone marrow transplant works and that she is home soon and reunited with her own cat who I’m sure will help her recovery.
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Rudolph.A.Furtado on August 14, 2012 at 8:09 am said:
Michael, according to my personal observations, i feel that all pets have some thereaupatic effect on their owners happiness and well-being.i have obseved it in my own family, including myself.
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- Michael on August 14, 2012 at 10:27 am said:
  Completely agree with you. They are like medicine on a slow drip… 🙂
  Reply ↓