Charles and Leo get Adopted, and Update on Sparkle

Some lovely adoption news: I just heard that Leo and Charles were adopted together, that is so sweet to hear! Have to wish these two sweet friends much happiness in their new home.

When I started volunteering at Social Tees shelter over a year ago, both these guys were amongst the so-called "feral cats" who are loose in the shelter but were afraid of people. They would hide out in the highest places in the shelter and would not let you touch them at all. Through offering treats, TTouch and gentle approaches to socialization by me and some of the other volunteers, these two and subsequently some of the other "ferals" have become friendly and adoptable.

A few other cats who had been at the shelter a while were also adopted in the past couple of days.

And another update: I ran into the woman who adopted Sparkle, who had arrived at Social Tees as a terrified feral kitten and after months of careful, gradual work she became much more social, though still shy, and was adopted. The woman said Sparkle was doing great! that she was getting along with her other cats very well and was becoming very sweet and friendly with her.

Ear TTouch with Mario and Luigi

These adorable little tabby kittens, Mario and Luigi, came into the shelter absolutely terrified. After being put in their cage, they banged themselves up against the bars for a while before finally settling down. When I first did TTouch on them, I had a few hisses but no biting, and though they remain quite shy, they are really responsive to TTouch and begin to purr.

I found that in particular, the ear TTouch was effective with these two little guys. I held one of Mario's ears in one hand and one of Luigi's in the other hand and as I began to do ear strokes simultaneously on both of them (they were cuddled together as seen here), they began to simultaneously purrrrr up a storm. I have let the other volunteers know that this TTouch is helpful for these little guys so that they can help them feel comfortable as well.

I have a youtube clip of the earstrokes here if you would like to have a look, enjoy! The tabby I demonstrate on in the clip is my own tabby, Garbanzo :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT5BMwnIsfA

TTouch and Reiki with Stanley

Stanley is quite a character, his name really suits him, he's a quirky and very lovable cat. In the picture above he looks a bit serious, but he truly is a cat with a sense of humor.

He has had some digestive issues lately, so in addition to really paying attention to giving him proper supplements and nutrition, I have been spending time with him doing TTouch and Reiki to make him more comfortable. He also received hydration from my friend Jordyn Thiessen, which was very helpful.

A couple of days ago he had eaten some and been hydrated but he just had an expression and body posture that told me he was down in the dumps. He usually is a talkative and extremely interactive kitty who craves contact and attention. I did some gentle TTouch on him but mostly just held my hands over the bottom part of his body, which is where I was feeling the most heat. He curled up and fell asleep as I did this, and I could feel heat passing from my hands to his body.

The next day, I was so happy to see Stanley back to his normal behaviour, he meowed hello to me and wanted to eat some wet food right away. I am still only giving him a bit of a time to make sure, but he has been doing great for the past two days. He is craving attention again and so now I am focusing more on doing TTouch with him, though Reiki is also flowing through my hands as I do the TTouch on him.

As always, please know that Reiki is not a substitution for veterinary care, but it certainly is lovely to see when it can balance an animal's energy in order to help him recover more quickly. I have had this experience many times, when an animal is not feeling well, and balancing the energy with Reiki can, sometimes by the next day if the animal is ready, make you feel that the animal is over the hump and on its way back to health.

Come on down to Social Tees Animal Rescue if you'd like to meet him and the other wonderful animals we have up for adoption.

Radio interview

Hi folks, no pix in this post, just a link. Yesterday I had the honor and pleasure (thanks to my friend Jordyn Thiessen, who, among her many activities and talents, also volunteers at the shelter) to be interviewed by Valerie Smaldone on a program about animals which featured also Warren Eckstein and a woman who is the "voice" of Mathilda, a resident cat at the Algonquin Hotel. Here is a link if you'd like to have a listen:

http://www.wor710.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=4835812

I had a chance to speak about the shelter where I work, as well as the TTouch work I do there.

enjoy!

Max and Lilah, Iguanas

Hi folks, I had another opportunity to do TTouch on Max and Lilah. Lilah is pictured above - again, she had a more extreme reaction than Max, and was REALLY leaning into my hand, almost verging on appearing to be over-stimulated. After I did the TTouches for a while, she was leaning into my hand but in a more gentle way, so it seemed like she was calming down. At the end of this clip, she started to walk towards me, so I decided to give her a break at that point. You also see her walk in the beginning of the clip, so I waited til she stopped to continue touching her.

Max is pictured below. He also leaned into my hand and you can see his eyes relaxing. Later on I tried a little Reiki on him as well and he seemed to respond to that as well, moving his body a little closer to where my hand was (my hand was four or five inches from his body. He also began to walk after I did TTouch for a bit so I gave him a break when he did that. Max in general seems to be a more low-key guy but both these animals appear to be quite accustomed to humans. As I mentioned in the previous post, Anthony, who works at the shelter and has had more experience with iguanas than I have, remarked at how chill and these guys were, as he had petted both of them and they responded well to that.

As you can see, I'm mostly doing circular touches using the back of my hand, and some Noah's March (plain strokes straight down the body) with the front or back of my hand. I hope to work with these creatures more, it is such an interesting experience.

Max and Lilah the Iguanas

Robert, the owner of Social Tees Animal Rescue shelter, is a wildlife rehabilitator in addition to an animal rescue person, and is a reptile expert. So we often have some very interesting inhabitants in addition to the cats and dogs. The reptiles are not adopted out to individuals, though - they go to reptile sanctuaries of various kinds.

Two of our recent arrivals are Max and Leon, who are both iguanas. Mas is pictured directly above and below, with sort of a mohawk look, and Leon has an extremely long tail. They both turned out to be quite friendly and quite receptive to TTouch.

Anthony, who helps keep things clean for the animals and does a multitude of tasks at the shelter, had petted both of these fellows and told me they were friendly. Still, I was a bit cautious because I am not too familiar with reptiles and their personalities and body language.

First I decided to touch Max. I did some connected clouded leopard touches down each side of his back, and he relaxed right into it. It was really a different experience from touching a furry creature - the skin feels like loose thick leather, and the mohawk-looking thing that goes down the center of his head and back was kind of bristly but flexible at the same time. I continued doing the touches, down one side of his back and then the other, and he seemed to be quite relaxed.



Then I decided to check out his friend Lilah. Lilah is really kind of a character - she dramatically leaned into my hand, whichever side it was on. Anthony had said she did this when he was petting her, but with the circular touches she seemed to have even a more extreme reaction. After doing the connected touches down one side and then another, she walked around a bit, then stopped and I tried doing the touches again.

I look forward to trying more with these guys and seeing what can happen! thanks boys for letting me have such an interesting experience.

Reiki and TTouch with Tammy

Dear mama Tammy, she has been thru a journey! her paperwork from the city shelter says she is 10, but it is unclear what her real age is. Shortly after she arrived at the shelter, one day we discovered that during the night she had three babies! some wonderful folks fostered her and her kittens, then her kittens were adopted out, and for a while she was acting as mommy to another kitten. She is back at the shelter now and I have started to work with her, as she is pretty temperamental about getting touched - most often you can only touch her on the head, and even then, just for a short time because she gets overstimulated.



sorry for the blurry pictures here. once I get the camera out, she keeps moving! but in a way the blurry pictures give a better feeling of the dreamlike sensation that can happen when I'm working with these animals.



So with Tammy I've been doing a combination of TTouch and Reiki. If she is receptive to it, I will start by doing some raccoon touches on her forehead, while I am sending her Reiki with the other hand. If she seems too overstimulated to touch at all then I hold my hands in the offering position and imagine energy going from my hands to her body, and sometimes I really feel like I can even see the energy, I feel it that strongly. Once I start this, I generally see her either start to relax or, today she went to her food bowl and started eating, which seems to happen because she feels more relaxed and comfortable.


Somtimes when I start to send Reiki to Tammy, she will come and sniff my hands.

I had to take a break and do something else for a few minutes after she had started eating. When I came back and began Reiki with her again, she went up on the shelf in her cage, laid down and looked so relaxed, it was a pleasure to see. I could really feel a strong energy between me and her.

Thank you Tammy, I look forward to working with you more and even more forward to seeing you off to a forever home sometime soon.

Tail TTouch with Joie

Joie is one of two sweet, shy tabby kittens I have been working on lately at Social Tees shelter. They have been coming out of their shells lately and becoming more relaxed after a couple of weeks of TTouch and Reiki.

They had initially appeared as though they were limping. I did some TTouch and Reiki on them and it seemed as though the limping may have been related to their stitches possibly being tight after their spay surgery or perhaps it just was a frightened body posture, because when the vet checked them out, they did not appear to be limping and she thought they were ok. As always, please keep in mind that the work I do is not a substitute for veterinary work. It is nice to make an animal feel more at ease though!

I am finding that they still are tense at the base of their spines and in their tail, so i have been doing some tail work on them, which I show in these videos. Please keep in mind that I am using extremely light pressure, just enough to push the skin around in a circle. And when I am circling the tail, I am doing very small circles and am not pulling the tail out, I am just gently moving it in the smallest circle I can, working my way down the tail. I also do some conected raccoon touches down the tail. Little Joie is purring by the end!

TTouch with the Ferals

In Socal Tees shelter there is a group of so-called "feral" cats, though some of them have become quite friendly, especially as I have started giving a few of them wet food and doing TTouch on them. As there are usually dogs loose in the shelter, one of the places the cats love to hang out is on top of the cages, where there are also large pipes that they can drape themselves over, and they can watch all the activity. Above you will see me doing a bit of TTouch with a feather on one of the very shy guys (the bw kitty). I have tried touching him on the head with my hand a few times but he is afraid of this so this is the first time I tried a feather with him. He's still pretty hesitant but starts to get more comfortable with strokes on his face. After a few strokes on his body, he had enough. You can see Leo and Charles, two sweet kitties who are best friends and who are also friendly with me, watching. It is good to keep initial sessions with a frightened cat very short, so I left him alone after that, and will try again with him soon.

Below I am doing some TTouch on a very shy grey cat. He is fine with me touching him as long as he is facing away from me. I had tried touching him a few times when he was facing me and he was frightened of me doing that. So this is the first time I was able to touch him for any length of time, and I think he is surprised somehow when he turns around to find me there!

Here I am below doing TTouch on my pal Leo, who is so sweet. I do a lot of TTouch on him using the back of my hand, as he is an older, very thin, very sensitive cat. At the end, you don't see this, but he bumps his nose against my nose, something he has started doing with me every day :)

Bobbi and Joie, update

A few days ago we had noticed that two little tabby kittens we have at Social Tees shelter were limping a bit. I did extensive sessions of TTouch and Reiki on both kittens, being sure to do any touch very gently until they were able to be evaluated by a vet. I touched them everywhere including their back, legs, tail, and though I noticed some tightness near the base of the tail, neither kitten acted as though any touch hurt her.

Meanwhile, after the first session both kittens began to walk much more easily, standing taller on all their legs and using their back legs more fully than they had before. By the time they were seen by one of our vets, the vet thought they seemed ok. It may be that the stitches had been tight after their spay surgery before they came to out shelter (our animals come to us thru the city shelters where they are spayed or neutered if they are old enough to be). Or that they were just shy, who knows?

The kittens still run from me initially sometimes but once I pick them up, they immediately settle in my lap and are extremely relaxed, as you can see from the pictures of Bobbi below. I do raccoon touches around their head and mouth, ear strokes. connected touches down their back, clouded leopard touches down their legs, little raccoon touches on their paws and between their toes. They are quite relaxed even having their paws touched. Next time I will try clipping their claws, and see if I can keep them relaxed while I am doing that :)

I could really see Bobbi stretching her back out as I did touches down each side of her spine. It was a pleasure to see this!

Once again I have to stress that the modalities I use are not a substitute for veterinary care. But it is lovely to be able to offer them a gentle form of healing that can help them feel better physically and emotionally.

Milton Goes for a Walk

Hi folks, I had the unusual and delightful experience of taking a savannah monitor lizard for a walk the other day! You see me with him above, I did some TTouch on him as well. I did some connected abalone touches down his back and could feel his back stretch out as I did it.

At the shelter where I volunteer, Social Tees Animal Rescue, Robert Shapiro, the shelter owner, is a wildlife rehabilitator as well as animal rescuer, so we have some interesting reptiles and other animals come thru our shelter. Robert rehabilitates them and then they go to reptile sanctuaries etc.

At any rate, Milton is about the size of a large cat (but, of course, a VERY different shape and texture!). I looped a leash around his neck (next time I will bring rope w/me and do a custom harness). and walked him a bit outside the shop. People (and dogs) were very curious as they walked by, of course! Milton seemed very curious about them as well. We walked a bit, I did TTouch on him a bit, walked a bit more, and so on. We didn't get too far as people kept stopping us and asking questions about what kind of animal he was, etc.


New York City is an incredibly bustling place, which Milton is not too used to, so after a while I felt he was getting nervous from all the attention so I brought him back inside. Robert told me I should carry him like a baby, supporting his hind end with one hand, and then with his head looking over my shoulder.

Doing TTouch on him is an unusual experience because his skin is very thick and tough, so I felt that big abalone touches were what made the most sense. I didn't use a LOT of pressure, just enough to move the skin in a circle.

I look forward to more walks with this guy! he was quite a good sport with what must have been a very unusual experience for him.

TTouch on Kittens in the Shelter

I have been working on the many kittens we have now in Social Tees shelter, some of whom come in very frightened as they are either semi-feral or feral. I have found that wrapping them in a small piece of towel is a good way to contain them as I hold them in my lap, and I keep them wrapped if they are scared and wriggly. I also keep them slightly contained if there are dogs who are loose in the shelter who could startle them. I do TTouch on top of the towel or under the towel, and if the kitten is comfortable as I go, I often loosen the towel or unfold it. The kitten above is one of a litter who were born outside but they have been really coming around.

The cat below is Charles, one of our resident so-called "feral cats" who are loose in the shelter (he is quite friendly now), and he always hangs around near me when I am there. Doing TTouch on one animal usually makes the other animals who are nearby either start eating or go to sleep. Yesterday I was at the shelter when it was not open so it was just the animals and me in the back room in these videos. the whole atmosphere grew very calm after a while.

The kitten below is the brother of the one at the top, he is the most outgoing of the bunch, and begins purring as soon as I open the cage.

Here is Charles again, hanging out and very relaxed in the TTouch atmosphere. This is when the shelter can feel especially magical.

Louie - parts 3 and 4

Here are the third and fourth parts of my session with Louie. As I said in my previous post, it took trying several tools to see what he was receptive to, but this brush on a thick long stick seemed to do the trick! I was so glad to see him getting more and more comfortable, and look forward to working with him further.

Louie - Parts 1 and 2

Hi folks, I taped my session with Louie, and had to break it up into parts so the files will work properly on the blog, so two clips will be in this post and two in the next post.

Louie is a young male cat who recently came into the shelter. He can get overly stimulated easily and swat very hard with his claws out as a result. I have been trying different tools with him over a few sessions. First I tried the wand and corn dog, which just made him irritated. Then I tried a long feather with him. This worked well in one session, then in the next session, it simply made him pissed off and he wanted to destroy it.

Finally the day before yesterday I tried the tool you see here, probably originally used for basting. It is a long stick with a flat paintbrush at the end. You will see when I first open the cage he is a bit unsure, but then he grows increasingly comfortable.

He has really responded to this tool, and is comfortable with me doing circles and strokes on his head, ears, and even down his front legs. I love this cat, he has a sense of humor and is a real character! and I want to do whatever I can to make him a more comfortable cat (which will also make him more adoptable, which would be the best!).

Update on Jerry

Jerry is an extremely timid kitty with a sweet soul who came into the shelter emaciated, shaking and terrified some time ago, as pictured above.

I have worked with him slowly and carefully, and he has continually made progress, which would seem like teeny baby steps of progess to most people but for him, each step took a lot of courage to make.

The past couple weeks, it seems like he got past a certain plateau and he has become exponentially more comfortable. Even the texture of his fur feels different. You still have to be very patient and quiet with him, as a sharp movement can frighten him, but now he purrs just about as soon as I start to touch him, and when I open his cage, he seems to look at me as though he wants me to touch him, whereas I often would feel before that he wanted me to touch him but he was still pretty afraid of that.

Yesterday really brought a tear to my eye. I had said hello to him but hadn't had a chance to work on him yet, and I looked over at him and he was laying on his back with his legs in the air, totally at ease. And when I took my camera out to take a picture, instead of being afraid and moving right away, he looked right at me, as you see here.

What a sweet boy! Every day I can't wait to see him and I keep sending good thoughts for a patient, kind person to arrive in the shelter to take him home when he is ready for that, and I feel that day is getting closer and closer.

Myron

Myron is one of the most challenging cats I have worked with at the shelter. He is SO frightened and sensitive, sometimes he will hiss and swat if anyone even comes near his cage, much less open the door and try to touch him. If I get to the shelter early enough, I offer to change his cage so that I can do it extremely quietly so as to put the least amount of stress on him possible. I have also been adding rescue remedy to his water.

Occasionally, one other volunteer and I have been able to touch him just on his head, but most of the time even that is not possible, he generally lets out a huge hiss and swat that lets you know he really means it, LEAVE HIM ALONE.

The past couple of weeks, I have been standing outside his cage, offering Reiki to him. He is so sensitive, I can see him respond to the Reiki energy quite rapidly, and he becomes more relaxed, often closing his eyes and taking a nap.

More and more often now, we will see him at the front of his cage rather than at the back of his cage. He still seems like he is afraid of being touched, but he is getting closer.

Yesterday while I was sending him Reiki he was lying on his back, legs in the air and head against the cage door. It was lovely to see him in such a relaxed position.

I know that I need to continue to be very patient with him, and that he will be ok to be touched in his own time. Meanwhile, I am very happy to send Reiki in order to help him become more and more relaxed. What is interesting, too, is that lately his coat looks cleaner and healthier, and his eyes seem more clear. This has happened with our kitty Jerry as well, who was terrified and shaking when he first came into the shelter and he has really been coming around.

Here's to you, Myron, I'll be ready to TTouch you when you're ready :)

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.

Jerry Purrs

Jerry is a kitty with a very gentle, sensitive soul. He was apparently found on the street, so who knows what his life was before he landed at the shelter. Though the ACC thinks he's five, he has quite a few missing teeth. The poor boy arrived earlier this year VERY frightened (see picture above) and emaciated, you could feel his spine sticking up out of his body and he was so scared he would tremble a lot. Even after TTouch, he would sometimes have times when you could see his body shake. After examination by a vet, it was determined that the shaking was anxiety-related rather than an illness.

I have worked with Jerry very slowly and carefully. He is still quite frightened of people, so I gently open his cage and speak to him in a gentle voice. I stand sideways to his cage and begin with little circular touches with the back of my hand. Depending on what he can tolerate, I work my way down his body. The touches I use on his body are usually chimp touches, abalone touches or llama touches, done slowly with a pause at the end. I will try to do a couple of sessions on him while I am there, so I don't make each session too long and give him a break.

Over time, he has been able to trust me more, and his body has filled out to a more healthy weight. Sometimes I have done circular touches on his body using a soft hair brush.

My friend Eileen Garfinkel, who is an animal communicator, did a reading on him some time ago and one of the main things she got from him was that he feels unloved. I always make sure to tell him (either out loud or with my mind) that I have so much love for him (which I do), and that he is such a special, wonderful being.
I also often do Reiki on him, usually only placing one hand on him, because two hands seems to be too overwhelming. I do send him Reiki through the other hand as well though. Reiki makes him really relax and stretch out his body, he often closes his eyes too.
Sometimes I have heard him purr.

The other day, I was alternating between doing some soft touches on him and keeping my hands still, sending Reiki, and I heard him purr a louder and more constant purr than I have ever heard from him. I could feel it in his whole body. When I looked at his face, I think he even seemed surprised. I continued for a while, it just made me feel so happy to hear him purring away and feeling comfortable. Here he is, pictured below, feeling and looking a lot more comfortable. I wish this sweet boy well and look forward to working with him more. I keep holding thoughts that the time will come when a kind, patient person will appear who can offer him a forever home.

Grandma and Alfalfa: RIP

I'd like to pay special tribute to two sweet kitties who recently crossed over into the spirit world: Grandma (pictured above) and Alfalfa (see photos below).

Grandma was a feral cat who had been at Social Tees for many years and she was in her mid-20s. Her tongue hung out because she didn't have any teeth left, but that didn't keep her from appreciating wet food, that's for sure. There is a group of maybe ten "feral" cats who are loose in the shelter (I use quotes because some of them have become tame and are totally adoptable). We always get a laugh seeing their little faces appear at unexpected moments, sometimes way up high. They love to drape themselves over the warm pipes in the winter and rest there.

Grandma was spry right up until the end, and had a stroke or attack of some kind when she was actually on a beam up high in the shelter where the loose cats often love to hang out. Her "husband" Grandpa passed on a while back, he was also quite old and went peacefully in his sleep. Though Grandma was mostly afraid to let people touch her, she brought a lot of sweetness and joy to the shelter, and I witnessed some very dear moments with her. One was when the shelter was very quiet, and she came right down into the middle of the floor to meet up with one of the other very senior loose cats who we call Leo, and she very tenderly started rubbing against him and cleaning him. Robert said he saw that a lot after-hours when the shelter is quiet. I can picture sweet Grandma leaping up, being her nimble self and reuniting with her husband Grandpa. Happy trails, Grandma, we will miss you as we miss Grandpa.

Alfalfa was on the other end of the age spectrum. He was the tiniest little fluffball of a kitten, about a third the size of the other kittens he arrived with. Several of that batch were very small and weak, and two passed away soon after we got them, with no apparent symptoms other than their smallness, but Alfalfa seemed to be a very determined little soul and we all were doing everything we could to keep his strength up. I did TTouch on him every day, and he especially responded to ear strokes, and he really settled into my hands as I worked on him. He really seemed content, his coat was good and his appetite was good, it seemed like he was going to be all right.

Unfortunately he passed away yesterday afternoon.

I was very saddened by this, as were the other shelter volunteers who had worked with him, especially my friend Jordyn, who comes to give the cats hydration and love and helps with a million other tasks around the shelter. Strangely enough, right before I went to the shelter I had a vision of him with light all around him, I think he was trying to tell me he had crossed over and that he was all right. He was a sweet angel -- he will be missed, and I will always remember him.

Kittens

It's kitten season and I'm having the opportunity to work with many kittens at Social Tees shelter. Many of the kittens arrive quite frightened, at least initially, and I'm finding that for the most part, even kittens that are pretty feral can be brought around fairly quickly with TTouch, especially the ones that are very young. So many of these little ones start out pretty squirmy when I first pick them up, but after a few sessions of TTouch they learn that I am going to touch them in a gentle way and they settle right down in my lap.



This little fluffball above was pretty unsure at first, you can see that her face looks a bit worried. I tend to use a lot of the smaller touches, such as raccoon touches and chimp touches, as kittens are so small, but sometimes I will use some abalone touches (circular touches using the entire hand) as they can be quite warm and comforting.

Little raccoon touches around the outside of the mouth and jaw can also be quite soothing. I know that the little fellow below looks un-soothed and wide-eyed, but I think he was startled by the camera :)

Another thing that I do sometimes, especially with a squirmy kitten, is to wrap the kitten up in a small cloth like a washcloth. I can do touches through the cloth and once they feel comfortable then I can loosen the cloth and do touches directly. The cloth serves as a containing device so that they don't get loose in the shelter and also as a comforting, soft feeling thing similar to a wrap (ace bandage), which we use (mostly on dogs) in a variety of configurations.

hoping for these many cutes ones to be in new homes soon!