TTouch and Reiki at BARC: Tuco's New Adventure

Tuco is a beautiful kitten who I have been working with for some weeks now. She was brought to BARC shelter by the police, and had apparently been abused by people - her face had been smashed, her jaw dislocated, teeth knocked out and the skin scraped off the front of her jaw. Her condition was very dire, so it was really touch and go at first, but thanks to all the medical help, care and love by the BARC vets and vet staff, BARC staff and volunteers, she was nursed back to health. But she had been severely traumatized and so it has taken some time to gain her trust. Every time I work with her, she is more and more brave, has gotten more and more comfortable with contact and now seeks contact and is very playful as well. I always use an extremely quiet energy with her, as she still can get a bit startled by sudden movements or sounds if you are working with her.
Yesterday she gave me such a huge surprise. First of all, when I opened her cage, she came right to the front to say hello, and tapped my leg with her paw. We did some TTouches, then she ran to the back of the cage, then came right back to the front, tapping my leg again. I wondered if she was considering coming out onto my lap. She was a bit unsure still though, and so after some TTouches ran to the back of her cage again, looking at me as you see here.
In the pic below, you can see she's a bit tentative, but I just kept talking to her gently, sending her gentle Reiki energy, and before I knew it...

out she came onto my lap! I held her there and she settled as I did gentle TTouches and strokes and hair slides, PURRRRING very loudly!

I wish I had some pix of her on my lap but I didn't want to scare her by getting my camera at that point :)

After a while, some movement in the space startled her so she went back in her cage, but then came out onto my lap again. We did this several times yesterday, and I could tell she was a bit frightened to come out but once she was there, she realized it was very comfortable. It was incredible to hear and feel this sweet creature purring, especially having in my mind the trauma she must have gone through before she arrived at BARC.

She also started to look around the room at her surroundings, and did jump off my lap at one point to explore. When Colin, our wonderful keeper of the cat loft, went to catch her, we were a bit afraid that she might be difficult to catch, but he has a very calm energy and was able to retrieve her very gracefully.
When she was back in her cage, she had a quizzical look like "What just happened?" I think she surprised herself with her courage. Much love to you Tuco, and thanks for trusting me. It is beautiful to see you coming out of a shell, and I feel it won't be long before you will be going to a furrever home. Thanks so much to all the wonderful BARC people for all you have done for her and all the animals at BARC.

TTouch and Reiki with Tuco: Learning to Trust

Tuco is a beautiful black kitten who the police brought to BARC shelter (http://barcshelter.org) several weeks ago. She had been abused, apparently hit in the face, and the skin on her jaw was completely scraped off, and teeth knocked out as well. She has received medical attention from the wonderful vets BARC uses and a lot of TLC from everyone. She was understandably terrified of people at first, but she has been feeling more and more confident and comfortable each time I see her. I noticed that she often gets frightened when a hand is coming towards her, especially towards her head or face area, so sometimes I will touch her on her back first. But most recently what I have tried is just very gently touching the top of her head with the back of my fingers, doing the lightest strokes and circular TTouches. This seems to help her to be more receptive to the approaching hand, instead of swatting at it or moving away.
And, what has been wonderful to see is that often after doing some of these gentle touches with her, she will move forward on her own for more contact. Sometimes she moves forward, then retreats again initially, but then I touch her again very lightly, first on the head, then some gentle strokes down the body using the back of my hand (which is less intense than the front surface, and she will start to come forward again. The other day, when I took these pictures, she surprised me by leaning completely into my hand and arm, and pushing into me, then rolling on her back.

As you can see below, I am only using the back of my index finger (actually my fingernail) to do some gentle circular TTouches on her. I am just touching with enough pressure to move the skin around in a circle and a quarter, and I make the circles slower and slower, for a more relaxing effect. It is so important, too, to slow your own mind down before beginning to work with a frightened animal. Sometimes it is as if I hear my thoughts slow down like a record going at a slower speed.
Another thing I do with her if she starts to get into a mode where she wants to swat at me rather than have my hand make contact, is to stop for a few minutes, just sending her Reiki energy from a couple of feet away. When I do this, I see her body start to relax. She usually will lie down and her eyes get very sleepy. And then I will try again with some gentle TTouches.

The picture below was right after she had pushed her head up into my hand and was looking a bit surprised about doing that, I think! But you can see that her body posture is stretched out and relaxed in these pictures, not hunched up and tense.

Over the past couple of weeks, Tuco has realized she loves to play. Sometimes, as in the picture below, her facial expression looks as if the act of playing is a new discovery to her. It is so lovely to see her fear melting away and her true sweet, whimsical personality come forth. Many thanks to all those at BARC who have been so kind and understanding to her, as they are to all the animals at BARC. See you soon! xo