TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: April 4, 2011

I had a lovely time, as usual, with the Mayor's Alliance rescue cats who I work with thru Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program.
Spock (above) is such a sweet, friendly guy. He came out of his cage and settled on my lap while I sat on the couch and did TTouch with him. I did little raccoon TTouches on his head, connected chimp TTouches on his body, and did ear strokes and mouth work with him as well.



Pedro is quite a character. He was very excited to have attention when he got out of his cage and came right up in my face to give a kiss. I did some slower abalone TTouches with him, as he can get over-stimulated. Abalone TTouches are circular touches using the whole hand, so they have a more relaxing, calming effect, which some of the TTouches uisng less of a surface of the hand and fingers are more focused. Another touch that worked really well to calm him was doing an abalone TTouch followed by a long, slow stroke down his body.

Nene is a sweet cat and loves people but can get a bit intimidated by other cats. I do generally take these cats out of their cages one by one to work with them, but you can tell by his interaction with the cats that are still in their cages that he is a bit of a shy boy when it comes to the other cats. Today, as he seemed to be a bit keyed up, I did gentle, slow raccoon TTouches (using the tips of the fingers) on his forehead. The forehead can be a wonderful area to work to calm a nervous cat.

Munchie is a young little guy who often wants to play instead of being touched. He is still a little hesitant to be touched directly with a hand, so I started out using the back scratcher and the paintbrush to do little circles and strokes on his head and body. He became very relaxed with this, and playful as well, sometimes playing with the tool, other times relaxing into the touch.

Maddie is just too cute. She gets so excited for contact that she drools. I sat on the couch and at first she was walking back and forth across my lap, as I did some circles and strokes on her. Then I began to do some hair slides, which are a bit hard to describe, but you hold on (not hard) to a bit of fur and stroke it out to the tip of the fur, a bit like combing the fur with your hands (fingers kept together). I found that these were particularly calming for Maddie, and she settled as I did these going down her body.

Mack is a sweet little guy. When you first open his cage, sometimes he can seem a bit shy but once I bring him out onto the couch, he is extremely affectionate. I did chimp TTouches going down his back, and ear strokes are very calming to him. He was rubbing against my hand as I did this with him.

Honey can still get a little over-stimulated and swat or meow, she still seems a bit nervous. She warmed up and got quite comfortable as I did TTouch with her. Because she is still shy, I alternated between TTouching her with the back scratcher and doing chimp and llama TTouches with her. Both the chimp and llama use back surfaces of the hand and fingers, which are less intense than using the front surfaces of the hand, so these are great TTouches to do when you are just starting to get an animal used to being TTouched. As always, you can see demos of many of these touches on my youtube site, http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat. Please feel free to visit the site, and email me with any questions you may have.

Marette is a sweet cat, but is still a bit unsure, so I am still very gradual in my approach with her as well. Today I found that she was especially receptive to being TTouched with a small (one inch) foam brush. I did little circular TTouches and strokes around her head, as well as strokes going down her body.

Blackie is generally eager for attention, but can get over-stimulated with too much touch, so I was extra-quiet and slow in my approach with her. I did small circular TTouches and hair slides around her head, and a few hair slides around the top of her chest area. I also discovered that she is quite sensitive around her hind-quarters. I tried using a jelly scrubber (actually a horse-grooming tool) to do some gentle circles and strokes around the lower half of her body. Initially, she was resistant to this, but then I eased up with the pressure I was using and she settled into it.

Buddy is such a gentle soul. He is FIV positive, so will have to be adopted either as a solo cat or into a household with other FIV-positive cats. I don't know if it's just coincidence, but it seems that all the FIV positive cats who I have met seem to be the most gentle, sweet cats. I did gentle hair slides on his head, and abalone TTouches on his body, and he really spread out and let go, which was such a pleasure to see.

Thanks to all of you sweet cats, I'll see you soon, unless you get adopted :)

TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats, March 28

There is a bigger gang of kitties at the boarding facility where I work with the Mayor's Alliance rescue cats these days, so I had my hands full when I went there. Blackie is a friendly cat, but I think she was a bit over-excited today and she started to hiss after a few TTouches on her head. So I decided to back off, and did Reiki with her from a short distance away (about a foot). Within a fairly short time, she really became relaxed. Buddy is a gentle, very sweet cat. Initially he was in the back of the cage, but after a few TTouches he came to the front of his cage. He was in a relaxed mood, and seemed to feel like staying in his cage this time. I did gentle TTouches around his ears and forehead, which he found to be very calming. He has such a wise, kind face! Honey was extremely shy last week when I worked with her. She is still a bit shy initially, so I worked with her very gradually. She was comfortable with TTouches on the head, but seemed a bit startled when I started to work in some TTouches on the body. To help her relax, I backed off doing TTouches on her in the cage, and instead offered her Reiki from a short distance away. After a few minutes, she walked out of her cage and came right towards me. She rubbed herself against my corduroy pants (around my shin area - and betan walking back and forth, rubbing against me. I decided to try moving my legs in a circular motion as she did this, then did some very light llama TTouches going from her head to her back as she walked by. What helped her really turn the corner today was backing off, offering her Reiki and letting her come to me as she was comfortable. I continued sending her Reiki energy as I did the TTouches on her as well. Kobie, is a friendly, but active little guy. As I did some TTouches on him, he laid on his side for a bit, then got up and ran around for a bit again. As he is generally pretty high energy, I try to use slow, calming TTouches, so I used the abalone TTouch on him (circular TTouches using the whole hand), then tarantula pulling the plough, which helps to connect down the back, and some slow zigzags. I offered him some hands-on Reiki as well, which helped to calm his energy. Maddie is very friendly, and gets so excited for contact that she actually drooled while I was interacting with her. She walked back and forth across my lap as I did abalone TTouches and slow mouth TTouches with her. Marette is so cute and quite a character, as you can see from the photo above :) She is still somewhat shy and can get startled easily though. I used a small one-inch foam brush to do some small circular TTouches around the outside of her mouth and around her ears and head. After this, she decided to come out of her cage, so I did some slow TTouches on her, just a few at a time, and offered her Reiki as well. Munchie still shys away from contact initially but then starts seeking contact. He is very playful. After I opened his cage, today he started rubbing himself against the cage instead of staying at the back of teh cage. He batted at the back scratcher when I started to use it with him, but then was more receptive when I used two long feathers to work with him. He played with one feather while I touched him with the other feather. When I do TTouches using a feather, I do very light circular touches, making the usual circle and a quarther, starting at 6 o clock and going all the way around and back to 9 o'clock. I intersperse these with straight strokes going down the body or stroking on the head. Nene is a gentle, sweet cat. He can get a bit frightened of the other cats, and today he seemed to feel like staying in his cage, so I did TTouches on him there. I did very slow, soothing Abalone TTouches on him, as well as ear strokes. These helped to calm and settle him. Pedro, who had initially been a bit reticent, is now extremely friendly and comfortable. He came right up to me and rubbed his head against my head. I did slow TTouches on his forehead, which can be a great place to do calming TTouches. He came out of the cage and came to me when I called him from the couch and settled on my lap I did slow abalone TTouches on him while he stayed there. Great to see him so outgoing and affectionate. Spock (above and below) is a very engaging, friendly new tuxedo cat, seems to be a very young cat. He had been meowing and waiting at the front of his cage for attention. I sat on the couch and called to him and he came and spread himself out right on my lap, very sweet. I did little raccoon TTouches on his head and ears, then did clouded leopard TTouches going down his body on either side. I also did some slow zigzag TTouches for a very connecting, calming feeling. Tango (below) has been there for a while. He has a bit of trouble using his back legs completely (thought to perhaps be a neurological issue), tends to swing them around his body instead of fully bending and using them, but his walking has been getting easier, more natural and smoother little by little each week. I have used a Ttouch wrap on him a few times, but he really was not interested in having the wrap put on him this week, so I did very slow octopus TTouches (like double zigzag TTouches) going all over his body from front to back and down his legs as well, sort of like a slowly moving wrap going around his body. This can have a similar effect to the wrap in that it gently increases body awareness and connection. I also did slow connected clouded leopard TTouches going down either side of his back. Mack (below) is an extremely gentle, sweet cat. Sometimes he is a bit reluctant to come right out of his cage, though, as you can see, he waits right at the front of his cage for attention. He is very friendly and receptive to touch when I bring him out of his cage and is completely fine with being picked up. I did gentle ear strokes with him, which can be extremely calming. His ears are on the big side, and he especially responds to the ear strokes. I also did slow, connected clouded leopard TTouches down his body to give him more body awareness and confidence. When I had finished working with all the cats, I spent a little time standing in the middle of the room, sending gentle Reiki energy to all of them. Much love to all these cats and hoping for them all to go to wonderful forever homes soon.

TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: March 21

Fun day today with the Mayor's Alliance Rescue cats through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program, some new cats and some cats I have been friends with for a while. It is great that the setup often allows for the cats be let out of their cages to work with them. The first cat I worked with today is Blackie. She is a cat who is sensitive being touched on her back end, she will grown a bit if you go there. I did manage to work in a few slow abalone touches in that area, gently working down her back. Then I went back to working on her upper body, and did some raccoon TTouches on her forehead, and some ear strokes. I work very gently and slowly, giving her breaks, as she is quite sensitive in general and can become overstimulated. I worked with Honey a couple of times during my session there today. She is new, and was rather frightened, so I first did TTouch on her head, then did some Reiki with her, focusing on the key chakras and heart chakras. Hands-on seemed to be too intense for her, so I then moved a short distance away from her, and she was very receptive. When I came back to her later in the session, she rubbed her head against my hand as I did some TTouches with her. I kept that session short as I didn't want to overwhelm her. I've worked with Kobie (above) for a while, and he is always excited to come outof his cage, waiting for me with his paws up against the front of his cage. I did some llama TTouches and chimp touches on him here and there, as he was really more in a mood to play today. Mack is very familiar and friendly with me now, and was in the mood to play, so I mostly did some TTouches on him with the back of my hand, calming his energy a bit. Maddie is new. She was in the back of the cage initially, and slowly came towards me, meowing when I opened the door to her cage. I wasn't quite sure whether it was a friendly meow or not so I was a bit cautious with her at first, but soon she was rubbing her head against my hand, and even sitting up on her back legs and pushing against my hand. I did Chimp TTouch, Llama, TTouch, Noah's march using the back of my hand as she came towards me and started walking back and forth, rubbing herself against me. Turns out it was indeed a friendly meow at that! Magette was also new, and is rather skittish. I started out using a foam brush, doing little circles on the outside of her mouth area, which is a great area to work on fearful cats. She was very responsive to this. I also tried using the back scratcher with her, but she seemed to think this was too large a surface and seemed frightened of this, so I stopped. Then I was able to do a few TTouches on her body using my hand, but I kept this short. Munchie is new, and was hiding in the corner initially. I began doing some circular TTouches on him, using a plastic back scratcher, and he really responded to this. Within a short time, I was able to work my hand down the handle of the back scratcher to do some TTouches directly with my hand on him. Later I was able to do more TTouches on him using my hand, and he was very responsive, rolling around and looking very comfortable. Mack is a very sweet, gentle cat who can get a bit startled around other cats. I find that with him, the TTouches he responds to the most are abalone TTouches, done very slowly going down his body. He finds these very relaxing. Pedro is quite a character. Sometimes he puts his paws on my chest and comes right up to say hello. I did connected clouded leopard TTouches and abalone TTouches on his body. I also found he really responded to Reiki - I worked on the key chakra, heart and solar plexus chakras, and he really settled into the energy. He can be a bit on the tense side, so this worked really well.

With Tango, I used the Tarantulas Pulling the Plough touch, clouded leopard TTouches down his back, and the zigzag and octopus TTouches. All of these are great for connecting the front and back ends of the body, which is especially important for him as he has a bit of an issue with his back legs, which seems to be easing up as time goes by. I also put a folded-up ace bandage across his back (instead of doing a body wrap with him using the bandage) just to remind him of his back, and help bring him back into his body. Sometimes I have done a half-wrap with him, but this time I felt that placing it over his body was enough.

Thank you one and all, look forward to seeing you soon (unless you get adopted, which would be even better)!

TTouch with the Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: March 14

Blackie is a female kitty who recently arrived at the boarding facility where I work with the rescue cats from the Mayor's Alliance through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue Program. She looks a little serious in the above picture, but I think that is just a reaction to the camera, as she is actually extremely friendly. She started purring right away when I started doing TTouch on her, and as I wanted to slow her energy down, I used LLama TTouch (circular TTouches using the back of the hand) and abalone TTouch a circular TTouch done using the front surface of the whole hand. I did these quite slowly. The more slowly these touches are done, the more relaxing they can be.

Brie tends to get over-stimulated, so I work with her quite slowly and let her dictate how much contact she is in the mood for. Our usual pattern is for me to offer the back of my hand to her, and she rubs her head against it. Then I did some chimp and abalone TTouches going down either side of her back. I didn't do this for too long, and then tried again in a bit. Then I did Reiki on her from a short distance away, maybe a couple of feet away. I could see her eyes starting to close and she got quite settled as I sent her the calming energy.

Kobie is extremely playful, and the TTouch is very relaxing to him. He is comfortable being touched most places on his body, but today he especially responded to raccoon TTouches done on the outside of the mouth. This area connects to some emotional centers of the body, so it can be extremely soothing to work there. He is an extremely gentle cat, and unlike many rescue cats, he is gentle with his paws and already seems to know how to play with people without extending his claws. I was able to do some TTouches around his paws, which can be a difficult area for some cats, but it is a great area to work if you can, as it can get a cat used to being touched there, which is helpful when you want to clip the claws.

Mack is such a sweet, friendly cat, and now is always eager to come out of his cage for some attention. I sit on the couch and he comes right up on my lap. He especially responds to ear strokes, really leaning into them. He also responds to llama TTouch and clouded leopard TTouch, but the ear strokes really bring his energy into calm focus.

Nene is very sweet with people but seems to be a little startled and frightened of other cats. When I am working with him outside of his cage, when he sees or smells other cats, he may growl or hiss. However, after I did TTouch with him out of his cage on the couch for a while, he got SO comfortable. Sometimes he licked my hand. I did very slow abalone TTouches on his back, and he began purring and purring. I also did Llama TTouches and Noah's March with the back of my hand, then more abalone TTouches. What a sweet face.

Pedro is new. He was strongly seeking attention, meowing a lot. When I opened his cage, he leaned against me, purring. As he leaned and rubbed against me, I did clouded leopard TTouches and abalone TTouches on his back. I also offered him Reiki, putting my hands first on the brachial or key chakra (near his shoulders), then held my hand slightly over the heart chakra, which can be an especially powerful energy center to focus on for rescue cats. I could feel a lot of heat there, and could feel him really soaking the energy in.

I did a half-wrap with Tango again (below see link for how to do this)

http://www.youtube.com/sarahsuricat#p/u/23/N83oXBZy0KM

Again, I put it on him a little at a time, first placing it folded across his back, then putting it on part way and taking it off, etc. until I had it all the way on him. As he has done before, he seemed a bit confused by the different sensation of the wrap. He walked a few steps, then stretched out on his side with the wrap on. After I took the wrap off, I did notice him walking a bit better, using his back legs more fully. I also did Octopus TTouch with him, which is like a double zigzag touch. It is a wonderful TTouch for connecting the body. I did it going down his front legs, around his body and then down his hind legs. He really responded to this TTouch and it appeared to make him feel very good. Before I left, I also did some Reiki with him while he was back in his cage, and I was outside his cage, about a foot away. I could see that it really was soothing to him, and he stretched out and put his paw up to the plexiglass on the front of the cage, as if to make better contact with the energy.

Thanks to all you cats! and look forward to seeing you again soon.

TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: March 7

The first kitty I worked with today was Tango. He is a sweet, friendly cat, but does walk a little strangely (the vets think it could be neurological), so I have been doing what I can to increase awareness of his whole body from front to back. I did connected clouded leopard TTouches going all the way down his body and legs, as well as zigzag TTouches stroking down his legs and all around his body.

Last time I tried a wrap with him. This time I didn't get the wrap all the way on him, but I did just drape it on him several times, which did make him slow down and made his walking a bit more focused.

I also very lightly did very tiny circles with his tail, moving my hand down his tail as I went. I never pull the tail, just did very subtle, small circles moving down his tail, in order to increase his awareness down there.
Each time I see him he does seem to be walking a little more smoothly and evenly.

Sorry about the blurry picture above! Brie is most often more in the mood for playing than for being touched, so I let her out in the room, let her tear around for a few minutes, then sit down on the floor to see what she is in the mood for. Usually if I call to her, she will come and rub her head against me. When she does that, I do some llama or chimp touches on her head and a few strokes or circles down her body using the back of my hand. As she is quick to be over-stimulated, I most often do the TTouches which use the back of the hand, as there are less intense. When she settled into sitting in a cozy place, I offered her Reiki from a short distance away. She responded to this, becoming very relaxed, closing her eyes.

Kobie is a young boy cat, he is quite a character. He sometimes will run away when you first start to move towards him, but is actually friendly and affectionate when you touch him, and very gentle with his paws and claws. As I did clouded leopard TTouches on him, he laid down on his side. He also really responded to abalone TTouches and llama TTouches, which, since they use the whole hand, are often more calming. As he is so young, of course he is peppy, but these touches can help to make his energy calmer and more focused.

Mack, who started out a bit shy, is now extremely friendly. He waits right at the front of his cage and can't wait to come out.
I let him out of the cage, then sit on the couch in the room and he comes right up on the couch with me. I did slow chimp and llama TTouches (both are touches which use the back surfaces of the fingers and hand) in order to calm his energy down. Then I did ear strokes, which really worked to calm him. There are acupressure points in the ear, so stroking the ears really feels good for most cats. I start out with a light touch, then gauge the pressure according to what the cat responds to.

I also did some little raccoon TTouches on the outside of Mack's mouth, working back to his jaw area. These were quite calming as well.

You can find demos of a lot of these ttouches on my youtube channel:

http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat

Above and below you see Nene. He is very sensitive, and can get frightened if there are loud sounds. He also seems to be cautious of other cats. He is quite friendly with me though now, though I still start very casually and slowly with him til he warms up.

The TTouch he responds most to is the abalone TTouch, a circular TTouch done using the whole hand. Many cats find the large surface of the whole hand to be very soothing. I also did some ear strokes and some mouth work with him.

He was so sweet and, as you can see below, he even gave me kisses today!

Buckley is a new kitty (see the still photo below, as well as the video).

He is actually super-friendly, but he is so excited that he can get over-stimulated and start meowing loud and hissing. So with him, I actually backed off and used a paintbrush to do TTouches on him, to be able to touch him in a less intense way, and to keep a distance just in case he decided to swat. What a funny cat! I think he was just really excited for contact.

Thanks to all of these cats for how much they teach me. I look forward to seeing them soon, or, even better, to hearing that they have been adopted :)

TTouch and Reiki with the Mayor's Alliance Cats: Feb. 28, 2011

Today there weren't too many cats at the boarding facility when I went to work with the Mayor's Alliance cats through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program, so I was able to spend a little more time with each cat, which is always a pleasure.

Brie is a very playful cat who is not usually too receptive to a lot of touch. She would generally rather play than cuddle when she has a chance to get out of her cage for a while. I usually let her out and take the cue from her as to what she is in the mood for. If I sit near her and wait for her to come to me, she usually comes up and starts to rub her head against me. When she did this, I did a few slow raccoon TTouches on her forehead, which she found to be calming. With her, I just do a very little bit of TTouch, give her a break, then a little more, as she can get easily over-stimulated.

The other thing I did with her this time was to offer her Reiki from a short distance away. She was very responsive to this, and I saw her eyes close and relax. This was really a pleasure to see.

Kobie is an extremely playful and friendly cat. He was a bit standoffish when I first met him a few weeks ago, and still sometimes will initially move away if I move towards him too quickly, but now once I touch him he is very receptive, purring, licking, nuzzling against me. I did clouded leopard TTouches and abalone TTouches at a slow speed, and then some gentle ear strokes. After working with him a bit, I felt his energy become more relaxed and focused, and he laid on his side purring as I did this.

Mack is extremely sweet. He waits at the front of the cage to be let out, then will come up next to me, walking back and forth, rubbing against me. I did connected clouded leopard TTouches and abalone TTouches down either side of his back, then some ear strokes. After that I offered him Reiki, focusing on his base chakra (energy center), which is right around the base of the tail. Reiki helped to calm his energy a great deal. I will have to try this again with him.

Nene is also a love. He has a very gentle, sweet energy. He seems to respond best to abalone TTouches (circular TTouches which use the whole hand). The TTouches which use a larger surface of your hand like this can be especially comforting. I also did ear TTouches on him.

Tango is quite sweet. His walking has been a bit awkward since the beginning. Apparently it is thought to possibly be a neurological issue. He can get around fine, but doesn't use his legs quite properly. He swings his hips from side to side and the legs come along, they don't bend and flex completely.

I did connected clouded leopard TTouches all down his back and his legs in order to increase awareness from front to back. Then I decided to try a TTouch body wrap with him. We generally use ace bandages for the body wraps, but for cats and smaller animals, sometimes we use other stretchy, narrower things. Today I used a 2 inch bandage. If you are going to attempt to do this on a cat, please do it in small steps, which I did with this cat, even though he is a friendly cat. If it is too much for the cat to handle even in small steps, back off and try some of the TTouches instead.

To help get Tango used to the wrap, I just placed it across his back (folded up so it was about 6 inches long folded up) a few times, letting him get used to the sensation. Another option would be to offer a treat to the cat using the wrap as a dinner plate. Then I put it partially on him, took it off, and repeated this a few times. Finally I put it all the way on (see picture below). This is a half-wrap. It goes across the chest, crosses over the back, crosses over the stomach, then ties off to the side of the spine (so as not to put pressure on the spine). It hugs the body gently, it is not meant to be tight. The purpose is to be calming, to increase body awareness, to bring a frightened animal back into its body.

Tango's first reaction to the wrap seemed to be a bit of a surprised reaction, like this was something really new. You can see the look on the photo below, that seems to say "What am I supposed to do now?". He got up, took a few steps, then decided to stretch out on his side, where I did some TTouch on him. He repeated this a few times, seeming to be a bit confused by the new sensation, walking a few steps, then stretching out on his side. I then took the wrap off of him. It is best to just leave a wrap on a cat a short time, just enough to give them a different sensation, so that you take it off of them before they try to take it off themselves and get hung up in it. Never leave a wrap on a cat or any other animal unattended.

When he started walking again without the wrap, I did notice just a little more focus and attention to what he was doing when he was walking, which was interesting to see.

A bit later I tried to see if I could put the wrap on again, but he had enough for the day so I didn't push it. It is always good to remember with TTouch that most often, less is more....

Following is a link to a demonstration of how to do the half-wrap. Please note that leaving a wrap on a dog for 15 minutes is ok, but on a cat, a couple of minutes or less is good, especially for the first time. I would not leave it on a cat for 15 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/sarahsuricat#p/u/22/N83oXBZy0KM

A thank you to all these beautiful cats, and I look forward to seeing them soon.