TTouch and Reiki at BARC: Siskel

Siskel is a young male cat who arrived recently at BARC shelter along with another cat thought to be his brother. The brother was extremely friendly and was adopted right away. Siskel arrived at the shelter completely terrified, hiding in the back of his cage and hissing when people came anywhere near his cage. I think it really scares him to have hands come in and out of his cage, as he seems to especially feel threatened when his cage is cleaned.

I have been working with him quite a lot, wearing thick gloves in case he gets over-stimulated, as sometimes in the beginning he would go from comfortable to suddenly terrified, and then could swat or try to bite. He has been getting SO much more comfortable lately, it is a pleasure to see.
I have been working with him primarily using a long-handled plastic back scratcher, doing circular touches and strokes on him with the back of the hand of the back scratcher, as well as with the handle. Once he got accustomed to this tool, he quickly grew to really like it, starting to roll on his back or side to be stroked with it. I have now started incorporating some touches and strokes with my gloved hand as well as with the tool. I am trying to be careful to keep the sessions fairly short, so he doesn't have the chance to get over-stimulated. I have shown a few people how to work with him with the back scratcher, so he can get used to other people having contact with him.
He was initially in the back of the room, but is now in a cage next to gentle, sweet Camilla, who I think is a reassuring, calm influence for him. He often rubs himself against the side of the cage which is next to her, and has never hissed or done any unfriendly behavior towards her. When I do TTouch and Reiki with Camilla, he watches and seems to be very calmed by this work as well.
He seems more comfortable in the shelter in general, now hanging out in the front of his cage a good deal of the time, watching what is going on. And if I am working on another cat, he looks at me as if to say, when are you coming to visit me?? I know that many people who saw his initial behavior would brand him as a "bad cat" (which I always take to mean one that is not capable of change) but I am so happy to continue to work with him to show that he is not a "bad" or "mean" cat, but is a very scared cat who needs time and patience in order to build trust :)

TTouch and Reiki at BARC: Siskel

Siskel is a new cat at BARC shelter in Brooklyn who arrived in the same box with another boy kitty. The other kitty, Ebert, was adopted soon after arrival, as he was extremely friendly, but Siskel is extremely frightened, and it will take him a while to become comfortable and properly socialized.
The first time I worked with Siskel, he hissed right away to warn me to approach with caution. I used a long plastic back scratcher to first make contact with him. This first time, he seemed to be SO sensitive that even just gently touching him with the back scratcher was a lot, so I just did a few gentle circles and strokes on him and then left him alone.
The next time I worked with Siskel, a few days later, again I used the back scratcher, but had a completely different reaction. Before I touched Siskel at all, I had been sending Reiki from a short distance to him and to a chicken who is in a cage near where he is. They both appeared to be comforted by the Reiki energy that I felt pouring out of my hands. The chicken had been walking back and forth and she settled down, and he started blinking at me and became much more relaxed in his breathing and body posture. I gave them a brief break, then came back to work with Siskel using the back scratcher.
The minute I touched him with the back scratcher (with the back of the hand on the end of the back scratcher), Siskel sniffed it and started rubbing his head and body against it. I continued doing circles and strokes on his body and on his head, using pretty light pressure, and he kept moving forward to the front of the cage. Before I knew it, I was doing TTouch circular touches and strokes with my hand instead of the back scratcher. A couple of times, when he heard a noise of some kind that bothered him, he retreated to the back of his cage, but then he came to the front again. I should have stopped right there, but thought, just a little bit longer. Suddenly he got over-stimulated and gave me a quick bite on the hand (nothing bad, but it did startle me).
I realized I had worked too long with him, so I kind of took a step back and have just been working on him using the back scratcher the past few times (also wearing gardening gloves in case he gets overstimulated again). He now quickly responds to the back scratcher and starts rubbing his head and body against it, rolling on his side and on his back. He still will hiss when I open the cage sometimes, but this pattern is slowly starting to change. I want to show some of the other folks there how to work with him with the back scratcher, as I think it would be very good for him to get used to contact with a few people, so he can start to trust that people will not harm him. I feel that someone must have treated him roughly in the past or at least frightened him. I look forward to seeing what can happen with him, and thank him for reminding me to be mindful that it is "moments, not minutes" that matter. Patience is always a good thing to remember.