Some may ask: How does a cat help me be calmer in life? What are the benefits of owning a therapy cat? And how can it be good for autism? In this short blog post, we unpack these questions. These answers are from my personal experience of how Lilli has enhanced my life.
How does Princess Lilli Lilac make me calm?
The Ragdoll breed of cat has a lovely, soft silky textured fur which to a tactile hypersensitive person like myself feels very calming and soothing to my emotions.
Personally, I am overly sensitive to a variety of sensations, one of these is the sensation of touch on my body. It’s as if my brain turns up the “volume” on all touch; a good example is a mouthful of biscuit (cookie) crumbs which is interpreted by my brain as a mouthful of gravel, which is unpleasant. This makes a strong preference for only eating particular foods, like custards, ice cream, or anything smooth textured.
My brain also magnifies the feeling of touch on my skin, for example scratchy fabrics feel like sandpaper rubbing on my skin. However with Lilli’s fur my brain interprets her silky fur correctly.
On occasions, when I am experiencing extreme distress and am rocking back and forth vigorously to self-soothe, Lilli seems intuitively to understand my predicament and will rub herself around my legs while purring loudly for a considerable time, until my anxiety is significantly reduced or overcome.
Lilli chooses to spend most of the day alongside me and will also sleep on my bed at night, keeping me company. Her presence makes me feel somewhat safer, which reduces my anxiety levels and makes life easier and more enjoyable for me. We have formed a wonderful bond together. I typically don’t find bonding easy, so Lilli is very special to me, and we are inseparable.
Princess Lilli Lilac
Hope you’ve learnt how my cat helps me to keep calm. See you on the next blog post! Princess Lilli Lilac has just celebrated another birthday in January! Happy 12th Birthday to Princess Lilli Lilac!! 😸🎂