I wish I had a way to show everyone what happens when you put a kitten, wrapped in their soft blanket “purr-ito”, into the arms of a person with dementia.

You see, when we bring appropriate sensory and social stimulation into the day’s experience of someone with dementia, we give them a reason to be alive.  

With a kitten in their arms, we have heard stories about the kitten they never got because their brothers always wanted dogs.  We have heard stories about the cats behind her father’s office; cats she would play with while her father worked.  And about the kittens on her childhood farm; the farm that was so far south in Indiana that it was almost in Kentucky.

Amazingly, these stories are told by people who rarely speak.

We have watched fellow residents sit shoulder-to-shoulder, with a kitten in between, and chat.  It did not matter that those of us with healthy brains were not able to understand the words; the two were having a time of relationship and mutual enjoyment…a rare experience in facilities.

People with dementia are not mindless.  They are not “gone”, or “lost”.  In fact, when we provide a dementia-aware, dementia-friendly environment, it is our observation that a more pure, more intuitive version of themselves…without the cognitive clutter…emerges.  And with the right stimulation, they show us that they are indeed alive.

Kittens are relatively simple.  But their effect on people with dementia is anything but simple.  

We are grateful to Collinwood Assisted Living and Memory Care, Animal Friends Alliance, Dementia Together, Lisa Dobel and her volunteers, especially Susan Fowler, Anne Cady, and Marcia Keilen, for letting us watch the wonder of kittens in the arms of people living with dementia.

Oh, and by the way, the kittens have a powerful effect on the staff, too.  It is a win-win, and we cannot wait to watch the wonder again.

Grateful,

Jill

©Jill Couch