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Even hairless Sphynx cats
give patients a warm, fuzzy feeling
Robert LeMay, 74, pets Emme, one of Terry and Sharron True's Sphynx cats, at J.W. Sommer Rehabilitation Unit in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
By Meg McKinney, for USA

  

Strange-looking cats? Maybe.

Pam Moore concedes that if someone is accustomed to long-haired cats, a Sphynx can be off-putting at first. But after a Sphynx curls up in the lap of one of her patients, Moore, a registered nurse at J.W. Sommer Rehabilitation Unit in Muscle Shoals, Al, says the animal brings about a transformation in the human. "They bring so much peace and happiness to the patients," she says.

 

 

Sphynx cats love to cuddle with people and are as soft as velvet. "They'll just curl right up on a patient's lap and stay there," Moore says. "That's not the training. That's just the way they are."

Only a few thousand Sphynx cats exist in the USA.  GP Skinzin Bak-Jak-the-Knife, the first registered therapy Sphynx in the country, belongs to Terry and Sharron True of Muscle Shoals.

Terry True says holding Jak is like holding "a suede hot-water bottle." When the Trues first started working with their cats in animal therapy, they visited oncology units in a children's hospital where patients were undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. "I wanted the children to know you can still be hairless and be beautiful," Moore says. "The kids' eyes would just light up when they'd see Jak."

PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL BENEFITS

JoAnn Turnbull of the Delta Society, which has registered more than 10,000 animals for therapy work, says the kind of connection Jak offers cancer patients is unique. "People can relate to an animal with the same condition and trust them and bond with them," Turnbull says. "It might also give them the extra motivation to get better."

Research shows petting an animal can decrease patient anxiety, lower blood pressure and help ward off depression.  There is also a soothing calm the purr of a cat offers people.  In their new book, Guardians of Being, author Eckhart Tolle and illustrator Patrick McDonnell suggest that animals help connect humans to the divine and make us whole again.

The Trues say they are big believers in holistic medicine, treating the spirit as well as the body. They know firsthand how difficult it is to find peace in a hospital and how animals can heal in a way they cannot as medical professionals. Sharron is a registered nurse who works in the operating room at the Muscle Shoals hospital. Her husband is a family practitioner.  "When they're in a hospital, they can't see their own pets," Sharron says.  "Research has shown patients get many positive therapeutic benefits from the visiting animals."

Terry adds: "The patients aren't just physically ill when they're in the hospital, they're also suffering emotionally.  One of the best ways to alleviate that is to try to return some sense of normalcy to their lives.  If you show them pets in the hospital, they're able to focus on returning to their lives at home and a good outcome."

When Sharron read about cat-assisted therapy several years ago in a Cat Fanciers' Association magazine, she knew her cats were perfect for the cause "because of how people-oriented they are."  The Trues now have three cats enrolled in therapy work (two of them are Skinzin cats!), but Jak broke the ice for them in a dog-dominated world.

"Jak had just retired from shows, where he'd been very successful, and I told him he had to get another job," she says, laughing.

The new job meant Sharron had to take 12 classes with Jak sponsored by Delta Society. The classes teach the owner and animals how to approach patients and how to not be afraid of hospital settings, smells and equipment. Jak was the only cat in his class. There were 25 dogs.

"He wasn't afraid of all those dogs," she says. "He just marched right into the ring and got to work."

 

ABOUT US

(click to view larger image)

This picture is of my husband and I which was taken at the at the 2009 Regional Awards Banquet.

 

Skinzin Sphynx is owned and operated by me and my husband.  We live just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, in a rural area, in a modest two-story cedar home, which we share with all our critters, a Chinese Crested, and 8 Sphynx cats.

I am very fortunate in that my husband helps with all the kitty chores when I am away at shows.  There, I can share experiences with other breeders, and ensure that my own interpretation of the standard remains in keeping with CFA guidelines for the breed.   

Before I became a Sphynx breeder, I raised Burmese with my co-breeder and friend, Karen Thomas, DVM, of Panthat Burmese Cattery, who also resides in the Atlanta area.  Click here to visit the Panthat Website.
    
I hope you enjoy visiting my website and seeing all of my precious kittens and adults.  Make sure you check out my Adopted Pets page to see so many happy kitties and their new owners.  There are so many wonderful new people I have met, and have been able to continue relationships with.  

When asked why I breed cats, I simply open my pictures and show how many lives I have been able to bring joy to. This, above all, is the most delightful and fulfilling part of being a being a breeder of Sphynx!

 

My grandson.                                                                                                   THE PROUD PARENTS

                      

 

Here he is with his daddy, as he plays his guitar.  He loves music...

 

The following pictures are of my grandson, at a park visit with mom and dad.  His Mom is a fantastic photographer, and so is busy taking pictures!!

He wonders about the world around him...

 

   

 

Dad reads books really really well.  He really does find it interesting...

 

But his imagination is piqued as he reads to himself!!!

 

Well, my grandson may only be 8 months old, but he is anxious to walk and explore the world.

 

 



from left to right, my son, me, my husband, and son-in-law.

 


My Son-in-Law and me
 

This is my father on his deck in his house which adjoins ours.  Of course, the dog is our beloved Doberman, Ra.

Karen Thomas with Panthat Nicholas   More. . .

 



My daughter at Christmastime.
 

 

 


 


My daughter and I at her college graduation! 

     
     
   

   
 
 

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