Update on Peanut Butter and Jolly

Yesterday I was please to receive an update on two cats I worked with well over a year ago, Peanut Butter and Jolly.
Jolly (the one-eyed black kitty above), who we knew as Baby in the shelter (Social Tees), had been through so much. She was one of a bunch of cats who came from a hoarder, was extremely shy and in a very weakened condition. She had gotten very sick and got such a bad eye infection that an eye needed to be removed. I worked with her a lot at the shelter, and she had gotten quite comfortable with me. Meanwhile, at one point she was put in the window enclosure along with a bunch of kittens, and Peanut Butter was among the kittens. Jolly was so sweet and loving with the kittens, it was beautiful to see.
Dana and Anthony are the lovely couple who adopted Peanut Butter and Jolly. They had seen Jolly in the window enclosure, and knew that she had had a very rough go of it, and they were interested in adopting her along with another cat, possibly Peanut Butter. I told them that I thought these two would bond really well. I knew how loving Jolly was to Peanut Butter and the others already, and Peanut Butter was SO social and friendly, I thought she would help Jolly to feel more at ease, as I knew that Jolly was so shy. I also gave them some tips on ways to connect with Jolly through TTouch.
Baby was re-named Jolly, which makes sense as Peanut Butter and Jolly go so well together:)
So here is what I heard from Dana:
"Everything is going well with us and Jolly and Peanut Butter are just the best! They are the dearest kitties and the best of friends. I attached some recent shots so you can see how big they look (esp PB:)) and how much they love to be together. Jolly still doesn't let us pick her up but we can both pet her more and more all of the time and she comes up on the bed with us too. It's a constant work in progress but she has come so far and whenever she's rolling on her back and playing with her toys so happily we're grateful she got her chance - thanks to you and ST."
It is so heartwarming to hear how well these two are doing, and Dana and Anthony are giving these girls the most patient, sweet, loving home that these kitties could possibly have. Thank you for taking these sweet girls in and for being so patient and understanding with Jolly.

TTouch and Reiki at BARC's Cat Loft - Sept 23

There are a bunch of kittens at BARC shelter in Brooklyn now and they are just too endearing! As you can see, they love to sleep in a clump. The bottle you see here is filled with warm water, which is ver cozy for them to cuddle next to. These little darlings are very friendly as well.

Above is Laverne, a senior girl who had been adopted from BARC as a kitten and was recently brought back as the owner said they didn't have enough time to spend with her. you can see how stunning she is, and she is just as sweet. I have done TTouch on her a few times - so far it seems every time I get ready to do some TTouch with her, someone is already holding her or giving her love. I'll get to you soon though Laverne! I just couldn't resist including her picture though, as she is so sweet.

I started out the day there with Tiny Tina, who is a small, young kitty who had been found by the highway, having been hit with a car. She recently was spayed and had to have one of her hind legs amputated, so the dear girl has been through a lot. I want to get a picture of her next time, and will put it up here once I do. She is a very friendly, purring cat. I decided to be very gentle with her because of the recent surgery, and held my hands on either side of her back end, about 6" away, offering her Reiki. She was very responsive to this and it appeared to be really relaxing for her. I also did air TTouches around the area where her amputated leg used to be, as she may have some phantom pain in that area. I gave her a break and then did some gentle TTouches on her head, and then did Reiki with her for a while longer.

While I was working with Tiny Tina, I felt a paw tapping my leg below, and when I finished with Tiny Tina, I realized it was Baby (pictured below) who was pawing me. Baby has really started coming around since the first time I saw her. I sat down on a stool next to her cage and she came out of her cage onto my lap briefly, then relaxed inside her cage. As she had a cold and so had nasal congestion, I offered Reiki to her, putting my hands directly on her body, and then later I did raccoon TTouches on her forehead and near where her nose is. Baby was very receptive to Reiki energy and flopped on her side as she grew more comfortable.

Cher (above) is one of the more challenging cats there and she has really been coming around for me. I started out working with long-handled brushes with her, but now she comes to the front of the cage and steps into my lap. I have been doing circles and strokes on the sides of her body with the back of my hand, just a little at a time, giving her frequent breaks, during which she goes back in her cage for a few minutes, then comes back out. I also did circles and strokes on her using the long-handled brushes - and if she starts to attack and play with one brush, I stroke her with the other. The key with her seems to be to really be in the moment with her and give her a lot of space, pausing frequently and letting her set the pace of what she is ready to do.

Patches (above) was a bit on the moody side today, so I focused on doing TTouch on her head and then did some Reiki with her, with my hands a few inches away, as too much direct contact with her can be too overwhelming. She looks pretty comfortable here!

Above is Mittens and below is Muffin. Mittens is SO friendly now, it is a pleasure to see. I did ear ttouches, abalone, and chimp ttouch with him, and he was purring and so comfortable. He almost seemed ready to come out of the cage to me a number of times.

Muffin is really coming along, she is just taking a bit more time to become trusting. Today, when I first put my hand in the cage, she started to play with my hand (with paws but not with claws out), then the minute I began to do abalone TTouches on her she really settled. I did the circles REALLY sssslllloooowwwly, with a pause at the end, which can be so relaxing, I really felt her energy change. She also becomes very settled when I do little raccoon ttouches on the outside of her mouth, going back to her jaw area, and these were very relaxing for her as well. She put her head back and leaned her head into my hand as if to ask me to continue. Below she is enjoying some of her food, which many of the cats do after TTouch or Reiki.


I am enjoying working with all these cats so much, and look forward to seeing them again soon (unless they are adopted!)

TTouch and Reiki in the Cat Loft at BARC - Sept 18

Above is one of the adorable kittens they have at BARC shelter in Brooklyn, where I have been going a couple of times a week to offer TTouch and Reiki to the cats there.

The two young black cats I have been working on a lot, Mittens (above) and Muffin (below), are continuing to really come along. Muffin, who has been the more shy of the two, is getting more and more comfortable being touched, and is not so startled when you first touch her. Mittens now will purr a lot when you touch her and wants to come out of the cage. Muffin may take a minute to become accustomed to your touch, but she settles right in pretty quickly. She especially responds to abalone touch (circular touches with the whole hand), which can be very comforting, and raccoon ttouches around the mouth area, which can sometimes be a key area for relaxing a nervous cat.

Cher (below) is also really coming around - though I realize she looks skeptical in this photo! She usually responds to people reaching their hand towards her by swatting at them. I have been working with her using two long-handled brushes, which I think are used for putting sauce on barbeque. so if she starts to attack one brush, I can do circles and strokes on her with the other. This time I ended up not even using the brushes, as she came to the front of the cage for me and began to rub her head against me. I did strokes and circles using the back of my hand on her body and a few chimp touches on her head, and she stepped right out of her cage and onto my lap. I think she was a bit startled to find herself there!

She can be unpredictable and sometimes go from friendly to swatting, so I was careful to stay pretty still and just give her a few touches while she was there, and only as she moved towards me to receive them. As they didn't want her to get loose in the shelter, I encouraged her to go back in the cage after a few minutes there. I came back to her later and did a bit of TTouch on her again, and again she seemed to want to come out of the cage. I think this was a good breakthrough for her.

I also worked again on Baby (below), who is shy but very sweet. She is extremely sensitive and so I needed to go slowly and gently, as she is ultra-sensitive in some parts of her body. She is very comfortable being TTouched on the head and less so as you go towards the back end of her body. I did Reiki on her for a while, and she really settled with me as I did this. I could feel her relax as she was absorbing the energy.


Patches, the lovely tortie cat pictured below, is also really coming along. When I first started working with her, she could only take a very little bit of TTouch at a time and then would tell me that was enough with a meow or swat. I have been working on her just a little bit at a time, giving her breaks. Today I began as I usually do, doing TTouch on her head and around her mouth area and she was extremely receptive to this so I began to work in a few TTouches going down her body and then going back to the head. She got more and more comfortable and really stretched out her back. I started doing a circle and then a long stroke with the back of my hand down her body, on one side and then on the other, and this was very relaxing for her. I did this whole procedure several times when I was there, and was able to work with her a little longer each time.

There are a number of kind, dedicated staff and volunteers who also help in their own individual ways to help socialize the cats. A big thanks to these folks! And I look forward to going to BARC again soon.

More Kittens

We currently have many kittens at Social Tees, so I am having the fun of doing TTouch on them. It is amazing how quickly some of these kittens can some around, especially as quite a few have not known human contact before.

The sweet kitty above I call Harley, as he looks like a little harlequin. The first day he came in with his two brothers he was quite scared, but as you can see, by the second day he was purring away comfortably on my lap. I started out doing TTouches around his head and ears and worked my way down gradually to doing TTouch on his body. I did this first with him in his cage and then picked him up and held him in my lap to do this.

Yesterday we put four kittens (two sets of two from two different cages and litters) in our window enclosure along with our sweet one-eyed cat Baby and our super-sized boy Big Al. I got into the enclosure to do TTouch on everyone to make them comfortable. I started out by doing TTouch on Baby (pictured here sitting in back of the 3 kittens), as she is the shyest. She knows me well as she has been in the shelter for a while and so she grew more at ease after I TTouched her for a while. The little kittens gathered in the cat bed, as you see here, and Big Al was on an upper shelf, unconcerned with it all. Baby began to touch noses with the little ones to see who was receptive. One of the kittens was not ready yet and gave a tiny hiss but no swatting or spitting, just a "give me a little more time to be comfortable".

I began to alternate betweeen the two adults and the four little ones, doing TTouch on each, and felt a very calm atmosphere was there. The four kittens were cuddled in the bed and Baby was sitting where you see her in the picture. I had noticed that one of the kittens had very long claws so I decided to clip their claws. I was amazed at how relaxed they were with me doing this. They are so used to me TTouching them that I think they thought this was part of the TTouch. I pivoted the cat bed around to get each kitten in a good position for the claw-clipping. So, though I know this is obvious, the earlier you get these little ones used to the claw-clipping, the better! I used simple toenail clippers to do this. I find that giving medication (if we need to do this, we are generally giving liquid meds with a syringe in the mouth) is also easier on these little ones who are used to being TTouched, as I do it in a gentle way and sort of slip it in as part of the TTouch, doing a little TTouch, ear strokes etc and then put the syringe in the side of the mouth and squirt the medicine in (always make sure you don't squirt it in straight down to avoid choking them).

Getting the little ones used to being picked up, held in a lap, etc is also very good because, for one thing, these are the first things that potential adopters want to do with cats, so it is great to have them be comfortable with this.