TTouch at BARC Shelter: Ophelia

Ophelia is a lovely grey and white kitty at BARC shelter, thought to be maybe 3 yrs old, though she looks younger as she is a small cat. She was extremely fearful when she first arrived. She is currently quite playful and seems to seek contact, though often will swat if you try to touch her. I am constantly trying different tools with her to see what she responds to and what will be helpful to get closer to her. We now have some paintbrushes and a back scratcher or two around at the shelter, so other volunteers can try touching her with the tools as well. I have showed them how to use these tools in a very gentle way.
A few days ago, I was working with her with a wide, flat brush that looks like it is made for basting. She didn't seem to be so responsive to the brush any more, so I turned it around and tried touching her with the rounded other end of the brush, as you see in these pictures. The wood of the handle is varnished and very smooth. One of the places she most responds to being touched is under her chin, so I would start there.

Then I tried some circular TTouches around the top of her head and the outside of her mouth area. I very consciously slowed myself down, tried to let go of whatever notions I might have for the outcome.. Little by little she became more and more relaxed.

I would do a few TTouches or strokes at a time, then give her a break, then start again. She can get easily over-stimulated, so it is best in this case to just do a very little bit at a time.

Gradually, as I felt her relax, I wanted to see what would happen if I worked my finger down the handle of the brush and occasionally touch her with my finger. As you can see in these pictures, I am still holding the brush but am TTouching her with my finger, then I would go back to touching her with the brush handle. Keep in mind that all of these touches are done using a very light pressure, just enough to move the skin around in a circle and a quarter.

Funny, in the picture below she is looking straight at me!
A short bit after these pictures, she got quite sleepy and I was able to do TTouches around her head directly with my hand for quite a while. I feel that with continued work with the tools, shifting from one to another, then transitioning to the hand, gradually she will get more and more used to being touched with hands.

Many thanks, Ophelia, look forward to working with you again soon.

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 :)

TTouch with Mayor's Alliance Cats - Sept 20

I arrived to work on the Mayor's Alliance rescue cats today and saw that a bunch of the cats had been adopted, which is great, including little Sunnie, Shadow and Buster.
Irene was waiting for me at the front of her cage, purring and meowing her little silent meow. When I first opened her cage and began to work with her, her energy was very excited, so I started with touches that were a little faster and then began to slow the TTouches down as I went, and I felt her becoming more relaxed. I was doing primarily llama ttouches and chimp ttouches, as the back of the hand is not as stimulating as the front of the hand.

Then she came right to the front of the cage and jumped out, even though I could tell this was a scary thing for her to do. She was a little frightened once she got out, and she went underneath a table where there was a cylindrical scratching thing which she could have gone inside but she chose not to. I did abalone TTouches (these use my whole hand, in a circular motion) while she was outside the cage and spoke to her in a very calm, quiet voice, reassuring her that she was ok. After she had been out for a while, I could see that the guy who cleans was getting ready to vacuum the room, so I put her back in the cage. I continued to do some TTouch on her after she was back in the cage, and she was so receptive, purring and rolling on her back, kneading with her paws.

From the cage of the three lively youngsters, Buster had been adopted, leaving Rascal and Ophelia (both cats in pic below, and Ophelia in pic below that). They were both very excited to come out and play. As they were both more interested in playing and running around than settling down, I took them out one by one and let them tear around for a bit, getting some touches in here and there, some ear TTouches and hair slides and a few strokes down their bodies. They are sweet!



Smoky and Oreo (Smoky pictured below) are in a cage together, but as Oreo is much more dominant, I took Smoky out of the cage by himself. He is extremely affectionate, and craving attention. I did ear strokes, mouth work and chimp TTouch on him. The mouth work can be so soothing for some of these cats, especially ones who tend to be on the shy side, as Smoky can be at first.

I worked on Oreo within the cage as he can get himself into places up high in the room which are hard to retrieve him from :), and he was very excited to have attention, rubbing his head against my hand. I did mostly mouth TTouch, ear strokes and chimp TTouch with him. For him, the mouth work is good as it has a calming effect and he is a cat who can get overstimulated pretty quickly.

Vaska (below) always waits at the front of the cage and meows to me, often getting into humorous poses to get my attention. He came bounding out of the cage when I opened it. When I sat on the couch he was either on my lap or right next to it, rubbing himself against me, even against my face. I did slow, calming abalone TTouches with him and some ear strokes as well. He is such a loving cat!

Diego is a cat with whom I feel such a deep connection, and I really felt it today. I let him out of his cage and brought him up on the couch to sit with me, whiich he was completely comfortable with. I did abalone TTouches (which are comforting and seem to be his favorite) and ear strokes with him. As I did this, he looked at me with his extremely wise, deep eyes and we had one of those moments where I felt we really looked deep into each other's souls, I really felt it in my heart. It felt like he truly wanted me to take him with me. I told him I loved him so much and that I was sorry I couldn't bring him home, and that someone loving was sure to find him.

Right as I was working with Diego and before I was going to open Ziggy's cage to do TTouch, one of the Mayor's alliance folks came to take her (it turns out Ziggy is a she, sorry Ziggy!) to her new owner. Congrats Ziggy (pictured below)! She is such a sweetie, I'm sure she will have a great time in her new home. AND she told me that it looked like Diego was going to a forever home soon as well. Of course I will miss seeing these cats, but I am SO happy they are going home. I think Smoky is scheduled to go to a forever home soon as well.