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.

Mayor's Alliance cats - September 6

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

Above you see Sunnie squishing her brother Shadow. These two are both extremely friendly and responsive to TTouch. As you see in the photos, they wait at the front of the cage for me to take them out. They really are so dear!

I took them out one by one to do TTouch, holding them on my lap. They both purred the entire time. They particularly responded to ear strokes, clouded leopard touch on their body, and tarantula pulling the plow TTouch (I will have to do a video of this TTouch, it is easier to show than to describe!). They were both so reluctant to be put back in their cage, and I took them each out a couple of times as they were so irresistible.


Ziggy (above) is quite a character, he also comes to the front of the cage and puts his little nose thru the hole, waiting for me. I primarily did zigzag TTouches on him as he walked back and forth, rubbing his body against my hand.

Vaska (above) has such a sense of humor, as you can see by the photo. He always manages to put himself in a funny position and then gets my attention by meowing to me. He was very energetic and so I let him out of his cage. He rubbing himself against me and stretched out on his side. I did clouded leopard TTouches on him, chimp TTouches and a range of other TTouches while he was out of the cage.

Zorro is a sweet guy as well. He especially responds to sssllloooow zigzag TTouches down his body and then connected abalone TTouches (circular TTouches using the whole hand). Often I hold his body against my leg as I do the abalone TTouches on the opposite side.

The three young rascals above, from left to right, are Rascal, Buster and Ophelia. They all wanted to get out but I let them out one by one to do TTouch on them. Ophelia mostly was in a mood to play, but Buster and Rascal both settled on my lap for some TTouch on their body, and ear TTouch and raccoon TTouch on their heads. They are very sweet!

Above are Smoky (top) and Oreo (bottom). Oreo can get over-stimulated sometimes, so I generally do TTouch on him for very short bits of time, but Smoky can take a longer TTouch session, as he is a very gentle personality and the TTouch really relaxes and settles him.

I didn't get a good photo of Diego this time, but he is a stunning tabby with a swirly jungle pattern. His favorite TTouches are hair slides and very slow abalone ttouches with a pause at the end. He relaxes, stretches out his back and purrs like crazy as I do this.

Above and below is Irene. She was purring the whole time I was working on her, and was waiting at the front of the cage for me, giving me a litttle meow. She actually was the first cat I worked on today, but I worked on her several times while I was there. She was really craving attention, which I was so happy to give to her. She still backs away a little when I initially put my hand in, but I am starting to think this might be due to a lack of depth perception as she is cross-eyed. She is now more and more comfortable with TTouches on her body, whereas initially she had only wanted me to do TTouch on her head. I did abalone, llama and zigzag ttouches on her body and chimp ttouches and raccoon ttouches on her head. I tend to still do a fair amount of ttouches which use the back surface of my hand, so as not to startle her.

These kitties really have crawled into my heart - I look forward to seeing them every week :)

Mayor's Alliance Cats: August 30

Today I went again to work on Mayor's Alliance rescue cats through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program. Above is Diego. He is such a sweet, gentle soul. He really settled in today as I did ear strokes on him. The ear TTouch can be especially relaxing as there are acupressure points to other parts of the body in the ear. After this I also did some TTouches around his mouth, which is an area which can hold a lot of stress, and connected clouded leopard TTouches down his body - first one side and then the other. He really stretched out and relaxed.


Above is Angel. She is also a very sweet cat, and just waits at the front of the cage for me to open the door and give her attention. She almost gets too excited, so I'm careful not to do too much on her at once. She rubs her head against my hand and rolls on her side as I do TTouch on her head and on her body as well.

Smoky and Oreo are pictured above - Smoky is on the top shelf and Oreo is on the bottom shelf. Smoky is initially a tiny bit shy but once you touch him, he is so receptive to TTouch. The only problem with these two being in the same cage is that Oreo is very dominant and moves in front of Smoky when I am trying to touch him. On both cats, I did ear strokes, followed by small raccoon touches outside the mouth, working along the outside of the mouth back to the jaw area, and then clouded leopard TTouches down the body.

Above is a little kitten whose name I think is also Smoky, and below is his kitten friend Sunnie. These two are both extremely playful and well-socialized. I held these little ones, one at a time, and did ear strokes on them with a fairly firm touch, then clouded leopard ttouches on their body. They were both purrring all the while.

Next is Vaska (pictured below). Vaska is super-friendly but can get almost TOO excited by being TTouched as well, so I do a little bit with him, then stop, give a break and come back. He will stretch out on his back or side. On his body I will often do abalone TTouches at a slow speed as these can be generally more soothing than stimulating. The slow speed is important too as the tempo of the TTouches can help determine whether they are relaxing or stimulating.

Ziggy (pictured below) is quite a character, and very sweet. He also really loves attention. I did TTouches around his head, ears, and then strokes and circles with the back of my hand down his body.

Zorro (below) is also a very sweet cat, and soothing, slow abalone TTouches down one side of his body and then the next are what he responds most too, and can be very relaxing for him. I held him against my leg as I did abalone TTouches down one side and then stabilized him with my hand on the other side as I did the TTouches on the opposide side of him which was facing my leg.

Mayor's Alliance Cats August 16 - Vaska and Ziggy

Vaska is an extremely comfortable cat, even though he has a rather wistful-looking face above. If you look below you will see how at ease he is after just a bit of TTouch. He stretches right out on his side. I tend to do the larger TTouches like the abalone TTouch, llama TTouches and Noah's march with the back of my hand down his back especially when he is in this position, as this can be a position which be followed by over-stimulation, so I don't want to do anything too vigorous to a cat stretched out like this.

Ziggy (below) is also an extremely social guy, he comes right to the front of his cage and rubs his head right into my hands. I do ear strokes, TTouches on his head, some TTouches around the outside of his mouth and circles and strokes down his back.

Mayor's Alliance Cats August 2 Update

Today I went again to work on the Mayor's Alliance cats thru Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue Program. There were some new faces as well as some cats I have been working on for a while. Other volunteers come in at other times during the week to help out as well.

Smoky (above) and Oreo (below) are two new cats who had come in together and were in a cage together. Oreo came right to the front of the cage for attention, and when I tried to do TTouch on Smoky, Oreo would nudge right in front, so I did TTouch on Oreo with one hand and on Smoky with the other. Oreo kept rubbing himself against my hand as I did TTouches on his head and TTouches and strokes down his body.

Smoky has a gentle, sweet, personality and was very receptive to TTouch, he started nuzzling his face against my hand. I did have to keep reaching around Oreo though as he is so dominant. Oreo seemed as though he can get a bit overstimulated if he is touched too much.

Next was Vaska (pictured below).

Vaska is a lovely gray tabby. He looks awfully wistful here but he was actually extremely seeking of attention and receptive to TTouch. He appears to be generally a bit afraid of other cats but he is very sweet to people. He walked back and forth rubbing his body against my hand as I did TTouches on him.

Diego (pictured above) is a gentle, quiet, sweet soul who seems like he would like to be a lone kitty. He appeared to be intimidated by cats in adjacent cages. I did ear TTouches and TTouches on his face and then down his body. He really relaxed into the touches and seemed to be just so appreciative of the attention. I could feel his body relax and settle as I did TTouch on him.

Ziggy (pictured above) loves people but not other cats, he seems to be one who wants his kingdom to himself. He has a quirky and lovable personality, and as you can see from the picture, was talking to me and seeking attention. He walked back and forth, rubbing himself against my hand as I did circular TTouches and strokes on him.

Next was Blacky. Blacky is an adult cat with a very gentle personality and doesn't seem to get too bothered by anyone, cats or people. He came out of his cage and plopped down by his scratching post, stretching out as I did TTouch on him. He especially responded to connected abalone TTouches going down either side of his body.

Last but not least is the dramatic-looking Zorro. He is an absolute love with a very distinctive look and personality. He is so excited for attention that it is best to do TTouch on him in shorter bursts than some of the others, as he can get over-stimulated from too much touch.