Felines can be trained to be certified therapy cats, as 7-year-old Sputnik can attest – Chicago Tribune

Of all the places to conduct my first interview with a cat, Lazy Dog, the dog-friendly restaurant on Route 59 in Naperville, wouldn’t have been my first choice. But if that’s where Sputnik, the certified therapy cat, wanted to meet up, who was I to complain?

Sputnik, seven years old, is a long-haired feline of indeterminate breed who takes his work very seriously. She has almost 15,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram and regularly visits nursing homes, schools and corporate events. She lives with Sonya and Curt Stowers of Naperville and two other cats.

She arrived for our chat in her personal stroller and introduced me to her human companion, aka owner.

“This is my assistant Sonya,” she said. “She helps me with everything. She tells me that I’ve lived with her since I was three days old, although I obviously don’t remember that. Apparently we met at the Naperville Area Humane Society, where my mom has volunteered for almost 10 years.”

Sputnik was the smallest of his litter, weighing just 120 grams when he was born. Generally, it takes a kitten eight weeks to grow to two pounds, at which point it is ready to be spayed or neutered. But starting so small, it took her 13 weeks to reach this milestone, by which time she had won the Stowers’ affection and had gone from foster cat to pet.

“I like to consider myself the favorite,” said Sputnik. “Spec, the other cat in the house, only tolerates me, but Leo and I get along well. But let’s be honest, not every cat is prepared to do the work I do.”

When the humane society put out a call for cats to participate in their voluntary therapy program, Sonya was happy to offer 4-month-old Sputnik’s services. Certified therapy cats are not allowed at Naperville’s Edward Hospital like dogs, but they visit high schools, North Central College, local nursing homes and hospice patients.

Nowadays, Sputnik makes between five and ten visits per month.

“The training was like the canine good citizen program, but feline,” Sputnik said. “I had to get used to using a harness and leash, but to be honest it wasn’t difficult for a cat with my aptitude. Mom took me to public places like pet-friendly stores because they can be noisy, but it wasn’t a problem.”

The training lasted about three and a half months. The crafty cat knows that whenever she is helped into her harness and bandana it is time to go to work and she enjoys traveling by car.

“Did you know that only 5% of therapy animals are cats? Most are dogs, although there are some horses. It’s harder to get them into the car,” Sputnik said, pausing to laugh at his own joke.

“People often say they didn’t know cats could do this or ask why they didn’t have cat therapy available when they were in the hospital,” she said. “Some people call their mother Catwoman. It’s important for me to have a bond with my coach. I trust her to keep me safe so I can focus on my work, which basically involves looking beautiful, being admired, and managing my social activities. I guess you could call me feline Kim Kardashian.”

Sputnik decided to create her own Facebook page on a whim in 2019. With the help of her mother, she posts almost every day and has followers from all over the world. She recently became a rising creator, which means some of her posts are monetized. On her birthday, she donated $350 to the humane society.

During the pandemic, Sputnik missed work so much that he sent photos and emails to some of the places he previously visited. They were delighted to hear from her, she said.

“A lot of my followers are women over 60, but there are also some teenagers,” she said. “I like receiving likes, or licks, as I prefer to call it. Sometimes I receive private messages from people. One person said looking at photos of me on her phone helped her get over a panic attack when getting on the bus.”

Someone wrote to share about recent drug rehab.

When not working, Sputnik insists that she is a normal pet and doesn’t let all the attention go to her head. She uses her free time to catch up on her sleep (on average 16 hours a day) and stays in great shape by taking care of herself and playing with toys. She enjoys watching basketball on TV, especially University of Illinois games. She likes music, especially Cat Stevens, although she finds Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” moving.

The humane society is always in need of foster families for dogs or cats, but there are other ways to help as well.

“You can volunteer, adopt, donate money, trash or food for dogs and cats,” Sputnik said. “We are also always looking for more therapy cats. Did you know that most were rescued? If you have a cat you would like to volunteer, please contact my people at the Humane Society.”

You can contact them at www.naperhumane.org. To follow Sputnik, visit Sputnik the Therapy Cat on Facebook or sputnik_the_therapy_cat on Instagram.

Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved to Naperville from England in 2007. She can be reached at hilarydecent@gmail.com.