If At First You Don't Succeed... Tiger Lily Teaches Me What She Needs to Feel Safe

Tiger Lily is a gorgeous grey tabby with a very distinctive face.  She is one of the cats from the Picasso Veterinary Fund who I have been working with through Tavi and Friends and the Mayor's Alliance.

She arrived at the holding space extremely stressed, growling and swatting at anyone who tried to approach her.  She proved to be a challenge for me, as well, as I tried tool after tool to try to calm her.  Above is a picture of her fairly soon after she arrived, looking very wary indeed.

I tried a feather, various types of paintbrushes, a back scratcher, etc, and mostly she seemed irritated if I tried to touch her with the tools, even if I went slowly and quietly.  After a while, I tried a variation on a technique which I used successfully with my own cat Emmylou when she arrived as a feral cat at BARC.  I stroked slightly in front of her whiskers with a paintbrush, very slowly, talking to her in a very quiet voice.  I could do this just a very little bit at a time with her.

I would always send her Reiki from where I was standing outside the cage, and speak to her calmly.

Sometimes when she seemed to start to get comfortable, she would start rolling on her back and rubbing against the floor of the cage, looking like she wanted to play.  Which is what finally led me to what I did next with her.

As Tiger Lily is a young cat, and seemed to want to play, I tried playing with her with a string toy, and then every once in a while I would stroke her with the stick part of the string toy.  This was the most successful contact I had with her so far, and it was after these sessions which you see in the videos above and below that she started to appear much more comfortable.

She would be at the front of the cage instead of at the back or up on a shelf in the cage, and when I approached the cage, she looked as though she wanted to play with me.  Her whole facial expression and body posture changed, as you can see in the photos below.

 

 

After a number of sessions with the TTouch and play concept, she would still sometimes get overstimulated.  I felt like I needed to change up what we were doing, and decided I needed to spend some very quiet time with her.  I began to just sit with her with the cage door open, sending her Reiki energy from where I was sitting.

 

She grew more and more comfortable with me, and one day she came up to me and licked my arm! I stayed perfectly still, as I didn't want to startle her.

 

Last week when I was at the space, when I opened the door of the cage, she started peering outside the cage into the room.  And finally, out she came!  I think this may be the first time she has ventured out of her cage in her time at the space. 

 

I got off the chair where I had been sitting, and crouched on the floor. At times I would dangle a string toy to see if she wanted to play, but she was more interested in sniffing around.

 

She ended up settling on the chair I had been sitting on, as you see below.  She started rolling on her back and on her side, stretching and ended up settling there for a while.  I just stayed pretty still, speaking to her in a quiet voice, telling her what a good girl she was and telling her I loved her very much. 

 

 

 

When she had enough, she went back into the cage.  This had been a really big step for her!

 

She kept looking at me, maybe wondering if I would let her out again, but I wanted to stop on a positive note, so just told her she was such a good girl, and that I would be back soon and we would do this again :)

 

It is a lesson the animals tell me so clearly each time:  we really need to listen to what they are comfortable with, and keep our minds and hearts open so that we can hear them and so that we can keep our creative side of our brain working so we can keep trying new approaches that we may never have thought of before.  Sometimes it is just a matter of sitting and being truly quiet with an animal, to give them that time and space they need in order to start to trust us.

 

Love you Tiger Lily! Can't wait to see you again! xo

 

 

The Power of Patience: TTouch with Pumpkin

 

 

Pumpkin is a dear little cat, probably about 2 years old, who I have been working with through Tavi and Friends, Mayor's Alliance and the Picasso Veterinary Fund.  Apparently he had been kept in a basement for a long time, with very little contact.

When he first arrived (photo above is from early on), he was quite shy, and could suddenly get very insecure and hiss or meow very loudly.  I remember the first time I picked him up, he meowed so loudly, it sounded like I was touching him somewhere that hurt him, but it was just that he was terrified. 

I began to do TTouches just a little bit at a time with him.  Fortunately, in the space where he is, he can be let out of the cage so that I can do a few TTouches, let him walk around and come back to me as he likes.  As I do with the other cats in this space, I let him out without any of the other cats, so we can really have a private space, without intervention from any of the others.

Initially, I would literally do a few TTouches on his head or body, then he would walk away from me, then come back to me when he was ready for more. 

Over time, he was more and more responsive to the TTouches, and was right at the front of his cage when I got to the space, putting his paw through the holes in the cage door and meowing to me to let him out.  He would still come to me and go away from me, but would settle for longer and longer periods of time.  I kneeled, crouched or sat on the floor so I would be on his level.  I mostly sat or kneeled up until very recently, because I wanted to be able to stand up or move easily if I started to feel he was getting scared and/or needed more space.

At first it was a bit of a trick getting him to go back in his cage.  Sometimes I would lure him with toys to get him to go back in, because he seemed so frightened of being picked up.  As I continued to do the TTouches with him, I tried to gradually work towards his stomach area.  Just even doing a few TTouches on his side, approaching the stomach area, was good progress. 

Over time, he became more and more at ease in general.  And one day I found I was able to pick him up with no reaction from him at all!  I still would use gloves to pick him up in case he got suddenly frightened, but he has been quite comfortable with me picking him up for some time now. 

And the more he has gotten to know me, the more he has been seeking attention, purring and rubbing his head and body into my hands.  Initially, I would have to be especially mindful of his body language, as he could suddenly get frightened and it was as though a switch flipped back to a very fearful state, meowing loudly and maybe swatting or hissing.  These changes have happened less and less -- actually it is hard to remember when it happened last with me. 

He recognizes the energy of the TTouches and will settle down right next to me.  He especially responds to raccoon and chimp TTouches on his forehead area and to abalone, chimp and clouded leopard TTouches on his body.  I have been more and more able to do TTouches around his mouth area as well, which is a great area to work if you can do so safely, as the mouth area connects with the limbic system, which has to do with the emotions.

 

The past couple of sessions, we have broken through to another level.  As you can see above, Pumpkin is now starting to come and snuggle with me, aww! 
What has been beautiful to see is how the TTouches truly can help to change the way he reacts to contact and the way he reacts to situations that previously would be stressful for him (such as being picked up).  And it is as though a fearful exterior has given way to his true inner self, which is a sweet, affectionate cat who will be delighted to connect with a person once he gets to know them.
He will need a patient person to adopt him, someone who can give him the time and space to become comfortable.  Given time, space, love and understanding, he will be such a loving and sweet companion.
Love you Pumpkin! and thanks to all the other folks involved with him, Tavi, Mayor's Alliance and PVF, for giving so much him and other animals like him.
xo

Listening to Harry

Harry (above) is a new arrival at the boarding facility where I work with rescue cats through Tavi and Friends & the Mayor's Alliance. He was hunched in the back of his cage when I arrived. I opened the cage very quietly, speaking to him a little bit in a soft voice. He meowed, but it seemed like a frightened meow, so I decided to try to first make contact using the back of the hand part of a long-handled back scratcher. The tool seemed to frighten him, so I gave him a break for a few minutes, and decided to try with a softer surface.

I took out a long-handled flat paintbrush that is 2-3 inches wide, and began to gently stroke him under his chin. This immediately really clicked with him, and he began to rub himself against the brush, and against the surfaces of his cage, eventually stretching and rolling around. It was very sweet to see! I would stop for a few seconds to give him a break, sometimes closing the cage, then started again. Little by little he became more and more comfortable, venturing forward in his cage, and I was able to do some TTouches directly with my hand as well as with the tool. I did chimp TTouches with him, which use the back surface of the middle digit of the fingers (see my youtube channel for a demo, http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat), as back surfaces of the hand are less intense than the front surfaces. I mostly used the paintbrush though, as I wanted to make sure that he felt very safe. It is important, too, to realize and be sensitive to the fact that a tool or technique that works for one cat may not work for another cat, and that even working with the same cat in multiple sessions, their tastes and preferences can change.

By the end of the session, he was so much more comfortable than in the beginning, and I feel that it will not take him long for him to come more completely out of his shell. Most cats are very terrified when they are first rescued - and some have their true personality buried very deep, but others just need to shake of the initial fear and then rather quickly become friendly and quite comfortable. But it is essential to be very sensitive to what they are ready to do, and not push to achieve a pre-conceived agenda. What animals remind me of every day is the importance of truly being in the moment.

Much love to you Harry!! see you soon! xo

TTouch with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: June 6

Today I went to work with the Mayor's Alliance rescue cats through Tavi and Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program.

During the posts about these cats, I refer to many of the TTouches, so if you would like to see demos of these TTouches, please visit my youtube site at http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat

Milla, a lovely tortoise-shell cat, was extremely friendly, purring up a storm. She gets so excited for attention that she can get overstimulated, so I give her frequent breaks, doing abalone TTouches and LLama TTouches, which use large surfaces of the hand, as they are less intense than other TTouches. I also did some ear strokes with her, which can be very calming.


Honey is very sensitive, so I generally use TTouches which use the back of my hand, so I did the chimp TTouch and llama TTouch with her, which she finds calming. I just do a few TTouches at a time, giving her frequent breaks.

Kitty (above) and Blackie 2 (below) are both very sweet now. They are in the same cage, and both came right out of the cage and onto the couch with me today for ear strokes, ear circles and, as they tend to be on the more gentle, timid side, I did soothing touches using larger surfaces of my hand such as the abalone TTouch (circular TTouch using my whole hand) and the llama TTouch (circular TTouch using the back of the fingers). Both were extremely responsive to these TTouches.

Blackie can be quite sensitive, so with her, I generally do mostly TTouches around her head area, then work in some of the larger TTouches going down her body, for example, doing an abalone TTouch and then a stroke going down her body, then giving her a break to see what she wants to do. The jelly scrubber is also something she really enjoys.

Bastet is very sweet. She is reticent about coming out of her cage, though, so I did TTouches on her in the cage. She really settled into them, purring and drrooooling. Drooling is something that some cats do when they are very cozy, which seems to be the case with her :) I did ear strokes, abalone TTouches and hair slides with her.

Ices (or Isis, sometimes her cage has one spelling and sometimes the other) is more brave than she was last week but still is on the shy side as far as coming out of the cage or interacting with the other cats when they are out of the cage. She preferred to remain in the cage today. She started rubbing her head against me as I did the TTouches with her. I did llama TTouches, clouded leopard TTouches going down her bac, and slow abalone TTouches. She became very relaxed and at ease as I did this.

Today I let Hank (below), Kobie (below that) and Lee (below Kobie) out at the same time. Hank and Kobie are quite comfortable and social, and Lee loves people and gets along with Hank - they were playing together, which was very cute.

I alternated between the three cats, doing TTouch on one, then the other, so they were able to have some playtime as well as some TTouch time. This worked quite well for these three, as they are active and generally extremely eager to get out of their cages.

Lee has the most amazing face, he is so expressive! his eyes can't help but touch your heart.

Last but not least was sweet Marette. What seems to be most comfortable for her is for me to sit on the floor, with my legs bent up. She likes to walk underneath my legs, and I do TTouch on her on either side. Today she really settled in when I did some TTouches on her forehead with my fingernail. The forehead can be an area which is extremely relaxing for shy cats, and it is usually best to work with a small finger surface there. I like to use my fingernail as it is a back surface of the finger, therefore more gentle.

Thanks one and all! look forward to seeing you all soon.

Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: May 30

It was a pleasure, as always, to go to work with the rescue cats from the Mayor's Alliance.

Munchie (above and below) is very sweet, he started weaving all around me, rubbing against my hand. I did clouded leopard circular touches combined with a stroke going down his body. Ear strokes were especially comforting for him. As you can see by the pic above, he really cuddled in and got comfortable with me today.

Hank is a very affectionate cat, but as you can see by his big eyes, he can get a bit over-excited, so I tend to do TTouches on him using the back surfaces of my hand, which are less intense.

Below is Kobie.

Kobie is a lively little young cat. He likes to walk back and forth past me, so I often do a circle and a stroke down one side of his body, then the other, as he walks by.

Blackie is sweet but can get over-stimulated, I use the jelly scrubber to do TTouches with her, which she finds comforting. Abalone TTouches, which use the whole hand, are also great to do with her as the energy is dispersed over a larger area so they are less apt to be over-stimulating.

Blackie 2 (above) and Kitty, who are both in the same cage, both jumped out of the cage immediately today, very excited for attention. When they first arrived in the shelter, they were on the shy side, not feeling comfortable coming out of their cage. I di dllama, clouded leopardand chimp TTouches connected going down their bodies. Both came up on the couch with me for attention. both at once and then they took turns.

Honey (below) always seems to crave attention but short little bursts with her are best, as she is ultra-sensitive and gets irritated if you have contact with her for too long a period of time. I generally mostly do Raccoon and chimp TTouches around her head and a few chimp TTouches or llama TTouches on her body, then either give a break or go back to working on the head.

Isis (below) is a new kitty there. I started out working with her with a paingbrush on the sides of her head, then rolled the paintbrush along the sides of her body. As I worked with her, she started to rub her face against me. She startles easily so I gave frequent breaks, letting her come to me to initiate contact. After a while I began to transition to using the back of my hand for TTouches with her, and she really relaxed into it.

Lee gets more comfortable all the time but he still gets startled easily with any sudden sound or movement. The TTouches using the larger surfaces of the hand, such as the abalone and llama TTouches, work best with him.

Marette still is very sensitive and will startle easily, but I had a breakthrough with her today. I started out by doing some llama TTouches and abalone TTouches going down her back. Then I tried doing some little TTouches around her forehead area using the back of my finger (actually my fingernail). She literally stopped in her tracks and really began to relax into the TTouch, purring. It was a great sound to hear coming from her! and wonderful to make this connection and feel her become so comfortable today.

Mila is friendly and sweet but can become over-stimulated, so I do TTouches with her which use the back of my hand. These are less intense than TTouches using the front of the hand.

Bastet is a new, lovely black cat with golden eyes (didn't get a pic of her today). She is very friendly, and came right to the front of the cage, rubbing against my hand. I did chimp TTouches on her head area, followed by circular TTouches followed by a long stroke going down her body. I didn't want to overwhelm her, since she is new, so I kept the session short.

Thanks all, look forward to seeing you soon!

TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: May 23

A very sweet day, as usual, with the Mayor's Alliance Rescue cats thru Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program. Lee (above), who initially was crouched in his litter box terrified, now can't wait to come out for attention, and he waits at the front of the cage meowing to me. He immediately jumped out of his cage when I opened it, and began to rub his head against my hand. With him, I feel the very comforting TTouches which use larger surfaces of my hand, such as the abalone TTouch (circular TTouch using the whole hand) and llama TTouch (circular TTouch w/the back of the fingers) seem to be the ones that fit him, as they are warm and soothing. I also did some zigzag TTouches with him, which is a great connecting TTouch, and some ear work.

Sorry Blackie, this isn't the best pic! Blackie also really responds to the abalone TTouch, and I use the jelly scrubber with her also, as she finds this soothing and since it is a tool instead of a hand, it is less apt to be over-stimulating to her. She was PURRRRRRING today, a lovely sound to hear from her :)

Kobie is a sweet little guy, who is completely relaxed and friendly, responsive to any of the Ttouches, especially the chimp TTouch. He is an active guy, so I just do a few TTouches here and there, let him go on his way, then do a few more.

Honey is very sweet, but still seems a bit hyper-sensitive, so I am careful to just do a little TTouch at a time with her. I mostly do chimp TTouches (which use the back surface of the middle section of the fingers) and raccoon ttouches (tips of fingers) on her head, and then incorporate some slides down the body with the back of my fingers and hand.

Blackie 2 (above) and Kitty (below) were both friendly from the beginning but a little daunted by the other cats. They are now both more outgoing. Kitty is more dominant than Blackie 2, and sometimes pushes Blackie 2 away. Blackie 2 is getting more brave though, and today readily came out of his cage, came up on the couch with me and started rubbing against me. With him I did hair slides, abalone TTouches and chimp TTouches, all done slowly, for a soothing effect.

Lucky (below) has a sweet personality but I am very conscious to be especially gentle with her as she can be hyper-sensitive, especially reacting to any sudden sounds. I did TTouches with the back of my finger on her forehead, which can be a very soothing place to work for frightened cats.

Marette is still a little shy, but very sweet. I feel that she really craves attention, but is just a little hesitant. I let her out of her cage and wait til she comes to me, do a few TTouches on her, then she goes away a bit, then comes back for more, etc. I started out with chimp and abalone TTouches but then found that she REALLY settled when I did ear strokes and mouth work (doing little raccoon TTouches along the outside of her mouth area). The mouth area can be connected w/the limbic system, which is connected to the emotions, so this is a great area to work for frightened cats, if you can work there safely (not be bitten!). In the photo below, she seems to be wondering what my hand will do next :)

Mila is very sweet, and gets very excited once I start to TTouch her gently on the head. She came forward in her cage, rubbing against her cage and against my hand. So her energy didn't get too over the top, I gave her frequent breaks (with her today, just a break for a few seconds, watch her body language, then if it seems ok go back to TTouching a bit). I primarily did TTouches with her using the back surfaces of my hand and fingers, which is a less intense feeling than the front surfaces.

Munchie (above and below) is really coming along. He started out a bit on the skittish side, and still often will initially be in the back of the cage. But when I opened the cage and waited for him, he came right to the front for me, as I did chimp TTouches and llama TTouches with him, and then he came out of the cage and up onto the couch w/me, rubbing against me. I could feel his energy go from a bit overwhelming to a more relaxed energy as I worked with him.

Thanks, all you kitties, look forward to seeing you soon, unless you get fostered or adopted, which would be great :)

TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: May 2

Today when I went to work with the Mayor's Alliance Rescue cats through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program, there were some new cats, as well as a bunch who I have been working with for a while.

Lee was great today, he is making such progress. Today he came right to the front of the cage, purrrrring, to greet me. I was able to do TTouches on his head and his body, and he was comfortable with all of them. He also even was at ease being picked up, which I did to bring him up on the couch with me. He settled in there for a while, as I did abalone TTouches and ear strokes on him. He was purring (and sometimes meowing, a content meow) the whole time.

What a sweet boy! The woman who cleans the cages told me that now he is comfortable being let out of the cage with other cats. Previously, he had been too frightened to be out with the others and needed to be let out alone. He also had initially been referred to by some as a “mean cat”, which of course couldn’t have been more inaccurate!





Talbot and Diyala are two new kittens. Talbot (above) is completely friendly, and came right to me for TTouch. Diyala (three pictures below) is more shy, so I started out with her doing TTouches on her head using a soft toothbrush. She soon became more relaxed. I could feel her ears becoming more soft, and could see her eyes and the rest of her face relax.



As she became more relaxed, I began to incorporate TTouches using the back of my hand.

After she settled into the circular TTouches with the back of my hand, I did some using the front of my hand around the base of her neck, also occasionally incorporating a few TTouches on the body, then going back to the head. I kept the toothbrush in my hand in case she became nervous, in which case I would have gone back to TTouching with the toothbrush. I gave frequent breaks, seeing if she was ready for more or wanted to rest a bit. When I was finished, even though she was still at the back of the cage, her face and body looked much more relaxed, so that was great progress for her.

Next was Pedro (below).

Pedro is hilarious, he gets very excited to come out of his cage for attention. I did raccoon TTouches on his forehead to get his energy a bit more settled. I also did some Reiki with him, and he was absorbing the calm energy like a sponge. Today I noticed the most heat over the solar plexus and base chakras.

Mila is a new, very sweet tortie cat. She began to purr right away when I opened her cage and started to work with her. As I hadn’t worked with her before, I used the gentler TTouches, such as the llama ttouch (uses the back surface of the fingers) and the abalone TTouch (which uses the whole hand). These big TTouches are especially gentle because the pressure is dispersed over a larger area.

Lucky is also new, she was super-friendly and laid right on her side as I did abalone and clouded leopard TTouches going down her side.

Honey is getting more friendly and more brave every time I see her. The TTouch I used most with her today is the chimp TTouch, as it uses the back surface of the fingers. These types of touches can be good for a cat who gets easily startled or scared with too much contact or heat.

Hank is such a love. He laid right on his side. His ears were relaxed and soft as I worked with him. I did abalone TTouches and ear strokes with him..

Kitty (above) and Blackie 2 (below) are coming along really well too. Kitty jumped out of her cage and onto the couch, and Blackie 2 came out of the cage briefly as well, which is great for him, as he didn’t do this before. So Kitty I TTouched while she was on the couch with me and Blackie 2 got TTouch both in and out of the cage. He is definitely getting braver, he just needs time and patience.

Blackie was purring like crazy. I primarily used the jelly scrubber to TTouch her, as she can get a bit overstimulated. I also did very slow abalone TTouches and ear strokes with her, which have a very soothing effect.

Angel is a new cat there and was friendly right away. She was sweet, purring and laying on her side as I did slow abalone TTouches with her.

Marette gets more brave every time. Previously I have mostly used the tools with her, as she can be hyper-sensitive. But today I was able to do some TTouches directly with my hand, doing a circle and a stroke on her body. She began to rub herself right against my hand when I did this, to my surprise!