TTouch and Reiki Breakthrough with King Kong - A True Heart Connection

This is King Kong, a rescue kitty from the Mayor's Alliance who I have been working with for a while through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program. He had not been in the holding space for a while (possibly fostered), and then was returned recently. Since his return, he has been more shy with others than he had been before, and I had been told that often he wasn't coming out of his cage readily, as he had before. He has still been very friendly with me but when he comes out of his cage to make contact with me, generally he has been more interested in wandering about than in a lot of contact. and I was always a bit careful so as not to get him overstimulated. As he has seemed a bit on edge, I generally do TTouches with him using the back surfaces of my hand and fingers, as these Ttouches are less intense. I let him wander around, use the scratching post or play with a toy, then call him to me and he will come over, usually rubbing against my legs or against my hand as I do some Llama TTouches (circular TTouches using the back surfaces of my fingers) or chimp Ttouches (using the back surface of the middle section of the fingers) with him.

But today was really different. Sometimes I may be working with an animal at a certain level for a while, then one day our connection just clicks in a different way, and we move to a new level of connection.
I started out as I usually do, with llama TTouches and strokes using the back of my hand as he walks back and forth by me. Then he got a bit more settled, and I did some Reiki with him from a short distance, and I felt him much calmer than usual.
After sending him Reiki for a while, he just laid down calmly, and I began to do slow raccoon TTouches on his forehead. I felt him completely relaxed and totally in the moment with me and with the TTouches really settling into the peacefulness of the circular TTouches, closing his eyes, really letting go. I felt that direct heart connection that I often feel when some of the tension is able to truly fall away. Even the air and the space around us felt very quiet, just him and me connected and in the moment. He laid down next to me and stretched out, and we really connected on a much deeper level. It was beautiful to experience him truly relaxing and leting go. It was hard for me to leave today. When I leave, I always hold my hand up and send them energy and tell them I love them before I leave. Today he responded by waving goodbye to me, as you see here.
Love you, King Kong! xo

TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats, June 27

Today I went to work with the Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats thru Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue Program, which I do once a week. As usual, some of these cats I have worked with for a while and some are new. I mention quite a few of the TTouches here, and I welcome you to check out my youtube channel (http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat) so that you can see demonstrations of these TTouches.
Blackie (above) usually is eager for attention, but she can get over-stimulated, and she started out in a bit of an over-stimulated mode. When she is like this, it is sometimes best to use the jelly scrubber instead of my hand with her. The jelly scrubber is a horse-grooming tool, and has two textures on it. Most cats like the texture with the smaller rubber things on it, as Blackie does. I do the TTouch circles using the jelly scrubber, going very slowly and working along the top of her head as well as going down her back. She can be a bit sensitive around her hind end so I don't always go all the way down. I only worked with her for a short time today, as that seemed to be what she preferred.


Blackie 2 was a bit shy when he first arrived at the shelter but now he is super-friendly and seeking of attention. He was very excited and was rubbing his head against my hand. I did the llama and abalone TTouches with him, as these use large surfaces of the hand and are very calming for animals who can get over-excited (or who are nervous). These began to calm him, and then I started doing some ear strokes with him, and I noticed a real shift in him when I did this. Suddenly his whole energy calmed down, and I felt so connected with him.


Honey (above) is a sweet kitty, but today she mostly wanted to just hang out outside of her cage and wasn't in a mood to be touched too much. She generally prefers more contact around the head than the body, so I did some gentle raccoon TTouches around her forehead, top of the head and around her ears.


Ices has a very gentle, sweet personality. She immediately began to rub her head against my hand. I did chimp TTouches (uses the back of your fingers), and she settled right into these and stretched out.


King Kong is a friendly little guy but can get over-excited easily, so I do the TTouches using the back of my hand and fingers such as the chimp TTouch and llama TTouch with him, which can help bring him back into his body.


Lee was very very shy when I first started to work with him, but now he meows to be let out of his cage for some interaction. He can still startle easily, so I wait for him to come to me, then do a few abalone TTouches or llama TTouches, then let him walk around some more. Eventually he is becoming more and more comfortable with contact.


Lil Panther, Tiger Lily and Sweet Mama are new and extreeeemely shy. Sometimes when there is more than one shy one together in a cage, I start with the one who seems to be the most dominant, since if they come around, then the others usually follow what he does. Lil Panther seemed to be the "top cat" here, so I worked with him first, using the back of the hand part of a back scratcher to make contact. I did gentle TTouches on his head and a bit on his back. I would do some TTouches, give him a break, then start again. He growled at first, then after a while he closed his eyes and his body began to relax. I did a few TTouches on his cagemates but didn't want to push the issue with them so kept it short.


Marette still can get startled quite easily but she has gotten so sweet. When I let her out of her cage, I sit on the floor with my legs bent up, and she walks back and forth under my legs, and I do TTouches on her as she goes by. She did a real shift today when I did little circles using my fingernail and back of my finger to do the circular TTouches first on her head, then ou her body. The forehead is an especially calming area for her. She was purrrrrring.


Mila is a very sweet girl and seeks attention, but she can get a bit worked up, so I do very slow chimp TTouches with her, mostly on her head, and it brings down her stress level.

Otto is a new little guy, he is adorable, of course, and quite friendly. He started rubbing his face against me as soon as I began to do TTouches with him, he really relaxed into them.

Thanks all, look forward to seeing you soon, unless you get adopted, which would be even better!

TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Cats: June 13

When I went to work with the Mayor's Alliance cats on June 13, Blackie 2 (above) was still there but his cagemate Kitty had been adopted. He was more affectionate than ever, coming out of his cage right away, rubbing against me. Very sweet cat! I did slow abalone and llama TTouches with him, which use large surfaces of the hand, so they are very soothing and calming.


Bastet is pretty new there, VERY friendly and loving. She gets so excited for attantion that she starts drooling when I do TTouch with her. She rubbed her face against mine as I did slow llama and abalone TTouches with her. I think she is a bit reticent about coming out of the cage, so I just worked on her while she remained in her cage.

Blackie gets excited for attention but can get overstimulated pretty easily so I find that using the jelly scrubber to do TTouch with her works well. It also serves to get off some of the extra loose fur, as some of these cats really shed a lot in cages, especially in the summer. With the jelly scrubber, actually a horse-grooming tool, I use pretty light pressure, just enough to move the skin around in a clockwise circle and a quarter. I also do some strokes with it, to get the loose fur off. there are two sides to the jelly scrubber - I generally use the one which has rubbery bristles rather than the one with larger pointy thngs on it.

Honey is very sweet but very hyper-sensitive so I make sure to work in very short bursts with her, generally doing TTouches using the back of my fingers like the chimp TTouch.

Isis (or Ices, I'm not sure how they want the name spelled) is a big, very gentle kitty. Often I find that cats with more gentle personalities respond best to TTouches using larger surfaces of the hand, so I did abalone TTouch (using the whole hand) on her body). I did TTouches using the back of my finger around her forehead area. The forehead can be a very soothing place to do these TTouches, and the back surfaces of the hand and finger have a more gentle feel to them than the front surfaces.

King Kong is new. He was hiding partially under his bed at first, but he pretty quickly became more comfortable as I did gentle circular TTouches with him using the back of the hand part of a back scratcher. This can be a great tool to use to introduce yourself to a cat who is new to you - it is a much more gentle way of introducing yourself than directly touching a cat with your hand. It can also protect you from being bitten or scratched if it turns out the cat does not want to be touched at that moment!

Kobie is a super-friendly, playful little guy - as he is such a peppy guy, I generally do TTouches using the back of the hand with him, such as the chimp TTouch. I did connected chimp TTouches working down either side of his back, then did some ear strokes with him as well.

Lee is so sweet and has so much personality in his little face. He can startle easily, so I approach him especially gently. I did llama and abalone TTouches going down his body, which are very soothing to him. I also did chimp TTouches on his head. As you can see, he was feeling pretty relaxed!

Marette has come such a long way. She still is on the shy side, but is more and more confident each time I work with her. I found that she really gets into a relaxed zone when I do TTouches using the back of the top digit of my finger - my fingernail actually. It is pretty dramatic - she can go from very alert and peppy to just settling right down with these TTouches. She also really responded to TTouches with my fingernail working along the outside of the mouth area, which is connected with the limbic system, or emotions.

Milla is very sweet and friendly and seeks attention, but she can get easily over-stimulated, so I mostly did TTouches on her head, as the TTouches on the body can be a bit too much for her right now.

I didn't get a pic of Hank today - he's a lovely grey and white cat. As he is also a cat who can get over-stimulated, I just did a few TTouches at a time with him, primarily abalone TTouch and llama TTouch, which use large surfaces of the hand and are less intense than some of the other TTouches which are more focused.

If you would like to see demos of many of these TTouches, please visit my youtube channel at http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat. Thanks one and all and look forward to seeing you soon!