Woman, Cat Help Others through Therapy

2024-01-03 11:38:21来源：网络

Woman, Cat Help Others through Therapy

女性和猫通过治疗帮助他人

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　　By Faith Pirlo

　　02 January 2024

　　Every day Juanita Mengel, a 67-year-old woman from the state of Ohio, wakes up and puts on her manufactured leg. The device is called a prosthetic.

　　Then, Mengel does the same for Lola-Pearl, her colorful five-year-old cat. Lola-Pearl is missing her back left leg.

　　Mengel has many cats. Most of them have disabilities. But Lola-Pearl is special. She is a therapy cat. And, she and Mengel are partners of a kind. They are among 200 therapy cat teams registered in the United States by the nonprofit group, Pet Partners.

　　The group helps humans and pets alike by setting them up into teams to provide animal-assisted intervention. The teams visit hospitals, nursing homes and schools and assist those in need.

　　Taylor Chastain Griffin is national director of animal-assisted interventions at Pet Partners. She said, "A therapy animal is an animal who's been assessed based on their ability to meet new people and not just tolerate the interaction, but actively enjoy it."

　　Chastain Griffin is a researcher who studies the effects of therapy cats. She said there needs to be more research done in cat therapy. She said that there is a lot of research on other therapy animals like dogs, and many people are surprised to learn that cats can be therapy animals too.

　　"They go into a setting and people are like, 'Whoa, there's a cat on a leash. What's happening? It kind of inspires people to connect in a way we haven't traditionally heard talked about in other therapy animal interventions," Chastain Griffin said.

　　Besides dogs and cats, Pet Partners registers seven other species as therapy animals, including horses, rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, birds, mini pigs, and llamas and alpacas.

　　Mengel said Lola-Pearl showed signs that she would make a good therapy cat soon after the animal joined her family. Mengel took her new cat to a meeting for amputees.

　　"She was so good with people I just knew she would be a good therapy cat. People really were attracted to her, too," Mengel said.

　　Recently people who attended a support group for amputees were able to meet Lola-Pearl. They petted her as she woke up from a rest. On the side of the cat carrier she rode in was a sign: "Therapy Cat" it read.

　　Mengel was a traveling nurse when she was in a car accident that almost killed her. One of her legs could not be saved.

　　Later, she connected with a friend in the state of Missouri who had a severely injured kitten. Her legs were twisted together. An animal medical specialist worked to repair the damage but, in the end, they had to remove one of the baby cat's legs.

　　That kitten was Lola-Pearl.

　　Mengel took Lola-Pearl as her cat after talking with her friend. Despite the difficulties Mengel has faced, she is thankful for Lola-Pearl and their work together.

　　"It's a really rewarding experience," she said, "I get just as much out of it as the people that I visit."

　　I'm Faith Pirlo.

　　Patrick Orsagos reported this story for the Associated Press. Faith Pirlo adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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　　作者：Faith Pirlo

　　2024年1月2日

　　每天，来自俄亥俄州的67岁女性Juanita Mengel醒来，然后套上她的假肢。这个设备被称为义肢。

　　然后，Mengel为她五岁的彩色猫Lola-Pearl做同样的事情。Lola-Pearl缺少她的左后腿。

　　Mengel有很多猫。他们中的大多数都有残疾。但是Lola-Pearl很特别。她是一只治疗猫。她和Mengel是一种伙伴关系。他们是在美国由非营利组织Pet Partners注册的200个治疗猫队伍中的一员。

　　该组织通过将人类和宠物组成团队来提供动物辅助干预，从而帮助人类和宠物。这些团队会去医院、养老院和学校，帮助那些需要帮助的人。

　　Taylor Chastain Griffin是Pet Partners的动物辅助干预国家主任。她说："治疗动物是一种根据其与新人接触的能力进行评估的动物，而不仅仅是容忍这种互动，而且还要积极享受它。"

　　Chastain Griffin是一位研究治疗猫效果的研究者。她说，需要在猫疗法方面做更多的研究。她说，关于其他治疗动物如狗的研究很多，许多人都惊讶地发现猫也可以成为治疗动物。