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 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.

Mayor's Alliance Cats thru Tavi and Friends

The other day I went again to do TTouch on some cats through Tavi & Friends, through their TTouch-in-Rescue™ program to provide TTouch® to the animals of one of TaF's partner groups, the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals. These cats are temporarily at a boarding facility until they can be sent to various rescue groups or sent out to an adoption event, etc. Some of them are quite friendly and others need a great deal of socialization.

There were some cats who I had worked on before and some others who I hadn't met. Porter, who I worked on last time, has continued to make progress due to the other Tavi folks and other volunteers who have been working with him. He still needs time-out from being touched sometimes, so it is really best to just touch him a bit, give him a break, then continue. But he is very curious and seeking attention now, whereas in the beginning he was in the back of his cage, terrified.

The amazing-looking fellow below is named Zorro, and you can see why he has his name! When I opened his cage, he was sitting in the back. His cage had just been cleaned and so I think that had made him a little unsure. So I started out with him slowly, working with chimp touches on his head, doing some ear strokes and doing some Noah's marches with the back of my hand down his body. As I worked on him, he came more and more forward in the cage, and finally flopped on his back. At that point, I went back to working on his head and he was VERY relaxed.

The cat below is named Chubby. There was a sign on his cage saying he was frightened and that he shouldn't be let out with the other cats. He turned out to be completely friendly, and in no time was pushing his head into my hand and asking for more attention. Perhaps he is afraid of other cats, not other people, as he is declawed. What a sweet boy!


The fellow below is named Jack White. He was waiting at the front of his cage for some attention. He pushed his head into my hand and I was able to do touches all over his head and body, and he really responded to that. Later on, I found out that this lovely boy as well as several others there were most likely going to be adopted soon, yay.

The little girl below named Isabel is at a point where I have seen a lot of other cats get who seem to want contact, but they are still unsure. She is very playful, and is confident enough to come close to you to reach what she thinks is a toy. She wants to engage in play if I put in a tool like a paintbrush or wand, but she still was a little frightened of being touched. So I played with her and touched her a little :)

After trying several different tools with her, I found that she was comfortable with me doing a few touches at a time with a soft makeup brush, as that provided some distance, but a nice soft surface. I look forward to working with her futher and with the other cats.