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 :)