Connecting with Krishna, February 2012: Day One

Hi folks! Krishna is a wonderful kitty I have worked with for a while, and occasionally I have the opportunity to cat sit for him. He is very shy, and it is hard for him when his people are away. I approach him very quietly and gently.

Today when I went, it was the first day of cat sitting him, and I wasn't sure whether he would be a bit miffed to see me. I began to send him Reiki energy as I was on the subway traveling to his apartment. For those unfamiliar with Reiki, it can be done remotely or hands-on. When I arrived, he was actually pretty calm, given the situation. He sat down near his food bowls and waited as I prepared his food for him. I was sending him Reiki energy as I got his food ready, cleaned his box etc. He ate a bit, then was ready to play.

He loves to chase the light from a flashlight, so this was a great way to get any pent-up energy out and get him more relaxed. He really got going chasing the light around, and when I stopped for a minute, he did something he usually does, went up to the flashlight to sniff it, as if to prompt me to continue.

He appears to know that the light comes from the flashlight, but that doesn't diminish his enjoyment of the game!

After he had enough, he seemed much more relaxed. He was very cute, started rubbing his face against the legs of an easel that was near where we were playing.

He then went to eat some of his food with gusto, unconcerned that I was sitting nearby. After he was done, he sat off to the side of his bowls, and I did some Reiki from a short distance away. I could see him relaxing as I did this. I tried something which I recently did with a feral at the shelter - I used a paintbrush and just gently made a stroking motion a few inches in front of where his whiskers are.

The feral cat had found this relaxing, and he responded to it as well. He is so sensitive that it was as if I was actually touching him.

He then went to eat some more, and I got ready to go. I had explained to him how many times it would get dark before his people returned, reassured him that they would return, and told him that I would be there every day to give him food, play with him etc. Thanks a lot Krishna, it was such a pleasure to spend time with you once again.

Listening to Harry

Harry (above) is a new arrival at the boarding facility where I work with rescue cats through Tavi and Friends & the Mayor's Alliance. He was hunched in the back of his cage when I arrived. I opened the cage very quietly, speaking to him a little bit in a soft voice. He meowed, but it seemed like a frightened meow, so I decided to try to first make contact using the back of the hand part of a long-handled back scratcher. The tool seemed to frighten him, so I gave him a break for a few minutes, and decided to try with a softer surface.

I took out a long-handled flat paintbrush that is 2-3 inches wide, and began to gently stroke him under his chin. This immediately really clicked with him, and he began to rub himself against the brush, and against the surfaces of his cage, eventually stretching and rolling around. It was very sweet to see! I would stop for a few seconds to give him a break, sometimes closing the cage, then started again. Little by little he became more and more comfortable, venturing forward in his cage, and I was able to do some TTouches directly with my hand as well as with the tool. I did chimp TTouches with him, which use the back surface of the middle digit of the fingers (see my youtube channel for a demo, http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat), as back surfaces of the hand are less intense than the front surfaces. I mostly used the paintbrush though, as I wanted to make sure that he felt very safe. It is important, too, to realize and be sensitive to the fact that a tool or technique that works for one cat may not work for another cat, and that even working with the same cat in multiple sessions, their tastes and preferences can change.

By the end of the session, he was so much more comfortable than in the beginning, and I feel that it will not take him long for him to come more completely out of his shell. Most cats are very terrified when they are first rescued - and some have their true personality buried very deep, but others just need to shake of the initial fear and then rather quickly become friendly and quite comfortable. But it is essential to be very sensitive to what they are ready to do, and not push to achieve a pre-conceived agenda. What animals remind me of every day is the importance of truly being in the moment.

Much love to you Harry!! see you soon! xo

TTouch and Reiki with Jinx (and Sammi)

Above: Offering Reiki to Jinx (grey and white cat) with one hand and Sammi (black cat) with the other

Today I went to work with my friend Jordyn's (http://dancingminddesign.com/) cat Jinx, who has been losing mobility in his back legs, due either to a disk problem or tumor. It's been a couple of weeks since I saw him, and he did seem weaker in his back end when we started out today. Sometimes he will walk on his feet knuckled-over, drag one or both back legs, or collapse. This has been ongoing to some degree but did seem to be worse initially today.

First I worked with him with a TTouch half-wrap on, which seemed to help his awareness right away. He began to use his back feet more and was falling less. As he moved, I was doing connected TTouches going down either side of his back, as well as some TTouches on his hind feet and legs. These also helped him to get some more connection. The above pic is from a previous session, but is to show you basically what the wrap looks like. Please visit this link at my youtube channel for a demo of the wrap, plus demos of many other TTouches: http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat.

When he was tired, he curled up on one of his cat beds and I began to offer Reiki energy to him, first from a short distance, and then hands-on. His eyes closed and he began to stretch out. I also did little raccoon TTouches on his hind feet, in between the toes, on the toes and feet and up and down the legs a bit. Sometimes I used my thumb to do the TTouches, stabilizing my hand with my index finger. Below, he nudged my hand with his paw, as though to connect further.

While I did this, Sammi, another of Jordyn's cats, was on the other side of where I was sitting, rubbing against me as she is in heat (she will be spayed soon!). She was craving the energy as well, and calmed as I put one hand on her back, and then her belly. Both of them calmed as I did this.

After a while, Jinx got up, walked around some more, then settled on a cat bed again. Again, Sammi settled on the other side of me, so I offered her Reiki as well part of the time (with one hand on Jinx and the other on her). I started out with one of my hands on either side of Jinx, close to where he was, and ended up with my hands around his shoulder area, or the brachial chakras. I felt a very strong connection and the energy being pulled into his body, and I visualized it traveling down his body to his hind legs. Later on, he shifted so that one of my hands was over his lower back around the base of his tail, and so I sent the energy to first his sacral chakra and then his base chakra, again feeling and visualizing the energy going into his body and down his legs. I literally felt it pulled there as well. We spent quite a good amount of time there. The energy in the whole apartment felt very peaceful.

When I felt he had enough, I ended the session. When he got up to walk again, Jordyn said that he was doing much better than he had been before.

Much love to you Jinx, Jordyn, Sammi and the rest of the Jordyn's furry ones. Look forward to seeing you all soon.

TTouch and Reiki at BARC Shelter: Update on Dr. Teeth

Dr. Teeth, who we now call Dr. T (seems to fit her more to a T!), is a very shy cat at BARC shelter. She has been making steady progress though, and though she may initially run away, she usually comes back for attention. I have showed some of the volunteers how to TTouch her using a paintbrush, which is a great way to initiate contact with her, until she becomes more familiar with you and is ready for direct contact. A few days ago, when I took these pictures, she was brave enough to remain in the front of the cage as I did TTouch with her.
She used to be very frightened of being touched on her head, and has been getting increasingly comfortable with that as well. I have found that doing some gentle TTouches on her forehead, using my thumb (with the rest of my fingers stabilizing my hand on the other side of her head, as shown here), is very comforting to her.
In case you're wondering, her tongue sticks out at times, probably because she has few, if any, teeth.

On her body, I find that the abalone TTouch is comforting to her. It is a circular TTouch which uses the surface of the whole hand. This can often be a great TTouch for shy animals, but every animal is different so you may have to experiment with a few TTouches to find what your animal is most receptive to. Please visit my youtube site for demos of these TTouches, http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat.
As I began to do the abalone TTouches on her, she began to relax further, stretching her body out and relaxing her muscles on her back further. I was also sending Reiki energy to her at the same time. You can see that my hand is rather red, and that is beause it was emanating quite a bit of heat.
I also found that she is very receptive to being stroked under the chin, and she often will lean into your hand when you do that, which is a big step for her.
And her friend Ice Cream is still providing a lot of comfort to her, so I am sure that is affecting her mood and level of relaxation to a great degree as well. They most often sit next to each other on either side of the bars of their cages, and he still will reach through to touch her.
Best wishes, Dr. T., see you soon!

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

Quiet Moments with Shy Hilda at BARC Shelter

Hilda is an extremely shy kitty at BARC Shelter. Initially she was in a cage and had started to really come out of her shell, but a volunteer mistakenly thought it was ok to let her out of the cage. Then, since it was so impossible to catch her (not to mention she took became extremely bonded for a while with one of our resident cats who is loose in the shelter, Sly), it was decided to let her remain with the cats which are loose in the cat loft. This has suited her fine but it makes it more difficult to socialize with her, as she tends to run away when approached.

Recently she has enjoyed hanging out in the cat bed pictured above, so I decided to quietly approach her with a TTouch tool (in this case, I used a paintbrush) to see what would happen.

The cat bed is sitting on top of a mattress, so I sat on the mattress at a diagonal line several feet away from her, and, with my back to her and not staring at her, I moved closer til I was close enough to touch her with the paintbrush. Initially she hissed at me, but as I began to do some circular TTouches on her head, she began to relax. I kept it fairly short, gave her a break, then tried again.

Over the next sessions, she eventially stopped doing the initial hiss, and at times I was able to do some TTouches using my hand directly as well as doing touches and strokes with the paintbrush. I also at times was able to approach her when she was not sitting in the cat bed. And one day a new volunteer just sat down near her and was able to pet her! So all of this was really great progress.

Initially I was using a paintbrush with a rather stiff bristle. But when I was shopping for art supplies a couple of days ago, I came upon a really soft paintbrush, like a makeup brush with a long handle. I had a feeling this would be a great texture to try with Hilda.

Sure enough, the soft texture was one she REALLY responded to, leaning into the brush and pushing against it, closing her eyes.

I did little circles and strokes with the brush, on the top of her head, the outside of her mouth, underneath her chin. Then I started to work in some strokes down the body. I did some TTouches directly with my hand as well, but since she was enjoying the soft brush so much, I mostly stayed with the brush. It was such a pleasure to see her truly relax, and for her to feel so comfortable connecting that way. I gave her several breaks, turning away from her for a few moments and then starting again. All the while I was doing this, I had my body position oriented sideways to her, which is a good position for working with cats, particularly very fearful ones. Facing them directly is usually way too intense for them and can be scary for them.

I still have to be very conscious of my energy and approach her very quietly, as if you approach her too fast, she will still run away, but I am sure over time she will become more and more comfortable connecting with people. Much love to you Hilda, and thank you for being so brave and open to trying something very different and new. See you soon......