Senior residents bond with senior cats!

Shared from a Facebook post by Patzmeow:

A nursing home in rural Oregon has quietly launched a program that’s changing the lives of both its residents and a group of forgotten cats. The facility partnered with a local shelter to create a small indoor sanctuary for senior rescue cats — older felines who were often overlooked because of age, missing teeth, arthritis, or medical needs. These cats struggled to find homes, not because they lacked love, but because they needed someone patient enough to give it.

Redwood Nursing Home stepped in.

Now, more than a dozen senior cats live in a dedicated lounge inside the facility. They spend their days sunbathing on window ledges, napping in soft beds, and wandering through the hallways visiting residents.

But the most beautiful part of the program is the partnership between the elderly residents and the cats. Each resident who volunteers is given gentle responsibilities:

• refilling water bowls

• brushing soft, aging fur

• offering treats

• talking to and comforting the quieter cats

• keeping the sanctuary tidy with staff assistance

These aren’t strenuous tasks — just small acts of care. But they have transformed the atmosphere of the nursing home.

Many residents say the cats give them structure, purpose, and soothing companionship. Some who rarely spoke now sit for hours whispering to their feline friends. Others who struggled with loneliness say the cats ease anxiety and bring genuine joy back into their days.

And the cats? They flourish.

Cats who once hid in the back of shelter cages now trot confidently toward wheelchairs and walkers. Shy cats curl up on laps. Nervous ones begin to purr at the sound of familiar voices. With consistent affection, they become far more adoptable.

In the first year alone, the program helped place nine senior cats into forever homes, their new confidence making all the difference. Staff members call it a “circle of healing” — older humans caring for older cats, each providing companionship, purpose, and unconditional love to the other.

Sometimes the gentlest programs create the strongest transformations —

one soft paw, one quiet purr, one shared moment at a time.

#SeniorCats #Patzmeow #RedwoodNursingHome #RedwoodOregon