A glasses-wearing kitty?: Truffles and her impact on eye care, one pediatric patient at a time

There's just something about a cat in eyeglasses that gets pediatric patients comfortable and excited about their new eyewear. Truffles the Kitty, who took to social media more than 5 years ago, has not only brought this comfort to her patients at A Child's Eyes in Pennsylvania, but also around the world. Danielle Crull, ABOM, of A Child's Eyes, talks Truffles' successes and new initiatives, along with her new sidekick Gumdrop, in an exclusive interview with Optometry Times.

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, ABOM:

Oh, thank you for having us.

Joy:

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

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. 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?

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. 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.

Joy:

For sure. So Truffles also has her own organization. Can you tell me a bit about that organization's mission and the campaigns that it's taken on?

Crull:

Oh, thank you so much for asking. Yeah. So, gee, what are you going to do when your cat gets famous? It just really seemed like the natural thing to do to start the Truffles the Kitty Organization. Truffles was definitely up for it. And with this organization, we have 3 campaigns. One is a campaign of encouragement, where Truffles sends treats out to all of her little fur-iends, whether they need encouragement because they're wearing glasses or encouragement because they are patching or having eye surgery, even kids who've been bullied. There's all different reasons why Truffles might send a package out to them. So there's encouragement, there's a campaign for knowledge, and we are really, really kicking that one up with a lot of different programs to help people understand what different early childhood vision disorders are out there, what types of treatments are being done and helping people really just understand why a child is wearing glasses and that vision develops in those early years and how important it is. And third is a campaign of assistance where we help families purchase glasses for a first time purchase of glasses.

Joy:

Absolutely, yeah, that's very important. So what does an average day in the office look like for you, Truffles, and Gumdrop?

Crull:

So usually, a lot of rambunctious little kiddos coming in and lots of play time. Truffles, she comes out like the professional, for sure. She comes out with her glasses on and says hi to kids, and she'll do high fives and fist bumps and all of that. And, of course, there's a lot of Truffles pictures around, and sometimes kids come in, they don't even know that Truffles is real at first, and then she comes out and they're like, "Wow." And they love it. So then Gumdrop comes out as the little prankster. He comes out, like, pushes Truffles out of the way and knocks things over. He's just like the little comic relief. And then kids are so excited to see that he'll wear glasses too. So, you know, they are a huge part of what we do here. They're not the only part, by any means, but they are definitely a huge part. And it is definitely part of the experience to come in and see cats wearing glasses and just seeing that everything is okay.

Joy:

Absolutely. Yeah. So what would you attribute to Truffles' success. What is it about a cat wearing glasses that gets kids so involved in eye care?

Crull:

Sure, I always feel like it just has to be the fact that they know that she has no hidden agenda. You know, we do a lot of things to try to get kids to do things because we have an agenda, whether it is we want to look in their eyes or whatever it is that we're doing. You try to orchestrate things to get their cooperation. And I think when Truffles comes out and she's like, "Look, I can wear glasses. You can wear glasses too," or "I'm wearing an eye patch. You can wear an eye patch too," they don't ever think like, "Why is she doing that?" If she's doing it, it must be okay. And I feel like that's really the connection that kids have. And then they're like, "Well, if Truffles wears glasses and I wear glasses, she's just like me." And that is just like another connector that they have. So the more that they see her, the more they feel like we're the same, we're friends, we're pals.

Joy:

Absolutely. There’s camaraderie there, I can imagine. So what is now possible at your office that wasn't possible before Truffles?

Crull:

Well, I think just being able to get this message all around the world. I love every patient that comes in my office, every kiddo that I get to help. I feel so blessed, so fortunate to be able to help them. But Truffles has just opened up that whole world to be able to talk to people literally all around the world, about children, about vision, about patching, about all the different types of treatments, you know, even CVI, why kids might use a white cane. There's so many things out there that, as a society, we can know and learn about and also support the kids around us. Because that is the other thing, is we like to empower kids to do what they need to do, to build and strengthen their vision. Because, as you mentioned, compliance is the big part of it, and when kids are complying and they're succeeding, and we're coming around them and supporting them, and Truffles is spearheading that message, I think that really that's what has happened here. I have a little office, and I can only see so many kids, but Truffles can reach literally around the world.

Joy:

For sure. That's great to hear. Was there anything else that you wanted to add that we haven't touched on yet?

Crull:

Oh, I would love to mention about the Pumpkin Patch Project, if that's possible. So Pumpkin Patch project is our community initiative that we do again, mostly in the United States, but we do have people in other countries who participate with it too. But Trick-or-Treat and Halloween isn't as popular in other countries, but the idea is that you put an eye patch on your pumpkin to help spread awareness for amblyopia. If you put that pumpkin on your porch for Trick-or-Treat, it helps signify your home as low vision friendly. We have a lot of resources on there, anything from how to make an eye patch to put on your pumpkin, what amblyopia is, why patching sometimes is a treatment, what other types of treatments are out there, how kids function with low vision, how to make your porch friendly for low vision. It's super cute and adorable, because putting a patch on a pumpkin, it's pumpkin patch. Everybody loves the initiative. Everybody loves how cute it is and we're able to take that then as a message to help people understand. Because, as you know, about 3% of kids are diagnosed with amblyopia, and if it's not caught early enough, it can really cause a lot of problems. And this helps take the stigma away from wearing an eye patch as a young child.

Joy:

For sure, absolutely. Well, thank you very much for taking the time today. Do we think that we could get a farewell high five from Miss Truffles?

Crull:

Oh, I'm pretty sure here. Truffles, can we give high five? There we go.

Joy:

Well, thank you again for taking the time today. We appreciate it.

Crull:

Oh, thank you so much. We really appreciate it too.