To help ease the stress of travel, dozens of airports have teams of therapy dogs and handlers mingling with passengers on a regular basis. At San Francisco Int’l Airport they let a therapy pig join the team. At Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, miniature horses are regular airport visitors.
Now a cat named Xeli (zell-ee) has joined the Canine Airport Therapy Squad (CATS) at Denver International Airport.
“Our CATS program has been extremely popular with passengers since its inception in 2015, and what a purr-fect way to take the program to the next level by introducing our first feline, Xeli,” airport CEO Kim Day said. “Just like all of our dogs, Xeli will visit passengers on our concourses, bringing joy and comfort to passengers of all ages.”
Xeli is a 12-pound domestic shorthair cat and will begin visiting the airport with her handler on October 13.
Like the dogs in the CATS program, Xeli will leashed and will be on duty to cuddle with passengers, be petted and pose for photos. And, like all the CATS, Xeli will have a trading card with her picture and assorted facts about her life, including her “pet peeves.”