A glasses-wearing kitty?: Getting to know Truffles

Cats wearing glasses are the norm at A Child's Eyes, a glasses dispensary in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Danielle Crull, ABOM, owns the practice and has the help of Truffles and Gumdrop to help put her pediatric patients at ease when fitting them with glasses or outfitting them with eye patches. For over 5 years, Truffles has taken the internet by storm by spreading the message about children's eye health through a substantial social media following. Get to know her story on Instagram or at her website.

Video transcript:

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jordana Joy:

Hi everyone. I'm here today with Danielle Crull and Truffles of A Child's Eyes in Pennsylvania. In over 5 years, Truffles has gained a major social media following because of her initiatives to help children gain confidence in wearing eyeglasses and patches. So welcome. It's a pleasure to have you both here today.

Danielle Crull:

Oh, thank you for having us.

Joy:

Of course, awesome. So first, could you give us some insight on how Truffles' story started and how she's helped to help your pediatric patients?

Danielle Crull, ABOM, with Truffles, both outfitted with glasses. Image courtesy of A Child's Eyes.

Crull:

Oh, sure. So it's kind of crazy that Truffles has been able to help kids not even just in my office, but all over the country, all over the world. She started just a kitten of a stray cat. And I, of course, I saw her and fell in love with her because she was so wonderful. And I brought her to the office. Since I do have a pediatric office, we have lots of things in our arsenal trying to get kids comfortable being here, and so having a cat was not that big of a deal. It was that we've had cats before, but Truffles was definitely different from other cats. She is very smart. Within a few months, she was probably by 6 months old, she was doing "sit," and "high five," and fist bumps and all of those things. And I wondered if I could get her to wear glasses. And turns out that she was pretty comfortable wearing glasses. And I did fit her with glasses, just like I would, you know, any of my little patients who comes in, making sure that they were comfortable and soft and didn't interfere with her whiskers and that sort of thing. And so she started to wear them, and then I just started to use her as an example for kids.

Truffles with one of her many pediatric patients. Image courtesy of A Child's Eyes.

One thing I found out very quickly is that kids felt very comfortable with Truffles. And the minute she put glasses on, it was even more. They just felt really related to her, and the more I found things to do, the more she was willing to do it, like wearing an eye patch, as you mentioned. We even did a video with surgical patches, teaching kids what it would be like to wear a surgical patch and to have that removed, and videos putting drops in your eyes, and all of those types of things too. So it just kind of started. We got together and we started, and it was just pretty neat, something that I'm so passionate about, to have Truffles join me along with that.

Joy:

Absolutely, we all know that compliance is a big issue in pediatrics and really just eye care in general. So it's great to have that example in Truffles.

Crull:

Yeah, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely compliance is the big thing. And I would spend, you know, probably 20, 30 minutes with an 18 month old. At 2 and a half, that's like the hardest age. I'd spend a long time just kind of sitting, getting to know them and playing with a couple toys and just talking to them and letting them know that I'm no threat, everything is fine. And then finally, I'd be like, "Oh, let's put these glasses on," and everything would be good. And literally, with Truffles, I can be like, "Look, Truffles wears glasses. Put them on Truffles, and they're like, "Oh, okay, that's what you do." And then it just saves me so much time.

Joy:

Absolutely, I can only imagine. So I also understand that Truffles has a new apprentice. How has Gumdrop been adjusting to his new work environment?

Gumdrop outfitted with a pair of glasses. Image courtesy of A Child's Eyes.

Crull:

Yeah. So I think with most people, you understand if you have more than one child, that every child is different. Gumdrop definitely was a little bit different. I wasn't sure if I'd even get him to be willing to wear glasses, but he does. He loves wearing his glasses. I even got him to wear an eye patch. He's a little rambunctious, so he gets them knocked off and that sort of thing. Truffles, I could just communicate, "Oh, if we put these on, you get a treat. This is how you take them off." You know, with Gumdrop, it was kind of like, "Okay, let's catch him when he's calm, and put them on," and that sort of thing.

Gumdrop with one of his many pediatric patients. Image courtesy of A Child's Eyes.

But he's doing great, and kids really love him too, because he's sort of a different personality. And I think that that's great. So all kids are different, and all their personalities are different too. So if they don't relate as much to Truffles, they definitely relate to Gumdrop.