Mayors' Alliance Cats: Oct 25 and Nov. 1

This blog post covers my past two sessions with the Mayor's Alliance Rescue cats who I work on through Tavi and Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program.
Above is Oreo. When she first arrived at the boarding facility, she tended to get a bit over-stimulated, but after a lot TTouch and socialization by me and others who come to work with them, she has become more relaxed. Oct 25 she was really ready for attention when I opened her cage, and as she has done other times, put her paws on my two shoulders. This time she came up and kissed me right on the face. I did TTouch on her in that position, which sounds a bit funny but she was comfortable in the moment there. I did chimp TTouches and strokes down her back, as well as ear slides. What a sweetie! The following week, I saw that she was no longer there. While of course I will miss her, I am so glad that she has gone to either a foster or forever home, hooray.

Tiger is a sweet, gentle cat who initially can get a little frozen when he first comes out of his cage. On Oct. 25, he at first clung to the rug when he was first out of his cage, but he soon settled down and stretched out after I did some connected clouded leopard TTouches and abalone TTouches going down his body. The second day, he seemed to want to stay on his bed in the cage, so I did TTouch on him there. He seems to especially respond to circular TTouches which use more of the hand, like the abalone TTouch, as this can be especially warm and soothing.

This beautiful cat above, Serena, arrived sometime in between the two sessions, so I saw in the second session. She was very afraid, so I did not touch her directly with my hands. When I opened the cage, she hissed. so I very quietly did some circles and strokes on her body with long-handled paintbrushes for a short time. After giving her a break, I tried again, but that was enough for her. When I left her cage, though, she seemed like she had calmed down somewhat because she was no longer in a frozen position - she went on the upper level of her cage and began to eat vigorously.

Olivia is a new grey tabby who arrived shortly before the Nov 1 session. She is gentle and affectionate, and wanted to come out of her cage. I did clouded leopard and abalone touches on her body, ear strokes and mouth work, and she was very friendly and responsive to all of these.

Above is Bree. She has a sense of humor and is kind of a character. She gets extremely excited to jump out of the cage and run around, so I let her do this before trying to touch her. She is very affectionate but can get overstimulated easily, so with her I do TTouches, usually chimp ttouches and llama ttouches which use the back of my hand, and for a short time and then I give her a break.

Millie was right in front of her cage to greet me for the Oct 25 session. She especially responds to TTouches on her head, and she rubbed her face against my face as I did ttouches on her head and ear area. She was a little more hesitant being touches on the body, but slowly getting used to it as I did a stroke on her here and there.

In the second session she came out of her cage and was very responsive to ttouches both on her head an on her body. She was head-butting me often at first and very excited. After a bit, her paced relaxed and she stretched right out on the rug for some abalone ttouches and clouded ttouches. she is such an alert, interesting cat!

Cheeks is a real character and is always up for attention and for coming out of her cage, but is afraid of other cats, so sometimes she seems to get a bit nervous when she sees the other cats, so of course this is a bit of a tricky wicket! She is extremely friendly to people though and put her paws on my shoulders to come up to my face for a kiss!. I did ttouches with the back of my hand mostly with her, to try to calm her energy a bit.


Martini and Mimosa (below) are sweet, playful youngsters. Uusaly they are much more interested in coming out of their cage to tear around the space and be kittens. but once they wear themselves out a bit, they can be picked up for a little TTouch (especially the one with the most white on its face, not sure which is which!!). They purr the entire time that you hold them. I do little raccoon ttouches on their mouths, very gentle ear strokes, and chimp ttouches boinb down their bodies down to their tails.

Mayor's Alliance Cats: October 18

I went to work again on the Mayor's Alliance rescue cats through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program. While I was riding my bike to the boarding facility, I was thinking so much about sweet Irene (pictured above) and thinking and wondering if she had been adopted. I have worked with this cat a lot and she is still a little shy but has become SO much more comfortable, she comes to the front of the cage, meowing, asking for attention. The song "Goodnight Irene" was playing in my head. This cat is so sweet!

So when I got to the facility, I found out that sure enough, Irene was aopted, hooray! I wish her all the best in her new home.

Next, I noticed that Bree (pictured above) was pawing incessantly on the plexiglas door of her cage, wanting to get out. I was only too happy to oblige. She is extremely sweet but can get over-stimulated easily, so I tend to use the more calming touches with my whole hand, like the llama ttouch (circular touch with the back of my hand) and abalone ttouch. When she started approaching a place where she seemed over-stimulated, I stopped TTouching her and began to do Reiki on her, which had a calming effect. Her energy level came down a notch while I was working with her.

Next was Cheeks (pictured above). This little youngster came bounding out of her cage and was very happy to be out, stretching her legs and moving around a bit. As she is quite a hyped-up girl, I also used abalone and llama ttouches on her, as well as some slow zigzags. She was so sweet, putting her front paws on my shoulders as though to hug me, putting her face right up in my face. Meanwhile, most of the other cats were eager to get out, pawing at the plexi as Bree had done. This seemed to be a theme for the day.

Two new youngsters, Martini and Mimosa (above) were at the shelter. I took them out one by one, and they were both extremely sociable, purring gently the entire time. I held each one and did clouded leopard, abalone and chimp ttouches, which they were very comfortable with. They were not so comfortable with the ear slides, but some cats are a bit sensitive being touched on the ears or sometimes it takes them a while to be comfortable touched there, so I will try again with them, varying the pressure to see if that makes a difference. I also played with these little ones as they have so much energy. They love to chase little toys on the end of a string!

Next was sweet Oreo. She used to get very over-stimulated but has become progressively calmer and sweeter as time has gone by. As she has done before, she put her front paws up on my shoulders, bringing her face right into my face. She is a cat who really responds to ear slides, so I usually do these on her. I also did connected chimp touches going down her body to connect the whole body. what a sweetheart!

Tiger is a big tabby (sorry, didn't get a picture this time). This kitty is so calm, she preferred to just stay in her cage and relax and stretch out as I did chinp and abalone ttouches. She was purring and rubbing her head against me the whole time.

Next was Millie, a new, lovely Siamese kitty. She seemed a little shy at first as she was hanging out in the back of her cage, so I approached her with very gentle energy and started out with some raccoon TTouches on her head. Pretty soon she began to walk forward, rubbing her head against my hand as I continued doing TTouches on her head, followed by strokes with the back of my hand going down her body. She let me know when she had enough with a little hiss (no scratching or biting). I offered her Reiki, and began to see her energy calm down until she curled up for a little Reiki nap.

What happened as I offered Reiki to Millie was so interesting. When I had been doing TTouch on her, some of the cats were still quite revved up, wanting to be let back out of their cages again. Though TTouch calmed them while I was working with them, they appeared to be seeking more attention and some were pawing at their cages. While Reiki was pouring out of my hands, even though I was focused on Millie to start with, soon I noticed that all the other cats in the room were becoming very calm and sleepy, some of them grooming themselves and others curling up for a nap (see Millie and Mimosa below). After I notice this, I began to imagine the Reiki coming out of the pores of my whole body, filling the room. It was so lovely to feel such a peaceful hush in the room.

Mayor's Alliance Cats: Oct 3 and 11, Adoptions and New Arrivals!

As I'm writing this after the fact, first I can tell you that some of the lovely Mayor's Alliance cats who I have been working with thru Tavi and Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program have been adopted, hooray. Ophelia and Rascal (pictured above), Vaska (below), Diego (below Vaska), and Ty (below that). I will miss them, but am so happy that they have new homes. I wish them well!

Oct 3 - when I entered, both Vaska and Diego were particularly staring at me, and Irene was doing her usual little meow. First I worked with Irene. She has become so much more comfortable, it is a pleasure to see. She now really seeks attention, coming right to the front of the cage. You still have to be careful not to approach her too quickly - if you do, she may run away at first, but she usually comes back to the front right after her initial flinching. As she is such a sensitive little kitty, I still use a lot of TTouches with the back of my hand - the llama TTouch (using back surface of the whole hand) and chimp TTouches are especially soothing for her, and sometimes I will do a circular touch followed by a long stroke down the body. She is funny - sometimes it seems like she has had enough, but then if you start to close the cage, she will come running to the front for more :)

Vaska is such a character - he always gets himself into upside-down, funny positions in order to get my attention, as shown below. He will come bounding out of the cage and onto the couch, walking back and forth and rubbing against my hands. With him I also use llama ttouches, as he can get over-stimulated with too much contact. He purrs the entire time and will settle on my lap for a while.

Next, I let Diego (below) out of his cage. He is so friendly with me but seems like he is more of a solo cat - I think he is not so comfortable around the other cats. He sniffed me and seemed to be a bit irritated that I had let Vaska out first. He did settle down with me as I did some abalone ttouches on his body. He is such a dear, gentle cat and seems to have such a deep soul.

When I had finished working with him, he is now on an upper level cage so I had to lift him back in. He was not so happy about this and swatted at me (no claws out though). I felt really bad about this and so before I left, I went back to his cage, and did calming ttouches on his forehead, apologizing him for scaring him by lifting him and by having to put him back in his cage, and he really responded to this. He looked quite content after this.

Ty (below), who was growly with me the previous week, came jumping right out of his cage to me today. and I began to do some strokes with the back of my hand with him. Just as we were setting into a good session, someone from the Mayor's alliance came in, as he was to be taken to a new home. They were happy to see him so relaxed and, though they had thought he could be tough to get in the carrier, he actually walked right in as though he knew he was going to a good place. Good luck in your new home, Ty!

Oct 11 - a bunch of new cats had arrived. But as I always start with Irene as she is the first cat I see when I come through the door, I worked with her first. She was purring the whole time. I first did TTouch on her head with the back of my finger. I noticed that her little blanket was all a-jumble, so I flattened it out and she seemed very grateful. right away she settled on the blanket and began kneading with her paws. As she did this, I did circles and strokes down her body with the back of my hand, giving frequent breaks, so as not to overwhelm her.

Tiger (below) is a new kitty who is very sweet and gentle. I did raccoon TTouches on his head and slow abalone TTouches down his body. He is friendly, but I felt he craved the very comforting feeling of the big abalone ttouches (circular touches with the front surface of the whole hand).

Next was Oreo, who has been there for a while. She started out a little feisty and sometimes got over-stimulated, but especially since her cagemate Smoky was adopted, she seems to be more gentle. As she had done before, she put her paws up on my shoulders and came towards me, as though to give me a hug. While she had her paws there, I did clouded leopard TTouches on her body and llama TTouches on her body, sliding and connecting each touch to the next. She stayed in that position for a while and was very responsive and seemed very comforted by the TTouches.

Cheeks (below) is a very young kitty who is extremely inquisitive and couldn't wait for me to open to the cage to come out and explore. I did some TTouches along the sides of her body as she walked back and forth on the couch. I didn't want to overwhelm her with first contact so I just worked with her briefly, then put her back in the cage.

Bree is pictured below but I have to get a better picture of her! she was so relaxed when I finished with her that she was curled up in a ball, sleeping. She is a bit shy at first, but quickly responded to TTouches. I first used the back of my hand and fingers, doing circular ttouches on her head and body. She began purring a lot, and then started eating - something that a lot of cats do after having TTouch, which is particularly nice when I have been in a situation of working on a cat who is not eating, as it can prompt them to eat.

Below is Allie, another of the gorgeous new cats. I wasn't able to get to her today, but look forward to doing TTouch on her next time :)