An optician has spoken out about how her rescue cat has joined her staff in an attempt to help kids feel comfortable with getting glasses.
Yes, boasting nine lives and four eyes, Truffles the cat certainly isn't your ordinary rescue pet - she actually has a very im-paw-tant job.
Danielle Crull is an optician and owner of A Child’s Eyes in the town of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. And like many opticians, she noticed that some young children had difficulty being told they've got to wear glasses.
However, after realizing how quickly Truffles - who she rescued back in 2016 - took to learning new tricks, Crull decided to enlist the help of her feline friend in order to help calm children's nerves and help them achieve "purr-fect vision"
Writing on Truffle's official Facebook page, Crull says: "Truffles is a champion for vision, an encourager to children. Truffles wears glasses to help children everywhere feel more comfortable in theirs."
Yes, Crull has successfully taught Truffles how to wear glasses.
According to the official A Child's Eyes website, Truffles has been working at the optician's since 2018, and helped Crull's young clientele feel more comfortable when getting their first frames.
As a result, Crull has seen reactions go from fear and screaming to amusement and smiles.
Speaking to Today about Truffles, Crull says: "It’s just like magic. As soon as the kids see her, they’re like, ‘OK, glasses are amazing.’"
Crull revealed that most of her clients are two-five years old - and getting glasses at this age can spark feeling of insecurity.
But she has since been able to train truffle to wear 20 pairs of glasses (without lenses) and sunglasses (with lenses). As well as the frames, Truffles is also comfortable with wearing eyepatches, to show solidarity with patients who may have the eye condition amblyopia.
Amblyopia (aka "lazy eye") can be daunting for kids, as Crull explains: "When you cover up your eye that sees well to try to make your eye that doesn’t see well start to see better, you feel like you’re being punished.
"Seeing Truffles in it makes them feel like she’s one of them."
After one three-year-old girl was in floods of tears after being told she needed glasses, Crull asked if she wanted to see Truffles wearing a pair.
"Her complete demeanor changed just because she saw a cat in glasses," Crull recalled. "That was all she needed."
And it turns out Truffles actually loves wearing her glasses, as Crull explains: "Sometimes I’ll go to take them off and she’ll just walk away from me. She doesn’t want them off yet."
If you want to see more of Truffles (and who wouldn't?), check out her Instagram page HERE.
