Light as a Feather with a Feral Kitten

I have been working with two feral kittens at BARC Shelter to help them to feel more at ease. Little by little they are becoming more comfortable. In this post I am writing about the more scared of the two. The other kitten not shown here is still quite shy but is becoming more comfortable being TTouched every day.
I have found that this kitten is quite comfortable being touched with a very long feather. Sometimes I stroke her whiskers or stroke the air slightly in front of her whiskers, and this helps her to start to relax. In my last post about her, I had found that she responded to having her front legs stroked, and she was starting to become playful as well. In the pictures above and below, you can see she still starts out with a rather startled face, but then will pretty quickly relax into having her front legs stroked with the feather.

Yesterday when I was at the shelter, I started out doing TTouches with her with the feather again, and as I felt her relax, I worked my hand down the feather and began to do some little circular raccoon TTouches on the top of her head.

I kept the feather in my hand, in case she got scared and I needed to take a step back and TTouch her with the feather again, but she began to relax with the TTouches with my hand after a bit. Today I didn't hear any hissing from her when I opened her cage or approached her, which is really great progress for her. I didn't TTouch her for too long as I didn't want to overwhelm her, but I did repeat TTouching her with the feather and then progressing to my hand. Particularly when I am working with a very frightened cat, I remind myself often to breeeeattthe, and to keep my mind and thoughts very very quiet. It makes such a huge difference to do this. These animals really feel your vibration and respond to it.

Love you, little one!

Staying in the Moment with a Feral Kitten

I am so grateful for all that the animals teach me every day, and one of the most important ongoing lessons is to truly stay in the moment with them. Cats can often change their preferences too, so that a cat may be receptive to a particular approach for a while but one day may completely change their mind about it.

I have been working with a very terrified feral kitten at BARC shelter for a few weeks. Generally, she had been very receptive to little TTouches along her whiskers, under her chin, and then gradually I could stroke her along her body as well. A few times I have been able to TTouch her with my hand as well.

Yesterday when I approached her with the feather, she was really not in the mood to be touched with it as I had before, and she just swatted and hissed at it!

I pulled the feather back for a few minutes, not sure what I would do next.

Then, just following my intuition, I gently did just a few strokes and circles near where she was, very slowly. Then I stroked her front paws gently with the feather, first one paw, then the other. This is not normally something that I would try or that I would think a scared cat would necessarily respond to, but it was very sweet what happened next.

She gently betan to stroke the feather with her paw, and we began to make a bit of a game of it. I'd stroke her paw, then she stroked the feather.

As we did this, her body language became more and more at ease, and she rolled onto her side and onto her back, stretching out. You can see that her eyes still look on the wild side, but for her to be comfortable in a totally open position with me was a huge step for me. It was such a pleasure to see her start to be more at ease, and even seeming to enjoy interacting with a human. xo

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 with a Feral Kitten at BARC Shelter

Recently, two "older" kittens (maybe 6 months old?) were brought into BARC shelter. They are really quite feral, and appeared terrified, hanging at the back of the cage. I started out by working with the more fearful of the two, who generally will loudly hiss and swat if you approach her (you can see her friend behind her in the above photo). As she was much more frightened than the other cat, I will focus on her in this blog post.

I used a very long feather, and began by not even touching her, but by stroking about an inch or so away from her whiskers, parallel to where the whiskers are, from where the whiskers meet the face to the tips of the whiskers, on one side, then the other.

She began to calm as soon as I began to do this, settling down into her body and her eyes started to close a bit. Little by little, I progressed to lightly stroking the whiskers, then doing little circular TTouches on her cheeks, head, under her chin, and then on her body.

I went a little at a time, stopping along the way to give her breaks. After a few sessions, she still moved away at first but then settled into the feather TTouches. It is always important to really be 100% present and in the moment when working with animals, but even more so with very frightened animals. You need to watch their body language and sense what they are ready to do, and really let go of any agenda or preconceived notion of what you think should happen. This is for their well-being, but also is important for your own safety.

After a few sessions working with her this way, I decided to take the plunge and gradually worked my hand down the feather and began to do TTouch circles on her head with the back of the end of my finger. Initially she was at the back of the cage, and then what she did next was so interesting.

She figured out a way she felt more comfortable receiving the TTouch. She has a little pillow/bed in her cage, so she went under the bed along the edge of it, so I could still touch her but most of her body was under the bed. She stayed there and settled as I did TTouches on her head and a few strokes down the body, just using the back of my fingers.

The next day I tried this with her, she did the same thing, going under the edge of the bed. But this time, she actually started to move forward, still was under the bed, but her head got closer and closer to where I was.

Thank you, little one, for being brave enough to trust me, and for reminding me once again of how important it is to just stay in the moment and do this work, what can happen surprises me all the time. xo

Update on Tuco at BARC Shelter: Slowly Learning to Trust

Tuco is a beautiful kitten who was brought into BARC shelter some weeks ago by the police. She had apparently been abused by people who had hit her in the face. She has received veterinary care and a lot of love and attention from the BARC vets, staff and volunteers. I have been working with her very gently to help her to learn to trust people again. Other staff and volunteers have given her a lot of attention as well. She has been gradually coming out of her shell, which is amazing to see.
She will still start out a bit tentative, as you can see by the above photo, but now with me she will often walk right up to the front of the cage. Understandably, a big hurdle for her to deal with has been her fear of a hand coming towards her face or head. I may start out by doing some llama ttouches (circular ttouches with the back of my hand) along the sides of her body, but she has also gotten comfortable with circular TTouches with the back of my finger (actually my fingernail) on her forehead or the top of her head, as well as straight strokes going down the sides of her back. The back surfaces of our hands are less intense than the front, so usually I will at least begin with the back surfaces of my hand when working with her.

The past couple of times I have worked with her she has started doing something new. She has started pushing her head up into my hand (either the back of the hand or the front of the hand). I then will continue the stroke gently going down her back (using either the back or front of my hand). Once in a while she may get uncertain and get ready to swat at me (she has not been using her nails with me though, even when she does swat), so I will move away from her if I see her start to do that, then wait a moment and try again. It is wonderful to feel her moving forward into my hand rather than being tentative or moving away.

Sometimes she will still retreat to the back of the cage, but usually will shortly thereafter come to the front of the cage again, curious about what will happen next. I give her little breaks in between our moments of contact, so she doesn't feel crowded.

It is so important to remain in the moment and read the body language of fearful kittens and cats, to be respectful of what they are ready to do.
She has come a long way, and I think she just needs time and patience to continue to come around at her own pace. See you soon, Tuco! xo

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

Feral Kittens at BARC Shelter: Belly Lifts, Ear Work and Mouth Work

I have been continuing to work with a batch of feral kittens who arrived recently at BARC shelter. First two arrived, then a third (the tabby you see on the right above), and then one more black and white kitten (sorry didn't get a pic of him).

They started out hissing and very frightened, but have been getting increasingly friendly. I have been doing a lot of TTouch and Reiki with them, and others have been working with them to help socialize them as well. As you can see from the pictures, they are getting very playful, which is a big improvement from the initial cowering in the litter box!



Recently I was working with Crazy Horse, the tabby and white kitten who is the shyest of the bunch. I noticed that when I happened to put my hand under his belly, he got very comfortable. So I began to do some gentle TTouch belly lifts with him, lifting my hand up just a very little bit, holding my hand there, then slowly releasing. This prompted him to want to eat, so I continued doing a few TTouches with him while he ate. In general, the belly lifts can help a cat to feel more comfortable, as it releases the muscles there, enabling the animal to breathe more fully, etc. It can also be helpful for digestion. At times I also held my hand still and let Reiki energy flow to him.





Most recently, I have started to get them used to being picked up, little by little. I will lift a kitten up with two hands under its belly, gently lifting it, still within the cage, then set it back down and do some circular TTouches, zigzag TTouches and octopus TTouches (like a double zigzag TTouch, using both hands at the same time. Hair slides and ear strokes are also helpful. I do the TTouches for a minute or two, then lift it up again, put it back down and do the TTouches again, helping them to associate the lifting with very gentle TTouches. The next step will be lifting them up and out of the cage, but I wanted to acclimate them to the process of being lifted up in a very gradual way so that the lifting out of the cage is not such a big deal when it happens. See you soon, little ones!

Soothing Feral Kittens at BARC Shelter

A few days ago I began working with two feral kittens at BARC shelter (since these pix, two more have been trapped), and this blog post discusses my first session with them. The picture above is actually after I had worked with them for a while, but you can see the black and white one still has the wide-eyed scared look. It's interesting, because the one on the right is actually more shy in its behavior.

When I opened the cage, they both hissed at me. When kittens or cats are terrified initially, I begin working with them either by doing Reiki from a short distance away, or by doing TTouch using a tool, such as a long-handled paintbrush. I began my work with them using a "fan" style paintbrush, which they were very receptive to. Sometimes I need to try a variety of tools before finding the one that really works, but this seemed to do the trick. I did little circular TTouches and strokes on the top of their heads, the outside of their mouth area, and then gradually started working some circular TTouches and strokes going down their body.

I just did a very little bit at a time, alternating between one kitten and another. When one kitten starts to get comfortable, usually the other does as well. After a few minutes, I was able to work my hand down the handle of the brush and began doing TTouches on the kittens with my hand, again, starting around the head area, top of head, ears, outside of mouth, then working down the body. I often used the back surfaces of my hand and fingers to do the ttouches, which is why you see my hand in a curved position below.


You can see the black and white kitten watching as I'm TTouching the other kitten, and the tabby and white kitten being a bit hesitant, but after a bit they settled into it. Again, I was doing a few TTouches on one kitten, then switching to the other, back and forth. At various points in the session, I would hold my hand still and just let the Reiki energy (which was constantly flowing) to flow over them.

I gave them a bit of a break, closing the cage, and when I opened the cage again, they were one on top of the other as you see here.

Again, I did some circular TTouches, mostly on their head areas, using the backs of my fingers. Around the forehead is a great area to work, and the ear strokes and TTouches around the outside of the mouth were also quite calming. The ears have many acupressure points, which have to do with respiration, digestion, etc, and the mouth area connects with the limbic system, which governs the emotions, so working these areas can help to really bring the stress level of an animal down.

By the time I had finished working with them, they were quite cozy, cuddled as you see here. See you soon, little ones!

TTouch and Reiki at BARC Shelter: Surrounding with Love: Tuco

Tuco is a beautiful black kitten who arrived at BARC shelter a couple of weeks ago. She was brought there by local police, and apparently had been abused by people - hit in the face. It is impossible to understand how anyone could hurt this sweet, defenseless creature. She was at the vet for a while, as she needed surgery and then needed to be monitored for a while. I had heard that she was feral and fearful.

So when I began to work with her, I didn't want to overwhelm her by trying to touch her directly with my hand right away. I have a fan-shaped paintbrush with a long handle, so I began to stroke her head and do little circular TTouches around her head area. She hissed when I first opened the cage, but fairly quickly began to calm down. I was sending her Reiki during teh whole session as well. I worked with her for a while, then gave her a break.

Then I worked with her again, starting with the paintbrush and moving my hand down the handle of the paintbrush until I was doing TTouches directly on her head. Eventually I was able to work in some TTouches going down her body as well. I did chimp TTouches going down her body, as these use the back surface of the fingers, so it is less intense than using the front surface of my fingers.

This wasn't one continuous session, though. I would work with her for a bit, then stop, giving her a break, then start again. A couple of times I closed the cage to give her a bigger break, other times I just moved away from her and sat near the edge of her cage, continuing to send Reiki. Sometimes I would pause, holding my hands very still and letting the Reiki continue to flow through my hands.

She became more and more calm as I did this, relaxing the muscles of her face and body, and her breathing became deeper. I ended up just doing little circular TTouches on her forehead using the fingernail on my index finger. Little by little her head began to nod off into a very relaxed sleep. It was so sweet to see this creature who had been through so much become so peaceful.
Thank you, little one, see you soon!

TTouch and Reiki at BARC: Feral Kittens

Recently, a group of 5 feral kittens arrived at BARC shelter, and I was asked to work with them to help them to be more comfortable and to be more at ease being touched by people, which in turn helps them to be more adoptable animals. And of course we want these little babies to all have homes soon :)

Initially they were terrified, squished up against the back of the cage, moving very little. They would often wait til people weren't walking by or watching to come forward to where the food and water bowls are. They hissed when you opened their cage or moved your hand towards them.

Before I began to try doing TTouch with them, I sent them Reiki from a short distance away. I could see them start to relax with the soothing Reiki energy.

To get them accustomed to being touched in a non-threatening way, I started out by using a very long feather to touch them. I did little circular TTouches and strokes with the feather, around their head area and then working in some touches going down the body. Little by little I noticed their muscles start to relax and their breathing began to slow down (they were nervous so you could see that their breathing was sped up as well).

The circular movements of TTouch are a non-habitual movement, so often when you begin to work with an animal doing these touches, you will see them stop in their tracks and look at you as if to say, "wait a minute, that feels different!". Usually they realize the touches are very gentle and do feel good, so little by little you see the behavior and body language change.

It wasn't long before I was able to work my hand down the feather to begin doing TTouches with my hands. I found that doing little raccoon Ttouches around the outside of the mouth area (which is connected with the limbic system, which has to do w/emotions) and doing ear strokes (there are many acupressure points in the ear) were particularly helpful in soothing these little creatures.

Since there are five kittens in the cage, I would work on one for a little bit, then go to another, so as not to overwhelm them. The kittens not being worked on would often watch and look at me wondering what was going to happen next.

As the kittens grew more accustomed to me, the hissing was less and less and then stopped altogether. Below are two of the little ones looking very relaxed indeed!

After a few sessions with them, I also noticed that they were starting to figure out how to play. Another kitten from a different litter was put in their cage temporarily and, I think, helped them in this process too.

In the pics above and below, you can see one of the kittens experimenting with playing with the ball. Within about a day after this or so, they all were playing with balls and other cat toys in their cage.

After some sessions with them, it was time to take the next step and get these little ones used to being picked up and held. They still were running away initially when most people were trying to pet them.

First of all, I did a few gentle belly lifts with them (see my youtube page, http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat for demo), then began to just scruff them a bit and gently lift up under their stomach. Then I took a small towel, scruffed with one hand and then held underneath with the other hand holding the towel, then brought the kitten onto my lap, gently wrapping the kitten in the towel if I thought it appropriate. I did the picking up and putting on my lap pretty much in one swift motion, so they didn't have time to get scared about it, and once the kitten was in my lap, I began to do some little TTouches either directly on the body or thru the towel, and the kitten relaxed right away, stretching out. I found that I had pretty much the same reaction, even with the two most scared of the kittens (which happen to be the two ones which have more white fur, who are seen cuddling together below, hard to tell where one ends and the other begins!).

The following Saturday I had several other volunteers holding the kittens as well, as it is good to get them used to various people holding them instead of only being comfortable with one person. Since that day, they have more and more attention from volunteers, as it is easier to pick them up and handle them.

The two shyest kittens are really coming around, too. Below is the little girl, named "Arctic Fox", who is the smallest one as well, and below that is "Pearl Harbor", her brother. Both of them really relax into my hands now.

The day before yesterday, the last time I was at BARC, I spent an especially long time with Pearl, who is the most reluctant one. Though he is comfortable once I touch him, sometimes he will run away if someone reaches towards him. I held him in my lap, offering him Reiki, and heard and felt him do a couple of big sighs, as though he was reaching a level of relaxation that he hadn't felt in a long time. He really stretched out and let go.

When we were done, I returned him to the cage and about an hour later, opened the cage to work with the kittens within the cage, to work with the ones who still may run away on initial contact to be more comfortable so that they don't do that. Pearl started to run away from me (maybe it's still a bit of a reflex?), but I did a little TTouch with him and he settled down. I then focused on a kitten who was laying on a shelf at the opposite end of the cage.

This kitten (named Normandy) had come around the quickest, and is comfortable laying on his back for belly rubs. As I was starting to rub his belly, little Pearl came running over, jumped on the shelf, and snuggled right alongside Normandy so he could have some TTouch as well.

This was such an unexpected delight, and was a real breakthrough for this kitten, as it was the first time he came to ME for attention. I felt so much pure love and affection from this little one as he snuggled alongside his brother so I could TTouch them both at the same time.

Thank you, little ones, look forward to seeing you soon unless you are adopted, which would be even better:) and thanks to all the gals and guys (volunteers and staff) at BARC who have helped these little ones!