Mika and Mischa, update

I was getting ready to write a blog post of an update with my little grey and white brother and sister kitties at the shelter, Mika and Mischa. They have been getting increasingly relaxed with me, with other people, and with other cats. They have been in the window at Social Tees shelter with several other cats, and appearing to be quite content, as you can see by the pix of them relaxing in this post (Mischa above, Mika below). Mika is still the shyer of the two but has been beginning to come forward for contact, which is a huge step for her. She especially responds to zigzag touches. Mischa comes right up to me for TTouch when I enter the window area and especially responds to little circles around his head, zigzag touches and llama touches on his body. When I am not touching him, he comes to play with my shoelaces, very cute.

sooo.......

A couple of days ago, Robert, the owner of the shelter, came to the back room to get me as a nice woman was getting ready to adopt Mika and Mischa -- what a very nice surprise!! She seems like a very gentle person. I told her they might be a bit shy at first but that they were very gentle, sweet cats. I showed her and her friend how to do some gentle zigzags on the cats, etc.

These two kitties have come such a long way in the months that I have worked on them. They came in completely terrified and hiding in their litter box, and now are so much more confident and comfortable. I wish these sweet little souls a very happy life in their new home.

Mika and Mischa in the Window, and their pal Mr. Robinson

Mika and Mischa are two semi-feral cats who I have been working on for a few months. They came in EXTREMELY scared, frozen in their litter box (they do not bite or scratch though). I have offered them a lot of TTouch and Reiki, and other volunteers have been kind and patient with them. Recently we transferred them from their cage to the window, with a few other cats including the ultra-friendly Mr. Robinson (so-named as the male version of Mrs. Robinson, referencing "The Graduate" because he is an older fellow who loves the ladies), pictured above. Their first go-round they remained pretty scared there, so we put them back in a cage for a few days. On their second try in the window, they appear to be more comfortable than they were before. The shelter is also a lot less hectic in general at this particular moment, as many dogs were just adopted, so that is good for them.

So I can fully interact with the cats, I climb completely into the caged-in window enclosure. This is a very interesting experience on many levels. For one thing, I am glad to be able to have more full contact with the cats, to be able to hold one on my lap as I squat in there, etc. I can also have some idea of how it might feel to be in there. Though it is exposed to people looking in, there is something that feels safe in there, what I expect might feel safer than some of the cages at least on the lower level, as you are out of reach of any dogs and there is more space inside there than in the cages.

Mr. Robinson is an older gentleman kitty and couldn't be more friendly. He insists on rubbing against my arm and hand, so most often when I am doing TTouch on Mika and Mischa with one hand, I have the other arm and hand wrapped around Mr. Robinson, as he likes to be enclosed in a big hug. I expect his relaxed nature must be helpful to the other cats in the window.

Mischa usually comes up to me when I am in the window. He especially responds to connected clouded leopard touches down his body, and Noah's marches with the back of my hand down his body. I usually do work around his head and mouth as well. Here he is getting sleepy and ready for a nap.

Mika (below) is still more shy, and might do a little hiss in the beginning, but I speak to her softly and once I touch her on the head, she calms down. She especially responds to raccoon touches around her forehead, ear slides and zigzag touches down her body. Last time she was in the window, she trembled a lot and was quite frightened but she appears to be much more at ease this time around. Here she is looking straight at me after some TTouch.

I often also offer these two Reiki while I'm in the shelter, and sometimes when I am outside of the shelter as well, especially to Mika as she tends to be more fearful.

I have a special place in my heart for these gentle little souls and am hoping for them to have a forever home soon :)

Little Mika

Mika and Mischa are two dear, fuzzy little Russian blue mixes who are probably about 4-5 months old. I had initially thought they were both girls, so had called them Nika and Mika, but now I call them Mika and Mischa. They were extremely scared, but have been gradually coming around. Mischa is actually getting very playful with me, but Mika is still quite shy. She will hiss at first, but once I touch her for a while, she begins to relax. She does not try to bite at all, I think she is hissing because she is still unsure. Below you will see a little video of me TTouching her. I generally start out with the back of just one little finger, doing small circles on her head, and then some ear strokes. Later on, after she is more relaxed, I will work in some touches on the body. In the video you can see her hiss and then her ears remaining back for a while, but at the end she starts to relax, let her breath go, close her eyes and go into nap mode.

The part of the visual which you don't see was quite humorous, her brother Mischa wason the lower level of the cage pawing at me, trying to get me to play with him.

On looking at the video, I see that next time I will try doing circles at a slower rate on Mika, it may help to achieve more relaxation with her. It is very helpful for me to see these videos, I always see how I can do better for the animal in my next session.

I look forward to working more with these sweet, shy ones and others at Social Tees. If you are in NYC, stop by sometime!