Senior citizens should consider being cat nappers at local animal shelters

 

 

Terry volunteers daily at his local shelter to take naps with cats as you can see in the video.  I can't guarantee the video will stay on this page indefinitely. Sorry.

And as you can see in the video, he thoroughly enjoys it and is very good at it. He's made friends with the cats, and they've made friends with him. He says that the experience helps with his health and blood pressure et cetera. I just see a lot of positivity in the video. There's no downside to it.

If you are a senior citizen with time on your hands and if there is an animal shelter not too far from, this, I would have thought, would be an option.

Old hand of a loving cat caregiver and the appreciative cat. Image in public domain.

Not only do you meet the cats and provide them with a little bit of human warmth and comfort, you can meet the people who work there as well.

Every senior citizen needs to get out and meet people. It's a basic necessity for humankind. Humans are social creatures.

And connecting with domestic cats at shelter allows Terry to connect with nature. The domestic cat is wild at heart. The wild cat nature is just below the surface.

When you interact with a domestic cat you indirectly interact with nature.

So there you go, it is a project which is bundled up with positivity and goodness. Of course, you got to like cats and you can't be one of the 10-20% of the population who are allergic to cats.

But, then again, if you can't be a professional, unpaid cat napper you might do the same thing with dogs.

What if you live in an apartment and the landlord doesn't allow cats and what if you think that your lifestyle is not really suitable to look after a cat. But you love cats. You might find a compromise and become a professional cat napper.

Terry snoozes with a shelter cat. Screenshot.

Terry Lauerman of De Pere 

This is a convenient moment to write a bit more about Terry. He's been around quite a bit and has become quite famous. He's in his mid-70s and has been dubbed "The Cat Grandpa".

He said: "I've always liked cats and I always had cats when I was kid, and I loved them. In many ways, I see my old cats in these cats here." 

He visits the Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary Inc. When I first saw him sleeping with a cat I thought it was just a one-off incident, but it isn't. He does it all the time.

The shelter said:

"We are so lucky to have a human like Terry. Terry just came along one day and introduced himself. He said he'd like to brush cats. Eventually it became everyday. He brushes all of the cats, and can tell you about all of their likes and dislikes. He also accidentally falls asleep most days. We don't mind - Cats need this! Terry is a wonderful volunteer. 😻❤️🐾 #nappingencouraged #grateful"

I love the way that Terry got up, got out of his home and introduced himself at the shelter. It started out by brushing cats and what a good idea that was.

At the time that Terry became well known and linked to the shelter, in four days they raised more than $40,000 and their website temporarily crashed as its server reported nearly 1,000 people visiting the website per second.

These days he is an official volunteer at the shelter. He first became acquainted with the shelter in 2016 at its previous location in De Pere.

Terry said that the shelter does not cage the animals. I guess this massively facilitates his interactions with them. The shelter relocated to Green Bay's Broadway District in 2017.

In his previous life, Lauerman was a Spanish instructor. Green Bay is a city in the US state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a US state in the east of the country and Green Bay is adjacent to Lake Michigan.