How do you set up a business as a visiting cat therapist?

Question

I have recently seen a documentary on therapists who visit nursing homes and special clinics with people who have various disorders which impair their coordination, using specially trained cats to treat these people. Apparently, holding a cat stimulates the patients, and is beneficial.
But where do you get those cats? Does somebody breed "therapy cats"? Do you bring them up in a certain way yourself? If so, are there books (I haven't seen any "Train your own therapeutical cat"-books yet though)?

I am a licensed, holistic health practitioner and wish to extend my practice scope. I love cats, so I thought I'd combine two beautiful things...

Answer 1

One of my mothers caregivers used to bring her cat with her when she still worked for us. It worked out pretty well for the most part. Since she was there so much, it was worth while to have food, dishes, toys, and litter boxes there all the time. She was a pretty young kitten when she started and would entertain Mom nicely but never was happy in her lap being petted.
I think the best way to get one for this purpose might be to let area shelters and vets know what your plans are. If they get an adult turn in that's healthy and calm they could let you know. It would have to be cleared of any thing contagious such as toxoplasmosis for instance. Things you might not otherwise consider.
You'ld have to rule out allergies on the part of the clients and their household. It would be a good placement for a declawed animal though I would not have that done for this purpose.
Good luck, if I think of anything else I'll add it later.

It's later. Can you do advanced search on Google? I asked it for sites including all the words...cat pet therapy .It gave some really good sites. I'll give you 1 of them

http://www.petsandpeople.org/cat-ther.htm

One more thought, post this Q in the pet section.