Bringing the love of cats to intellectually disabled adults at MINDS

MINDS (Movement for the Intellectually Disabled in Singapore) has a Training and Development Centre at Tampines that offers services for adults with intellectual disability to help them with social integration and mainstream activities. They invited us to bring our therapy cats to their centre for animal-assisted activity sessions.

Their clients loved it!

Teapot getting a hug

Through simple interactive activities with the cats, such as touching them, stroking them, playing wand toys with them, the intellectually disabled adults could practise physical skills and communication with their peers.

Outreach Volunteer Camellia with a group of MINDS clients

We have been invited to bring our therapy cats to MINDS at Tampines twice a month. The centre's staff will assist with every session, and the clients' responses to the cats will be evaluated to help them in improving their personal skills.

More pics from our first trial session with them -

Teapot resting on a client's arm

A client brushes a cat with some assistance

Stroking a cat as a group working together

The therapy cats were really comfortable visiting the centre and interacting with their intellectually disabled clients. They were very gentle towards the cats, and the cats didn't get stressed about working with them. We will update our social feeds when we go again to MINDS next month!

Donate to our cause by making a deposit to our Love Kuching Project DBS Current Account 027-905975-3 or via Credit Card. Donate us food or litter at charity rates with free delivery via Pawfection        

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2015 - year of organic growth in our kitty work

For the past few months, we have thought, deliberated, discussed and voted over the things we want to do through LKP for cats in need in this year, and we would like to share them with you.

We want to grow in our existing work. This immediately conjures up dreams of a bigger space where we can provide care for more cats in need, but 2015 is simply not the year to do it. It will require a base fund of $60,000 as a pad for a year's rental and utilities, and thinking brick-and-mortar is limiting.

So we think of 'organic' growth. What is that really? It means we grow our existing programmes, beyond the constraints of the physical space we have.

In order to expand our rescue work beyond the 5 cat suites we can offer to sick and injured cats at a time, we need to grow our Foster Network. This is something we are already working on and you will find opportunities coming your way on how to be a part, big or small, in this. By expanding the number of Foster Caregivers we have, we can say YES to more rescue cases, because after we tend to their veterinary needs at the clinic, the cats will have somewhere to go to regardless of our brick-and-mortar limitations. We know your concerns. Can I foster a sick cat? Do I have the skills to? Do I have the time? We will quell all these fears in due course.

Another thing we are doing to expand our work, is in expanding our knowledge base. This started first off with the recruitment of Foster Care Volunteers to take shifts on non-play/clean days, focusing on the medical care of cats, and in administering supplements - nutraceutical, herbal, homeopathic, aromatherapy - to the cats to improve their base level of care beyond pharmaceuticals.

In light of increasing our Foster Network and in sharing our knowledge, we will give back more of what we have learned through the years of cat care with the public even more, so you can expect more cat care talks in 2015 that you can benefit from.

And in sharing our love for cats, specifically through feline therapy to humans that need it, we have found that this is a great need in our community. We as cat lovers in no way 'hate humans but love cats', instead we see that we need to share the love of cats more and more to people that need it, to expose myths about cats being dirty, to elevate their status as companions, to show the world they have much to give to humans just as we give to them. We will be doing more of our feline therapy outreach, don't you fear. Seeing how a human patient benefits from therapy from a cat is priceless. 

All this, will require more funds, in some way. But we don't see it as a problem, we see a fun challenge instead! We will be launching more kitty-fun stuff for you to take part in, because love for cats is after all a feel-good, lovely thing we want to evangelise to the world about isn't it! We (secretly) see it as education and outreach, but to you it will be something fun you can be a part of with the LKP community. What are we talking about? Akan datang! *tease*

This has of course led to some number crunching and we have come to realise we need to raise a total of $6,000 per month to meet our budget requirements. As we always say, if you can't adopt, foster. If you can't foster, volunteer. If you can't volunteer, donate. There is always something - you - can do to reciprocate the love that the cats in our lives and neighbourhoods give us.

Regardless of space. Yes, the humble Love Kuching Foster Space, is small. But we won't be letting it deter us. We will continue to raise the bar, as we do every single year. For you, and most importantly, for the cats.

Donate to our cause by making a deposit to our Love Kuching Project DBS Current Account 027-905975-3 or via Credit Card  
Donate us food or litter at charity rates with free delivery via Pawfection      

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Feline Therapy Outreach at Renci Nursing Home

Ninja with a wheelchair using patient in a ward at Renci

Last June, Renci Nursing Home at Novena contacted us to conduct animal assisted therapy with cats for their patients as part of their rehabilitative therapy programme. Our Outreach Team, at that time consisting only of Camellia and Nicole went down to visit their staff to map out a feline therapy programme for their needs.

The home was concerned with therapy programmes for ward-bound patients, some of whom cannot even sit up on wheelchairs. Our therapy programme has 3 objectives: physical, psychological, and social. So we crafted a programme for their ward-bound patients and started with one ward when we launched the programme. Since then our programme has expanded to cover three wards, and we are also in the works of planning to cover other Renci branches.

Butter on a bedbound patient's lap

Each patient who is interested and doctor-approved for the therapy goes through a checklist of therapy activities each time the therapy cat visits their bed, in order to fulfill the 3 therapy objectives. This way, the nursing home can use the collated data to assess the patients' benefit from the programme. Each patient gets to touch the cat if they want to, to encourage the psychological benefit from a cat's affection.

Cola Bay being touched by a patient on her bed

Some patients have stroke or arthritis, so patients may need assistance from our volunteers to create the physical contact with the cat. They may also need help with movement of their hand across the cat to stroke it, which creates a physical therapy benefit for the patient. Each patient's therapy session is evaluated to see if the stroking is volunteer-assisted on independently initiated by the patient.

This bed-bound patient initiated contact with Teapot

Patient encouraged by volunteer to physically stroke the cat

Kieran being stroked by a patient who can sit up

During each patient's therapy session, the volunteers will use the cat as a conversational icebreaker to get the patients talking. Sometimes these patients have no one to talk to the entire day, or may not have anything to talk about with their ward mates. Some of these patients also talk or sing to the cats, prompted by the volunteers if they are more reserved.

Socially interacting with Butter

Using Butter as a talking point to encourage conversation

How do we get suitable cats for therapy? The cats either are fostered by us, or belong to our Outreach Volunteers, such as Dharma and Gracie. For Renci Nursing Home, because the therapy session is held on a weekend, ad hoc volunteers can join in with their own cats too. Cats are screened with a checklist for health and personality.

Peanut and Butter's parents volunteering

Before each therapy session, the cats are groomed, nails trimmed, and given calming supplements to ease their stress of being handled by different people throughout the day. This is to protect the welfare of the cats as well as to prevent any aggression that might arise if a patient should accidentally handle the cat too roughly. They are also transported in carriers dabbed with essential oils so as to ease travel anxiety to the home. Each cat wears a harness and has a leash especially for those who are more active.

Teapot getting nails trimmed

Krystal getting her fur brushed with a Furminator

Supplements we administer to the cats beforehand

Kieran being fed her supplements

Yeah, some of them don't like the taste!

But it's effective in calming you, Duatau Bay!

After the grooming and supplements, the ad hoc volunteers are briefed by the Outreach Volunteers on safety measures, therapy steps, hygiene protocol - for instance, placing a pee pad on the patient's lap or bed before the cat is placed with them, sanitising of hands and observing doctors' orders on which patients should not have contact with the cats.

Dharma briefing the volunteers

We go to Renci Nursing Home every 4th Saturday of the month. If you wish to join us, drop an email to our Outreach Volunteer Camellia at outreach@lovekuchingproject.org.

We promise you it will be fun, and meaningful - sharing the love of cats with those who need it.

Donate to our cause by making a deposit to our Love Kuching Project DBS Current Account 027-905975-3 or via Credit Card   
Donate us food or litter at charity rates with free delivery via Pawfection      

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