This International Cat Day, we found an endearing story about a cat encouraging eye health! Truffles the kitty lives and works in Pennsylvania, helping children at the optician’s office feel more comfortable in the cutest way possible.
I hope you find this story as sweet as we did!
Meet Truffles, the special kitty who wears glasses to help kids feel better about wearing theirs
Nearly four years ago, Danielle Crull rescued a stray kitten from a forest in Pennsylvania.
Now, that spunky kitty is changing hundreds of lives by helping children with eye problems feel more confident about wearing glasses and eye patches.
Truffles, now famous for her glamorous glasses – which range from sparkling purple ones to her favorite green pair – works alongside her mom, an optician.
Crull runs her own practice, A Child’s Eyes, in Mechanicsburg, where her primary focus is infants, toddlers, and children in elementary school.
When kids come in – many with severe eye problems that require multiple surgeries, medications, and treatments – they are often terrified of anything coming near their eyes.
That’s when Truffles comes to the rescue.
“She is literally magical with little kids,” Crull told CNN. “It takes me at least half an hour to try and get to know them so they realize I’m not something to be afraid of, and Truffles will come strutting out from the back as if she knows exactly when I need her help.”
Truffles hops right up next to the child and tilts her head up so Crull can put on a pair of glasses. The mood changes instantly, says Crull. Tears turn into smiles, and suddenly those glasses don’t look so scary anymore.
“The story that happens over and over is a little one is crying and she comes out and I put glasses on her, and they immediately stop crying and laugh and put their own glasses on,” Crull said. “It happens countless times, and it’s just as sweet every single time.”
Wearing glasses is one of Truffles’ favorite things to do. She often falls asleep wearing them and refuses to let Crull take them off. Every day, according to Crull, Truffles chooses one of her nearly 20 pairs of unique glasses and prances around in them happily.
“If she had thumbs she would do it herself, she actually loves it,” Crull said. “She can take them off whenever she wants, but a lot of times she chooses not to.”
Making a difference
For many people Truffles might seem like nothing more than an adorable kitty who doesn’t mind the occasional accessory. But she is everything to the children and parents whose lives she has impacted.
Raising awareness about amblyopia
Amblyopia – also known as lazy eye – is a childhood disorder where nerve pathways between the brain and an eye aren’t properly stimulated, so the brain favors one eye. The best way to treat it is temporarily wearing an eye patch over the strong eye to help strengthen the weak eye.
“Wearing an eye patch isn’t easy for kids,” Crull said. “One thing is glasses, but eye patches are a whole different thing. It’s more worry, more fear, more confusion.”
Having the confidence to wear an eye patch is not an easy challenge for children. But Truffles is committed to making sure kids feel confident enough to wear them.
To do so, Truffles wears her own eye patch over one of her many pairs of glasses. Since doing so, hundreds of parents of children with amblyopia have reached out to Truffles on Instagram with emotional words of gratitude.
Read the full story on CNN. And don’t forget to see and follow Truffles on Instagram!
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Assil Gaur Eye Institute is one of the most prominent ophthalmology practices in the United States as well as the largest private eye clinic in California. We partner with some of the best optometric practices in California. Interested in visiting one of our partners? See a list of our partners here!
Interested in becoming one of our optometry practice partners? Please contact Jessica Morales, our director of comanagement.
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