TTouch and Reiki at BARC: Princess

Princess is a lovely little kitty at BARC shelter. She has been quite a challenge to connect with. She does relax if I do reiki a short distance from where she is, but many times she is very hesitant to being touched. Part of her defensiveness could come from the fact that she was declawed by a previous owner. Many people do not realize that declawing a cat is like amputating the top of the cat's fingers, it is a very traumatic operation and can often affect the behavior of the cat afterwards. They can become a lot more defensive. Who could blame them?

It will just take continued patience, and working short spurts of time to get her more accustomed to being touched and more trusting.

I started giving her some Halo liv-a-little treats, which she loves. Right after giving the treats, I will do a few little circular touches on her head, and maybe a stroke with the back of my hand down her body. Now she will come to the front of the cage in anticipation of a treat, but is still generally hesitant to being touched, so I will just do a few touches, then give her a break, then try again. Sometimes if she is in a sleepy mood she feels comfortable with a few more touches around the forehead, but is still hesitant about being touched on her body. I have tried working with some of the tools we use - feathers, paintbrushes, etc and she does not like these at all, it seems that they irritate her, so I'll see what happens with doing reiki sometimes, and the treats and a few touches other times. Time and patience.

The Cat Loft at BARC Shelter, Muffin and Princess

Muffin is a lovely kitty youngster at BARC shelter. She and her former cagemate Mittens were extremely shy and did not want to be touched at first. After a lot of socialization by other people at BARC as well as me, both these little ones really came around, and recently Mittens was adopted. Muffin probably misses her cagemate, but she has come around even more after he was adopted. She will now lay on her back for belly rubs, etc. She still will most likely be shy initially when someone adopts her, but I think with a little patience, she will become quite comfortable in a home. I have been doing a lot of TTouch around her mouth area, as well as calming abalone ttouches on her body, and these seem to really be helping her get accustomed to being touched.

Princess is still very wary of people. She is declawed, which may account for some of this. I have been working with her in a very gentle way. If she is not in the mood to be touched, I offer her Reiki from about 7-8 inches away, and she is extremely responsive to this, it makes her feel very relaxed. Sometimes she is ok with me doing small raccoon ttouches on her forehead area. Once in a while I can get a couple of strokes down her body. It just feels like she is ultra-sensitive and ultra-wary of people. I want to be respectful of where she is and just go at the pace she is comfortable with.

The Cat Loft at BARC Shelter : Sept 25-Oct 1

There have been a lot of adoptions at BARC lately, and Chairman is one of the lucky kitties who recently went to a loving home - congrats to all!



Muffin and Mittens (Muffin above, both below and then following is pic of Mittens) are so sweet, it is really exciting to see them come around. Mittens is completely friendly and lays on his back when you touch him now. One of the days this week he actually startled himself (and me) and came right out of the cage. Unfortunately as I knew he would be hard to catch, I got him right back in.

Muffin is still a bit more hesitant but she is getting there little by little. The two main TTouches which she really responds to are raccoon ttouches around the outside of her mouth, going back to her jaw area. She starts laying on her back and purring almost immediately when I do this. She also really relaxes to connected abalone ttouches (circular ttouches which use the whole hand). Sometimes Mittens comes over while I'm working on Muffin, so I work on one kitty with each hand.

As I'm writing this blog post a little after the fact, I can tell you that over the weekend, Mittens was adopted. Muffin probably misses him but she seems to be adjusting and has been letting other people pet her more, so that is great.

Patches (above and below) still has to be approached very calmly and carefully, as she can have her moods, but she is getting a lot more comfortable with me. Generally I start out by doing little circles either with the back of my finger on te outside of her mouth area and little circles on her head area. Then I do a little reiki with my hands slightly above her back, until she gets really relaxed. Then she is usually ready to be touched on her back. It is wonderful to see her becoming more relaxed - sometimes it really looks like she is smiling at me! Below you see her all stretched out and relaxed.

Princess is a very challenging cat. Some days I am able to make contact with her, and other times she is just not in the mood. Most often, it seems to be good to start out by offering Reiki to her, as this can make her very relaxed and I can offer it to her from a couple of feet away.

One of the days I went, they had moved many of the cats, and she was hiding under her little bed. This was a great opportunity for me to try a different kind of contact with her. I did circles and strokes on her with the bed in between, so she would feel safer about me touching her. She was very responsive to this, and I could see her really relax.

Just to prove to me that you really need to meet the animal where they are each and every time, I tried this approach the next day and she was not in the mood at all - what she responded to that day was simply for me to offer her reiki from about a foot away. Other days I have been able to touch her directly, doing small circles on her forehead and other places on her head. She still is not comfortable with me directly touching her on her body. I need to continue to be patient to her, listen to her and see what she is ready for each time.

Looking forward to more adventures with these cats, and I have to always thank them for all that they teach me. And thanks to all the loving folks at BARC shelter who help to socialize these kitties as well, and who work so hard to get these dogs, cats and other critters loving homes.