Caturday felid trifecta: Cat wanders onto White House grounds; a bookstore where you can read with a cat (and then adopt it); cats as therapy animals, and lagniappe

A straying (but not stray) cat named Sophie wandered onto the White House grounds, but fortunately it was rescued by news correpondents who were there at the time.

Click below to read the AP article:

An excerpt:

A gray cat wearing a collar and a name tag that said “Sophie” wandered into the White House grounds.

After the cat meandered through the North Lawn on Friday morning, news reporters scooped it up and took it into the press area for safekeeping. The feline’s owner was called and went to pick it up.

This is a photo gallery curated by Associated Press photo editors.

See a bunch of photos at the site, which I haven’t reproduced because of copyright problems, but I have a video instead:

It’s a good thing she didn’t meet Trump, because he might have grabbed the pussy.

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Here’s a bookstore in Pittsburg, Kansas where cats are available for both lap-sitting and adoption.  It’s a pity that the city has a population of only 21,000,  The Washington Post has the tail (click on screenshot or find the article archived here):

An excerpt (I like the names):

Mike Meowski — a domestic longhaired cat with one eye, named after Mike Wazowski in “Monster’s Inc.” — is “assistant (to the assistant to the) regional manager.” His role involves cuddling guests and quality control for boxes. Mowdy is a superfan of “The Office,” and so bestowed job titles based on the characters of Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute, respectively.

“They’re just perfect,” Mowdy said of her three-cat staff, all of which she rescued.

Mowdy opened the store in 2023 after 17 years as an educator. While teaching, Mowdy volunteered with animal rescues and fostered cats. She also loved bookstores.

“They’re much more than a place you read books,” Mowdy said. “They’re a community hub.”

She wanted to fuse her two passions.

“I decided I could do it; I could create something,” Mowdy said.

. . . There are typically about seven cats — in addition to Hank, Scarlett and Mike — who live in the bookstore as foster cats. They’re “temporary staff,” and Mowdy’s goal is for her customers to adopt them.

Oh, okay, I’ll put in a photo credited to the Literary Cat Company. Ellie is the Naughty Cat of the Week, demonstrating her perfidy:

“Her adoption rate is fabulous,” said Susan Bastion, director of the rescue network. “Having a big open space where the animals can walk around and stretch their legs and interact with the general public is huge.”

Since opening the Literary Cat Co. about a year and a half ago, 32 foster cats Mowdy has brought to the store have been adopted by her customers, and another is in the works. In some cases, people have taken home two cats at a time.

. . .The bookstore is near Pittsburg State University, so college students often bring their own books to study there and snuggle some cats.

“We’ve got lots of cozy chairs and reading nooks,” Mowdy said. “Lots of people don’t buy anything, they just come and play with the cats. That’s perfectly okay. We need to get the cats socialized, too.”

I’d totally go there and work. What better place to read than in a quiet bookstore with cats. And if people are allergic to cats, they can go to another bookstore, though I think every bookstore should have cats.

And here’s a Tik Tok video about the place from the Good News Girl:

@thatgoodnewsgirl

There’s a cat-run bookstore in Kansas and the staff takes their jobs very seriously. 🐈 Hank, Scarlett Toe’Hara, and Mike Meowski are the store’s Regional Manager, Assistant to the Regional Manager, and Assistant to the Assistant to the Regional Manager. 👔 They spend their days overseeing operations at The Literary Cat Co., a cozy cat lounge–bookstore combo where adoptable kitties roam free. 📚 Since opening in late 2023, they’ve helped 31 “temporary catployees” find forever homes, and they’re just getting started. 🐈‍⬛ See more: @Literary Cat Co 🐱 📸 Jennifer Mowdy / The Literary Cat Co #cats #books #bookstorecats #cat #librarycat #catadoption #rescuecat #kitten #booksandcats #booktok #goodnews #animals

♬ original sound – That Good News Girl

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Finally, from The Conversation (click headline to read), we have a question. I would immediately say “no”, but it’s “nuanced.”

An excerpt:

Dogs are sociable, enthusiastic and widely used to comfort people in settings like hospitals, schools and care homes. But an increasingly popular alternative is emerging: therapy cats.

The term is often used loosely in the media and inconsistently within the scientific community. But in its strictest sense, animal-assisted therapy is a structured activity delivered by health professionals with clinical goals.

Most cats involved in this kind of work are part of broader animal-assisted services. For simplicity, we will stick with “therapy cat” throughout this article.

Therapy cats are used to alleviate loneliness and stress. They are used in prisons, schools, hospices, care homes and hospitals and are recommended for people who are afraid of dogs or might struggle to interact with large animals like horses.

. . .recent social media trends suggest a shift in our understanding. Increasingly, we see cats travelling alongside their owners in a campervan, via plane or even on motorbikes. These cats appear to tolerate, and sometimes even thrive, in environments animal behaviour experts once assumed were too stressful for them. So, what makes these cats different?

Some cats can benefit from the presence of a trusted human in unfamiliar or potentially stressful environments. In a 2021 study, animal behaviour researcher Alexandra Behnke and colleagues found that nearly half of the 42 cats they tested showed signs of the secure base effect, a bond that helps reduce stress and encourages exploration when reunited with their owner. This could be helping therapy cats cope with new environments.

. , ,A recent study led by Joni Delanoeije, a Belgian researcher in human-animal interaction, explored how cats selected for animal-assisted services differ from the average household pet. The study analysed survey responses relating to 474 cats – 12 of which had participated in such services. Cats involved in animal-assisted services were found to be more sociable with both people and other cats, were more attention-seeking and less resistant to being restrained.

These findings suggest that behavioural traits, like sociability and tolerance, may make some cats better suited to interacting with people in unfamiliar settings. However, the small number of cats actually involved in service work in this study means that we need more research to draw firm conclusions.

But d*gs are SCARY!

Species preferences can also affect emotional responses. In a 2022 study, researcher Jovita Lukšaite and colleagues used facial expression software to analyse participants’ reactions to animal images.

Both cat and dog images triggered similar levels of happiness on average, yet dog images evoked significantly more fear. Fear of dogs could reduce the effectiveness of canine-assisted therapy for some, making cats a valuable alternative.

Dogs may excel at providing emotional support through physical interaction but cat purrs are a unique characteristic that may offer therapeutic benefits. A 2001 study found that domestic cats purr at a frequency between 25 and 50 hertz – a frequency that promotes healing in humans.

While there is a lack of more recent research to support this finding, a 2021 study found that cat owners reported that their cat’s purrs had a calming effect.

So, dogs might be the traditional therapy animal, but cats have shown they too have what it takes. With the right temperament and training, cats can offer something different to those in need of comfort.

Lagniappe (related to the above):  Here’s Abner, an Abyssinian cat who is the King of Therapy cats at a retirement home. What a lovely moggy! It’s a very touching video, and kudos to Abner’s owners.

h/t: Ginger K., Barry