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.

TTouch with the Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: Feb. 21

Laura is a new rescue kitty at the boarding facility where I do TTouch with cats from the Mayor's Alliance. She is very sweet, though she seems a bit leery of the other cats. I did clouded leopard TTouches going down either side of her back, then some ear strokes. The ear strokes were especially calming for her. I also did the Tarantula pulling the Plough touch, which is a bit hard to describe but a demo is here
http://www.youtube.com/sarahsuricat#p/u/12/CZi9VAgkVJ8
It is a very helpful connecting touch, which a lot of cats respond do. however, I wouldn't do it with a cat who is not so friendly, as it can get them over-stimulated. I also did some chimp Ttouches with her, which are circular TTouches using the back of the middle section of the fingers.

Kobie is a friendly but rather hyper kitty, very sweet, but he can get startled easily by sudden movements or sounds. He waits at the front of his cage to be let out. I put my hand out for him to sniff, and he started to rub his head against it. He responds most to TTouches which use a larger part of the hand or a back surface of the hand, such as the llama TTouch, abalone TTouch and chimp TTouch. You can see a lot of these TTouches on my youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/sarahsuricat
He is kind of a character, so what he finds enjoyable is to weave between my feet when I am standing, and I lean over to do TTouch on him as he does this.

Louie has competely come around now. Last week I had started TTouching him with the back scratcher as he had just recently arrived and was a bit shy. But today, he jumped right out of his cage and started rubbing his face against my face, very sweet. I did abalone TTouches on him, which use the whole hand, and can be very soothing, and he calmed and was more focused after a while, then settled on my lap, purring, as you see above.

Mack (above) is also quite friendly now, and purred, rubbing against me after I let him out of his cage. I did abalone TTouches on him to calm him, then ear strokes. He found the ear strokes to be extremely calming and started really leaning into me as I was doing them on him.

Nene is a love, so sweet, and he also especially responds to abalone TTouches. He can sometimes get a bit nervous when he sees other cats, but the TTouches really put him at ease.

Pattie is quite a character, and, like Kobie, likes to weave between my legs as I do TTouch with him. The TTouches which he especially responds to are the abalone TTouch, llama TTouch (using the back of my whole hand), which I follow with Noah's march, a straight stroke done down the back. I often do this stroke using the back of my hand.

Tango is such an engaging little cat, comes right out of his cage and wants to interact with you immediately. As he is quite active, I often need to do TTouches on him while he is in motion. With him, I especially like to do connecting touches, such as the zigzag TTouch and the octopus TTouch, to give him a sensation of his whole body, as he still is walking a little strangely. He is using his back legs more than he was initially, he just doesn't use them in quite the usual way, and doesn't bend or flex them in the way that most cats do. So the connecting TTouches can remind his nervous system to feel all these points from head to tail and down to his feet. I do zigags going all around his body, down his legs to his feet, and then do a few little circles with his tail. The circles with the tail are very small and done very loosely. I also do little raccoon TTouches going down his tail, as the tail is very important for balance. He does something unusual with his tail, also. He walks with his tail at an angle going back over his body, and holds it a bit stiff when he walks. It seems he does this to counteract whatever instability there is in the legs.

Love all these little ones and look forward to seeing them again soon, unless, of course, they get adopted, which would be the best!

TTouch with Mayor's Alliance Cats: Feb. 14

Sorry this post took a while to publish, but better late than never!
Of course I was delighted to give some love to the Mayor's Alliance cats on Valentine's day :)
When I arrived, there were a few new cats, so I worked with them first.
Clint is a lovely big orange cat, and he was friendly right away. He was pretty excited to have contact, so I primarily did Ttouches which use the back of my hand, for a less-stimulating, more calming effect. I did llama TTouches and chimp TTouches going down his back, and then Noah's march (a straight stroke down his back) after that. Sometimes I would do a circle with the back of my hand and then a slide going all the way down his back. I also did a bit of ear TTouch with him.

Next, I worked with Louie, who I discuss in detail in a separate post.

Kobie is the young kitty pictured above who I started to work with last time. As you can see in the photo, he is pawing to get out of the cage, which was quite different behavior than the previous week, when he was more in the cowering position in his cage.

Once I let him out of the cage, I squatted on the floor so I was down at his level and he could easily come to me. He started to rub himself against me on one side of me, then the other side. As he did this, I did clouded leopard TTouches going down his back, ending with doing a stroke and gentle circle with his tail. Please keep in mind that I was not holding onto the tail. As the tail slid through my hands (he kept walking), I gently moved my hand in a small, clockwise circle, probably only going around once. As I did this, his energy went from feeling slightly overstimulated to feeling more focused. I also did abalone TTouches on him, as well as raccoon TTouches on his head and strokes on his ears. He was quite comfortable being touched in this way - letting him continue moving as he wanted to, doing TTouches on him as he walked and rubbed himself against me. It was interesting, when he was done, he just hopped back in his cage.

The new little tabby's name is Laura. She was very energetic and eager to be touched, very friendly. I did chimp TTouches going down her body, and little raccoon TTouches on her head. She was purring like crazy and very comfortable the whole time.

I realized when I went there that I have Nene and Mack's names mixed up, as the orange kitty looks like a Mack and the tabby looks like Nene, but it's really the other way around, sorry kitties! I assume they are both boys but I will have to check on that. Nene (above) and Mack (below) are in the same cage. Mack had started out a little shy last week, as they both were new, but both these cats were very comfortable this week. On Nene, I did chimp TTouches and some Noah's marches down his back. Mack came right out of the cage, and as he walked back and forth, rubbing his face and body against my hand, I did clouded leopard TTouches on his body. I also used the jelly scrubber with him. This is a tool originally used for grooming horses, but it is a wonderful TTouch tool. You can lightly do circular TTouches on an animal, using either side of the scrubber, depending on what your animal prefers. Mack was very comfortable with this.

Pattie (below) was next. He has come such a long way. He was frightened for quite a while, and now can't wait to come out of his cage. He will stay right in the front of his cage with his paw pushed against the plexiglass until I come to work with him.
What his favorite thing to do is to wind around a person's legs, rubbing against them and being generally playful. I use a long-handled paintbrush to do TTouches on him while he is doing this. Sometimes I will have two paintbrushes handy, so if he starts to play with one of the brushes, I can still do TTouch on him with the other.

Next I worked with Tango, he appears to be walking a little better this week, using his hind legs a little more completely. I did zigzag TTouches on him while he was walking, as he was in a very active mood. I did zigzags on one side, then the other, then criscrossing from one side to the other, ending with doing little circular TTouches on his back feet. I did a little ear TTouch on him as well.

Brie can get overstimulated easily, so I take it slow and easy with her, just doing a few circular TTouches on her at a time, using a back scratcher to do this at first (with the back of the hand of the back scratcher, then a bit with my hand.

happy valentines to all you little ones!

TTouch with the Mayor's Alliance Cats Jan. 31 and Feb. 7

Following is a blog post about my work with Mayor's Alliance Rescue cats through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program. I have combined the two dates above.

Tango is a very friendly young kitty, who has some issues with his hind legs. He can actually get around fine, even running and jumping. But he sort of swings around his hind legs rather than bending them and using them in the way cats usually do. I have been doing TTouches with him to try to bring awareness to his hindquarters and feet, as well as connecting TTouches to connect front to back. I have been doing connected Raccoon TTouches going all the way down his back and down his legs as well, and on his feet and in between his toes. Fortunately, he is a friendly cat and it is not hard to do this. I have also been doing zigzag TTouches going down his back and across his back, even zigzagging to connect down his legs. I tried to use a wrap with him but he is not keen on it, so I decided that the touches would be most beneficial to him at this time. He is energetic and can get squiggly after a short time, so I work on him in short bursts -- a little TTouch, let him go run around, then try again. He often will go back into his cage on his own, so sometimes I work on him in his cage too.

Pattie (above) looks a bit serious in this photo, but he has really come around the past few weeks. He has been through a few transitions while at the boarding facility - when he first came in, he seemed shy but receptive to touch, then for a few weeks it seemed as though something had scared him and he would often try to swat if you approached him (though at the same time he seemed to crave touch and would come to the front of his cage for attention). Now he is very seeking of touch, and I was even able to pick him up with no reaction from him at all. When I take him out of the cage, he weaves around my feet. I have been alternating between TTouching him with a paintbrush, which he really responds to, and doing touches mostly with the back of my hand or my whole hand. He just altogether seems like a much happier, playful cat, which is amazing to see. Often when he is in his cage, he will rest a paw on the plexiglass window, reaching out to me.

Nene (above) arrived recently with her buddy Mack (below). Nene starts out a little shy, but with some encouragement, she will come forward and is very friendly. I used a paintbrush to make initial contact with both her and Mack, but quickly transitioned to using my hand to do the TTouches, as they both were very receptive. Please click on the following link and you will see a youtube click showing a bit of my first day working with them, and I transition from using the brush to using the back of my hand to do some llama TTouches

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zmlIJAjxIY

Mack was very comfortable with being touched directly with my hand, but because the cage was on an upper level and he was on a shelf, he was hard to reach! You can see by some of his body language in the video (blinking, licking) that he is pretty cozy with the brush TTouches.

I know he looks a little quizzical in the still photo below but I think he is just wondering what I'm up to!

On Feb. 7, I started out with Nene using the brush, and she quickly came to the front of the cage, rubbing her head against my hand, so I then did TTouches on her mouth area and down her body, and she was very comfortable with this. She is still startled by sudden noises or someone coming in the room, but her recovery is very fast. Mack is comfortable right away with being touched by hand, though he also can be startled when someone new comes in the room. They are both very gentle, sweet cats.

Below is Kobie, who arrived very recently. When I opened his cage, he jumped out and ran inside of a carrier which was on the floor. I gently did some circles on him using the back of the hand on a plastic back scratcher, starting on his head. At first he started to pull away, but once he felt the circular TTouches, he stopped and it looked as though he thought, "wait a minute, this feels different. hm, it feels good!" and he started to settle into the touches and lean into the back scratcher.

This is something I have observed a lot with TTouch. As the TTouches are non-habitual movements, quite often, I will see an animal change their mind midstream and go from starting to pull away to calming down and actually leaning into the touches. The touches seem to interrupt THEIR habitual response, and they seem to think, "hey, wait, this feels good, I'm going to check this out." It is so interesting to observe this time and time again, and so great to see these animals, who are used to being frightened and pulling away, begin to be able to have a different response.

Back to Kobie. Soon he came out of the carrier and I was able to do some TTouches on him there. I gave him a break, and he soon went back into his cage. Once he did this, I did some more TTouches on him using the back scratcher again, some on the head, and some going down the body. He became more and more relaxed as I did this. I did touch him a bit with my hands as well, but I didn't want to push the issue, as this was our first session together.

Also, on Jan. 31, there was a very friendly black kitten named Mittens. I did clouded leopard TTouches, abalone TTouches, mouth TTouches, and ear slides on her. She was very soothed by this and stretched out as I did this. On this date there was also a polydactyl polka-dotted cat who we temporarily named Polly, and she was also super-friendly. She was very active, so I used TTouches (llama and abalone) using my whole hand to calm her energy. I also did some ear slides on her. Both these cats had either been adopted or been fostered when I arrived on Feb. 7.

Brie (below) is a sweet, very playful cat, who can get over-stimulated, so this time I decided to completely wait for her to come to me once I let her out of the cage. This worked quite well. When she was ready to come to me, I did some llama TTouches down her back, and she rubbed against me, looking very comfortable.