'We all have something to give,' retired veterinarian says in book about therapy cat Scooter

A paralyzed cat led to retired veterinarian Dr. Betsy Kennon changing the way she sees her purpose in life.

In 2008, Kennon was presented with a kitten suffering from a spinal cord injury and unable to use its hind legs. Her professional judgment told her to put the ownerless cat to sleep — but, she says, a voice told her don’t do it.

That cat, which she named Scooter and later adopted, went on to bring comfort to untold numbers of people he visited at rehabilitation hospitals, nursing homes and hospices until dying in June 2021.

Kennon has written a book about her journey with Scooter, which became an unlikely therapy animal.

“It just felt, to me, like it was a story that needed to be told. It changed my whole way of looking at what my purpose is in life,” she said. “Volunteering became a very big part of my life with him. I had never done any volunteer work prior to him coming into my life.

”When you give of your own time and own abilities to people who are much less fortunate than you are, it really changes your whole outlook on life.

“That’s the main message I hope to get across in the book: is for people to see we all have something to give — even a cat that only has two good legs.”

Kennon, 69, lives in Fawn with her husband, Steve Nehus. Retired from her professional practice since 2016, she has volunteered her veterinary skills at Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley in New Kensington since 2017.

All proceeds from sales of her book, “Scooter: Therapy Cat,” published by Word Association Publishers in Tarentum, will go to the medical fund at Animal Protectors, helping to pay the medical costs of dogs and cats at the shelter.

Copies for sale at the shelter, 730 Church St., are autographed and can be personalized. Kennon also will be signing copies at Animal Protectors’ upcoming Chocolate Paws event March 25 at River Forest Country Club.

The book also is available online at scooter therapycat.com and on Amazon, but the shelter benefits more from direct sales.

A year after retiring, Kennon was talked into volunteering at Animal Protectors, becoming its first in-house veterinarian, when she came in one day to donate some towels, said Phyllis Framel, president of the shelter’s board.

“She has been an absolute godsend to us,” Framel said. “She takes care of the animals. She does all our cat neuters in-house. That’s a big savings for us. She does minor surgical procedures that we don’t have to send out.

“We can call her just about any time, and we do.”

Framel said Kennon’s book mirrors her personality.

“It’s very upbeat, very positive,” she said. “She talks about how she got Scooter and all the different types of interactions they had. Unfortunately, at the end Scooter dies, but it’s not really sad.”

A Mt. Lebanon native, Kennon said she knew she wanted to be a veterinarian since the fourth grade. She went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 1980.

Having never written a book before, she started on Scooter’s story right after he died from a suspected stroke. It took 18 months to finish.

A friend sent her Stephen King’s book, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,” which she said was extremely helpful. Her niece, Beth McNamara, who lives in Reston, Va., and does business writing, helped with editing.

“This was a whole new ballgame for me. It was very much more involved than I expected and much different than I expected,” Kennon said. “I had never written anything before other than papers for school.”

Kennon believes Scooter was about 6 months old when he was brought to the clinic where she worked in Indiana Township in March 2008. A man’s husky had found the cat, which she guessed had been hit by a car.

“He had no owner, no ID; he was never going to walk again. The logical thing was to put him to sleep,” she said. “I heard a voice in my head, ‘Do not put that cat to sleep.’ I’m glad I didn’t. He turned out to be such a charming, warm and wonderful cat.”

Scooter lived at the clinic, hanging out in the reception area during the day, for several months.

“Everybody knew him. Everybody said hi,” she said. But as for being adopted, “Nobody wanted a handicapped cat.”

Scooter went home with Kennon when she left the practice in August 2008. She was planning on getting into therapy animals in her retirement.

“I thought I could use the people skills I had from being a veterinarian, and a trained dog, to do something good,” she said. “I assumed it would be a dog. I never knew there was therapy cats until Scooter came along.”

Scooter’s first visit was to HealthSouth Harmarville Rehabilitation Hospital in Indiana Township. He didn’t yet have the wheeled cart that would help him get around.

They were taken to a stroke patient’s room and told the woman would not respond.

“He leaned into her. She opened her eyes and started to pet him and talk to him,” Kennon said. “The nurses were in tears.”

As Scooter gained notoriety, requests for his visits came. Kennon said the first nursing home they went to was not as nice as the rehab hospital; she didn’t use its real name in the book.

“That was really hard. These people smelled bad. They were out of it. They were just sitting in wheelchairs staring into space. I had a really hard time that first day,” she said. “I kept doing it. That’s when it started to sink in to me that we were making a difference. We were bringing joy to these people who had very little joy in their lives.”

Kennon said Scooter inspired people, especially those in wheelchairs seeing him get around with his cart.

“If he can do it, I can do it,” she said. “They really related to that.”

While Kennon would like to see Animal Protectors hire its own veterinarian, she doesn’t envision leaving as a volunteer anytime soon.

“For the time being, I don’t have any plans to stop doing it,” she said. “I feel like I’m filling a need, a big need.”