Pet therapy

Cats

The Family Cat:

My son Nicholas is almost three years old.

He was diagnosed at birth with PWS.

Since that time, we have had him evaluated by the finest doctors. We have had him enrolled in the best therapy programs available. We started him on GH, vitamins, CoQ10. He's had g-tubes and AFO's.

And while all of these interventions have been very important.....

I can tell you without a doubt that the biggest inspiration to my son Nicholas has been the family cat, Bandit.

This poor fluffy fellow is almost solely responsible for my son's daily exercise program of walking, talking, jumping and most importantly laughing.

Yes life has certainly changed for Bandit since Nicholas joined our household. His once leisurely lifestyle has been transformed into a rigid regime of hard-core therapy for Nicholas.

He is chased. He is massaged. He is harassed and cajoled. He has even sourly withstood a haphazard baby-carriage ride around the kitchen (blanket and all).

But I think by far Bandits bravest contribution was whan my son began to learn to walk.

Nicholas did not have the strength and coordination to walk by himself. His mind was eager to explore but his poor little body could not manage the task. He had taken a few good spills and was reluctant to try again. Our PT brought us a walker and suggested he try it. Well, I cried and cried at the sight of this metal monstrosity. It was ugly and institutional -looking. But my tears of sadness were quickly replaced with tears of joy when I saw what happened next. My son's eye's started to sparkle when he saw this shining charriot. He grabbed the handles, spun it around and headed immediately for the cat. He still couldn't talk but the light in his eyes was screaming..."aha, now I've got youÿÿÿÿˆì !" This was not a "walker" to Nicholas. To him it was the coolest cat chasing machine known to man.

Well this poor cat nearly jumped out of his fur when he saw the silver streak barreling down upon him. SCRAAAAATCH, went the sound of the metal legs sliding across our kitchen floor. And like Tarzan from the Jungle "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH" came the words from Nicholas's mouth!

Since that day, my once docile cat now sits steadfastly alert, waiting for his next therapy session.

And like a GPS tracking device, be it day or night, my son Nicholas can tell you exactly where you can find Bandit.