Institutionalized: 1940

Deciding to get an Assistance Animal

It has been only a few weeks since the race and the unavailing of the award in Greg's honour. Greg is still in shock to have such an award in his name. I am very proud of him and what the awards stands for.

Anyway, there is a dilemma in our minds. Greg and I are trying to decide if we need an assistance animal. The reason being our mobility. Both Greg and I are having difficulty getting items that fall on the floor or get laundry out of the machine. We will ask Rice what he thinks and decide from there. The other part of the decision is if we should get a dog or a cat to help us. There is a new program that started to train cats to assist disabled people and veterans. Our decision is that we want a cat because cats are smaller and will fit our place perfectly. Now all we have to do is speak to Ric about it to see his opinion on the matter. Both Greg and I are going to speak to Ric in a few days before we make our final decision on applying to get a service cat.

A few days have passed, we decided to call Ric about the idea of getting a service animal. Once we called him to ask his opinion on this matter, he agreed it was a good idea. After the telephone conversation, we decided to find an agency that had service animals. Once we found an agency, we asked for an application. A woman at the agency told us that once the application is filled out and sent back to the agency, we will find out if we apply for a service animal within 30 days of handing in the application. Once we received the application, we read it thoroughly then filled it out with the correct information. The next day I mailed the application back to the agency.

A few days after mailing our application, we received a letter from the agency. The letter just informed us that the agency received our application and is in the process of reviewing it. The letter also said that we would receive a letter in the mail in four to six weeks of receiving this letter. Once we read the letter, Greg and I are excited to be approved for receiving a service animal. It would be a great help to us. We have been getting impatient. We have been checking the mail box daily for any mail relating to our approval for the service cat.

>Five weeks have passed, since we received the letter from the agency saying that they received our application. When I went to check the mail as usual, I was happy to hear from the agency. The letter from the agency said that our application was reviewed and approved. The letter stated that we would have to go to the agency this week to choose our cat. After we read the letter, we smiled at one another. Greg decided to call his dad to ask him if he would drive us to the agency. He also wanted to tell him the good news of getting approved. We are going to the agency in a few days to get our cat.

A few days have passed. Ric will be picking us up to go to the agency soon. Greg and I are a bit nervous. I guess we have nerves because of the excitement. Once Ric arrived to get us, we left for the agency. The agency is not too far from our house. Once we arrived at the agency, Ric told us that he will wait for us. We thanked him and went in. Once we found the part of the agency where the service animals were, we went up to the desk and told the clerk that we applied for a cat and was approved. Also we told her that we were picking up the cat. She told us to go have a seat and someone will be right with us. Ten minutes later, a woman came and told us that we needed to come with her to choose the cat that was right for us. We followed her into a room with cages and cats. She told us to look at all the cats and choose the one we liked the best. We looked at all the cats. There were black ones, white ones, grey ones, multi coloured ones, and orange ones. Both Greg and I kept going back to one cat that was round and orange. The woman told us that the cat was male and his name was Ryliegh. We liked the name and the cat, so we told the woman that we would take him. After choosing Ryliegh, the woman handed us forms to sign saying that Ryliegh is a service animal. Then she gave us all sorts of items, the items included his cat litter box, toys, and a vest that indicated that Ryliegh is a service animal. The woman also told us that Ryliegh was trained to get things that have been dropped on the floor. Ryliegh is also sensitive to if you are weak. He is train to sit in your lap and sooth you when you are weak. We thanked the woman and we went to the car to go home. Once at the car, we showed Ric our cat Ryliegh. Ric told us that Ryliegh was a handsome looking cat.

Once we arrived home, we took Ryliegh out of his carrier, so he could look around and get used to his surroundings. We put his litter box in the bathroom and his food and water dishes in the kitchen and filled them up with food and water. After setting our place up for Ryliegh, we sat on the couch to talk. While I was talking to Greg, I heard a meow and felt a paw on my left leg. I looked down and it was Ryliegh. I told him he could go on my lap. As soon as he got on my lap, he had his front paws on my left leg and his nose was nudging my left hand and then gentally put one of his front paws on my hand. When Greg saw this happen, he told me that Ryliegh sensed that my left side was weaker than my right side. He is one smart cat. I told this to Greg and he agreed.

A few days after that, Ryliegh did the same thing to Greg. We concluded that Ryliegh sensed both our disabilities. The one amazing thing about Ryliegh is that he does laundry. I mean he helps Greg and I do laundry. He takes the clothes out of the basket for us and passes the clothes to put into the machine. Once it is time to put the clothes into the dryer, we give Ryliegh the clothes to put into the dryer. Ryliegh does other things besides chores for us. He also goes out in public with us. He will get things that we cannot reach. It will be fun when we bring him to the track in the summer. The guys are going to love him.

I had a thought to write a letter to Dario about Ryliegh, but I want to see what Greg thinks of it. I will ask Greg tomorrow about it. The next morning, I asked Greg what he thought of writing a letter to Dario about Ryliegh. Greg thought it was a great idea. He also suggested that I should also tell Dario any other new things that occurred after we saw him last. I will start writing this letter later on today.

This afternoon I decided to write the letter to Dario. While writing the letter, Ryliegh came up to me and rubbed against my leg. I think he sensed that I was writing about him. I only thought that Ryliegh is happy and feels loved by Greg and I. In the letter, I told Dario about Ryliegh and what he does for us. I also told him that he would really like him. The final thing I said in the letter was that we hoped to see him and Ashley again and Ryliegh would be happy to see another friendly face. After signing the letter, I decided to mail it right away. We hope to get a reply soon