Sophia Remembers......

The beautiful kitty pictured above is a very special being who arrived at the shelter where I was working over a year ago as a terrified, apparently feral kitten. Initially she was hissing, spitting, swatting, and seemed so terrified and unhappy to be there.

I spent a lot of time with her, working very slowly and gradually with her and she eventually became very comfortable with me, running to the front of the cage when I entered the shelter and extending her paw to say hello. I called her Jimmygirl.

Her best buddy in the shelter was a black kitten who we called Luke, who was semi-feral and shy at first but became comfortable very quickly. They adored each other and cuddled together. I think that Luke's calm demeanor was soothing for Jimmygirl.

Eventually Jimmygirl and Luke were adopted together into a very loving home. Jimmygirl was renamed Sophia, and Luke was renamed Poe, lovely names which suit them both so well. Their "mommy" Yasmeen has kept in touch with me, sending me pictures and updates about them. You can see how happy they are in their forever home, and it means a lot to hear about them.

TTouch and Reiki can help connect with animals in such a deep way that even when the animals in the shelter go off to homes, I still feel that connection, that they will always live in a special place in my heart.

Yesterday Yasmeen sent me the following message:

"How are you? I don't know if my sister mentioned to you the other day, but Sophie seems to remember you. The other day she was looking at your blog and found some old videos of you working on Sophia. Well she had the volume way up and Sophie was across the room napping at the time. She heard your voice talking to her gently and as soon as she heard you call her Jimmygirl she instantly popped up giving a few meows and looking around the room for you. It was the cutest thing! She kept walking and sniffing around the laptop trying to find you.

Goes to show cats do have a long memory and that they do appreciate the loving humans in their lives.

Anyways, Just wanted to let you know that Sophie does remember you and does miss you.

Have a great day!"

Thank you so much for sharing this with me, Yasmeen, it means so much to me -- and what Sophia did says so much about how animals do remember, it really touched my heart.

And thank you for adopting these two cats together and giving them such a wonderful home.

Some Adoption News: Jimmy Girl, Luke, Theo and others

Hi folks, yesterday was a great adoption day for us at Social Tees Animal Rescue

A couple of my favorite kitties who I have done TTouch on at the shelter were adopted: Jimmy Girl and her pal Luke. These kitties both came to us in October, pretty much completely feral, and little by little I gained their trust. They really came around! Though he may start out shy, Luke is now a very relaxed cat. You can even pick him up with no trouble at all. Jimmy Girl and I became best pals, and she would meow at me when I entered the shelter and run right up to the front of the cage for me to touch her. The two of them would play together all day long.

However, I knew it would take a special person or people to be the right adopters for these two, as especially Jimmy Girl will take some time, calm energy and patience to warm up to a new person.

Yesterday a very sweet couple came into the shelter, looking for two young, playful cats, and they had seen Jimmy Girl and Luke online on our Facebook page. They are accustomed to taking in stray cats, so they seemed to be the perfect adoptive parents for these two, as they will have the patience to let these kitties take the time they need to become comfortable in their new environment. I will miss these kitties a lot, but I am so happy they have a home now, and I wish them well.

Pictured above is Jimmy Girl.

And this is little Luke.


We also adopted some other sweet critters yesterday, including dear Theo, pictured above. Theo is an absolute love. I did an extended TTouch session on him a couple of days ago and he relaxed right down on his side for a nap. Have fun on your new adventures, Theo and others!

Jimmy Girl and Her Friend Luke

Jimmy Girl is a young kitty (about 4-5 months) with whom I have a very special connection. When she first arrived from one of the city shelters at Social Tees shelter a couple of months ago, she had to be taken out of her carrier with gloves, and she would hiss and spit when you tried to approach her. We think she was feral. I did very slow, patient TTouch work with her and over time gained her trust. Now she comes to the front of the cage and meows at me when I come into the shelter. She has also become very playful and sweet, with a quirky sense of humor. She has a best friend, Luke, the little black kitty pictured below. They came into the shelter at the same time (but from different places), and soon became good friends. Luke was also a feral kitten, and he took a while to become comfortable, though his process was much quicker than Jimmy Girl's. Luke is now completely comfortable being touched, and will lay completely out on his back, even letting me touch him on his stomach sometimes.

Luke and Jimmy Girl are really sweet together, playing all day long. They need to be adopted out together, as they are inseparable. Jimmy Girl still has some shyness, and will initially run away from someone new, but I feel certain that someone who has the patience to let her take the time she needs to come to them will have a sweet little companion in her over time. Luke will probably also be a bit shy at first but I think will come around very quickly. Both of these kittens have come such a long way since I began to work with them. And I can feel both of them reaching another level of comfort lately. Jimmy Girl used to only let me work on her for short bursts of time, and now she will let me do TTouch on her for extended periods of time -- I start out rubbing her ears, then work up to doing TTouches and strokes on her body. Sometimes during the course of working on her, she will run away for a minute, then come right back to me and paw at me to continue. I wish these dear little ones well! And I surely will miss them when they do go to a forever home, but I will be so happy for them.

Jimmy Girl

Jimmy Girl is a lovely young cat who came to us several months ago as a semi-feral kitten, and would hiss when you came near her at first. I called her Jimmy til I found out she was actually a girl, so Jimmy Girl became her name.

I worked on her a lot from the very beginning and we quickly formed a very lovely bond. It is still taking her a while to trust other people, but she is getting there little by little. Here you see a short video of me doing TTouch on her. As you can see, sometimes she pulls away but then she still wants the contact so she will paw me to encourage me to continue. Many times when I first open the cage she still goes to the back of the cage but once I touch her she begins to purr and rub herself against my hand.

I actually did TTouch on her for quite a while after I took this video, doing little raccoon touches on her forehead and around her mouth area, using a very light pressure, as she is a sensitive little girl. She comes to the front of her cage and watches when I am working on cats in other cages near her. Sometimes shy cats do this, as though they really long for contact, though they are not always ready to be physically touched.

She was adopted recently along with another cat but was brought back a couple of days ago because she was more timid than her adopters had expected, I think (though they had been told she was shy). She definitely remembered me when she came back, and actually it seemed that the process of her being with some other people had made her slightly less shy altogether. I am so happy that Social Tees is a no-kill shelter so I have time to work on her until she is ready to be adopted to a forever home.