Tribune-Review Dr. Betsy Kennon pampers a pet cat named Smokey after examining it Tuesday, March 7, at Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley in New Kensington. Searching is kennel personnel worker Jordan Sorg. Kennon, that retired in 2016, has actually been volunteering her services at the shelter because 2017. Tribune-Review Scooter check outs Platinum Ridge Center for Rehabilitation & Healing in Brackenridge in February 2020. Information Get the inside story on Scooter
Dr. Betsy Kennon’s publication, “Scooter: Therapy Cat,” is available for $16.95 at Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley, 730 Church St., New Kensington, or online at Amazon or Word Association Publishers in Tarentum. All of the earnings profit Animal Protectors.
If you go
That: Animal Protectors
What: Chocolate Paws fundraiser with Dr. Betsy Kennon signing “Scooter: Therapy Cat”
When: 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 25
Where: River Forest Country Club, Allegheny Township
Details: Tickets are $40 and readily available at animalprotectors.net or by calling 724-339-7388.
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A paralyzed pet cat led to retired vet Dr. Betsy Kennon altering the way she sees her purpose in life.
In 2008, Kennon was provided with a kitten suffering from a spine injury as well as incapable to use its hind legs. Her expert judgment told her to put the ownerless feline to rest– yet, she claims, a voice told her do not do it.
That cat, which she called Scooter and later embraced, took place to bring comfort to untold numbers of individuals he visited at recovery hospitals, taking care of residences and also hospices until dying in June 2021.
Kennon has composed a publication about her trip with Scooter, which ended up being a not likely therapy pet.
“It simply felt, to me, like it was a tale that needed to be informed. It altered my entire way of taking a look at what my purpose is in life,” she said. “Volunteering came to be a large part of my life with him. I had never ever done any volunteer work prior to him entering into my life.
“When you offer of your very own time and very own capacities to people who are much less lucky than you are, it truly alters your whole expectation on life.
“That’s the major message I want to get across in guide: is for individuals to see we all have something to give– even a pet cat that only has 2 good legs.”
Kennon, 69, stays in Fawn with her spouse, Steve Nehus. Retired from her specialist practice because 2016, she has volunteered her veterinary skills at Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley in New Kensington given that 2017.
All profits from sales of her publication, “Scooter: Therapy Cat,” released by Word Association Publishers in Tarentum, will certainly most likely to the medical fund at Animal Protectors, aiding to pay the clinical prices of pet dogs as well as felines at the sanctuary.
Duplicates for sale at the sanctuary, 730 Church St., are autographed and also can be personalized. Kennon also will certainly be authorizing copies at Animal Protectors’ approaching Chocolate Paws occasion
March 25 at River Forest Country Club.
The book also is offered online at mobility scooter
therapycat.com and on Amazon, yet the shelter benefits extra from direct sales.
A year after retiring, Kennon was spoken right into offering at Animal Protectors, becoming its very first in-house veterinarian, when she was available in eventually to give away some towels, claimed Phyllis Framel, president of the shelter’s board.
“She has actually been an outright godsend to us,” Framel stated. “She cares for the animals. She does all our feline neuters internal. That’s a big savings for us. She does small procedures that we don’t have to send.
“We can call her almost at any time, and also we do.”
Framel stated Kennon’s publication mirrors her individuality.
“It’s extremely upbeat, extremely positive,” she stated. “She discusses how she obtained Scooter as well as all the different kinds of interactions they had. Unfortunately, at the end Scooter dies, but it’s not really sad.”
A Mt. Lebanon indigenous, Kennon stated she knew she intended to be a vet given that the fourth grade. She took place to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 1980.
Having never ever composed a book in the past, she started on Scooter’s tale right after he died from a suspected stroke. It took 18 months to finish.
A pal sent her Stephen King’s book,” On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,” which she said was extremely useful. Her niece, Beth McNamara, that stays in Reston, Va., and does company writing, assisted with editing.
“This was a whole new ballgame for me. It was very much extra engaged than I anticipated as well as a lot different than I expected,” Kennon claimed. “I had never ever written anything before aside from documents for college.”
Kennon thinks Scooter had to do with 6 months old when he was brought to the center where she operated in Indiana Township in March 2008. A guy’s husky had actually found the cat, which she guessed had actually been hit by an auto.
“He had no proprietor, no ID; he was never going to stroll again. The logical point was to place him to rest,” she stated.
Scooter lived at the facility, hanging around in the reception location throughout the day, for numerous months.
“Everybody knew him. Everybody claimed hi,” she said. As for being embraced, “Nobody desired a handicapped feline.”
Scooter went home with Kennon when she left the practice in August 2008. She was planning on getting involved in treatment animals in her retired life.
“I believed I could utilize the people skills I had from being a veterinarian, and also an experienced dog, to do something great,” she claimed. “I presumed it would be a dog. I never ever knew there was treatment cats till Scooter went along.”
Scooter’s initial visit was to HealthSouth Harmarville Rehabilitation Hospital in Indiana Township. He didn’t yet have actually the rolled cart that would aid him navigate.
They were required to a stroke patient’s room and told the lady would certainly not respond.
“He leaned into her. She opened her eyes and began to animal him as well as talk with him,” Kennon claimed. “The registered nurses were in tears.”
As Scooter gained prestige, demands for his brows through came. Kennon said the first nursing house they went to was not as good as the rehab healthcare facility; she really did not utilize its genuine name in the publication.
“That was truly difficult. These individuals smelled bad. They were out of it. They were simply sitting in mobility devices staring into room. I had an actually difficult time that first day,” she stated. “I kept doing it. When it began to sink in to me that we were making a distinction, that’s. We were bringing joy to these people who had really little pleasure in their lives.”
Kennon said Scooter motivated individuals, specifically those in wheelchairs seeing him navigate with his cart.
“If he can do it, I can do it,” she said. “They truly pertaining to that.”
While Kennon would love to see Animal Protectors hire its own vet, she does not envision leaving as a volunteer anytime soon.
“For the time being, I don’t have any plans to stop doing it,” she stated. “I really feel like I’m filling a need, a huge need.”
Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review team writer. You can call Brian by e-mail at brittmeyer@triblive.com or by means of Twitter.
Groups: Local|Valley News Dispatch
Information Get the inside story on Scooter
Dr. Betsy Kennon’s book, “Scooter: Therapy Cat,” is offered for $16.95 at Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley, 730 Church St., New Kensington, or online at Amazon or Word Association Publishers in Tarentum. Every one of the profits profit Animal Protectors.
If you go
Who: Animal Protectors
What: Chocolate Paws fundraising event with Dr. Betsy Kennon authorizing “Scooter: Therapy Cat”
When: 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 25
Where: River Forest Country Club, Allegheny Township
Information: Tickets are $40 as well as available at animalprotectors.net or by calling 724-339-7388.
Email Newsletters TribLIVE’s Daily and Weekly e-mail newsletters supply the news you want and also details you require, appropriate to your inbox.