{"id":222805,"date":"2026-05-07T02:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T02:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/222805\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T02:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T02:38:18","slug":"cat-therapy-brings-purr-fect-relief-to-stressed-ny-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/222805\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Cat therapy’ brings purr-fect relief to stressed NY students"},"content":{"rendered":"

They\u2019re feline less stressed about finals!<\/p>\n

New York University students<\/a> plagued by end-of-semester anxieties snuggled certified therapy cats at a pop-up in Washington Square Park Wednesday \u2014 calling it the purr-fect remedy for academic burnout.<\/p>\n

Co-eds cuddled kitties in the mobile therapy pod, set up by the pet food firm Purina<\/a>, to combat everything from final exam headaches to overstimulation in the bustling\u00a0Big Apple.<\/p>\n

NYU student Julian Cortez pets Lola Pearl, the three-legged therapy cat. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing the purr of the cat is very soothing. I think that\u2019s why it helped. There is a calm. It\u2019s a quiet environment,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Maryam Amanullah, a 24-year-old PhD candidate in physics.\u00a0\u201cJust feeling the soft fur was really comforting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students lapped up furry affection<\/a> from 7-year-old Lola Pearl\u2014 a three-legged dilute tortoiseshell cat with a prosthetic leg and an ultra-mellow personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of fun to hang out with Lola. She\u2019s so relaxed, and that rubs off on us, I guess,\u201d said Raymond Fan, a 21-year-old biology major.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou definitely disconnect from whatever\u2019s on your mind, the stresses of your daily life and you get to just focus on one thing, and that\u2019s watching a little cat just relax.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cellphone-free \u201ctherapod\u201d gave students 10 minutes to \u201cunplug\u201d and \u201cconnect\u201d with the three mental health purr-fessionals Wednesday \u2014\u00a0as part of an initiative to fight America\u2019s mental health crisis, according to Purina<\/a>, which teamed up with the non-profit\u00a0Pet Partners.<\/p>\n

NYU students Maryam Amanullah, 24, pets Lola Pearl, the therapy cat. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

Two other cats, named\u00a0Sweet Andrew and Pumpkin, took turns showering students snuggles during 2-hour shifts.<\/p>\n

Others ducked into the pod as they were pelted with rain on the gray day \u2014 saying the visit gave them a much needed \u201cpaws\u201d from gloomy everyday life.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re all, like, away from home at college. We don\u2019t have our pets with us,\u201d said Fiona Johnson, a 19-year-old film student.\u00a0\u201cAnimals [are] just so relaxing to be around and they just make you feel so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The therapy cats, certified by Pet Partners, must be at least one year old, have lived with their owner for six months, and have a calm, friendly, and patient temperament.<\/p>\n

The cat therapy pod was set up in Washington Square Park. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

Lola Pearl, the 7-year-old therapy cat, brings a sense of calm to anxiety-ridden students. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cCats can be very sensitive to our emotional states, and their natural social behavior is a great fit for improving our mood,\u201d said Dr. Annie Valuska, an animal behaviorist working for the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cA cat quietly resting nearby, seeking gentle physical contact or purring can help us slow down and reset. The Therapod brings that special experience directly to students \u2013 many of whom are miles from home and the pets they love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch shows that just 10 minutes with a cat can measurably reduce cortisol, the hormone associated with stress. For college students navigating finals, new semesters, and life away from home, time with a therapy cat can make a meaningful difference, \u201d Purina said\u00a0in a press release.<\/p>\n

The therapy pod will be up and running in Washington Park until Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019re feline less stressed about finals! New York University students plagued by end-of-semester anxieties snuggled certified therapy cats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,6123,57,9,24,63,22460,129,131,130,11635,58,15081],"class_list":["post-222805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-cats","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nyu","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-therapy","tag-us-news","tag-washington-square-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}