Belsize Village, London, UK: Penrose Care’s therapy cat-in-training Quita the Kitty has captured hearts in Scotland following her visit to Edinburgh June 18-20, 2019 with the
Scottish Parliament featuring Quita on their Instagram page on July 30, 2019 and the video of her trip reaching over
200,000 views on TikTok as of August 1, 2019.
The Scottish Parliament’s Instagram post of Quita the Kitty. Screenshot taken on August 1, 2019. Credit: Instagram / @scotparl.
Quita the Kitty’s TikTok account screenshot showing the view count of the video about her visit to Edinburgh, Scotland. Screenshot taken on August 1, 2019.
Quita arrived in Edinburgh the night of June 18th, following a stay in Leeds, England on June 17th and June 18th, and spent the evening in the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh – The Caledonian. On June 19th, Quita visited the grounds of St Mary’s Cathedral; then hiked up the Carlton Hill to see the Nelson Monument and the National Monument of Scotland. After that, Quita spent a good deal of time sitting outside the Scottish Parliament where many passerby got a therapy pet boost by petting her. She then paid her respects to Edinburgh’s historic dog, Greyfriars Bobby, before spending the early evening back at the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh – The Caledonian.
Quita the Kitty at the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh – The Caledonian hotel. July 18, 2019 – Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Quita the Kitty at the National Monument of Scotland. July 19, 2019 – Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Quita the Kitty in front of the Scottish Parliament. July 19, 2019 – Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Quita the Kitty in front of the fountain dedicated to Greyfriars Bobby. July 19, 2019 – Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Quita spent the later evening in a pub in Williams Street where two members of staff said they were having a terrible day but said after spending time with Quita, their bad day had turned into a good day. Quita returned to London via the LNER rail service the morning of June 20th following a brief visit to the lower grounds where you can see Edinburgh Castle.
Quita the Kitty with Edinburgh Castle in the background. July 20, 2019 – Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Following Quita’s visit to Edinburgh, Penrose Care managing director Robert Stephenson-Padron, who accompanied Quita on her trip, made the following statement: “It was very heart-warming to see Quita bring so much joy to so many different people while she was in Edinburgh. At the same time, she visibly had a very enjoyable time – particularly liking travelling on the train to and from Edinburgh. We believe her training is going very well indeed.”
Quita’s training continues
Quita the Kitty providing joy to actor/comedian Ricky Gervais. May 19, 2019 – London, England, UK.
Quita will not be ready for formal pet therapy until she reaches one year of age in January 2020. Until then, Quita will continue to train with her outdoor adventures, morale boosting visits to organisations, and ad hoc invited therapy sessions which are all part of her training. These training exercises help Quita to get used to changing her environments and receiving attention from strangers.
Quita the Kitty providing a morale boosting session at Brewdog Seven Dials. May 16, 2019 – London, England, UK.
Why Pet Therapy?
Quita the Kitty providing trainee therapy to Rosie who has cerebral palsy. May 27, 2019 – Holland Park, London, UK.
Pets have “tremendous healing power,” says
Dr. Edward Creagan of the Mayo Clinic in the United States in a
2010 informational video about the health benefits of pets (
a 2016 version is also available). He says talking about pets creates an atmosphere of “healing, peace and serenity.” He further says, “We now know that when you look into the eyes of that cat, when you stroke that dog, when you hold that animal, there is a surge of hormones deep within the center of the brain. And these hormones provoke a tremendous feeling of peace, of serenity, of tranquillity. They decrease our blood pressure, they decrease our pulse, they lessen our depression.”
Quita the Kitty providing trainee pet therapy to an elderly person at the Apple Store Covent Garden. May 16, 2019 – London, England, UK.
Quita is part of Penrose Care’s long track record of innovations in social care that improve outcomes for the elderly and disabled persons we support. Penrose Care is already widely known as the UK’s pioneer of ethical home care, having become one of the first home care providers in the UK to become an Accredited Living Wage Employer in 2012, successfully campaigning for enforcement of the national minimum wage in home care in 2014, and becoming one of the first 16 private businesses accredited with the Mayor of London’s new Good Work Standard launched this week. As a result of Penrose Care’s innovations in the ethical provision of home care, it has received seven international research visits. Quita was a co-host to the most recent two visits: from the Government of Thailand and one from a municipality in South Korea.
Quita the Kitty with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan while working on the Good Work Standard. May 3, 2019 – London City Hall, London, England, UK.
Nata-orn Indeesri, head of the Thai research delegation with Quita the Kitty and Penrose Care managing director Robert Stephenson-Padron, at Belsize Terrace. June 27, 2019 – Belsize Village, London, UK.
ENDS
Media Contact
Penrose Care
Robert Stephenson-Padron, Managing Director
robert.padron@penrosecare.co.uk
0207 435 2644
About Penrose Care
Penrose Care is an ethical provider of home care services in London, United Kingdom to adults with disabilities such as acquired brain injury and elderly persons including those with dementia. The company operates upon a fundamental belief that to promote a caring workforce, the organisation itself must be caring. As the pioneer of ethics in home care in the UK, Penrose Care in 2012 became one of the first four providers in the United Kingdom to become an Accredited Living Wage Employer and in 2013 the first independent sector provider to be compliant with Citizens UK’s landmark Social Care Charter. Penrose Care was named the Living Wage Champion for the London region in 2016 and for Industry Leadership in 2018 by the Living Wage Foundation. In July 2019, Penrose Care was named as one of the first 16 private businesses accredited with the Mayor of London’s new Good Work Standard to promote decent work in London.
Penrose Care’s ethical social care framework has garnered international acclaim, resulting in Penrose Care receiving research delegations from Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Penrose Care is rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, the highest rating given by England’s health and social care regulator.
Penrose Care’s ethical approach promotes higher quality social care workers and low staff turnover which in turn results in excellent care. Penrose Care is headquartered in Belsize Village, north London – between Hampstead, Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage / Finchley Road – and was founded by Robert Stephenson-Padron, a healthcare research analyst, and Dr. Matthew Knight, a hospital physician.
About Quita the Kitty
One of Penrose Care’s colleagues is a kitten, Quita the Kitty, born in January 2019 and acquired by Penrose Care in March 2019. She is an office cat, adventure cat and training to be a therapy cat. Quita the Kitty has already visited all eight of London’s Royal Parks, potentially the first cat or one of the first few to ride on one of the Thames Clipper boats, and has provided therapy services to two persons with cerebral palsy.
Quita the Kitty has provided workplace morale boosting visits to the Apple Store Covent Garden, Botwell House Catholic Primary School, Brewdog Seven Dials, The Espresso Room Covent Garden, Karma Bread, the Living Wage Foundation, the New Economic Foundation, Oliver’s Village Cafe, OmniDe architects, and Persephone Books.
Quita has travelled outside of London, having visited Brighton, Dover, Edinburgh, Hitchin, Leeds in the UK; and Calias, Troyes, Gréoux-les-Bains (Provence), Valensole (Provence), Champeaux, Melun, and Paris in France.
Quita the Kitty has met actor/comedian Ricky Gervais, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Her Majesty the Queen’s former press secretary Charles Anson.
Quita the Kitty, at @quitathekitty, is popular on social media having over 250,000 likes on
TikTok, over 27,500 karma points on
Reddit, holds the status as a Glorious Imgurian on
Imgur, and has over 5,500 followers on
Instagram. Quita the Kitty is also on
Facebook,
Twitter and
YouTube.
Quita the Kitty’s first news article was published on June 3, 2019 by Sunny Skyz:
“4-Month-Old Therapy Kitten Comforts Woman With Cerebral Palsy”. She appeared in the Camden New Journal on July 4, 2019:
“Feline blue? Kitten goes on city wide adventures for therapy cat training”. Quita the Kitty’s first foray into mainstream media occurred on July 7, 2019 when she appeared in the Evening Standard,
“Kitten training to be Camden’s first ‘therapy cat’ captures hearts across London”. Wamiz, a site dedicated to pets, published an article about Quita the Kitty on July 9, 2019, titled
“London care-worker training cat to be a therapist”.