Sarah Hauser, Meet Sarah Hauser (and her friend Aladdin too!): Several Gentle Approaches Help two Kittens go from Terrified to Confident

Above:  Sarah Hauser with Sarah Hauser the kitten!

Some weeks ago, a terrified little kitten was dumped at the vet's office next door to BARC Shelter.  The vet techs thought I would be able to help her to feel more at ease, and so I had the great honor of the kitten being named after me!!

 

I could see right away that she was not aggressive in the least, just afraid.  In the beginning, she would cling to the cage if you tried to pick her up.  A gentle approach can take a while to take effect, but I have found that in the end, it results in an animal who is truly comfortable from the inside, not simply tolerating you touching it or picking it up because you have decided you are going to force them to let you do it.

 

After a while of TTouch with her in the cage, I was able to pick her up and have her sit on my lap for a moment.  I didn't force her to stay there, just gently contained her for a few TTouches, then if she wanted to go back in the cage, that was fine.  After a while of doing this, she started to be more comfortable on my lap, even purring there sometimes. 

 

A while after Sarah arrived, another single scaredy kitten arrived at the shelter and was named Aladdin.  He was put in with her, and they became the best of friends, but the two were still hanging at the back of the cage.  They both had similar behavior in that neither one was aggressive in the least, simply scared.  They would run to the back of the cage when people opened the door.  Even though both of them grew comfortable with me, they would still usually do this as an initial reaction.

 

A great tool for teaching scaredy kittens and cats that being touched can be pleasurable is to use baby food (all meat baby food with no onions, such as Gerber's or Beech Nut, I usually use Turkey in Turkey Gravy).  You can start out by putting some in a spoon or something else with a handle, so they can lick it off from a distance at first.  Then slowly you lure them to the front of the cage.  Eventually you can have them lick it off of a finger.  I tried this just a couple of times with both of them and it ended up making a HUGE difference.

 

After two sessions of using the baby food and doing some TTouches with Sarah and Aladdin, I opened the cage and Sarah started rubbing her face against my finger, really pushing into it.  This was new! I went with the feeling of it and started to bring my finger towards the front of the cage little by little.  She followed me as I did this.  She and I started making a game of this each time I worked with her.  I would still pick her up at some point to lay down on my lap as well, doing TTouches and Reiki with her.  Aladdin was not doing this little game, but he was becoming more and more comfortable being TTouched in or out of the cage and being picked up to lay on my lap, and was purring and relaxed once he got there as I did TTouches and Reiki with him, instead of running right back in his cage.

 

Below is a video of Sarah doing her little game with me :)

 

 

Last Saturday, I opened the cage to start to do the little game with Sarah, and she came out on my lap all by herself.  It was so spontaneous and natural, it really brought a smile to my face.  It actually looked as though she was smiling too.  She settled for quite a long time once she got on my lap.  And then when she got off my lap, she started making a little game of coming back onto my lap, staying there for a few minutes, then going back in the cage, then coming right back out again.  So sweet to see this lovely creature actually seeking contact, instead of running away from it!

 

Aladdin is doing really great too.  Now when I pick him up, he doesn't struggle at all, just relaxes into my hands and then settles right onto my lap, purring. 

 

So glad to see these two cats doing so well now, they are really ready to go home - an adopter would still have to be very patient and give them the time they need, but they have come a looong way!  xoxo

Update on Nadia, Slow and Steady Work Facilitates a Heart Connection

 

 

Nadia is a gorgeous, very shy cat at BARC Shelter, who I have been working with for some time now.  She was dumped in front of the shelter with another cat, who was adopted fairly quickly because she was friendly.  Nadia is very cautious of most people, though she has been slowly starting to trust people more and more.  If someone approaches her too quickly, she may hiss or snap at them, but that behavior has been increasingly subsiding.

 

I have worked with her very slowly, often using a paintbrush to touch her, as that gives her the space she needs to feel comfortable.  More recently, I have also been luring her to the front of the cage to lick baby food off my finger, which has been really helpful as well.  If you want to try this with a frightened cat, I would suggest first putting the food on a spoon or if the cat is very afraid and may bite, something else with a longer handle so that you can try it with some space in between you and the cat, to assure that you don't get bitten!  Also, use only all-meat baby food with no onions.  Gerber's Turkey in Turkey gravy seems to be a pretty universally popular flavor.

 

Though I most likely could touch her right away with my hand without reaction, I am still starting out with her by doing TTouch circles and strokes with the paintbrush, and then transitioning to using my fingers, so it gives her a chance to get comfortable with me.  It feels very important to give her space.  Touching her with the paintbrush also gets her accustomed to the sensation of being touched without having a feeling of being threatened.  So, once she gets very used to that, then eventually she will feel the same way about being touched with hands.  I have found that it helps so much with a very fearful cat to take everything in very small steps.

 

I have shared how I work with Nadia with the regular volunteers and staff, and it has been helpful for some of them to be working with Nadia with the paintbrush too.

We have in her cage a cave-like little bed so that she can go in there to feel safe when things get noisy or hectic in the shelter.  A while back, I started taking the bed out of her cage for part of the day so people could socialize with her more easily, and so she could gradually start to realize that it is ok to be out of the cave-bed.  I would gently turn the bed so the entrance was facing sideways to me, and then tip it a bit til she came out.  Most often, she would loudly hiss at first, but little by little she has become accustomed to that as well. Lately, I don't take the bed out any more, but speak to her and put the paintbrush so she can sniff it, and she will come out of the bed on her own and walk towards me, as you see in the clip below (she was already out of the bed). 

 

 

What has been especially sweet is that now after she walks to the front of the cage, she will nuzzle against my hand or lick it a bit.   It is beautiful to see her seeking out attention on her own, and really responding to attention and touch as well.   I'm happy, too, that others are also starting to see the sweet, loving cat that Nadia truly is, underneath her fear.  She even looks more beautiful, as her face has gotten so much more open, and her body language more comfortable.

It is easy to be impatient or to have out ego want to make contact with a cat right away, but it is so much more beneficial for the animal to really slow down and go at the pace that they need.  In the end, you will be able to facilitate a connection with the animal that is more powerful and deep than you could imagine!

Love you Nadia, thank you for teaching me so much, as do all the animals who I work with every day.  And thanks to all the BARC Shelter people for all they do for the animals.

The Adventures of Emmylou and Natalia: The Journey Continues...

Emmylou (right) and Natalia (left) are my two cats who were brought into BARC shelter as ferals, and I adopted them last July.  Our journey together has been and continues to be such and interesting and beautiful one.  We are continuing to learn from each other every day.

In general, they are doing great and they have come such a long way since I brought them home in July.  They are now very at ease in the apartment, and with me, and are recently have been breaking though to a greater comfort level with my partner (they have been comfortable with him in general for quite a while, but now are much more at ease with receiving pets and some TTouch from him). 

I feel that I have broken through to another level with them recently as well in terms of contact.  Every day they approach me more often for affection, which is so sweet!  When I get up in the night to use the bathroom, Natalia will wait outside and I sit on the floor with her for a while for TTouch.  And during the day they both approach me, sometimes taking turns (one will be sitting looking out the window in the cat tree while the other comes into the living room for attention. 

They adore each other and, though they may hang out separately at different times of the day, at night they are cuddled together on the couch, looking like a yin/yang symbol together.

I have continued to find that keeping a routine is very important to their comfort level - keeping the feeding times as consistent as I can, having certain times of the day for play, etc.  It is great to have a play session with them right before we go to sleep, and then they most often settle in to sleep when we do.

It is good, also, to have variety within the routine - rotating which toys are used, trying some different TTouches with them, etc., to keep things interesting for them.  Even something as simple as creating a couple of tunnels with shopping bags with the bottom cut out can be a new fun game for them.

I am always working towards little goals with them, as well.  Mostly these have to do with more practical matters.  For example, it is good to be able to pick them up, so when it comes time to need to get them into a carrier (which hopefully will not be soon!), it is not a shock for them.  Getting them used to having their paws touched (eventually for nail-clipping) will be another one.

It has really worked out well to do everything with them at a very gradual, slow pace.  If I do something and it feels like I went a bit too fast to that step, I take a step back and break it down a little further.

Emmylou is actually a bit more skittish in some ways, but for some reason she seemed to be ready for the picking-up activity sooner.  I started out by first getting her used to being touched on her stomach, doing a few circular TTouches on her stomach at a time, then letting it go, just doing this for a few seconds here and there, at regular intervals.  I actually started doing this with her when they were in the cage and we regularly fed them baby food (always all-meat baby food, no onions, Gerber or Beech-nut) off our fingers.  First we let them eat the food without trying to touch them while they were eating, then started stroking them or doing a few TTouches while they were eating, and then having more and more contact and touch while they were licking the food off.  Natalia was more reticent about being touched while she was eating, so we went more slowly with her.  Emmylou loves the food so much that she was more ok with being touched, so I started doing little TTouches on her belly, and then sometimes a little circle and then a lift on her belly, then sometimes lifting her slightly off the ground.  When they started being out of the cage, when she was walking, I would do little TTouches and then sometimes a belly lift (both hands under belly, eventually lifting her up slightly off the floor.  When I put her back on the floor, I praised her and did hair slides and circular TTouches to make her feel comfortable, so the lifting became just a little part of this whole activity.  Eventually I started lifting her higher and higher - just for a couple of seconds each time, then put her down and TTouch etc.  Now I am at the point with her where I can pick her all the way up to waist-height, do a few pets, then put her down.  This has taken place over months, so it has been very gradual indeed!

Natalia, while she really responds to being touched, easily gets scared if she feels she is being cornered or contained, so I have had to go slower with her.  For a while, I did circular TTouches on the side of her belly.  Then I gradually was able to do some TTouches under her belly.  Then, when she was in a lying-down position, I was able to do TTouch belly lifts with her, just one or two at a time.  In that case, by belly-lift I mean just gently putting a hand under her belly, making the slightest movement upward, holding for a minute, then slloowly releasing.  See my clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRDUdMh49CE&list=UUwClW-vMPW6i_UFDkXXayEA&index=32.  Just last week, while she was walking, I was able to put my hand behind her front legs, just gently lift her chest and front legs for a moment, then gently put back down, give lots of praise and TTouch, etc.  When I tried to put both hands underneath her and lift all four feet off the ground, this still made her nervous, so I backed off of that and went back to doing TTouches and lifts on her belly area.

The day before yesterday, I decided to try lifting Natalia up a few inches off the ground again.  To my surprise, she didn't react at all to this.  When I do these lifts, I get ready by doing some zigzags and circles on her while she are walking (I am walking behind, leaning over).  Then I just put both hands underneath her belly, lifted her off the ground a few inches, just for a second, then put her down - immediately praising her and starting to do TTouches and strokes with her.  I think I have to film this at some point to be a bit more clear about it!  Anyway, she was not startled at all - went right with the flow of what I was doing and laid down for some TTouches.  I gave her a break for a few moments and then repeated the same procedure, and the second time the same thing happened - which was great ! I think I did try a third time as well.  After that, and a few TTouches, I backed off to see what she would do and she just went over by the radiator, one of her cozy places, and was staring at me, purring!! 

Yesterday I tried this again with her, and again, she was completely comfortable, as if the lifting up is part of the whole TTouch and affection process.  So, little by little, I will be able to lift her up a little higher.  So important to always be patient and listen to what they are ready to do.

If anyone reading this has further questions, please always feel free to contact me through my website, http://healingenergyforanimals.com.


Thanks Emmylou and Natalia, for being the lovely beings that you are - you are teaching me so much and filling my life with so much richness and joy. xo

The Adventures of Emmylou and Natalia: Closer and Closer

Emmylou and Natalia are my two lovely kitties who I adopted from BARC Shelter in July.  They were brought into the shelter as feral cats, so I have been going through a very gradual process of helping them to become acclimated to the apartment and to us, which has been going so well - better than I ever could have dreamed.  Every day there is visible progress. 

When I get home, they greet me at the door, waiting for me to give them attention, which is so sweet.  As soon as I can after getting back home from somewhere, I sit on the floor to do TTouches with them.  Each day they are comfortable with longer periods of contact, and with me being in closer proximity to them.  I can pick Emmylou up briefly, and sometimes can put an arm around one or the other before beginning TTouches with them.  Natalia is starting to come up to give me nose-kisses. 

They still can get startled with sudden sounds or when friends come over, but even that is becoming easier for them to handle. 

It has been very important for me to continue to use the socialization tools which I have been using all along with them:  TTouch, Reiki, play, and often just sitting on the floor and hanging out with them.  Feeding them baby food off our fingers is also a great tool, as they will come right to us and even climb up on us to get to the food.  They are coming around for attention more and more, and emjoy hanging out near where I am.  For example, as I type this, Natalia is sleeping on the floor right near the computer chair.  Yesterday when I was in my art studio, Emmylou was watching me through the glass-paned doors that separate the living room from the studio.

Calm music is also wonderful for keeping the environment very peaceful.

Play is also a very important way to connect with the cats and to let loose any tension, and these two really love to tear around.  What a pleasure it is to see them chase a toy or each other around the apartment!  They also have a cat tunnel, which is fun for them to play in, as well as a place they can hide if someone comes over and they want to hang out in there.

When friends come over, the girls may initially go up to the platform bed and watch us from there, but sometimes they come down in the living room, especially if we give them treats, which we always do.  We are starting to let others try giving them the baby food off their finger as well, which works really well, as it gets them accustomed to being in closer proximity to other people and having something nice happen (the baby food treat!).  Others are starting to be able to pet them a bit too.

I am so grateful to have these two special creatures in my life every day.  They both have such a sweet, gentle nature, and it is so lovely to see them stretch out and feel like they are truly at home. xo