Bentley, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s pet therapy cat since spring 2025, was honored by the Florida Bar Association’s Animal Law Section during an event in Orlando. Bentley received the 2026 Rikki Mitchell Memorial Animal Achievement Award.
Since 2017, the section has chosen one animal annually to receive the award for providing exemplary service. Bentley is a hospital volunteer and provides pet therapy to patients, patients’ loved ones, visitors, medical staff and team members at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South in Riverview and the BayCare Outpatient Center near the hospital’s campus.
The bar association’s Animal Law Section has been in existence for 10 years and works to improve laws relating to animals. According to the Animal Law Section’s website (https://flabaranimals.org/), the organization promotes the study and understanding of laws, regulations and court decisions involving animals. The organization educates, advocates and organizes around animal issues and introduces animal-focused bills in Florida legislative sessions. Some of the bills introduced by the group in the 2026 legislative session focused on animal cruelty, veterinary medicine, handling of animals and testing of cosmetics on animals.
Bentley’s award is named for a therapy dog named Rikki that in 2011 helped pass the nation’s first law allowing therapy dogs to accompany child victims of sexual violence into criminal courtrooms to help them testify.
Bentley, a male chinchilla Persian that just recently celebrated his 14th birthday, was featured in the Animal Law Section’s newsletter. The newsletter article mentions that Bentley averages nearly 100 ‘contacts’ or ‘touches’ with people during his weekly visits to St. Joseph’s Hospital-South and the outpatient center.
The article also includes Bentley’s history, the unusual aspect of a cat being a pet therapy animal and an anecdote about Bentley. The anecdote notes that a patient contacted St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s volunteer office to find out when Bentley was going to be at the hospital so they could schedule their procedure to coincide with a visit from Bentley.
“We were so thrilled, pleased and honored that Bentley was selected to win the Florida Bar Association award,” said Riverview’s Kathy Hofstad, Bentley’s owner and handler. “It’s a great testament to the importance of pet therapy and the value it adds to so many people.”
Kim Wallace, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s volunteer manager, said the Animal Law Section learned about Bentley from reading social media posts and online articles originating from St. Joseph’s Hospital-South.
“The committee is out of Tallahassee and nominated Bentley after reading our St. Joseph’s Hospital-South pages. It was really cool that Bentley was chosen,” she said. “I was very taken aback with the event we attended. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. We felt honored to be there. It was nice for Bentley and our hospital.”
Read the Osprey Observer’s 2025 article about Bentley after he began as a pet therapy animal at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South here: www.ospreyobserver.com/2025/10/move-over-dogs-bentley-the-cat-joins-hospital-therapy-team/.
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