Photo: Monesia Greene
Monesia Greene is a cat whisperer, and now she is teaching felines to talk back.
According toBest Friends Animal Society, the animal lover volunteers with the nonprofit’s Atlanta program, regularly fostering cats from the rescue and assisting with adoption events.
“Monesia is a real cat whisperer. She has taken home several shy cats (and all of them) have made great improvements in a very short time,” Megan Matchett, a supervisor atBest Friends in Atlanta, said about the talented volunteer.
Monesia Greene
Greene and her husband helped Ripley slowly get accustomed to physical affection, interacting with other cats, and coming out of her shell. Ripley made huge strides with the couple’s help but still stayed a little shy when put in new situations, making it hard for her to charm potential adopters.
To help Ripley stand out and show off the kind, intelligent cat she is, Greene started training her to use the soundboard after seeingdogs learn to communicate with the recordable buttons. The volunteer invested in several recordable buttons and decided to use the products to teach Ripley the words “treats” and “pets” — two of the cat’s favorite things.
After showing such success with two buttons, Greene added “play” for and “pick up” to Ripley’s soundboard, and the feline mastered those buttons too. Soon, Ripley’s talents and ability to talk through the buttons attracted adopters, and Ripley went home with her forever family. The same method helped another of Greene’s fosters, Momma Cat, find a home too.
Greene is now looking forward to using this training method to help and entertain future foster cats.
“A great feature of the recordable buttons is that you can personalize them to suit each cat’s unique personality,” Greene said.
“It really sparked a passion for me,” she added.
source: people.com
