Getting ready for Pet-Assisted Therapy

Charcoal the fashionista!

I am enrolling Cotton and Charcoal to a pet-assisted therapy with a local hospice. It is a meaningful volunteer commitment because the pets get to provide the spiritual and some physical comforts to the patients who are at their end stage of lives. 

Living in the Asian country, there are many taboos and superstition associated to death. Although the patients in the hospice comprehended what will ultimately happened to them when receiving their palliative care, the deeply ingrained culture still very much alive as part of their beliefs. Hence black animals are pretty much not popular with the elderly and so Charcoal is going to have some issues doing the therapy job. 

Fortunately, some advices from the existing pet-assisted therapy volunteers shared that accessorizing their black pet to "break" the all black body and head seems to do the trick. Accessorizing pets make the pets look more outstanding and thereby easier to engage with the patients as there are more topics to talk about. Hence this trick is more receptive to the patients. 

So here I am, decided to accessorize Charcoal with a scarf. The scarf is Velcro stripped. 

Isn't she a beauty in that scarf? 

Out of fun, I also accessorize Cotton for picture taking purposes. 

Cotton: what are you doing? Taking pictures again is it? 

Cotton: ok I pose. What? You cannot see the scarf? Ok I re pose. 

Cotton: ok i re-posed. How do I look?  

Cotton: what do you mean you still unable to get that IT picture???? How about I show you my angry face? 

And so we are ready for our pet-assisted therapy volunteer now! :) 

I also hope to spread some rabbit care education while doing the therapy. So now I could do family bonding with my bunnies, spread comforts and love to patients and educating at the same time. It's more than a win-win, it's a triple winning streak!