Mew trend alert? Cats are now part of therapy sessions
Cats have sauntered into therapy rooms. They’re assisting in sessions and getting even tough clients to open up. But don’t swap them for dogs yet. Here’s why
Kitties rule the internet. Some are Reels stars. Some in Sydney and Istanbul have their own Google pins. Some make more money as influencers than humans. All cat content is good cat content (except, the 2019 musical, apparently).
Naturally, mental-health counsellors are hoping their magic will work in therapy too. They’re letting cats in, claws and all, to sessions. “Cats have been adopted by special-needs schools and centres, and have become a fixture of their programmes,” says Minal Kavishwar, founder of the NGO Animal Angels Foundation, and Animal Angels Therapy Center. They’re tiny, they keep themselves clean, they need less space and resources than dogs, they’re not as loud either. Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?
Perhaps because people know what cats are really like. They’re not people pleasers. Even the friendly ones prefer their own space, they don’t easily take to the selflessness required of emotional-support animals. Doggos, your jobs are safe, say animal behaviourists and mental health practitioners. For now.
Fur example
Animal Angels Foundation has trained and worked with therapy dogs since its inception in 2003. But over the last six years, they’ve been slowly incorporating cats into therapy sessions for children with behavioural issues, and adults who have anxiety, boundaries, and self-image challenges. They have three to four cats across in their Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru centres. Kavishwar’s own indie, 16-year-old Cookie, worked with individuals who had severe anxiety before she retired. Mango, a Golden Persian, has been at the Mumbai centre for two years. Elsa, a Ragdoll Persian, and Minu, a Blue Persian, are currently being trained.
“The nature of a cat is to not listen to you or react to things you say or do,” Kavishwar says. So, when individuals with mental-health issues interact with them, they often project their own feelings onto the animal (‘Maybe the cat doesn’t like me’, ‘Maybe it’s because there’s something wrong with me’), which gives therapists something to work with.
Aili Seghetti, a relationship and dating coach from Mumbai brings her 10-year-old indie, Mimi, to some sessions. Mimi doesn’t let people pet her for too long. But when a client gets emotional, starts to cry or is visibly distressed, she’ll hover gently, even climb onto their laps if they let her. Seghetti says that it becomes an opportunity to change the direction of the conversation. “There’s a subtle shift when she’s there. They begin to feel like there’s hope.”
Cats score over dogs when dealing with humans on the autism spectrum. “Some people don’t like the sound of barking, the sensation of being licked, or having a wet nose pushed into their palm,” says Raj Mariwala, a canine and feline behaviourist and director at Mariwala Health Initiative, Mumbai. There’s also no need to baby-talk a cat. For individuals with autism, who struggle to talk to people or animals, it makes a huge difference.
Subordinate claws
Therapy cats are best trained early — in the first eight to 10 weeks. But cat-training might be a euphemism. It’s the humans who get trained to decode what felines like and dislike and tolerate. “So, it’s not command-based training as with dogs, but tailoring the training to their personalities.”
Training a dog for therapy takes between six and eight months. For cats, it can take a year or more, says Kavishwar. “You need to teach them to stay on a harness and expose them to different types of touch, smells, environments, car travel, new places and people — especially children — and sudden sounds and movements.”
And only cats with stable temperaments are considered in the first place. “If the cat is friendly when I see him in his home, and shows the same amount of friendliness, inquisitiveness and confidence when he is somewhere else and surrounded by different people,” it’s an encouraging sign, she says. “We’re not selecting an animal at random and putting it to work.”
Mariwala takes along her nine-year-old ginger cat, Namak, for palliative-care visits. He sits at the foot of a bed, waiting until the person is ready to give him attention. “He’s used to the medical smells and the whirring of the machines — I can’t do that with my other younger cats, Pingu and Shakira.”
Cats de-stress faster, often with a grooming session and quick nap, while dogs prefer active play, which is tiring for a counsellor after a session. But the biggest advantage that felines have over canines is the ability to sit in a patient’s lap. “It’s especially useful for senior citizens or bedridden patients who can’t bend down to play with a dog,” says Mariwala. And cats actively choose to be patient. “Mango worked with a child on the autism spectrum who was initially terrified of animals,” recalls Kavishwar. “In the first session, the boy refused to be in the same room with Mango. He gradually grew curious and made sustained eye contact — a huge improvement. The entire time, you could sense that Mango was choosing to engage with him, not the other way around.”
Dogs are easier to read too, says Mariwala. “But with a cat, the signs are more subtle, and you may miss it until they start biting and scratching.” That can derail therapy, so Mariwala trains cats to retreat to a safe space when they don’t want attention. Namak sits near his carrier container. Pingu and Shakira, head to the exit door.
Paws and play
Behaviourists are fighting the notion that cats are low-maintenance. And there’s still a bit of the wild in them, says Amanda Tong, founder of The Animal Behaviour Academy in Mumbai. “They still possess hunting genes and instincts that make them cautious, as they are both predators and prey. So, every individual feline has their own unique personality and will have a wide variety of preferences, making it hard to generalise behaviour.”
But the reason cat therapy hasn’t taken off is because the field is too new. “There’s no standardised protocol for training,” explains Mariwala. “There aren’t as many studies conducted on cats — especially cats in free-roaming cultures such as India.”
From HT Brunch, August 23, 2025
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