Update on Berry: Getting Closer!

Berry is a gorgeous young little cat, apparently feral, who was brought into BARC shelter right before Hurricane Sandy.  She actually was rescued from the same backyard as my two cats who I adopted from BARC, Natalia and Emmylou.  And interestingly enough, she does somewhat resemble Emmylou! 
Of course, the combination of where she came from and the fact that she is so fearful have both helped me to feel an especially endearing bond with her.
She was terrified and quite sick when she was first rescued, and it has been so heartening to see both her behavior and her health improving.  When she first arrived, she would swat and hiss when approached.  I have worked with her very gradually, doing TTouches on her with the back of the hand part of a plastic back scratcher.  Sometimes now I can transition to touching her directly with my hand, but I just do that for short amounts of time, as she still can get easily overstimulated.  I have shown a few other regulars at the shelter how to work with her, and she has been making very steady and noticeable progress. 

Now instead of staying in the back of her cage, most often she will rest in the front of her cage, watching everybody with interest instead of being afraid.  She will come to the front of her cage for a treat from other volunteers, and easily will come to the front of her cage to get to her food and water bowls, and will eat in front of other people, whereas before she would be hesitant to do this.

One of the huge changes that has happened recently is that when I approach her cage and say "Hi Berry!" to her, she comes to the front of the cage, kneading her paws and rubbing her face against the front of the cage.  She also does a little hello meow. 

Little by little she is beginning to trust me as well as some of the BARC staff and volunteers.

Now that she is feeling better, she also wants to play.  Like many ferals who are in the process of becoming less fearful, she can get confused between play mode and cuddle mode and sometimes swat. So I have started working with two back scratchers so that if she starts playing with one of them, then I can stroke her with the other.  I also give her frequent breaks to avoid her getting overstimulated.  Over some time, this way of working gently will influence a cat's behavior so that they will learn to play with a toy and not with your hand, while they are also getting more comfortable being touched.  When it feels safe to do so, I slide my hand down the back scratcher and do TTouches with my hand, keeping the second back scratcher ready to show her to use if she starts to want to paw at something.
Her whole expression and look on her face has changed as well - so beautiful to see!!
Love you Berry! and look forward to seeing continued progress with you.  And thanks to one and all at BARC shelter for showing her and all the animals such kindness. 

TTouch with Pip and Oliver: A Gentle Introduction: Update

A ways back, I worked with Sarah and Chris and their cats, Pip and Oliver. They rescued Pip from a dumpster some months ago, and then, some months later, they rescued Oliver and brought him into their home. So Sarah and Chris had been introducing the cats very gradually to each other, and during the appointment we worked with the two cats using harnesses and leashes, incorporating TTouch, treats etc, to help them get used to being in the presence of each other in a gradual and safe way.

Yesterday Sarah sent me this photo she snapped of the boys hanging out very near each other, which was so wonderful to see!! They are still getting acclimated to each other, but are really coming along well.

This picture was taken on the night of the first time having both cats in the same room without the harnesses and leashes. There were a couple of small skirmishes, but after a while, and TTouches and treats for both cats, Pip and Oliver eventually ended up in the position that you see them here on the couch. After a bit, Pip did try to intimidate Oliver again, so they took him out of the room, but Oliver seemed ok right away, instead of hiding or seeming traumatized.

This was a big improvement for both cats, especially since this was their first try at having both cats without the harnesses and leashes.

The email which Sarah wrote me was written the day after this, and here's how the email ended: "I'm typing this in the living room on the floor between Oliver on the couch and Pip on his back beside me, as I have been for 15 minutes or so, so I'd call that astounding progress!"
Astounding progress indeed, and wonderful work by all involved. Such diligent work done with such sensitivity truly makes such a difference. Thanks, Sarah, for sharing this with me, and I wish you all the best! Look forward to further updates :) xo

A Thanks to the Animals who Heal Me

I have to take a special moment to thank all the animals in my life for how much my connection with them has been healing to me. They give me so much every day (and of course a special thanks to my own cat Garbanzo)!

This past Saturday was a case in point. We were having an adoption event for Social Tees and I had a sore throat and was feeling a bit achy and like I was fighting a bug of some kind, but I went over to the event at least so say hi and see what was going on.

Below is a dear little tortoise-shell cat who I have been working on lately. She was initially very shy but has really come around. and I have given her special attention lately because I had to put some cream on a little abrasion she had on her tail. I saw her in the van and she was being so cute and kind of silly, sitting inside a metal ring generally meant for a water dish. Here she is looking right at me, aww!


This little darling was adopted this week by a very kind young man - they seemed to bond with each other instantly, and she was very comfortable sitting in his lap and being petted right away. She came a long way from the scared little kitty she was just a short time ago. I wish her well in her new home.

Below is the lovely calico friend of Carrot Top. She looked so peaceful as she took a nap in the van, it was cozy and warm in there. She and Carrot Top were adopted this week as well by two young women, so good luck to them too.

After visiting with the animals in the van, I needed to go back to the shelter to give eye medication to some tiny little kittens we have there. I try to make this event a more pleasant one by combing and cleaning the kittens, doing ear strokes and other TTouch on them while I have them out to give the eye drops. They really are quite cooperative, and they all want to come bounding out of the cage when I open it. The interesting thing is that they sometimes seem to have a sense of taking turns, as the last kitten who I need to give eye meds to (and I go in a different order each time) will often come to the door on its own, seeming to know that it's his or her time out with me. The mom cat and all her five kids are all completely socialized and hopefully in a couple of weeks they will be ready for adoption.

And below you will see two pictures of my pal Jesse James, who is coming around more and more. Other volunteers in the shelter who used to be a little afraid of him are now able to pet him and sometimes he will even give them a kiss!

You can see how happy he looks below. I am able to touch him on all parts of his body now, though I do have to be a little careful around his mouth area as this can be a little iffy still. I think he just gets nervous when there is too much going on and if there are larger dogs in the shelter - he seems to generally get along with dogs around his own size.

At the end of this day, when I was back in the shelter, Jesse came up to me like he often does and puts his paw on my knee, as you see in the picture below. This is his signal he wants to be picked up to sit on my lap. Of course I was happy to do this! He is now very comfortable in my lap and ready to receive TTouch there. He gives me kisses there as well. What a great little guy. I have also been teaching him (using treats) to sit on command. This is challenging for him and sometimes I have to just wait for him to sit, as he will often first try to jump up to get the treat, but ultimately he realizes what he needs to do and he sits and receives the treat.

So by the end of this day I had just about forgotten that I had been feeling so lousy in the beginning of the day. My body aches and sore throat had totally gone away. I have to thank the animals for that!

The Way to A Cat's Heart Is...

Yesterday I was back at Whiskers Holistic Health Care, where I have been going to do TTouch on three rescue cats the past 3 Sundays. Above is a picture of one-eyed Wilma from yesterday and a picture of Bele from last week. The really nice news, sounds like Lokai and Bele are soon to be adopted and there is interest in Wilma as well, so I'm crossing fingers for all of them.
To get back to the subject of the above heading, yesterday in I went to visit these three cats and they gathered around me looking very eager. I opened my bag, as Wilma likes to go in and snuggle there. She was even more interested in it than usual, and started digging inside. I had forgotten that I had left some packaged samples of dry food in there. Anyhow, she was happy to receive TTouch as she was busy in the bag. She found the treats and tore into the treat bag. The other two cats got crazy about the food being in there as well. A few minutes later I found out from the people at Whiskers that the cats were probably hungry as they were going to be fed pretty soon. They were ok with the cats receiving treats, so we had treats and TTouch, alternating between one and the other. I took the treats out of the bag and put them inside another plastic bag and behind me to hopefully get them out of mind. We did get in some nice TTouch with the wand with an ace bandage wrapped around the end (we call it a corn-dog) and some abalone touch and other types of touch, including some belly lifts on Lokai. Their concentration and patience seemed to be less than usual because they were hungry and somewhat distracted, wondering when/if more treats would be produced, so next time I will try to go at a different time when they are not apt to be so hungry! On the very up side though, Wilma, who is by far the shyest and most reluctant of the bunch, is getting more and more comfortable around me, and likes to sit right next to me now for much of the time, even if she is not in the mood to be touched all of that time. It feels like a breakthrough for her to be comfortable and content in close proximity to a person. Another NEW thing we tried yesterday was using a fuzzy paint roller (no paint on it though!!) to do some TTouch and Wilma loved it. Also, I actually had two cloth bags plus a towel spread out on the floor around me and the cats really took to this, they were all snuggled around me on the soft surfaces.