Yesterday I went again to work on my friend Kathy's feral cat and kittens. Above you see mommy, aka Mrs. Patches, on the left, and one of the darling kittens on the right. The black kitten pictured (it has white on its chest) has become the most receptive to me, and I can now take it out of the cage and do TTouch on it without having to contain it in a wrap. Several times today it also came towards me for touch, which is a big step forward for this little being.
When I got there today, I started out doing circles and strokes on mommy's head with the wand and corn dog (ace bandage). As she is the most skittish, and also seems concerned about her babies, I wanted to be sure that I could make her feel as safe as possible first. She still initially moves away a bit, but once I start doing this, she really settles down and relaxes. I was able to work up to doing TTouch on her head and ears with my hand as the session went on (this was after taking some breaks, working on the kittens and then going back to her). She still is shy about being touched on her body, but I am trying to respect the pace at which she is comfortable.
I then took out the black cat and did TTouch with it sitting on my lap, where it settled pretty well for a few minutes while I did TTouch, making sure that it could see its mother and that she could see it. Then I took out the tortoise-shell one who you will see in the above picture bottom left, and this kitten is still the most squiggly, though once I wrapped him in a dishtowel and had it seated on my lap as I kneeled on the ground (the dishtowel is wrapped around like a cape, so the feet can have contact with my lap or the ground, wherever you have them). I did some circles through the cloth on its body, and some TTouch on its ears.
A few days ago, I initially wrapped the kittens with their feet on the floor but they seem to prefer the warmth of my lap.
The third kitten, the black and white one, who is in the top left of the above picture, was more interested in sleeping than being touched, so I just did a few gentle strokes on it with the back of my hand. Later it woke up when I brought some food out for all of them, which they were ALL very interested in. After I fed them, the tortoise kitten was sleepy and I was able to do TTouch on its head and abalone touch on its body with my hand, and it was perfectly relaxed. It was around this time that I was also able to do some TTouch on Mrs. Patches with my hand. Before I left, I thanked them all and sent them a big heart hug.
If anyone is interested in adopting any of these dear creatures, please contact Kathy at ktyates@gmail.com.
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