Seven years ago, Terry Lauerman and the Safe Haven Cat Sanctuary went viral.
Lauerman, then 75, walked into the Green Bay, Wisconsin, rescue one day and told the staff he liked to brush cats. They welcomed him as a volunteer, he immediately curled up with a cat — and fell asleep.
Since then, Lauerman’s been going to Safe Haven every day, brushing his feline friends, then yawning and passing out with a cat in his arms.
From a CBS News report in 2018:
Lauerman usually spends an hour sleeping on the couch with a cat, then wakes up and moves to another couch to nap with the next cat, WCCO reports. He did this for six months straight before Feldhausen eventually told him he had become an official volunteer and had him fill out a form.
Now CBS went back to check on Lauerman and the shelter. He’s still at it, napping away the hours with the shelter’s cats, giving a comfort they wouldn’t normally have until finding their forever homes.
“We’re very lucky that he walked in here,” said Elizabeth Feldhausen, Safe Haven’s executive director.
Lauerman, who is also a brother at a nearby abbey, said he senses God in our four-legged friends, which is a notion he probably shouldn’t share with them lest they become even more imperious.
“I’ve always been a cat person,” he said. “To me it’s a blessing to be touched by creation.”
As a CBS reporter put it: “You sleep on the job.”
“Yes,” Lauerman said, “that’s exactly it.”
Bud and I salute Mr. Lauerman. Years ago we heard a friend observe that “there are two kinds of people in the world: those who take naps, and those who don’t even understand how that’s possible.”
At the time, I agreed with her. But napping starts to seem like a great idea as the years pass by, and when you have a cat, well, sometimes you don’t have a choice. With 11 years now under my belt as Bud’s pillow, I can safely say there are few things more relaxing than opening a book, reading a few chapters as your little buddy curls up in your lap, and easing into some Zs.
Images via Safe Haven Cat Sanctuary. Header image via Pexels.
Pain In The Bud 
Oh man, this is brilliant, he has the job of dreams. I would love this job. Bella is not a lap cat but she will use us as a pillow occasionally and when she does I stay still until the cramp in my legs becomes unbearable ! – I am sure many of us do the same !
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They have an uncanny way of making us feel guilty about moving when they sleep on us. We’re currently getting buried in another blizzard so Bud napping on me is almost certainly in my immediate future.
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🤣Napping is essential for your health. Makes rest of my day go smoothly. But 2 rescue kittens napping on my chest makes my day. Which is what happened last week for 3 days. 😍
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Can’t say no to kittens!
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Batman loves to sleep on a pillow on my lap, but only after committing kitten mayhem first!
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Yup, gotta tire the little dude out first. I picture him running around to the theme song from the super campy 1960s live action show.
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What a wonderful man. Both he and the cats are probably a lot happier
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He is a napoligist of the highest caliber!
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Little Buddy looks so comfy and so trusting 💕 Thank you for sharing.
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You’re right, it’s a sign of absolute trust, and I’m grateful for that.
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Napping in the company of a cat; what greater pleasure is there in life? Everyone’s a winner!
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Great book i want to reccommend. Henry and Calvin. Childrens book on true story of cat and dog rescuer. Henry is the cat.
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Gilda, Calvin (aka “Black Noah” lives in a place that’s about an hour away from us. I follow some social media pages that track his rescuing efforts. I haven’t seen the book yet though.
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For some reason my cats no longer fall asleep on my lap when I’m typing on my computer. Back when they did one cat would jump on my lap, get comfortable, fall asleep. An hour later I’d look down, and see that now the first cat was gone, and one of the other cats was sleeping on my lap. And an hour after that, I’d look down, and see that cat number 2 had left, and that now the last cat in the furmily was snoozing on my lap.
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Did something change? New chair, new computer, new desk? Scented candle that bothers them? Could be a ton of things.
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It’s my desk, which is a circa 1910 school desk. Unlike most old-timey school desks, this one is rather large, has a large lid covering a large storage space. The distance from the bottom of the storage space to my lap is about two inches.
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Ah, yeah, that’ll do it. Have you seen Tiny Tents? I’ve got one on my desk for Bud so he’s got a comfy spot right next to me while I write.
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