Tavi & Friends Cats, part II

I also worked on two other cats when I was at the boarding facility through Tavi & Friends through their TTouch-in-Rescue™ program. One was a black cat named Riley whose cage was marked "Caution! Not Friendly" and the other was a large tabby named Baby whose cage was also marked "Caution" but he was a very friendly guy.

The black cat is quite fearful of being touched. When I opened his cage, he retreated to the back of his cage, growling. At first I tried using a long plastic back scratcher (using the back of the plastic hand to stroke the cat), and he seemed to be too afraid of that. The next thing I tried was a long feather. Different cats respond to different types of surfaces. He really settled down as I did circles and strokes on his ear with the feather. I did a couple of short sessions with him (just a few minutes each) with the feather, and in between, he seemed to be very curious what I was doing with Porter, the cat in the cage next to him. After a while, he was done being touched w/the feather and began to want to play with it. He jumped to the upper level of his cage (there is a hole to give him access to both an upper and lower cage, and I was able to reach the feather up through the hole to do a few strokes on him. Sometimes he seemed ok with that and other times he just wanted to play with the feather. Then I gave him another break.

Then I opened his cage, just speaking to him softly. He blinked at me from time to time. Finally he softly came up to me and just touched me with his paw, then moved quickly away again. He did this a few times. I tried reaching toward him with my hands, but he seemed to not be ready for that, so I didn't push the issue.

He seems to really long for contact, but still is afraid of it. I look forward to working with him further and to hearing what Marge's experience with Riley and Porter is next time she sees them.

I also spent a little time with Baby (pictured above). He is a total mush, a big sweetie. I did circles and strokes down his body, as well as work on his ears and head. He was purring up a storm and very responsive to the attention. What a love! Thanks Mary, I look forward to working with these cats again and to sharing with you and the other people who work with these cats about our experience with them.

Meeting New Cats Through Tavi & Friends

Yesterday I did 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. Mary Bruce, who runs Tavi & Friends, who does so much good work, introduced me to the facility and to the cats.

My friend Marge Piatak has been working on some of these cats, including a lovely Russian Blue kitty named Porter. Here is what she had done with him before I met him:

"I've been having an interesting experience at Mayor's Alliance - Porter - a cat who was marked CAUTION - Not Friendly! My first visit with him - he was so low in his bed you could only see the top of his head and 2 eyes - which were literally horizontal slits! He stayed that way the entire time I was in the room. Once or twice I stood to the side, toned & did some air circles.. Second visit - same initial position in the bed... I did more touches -- on the window with paintbrush -- strokes... toned.... I went back several times near front of cage..Then --- after working in front of the room, I walked to the back -- i didn't recognize him -- he was standing up in front of the cage following my movements. Did window touches w/ brush, my hands.. Then put brush through cut out circles - he bit it like crazy, but I got in circles....
Yesterday was a 3rd visit (these are 2 weeks apart).. In bed when I got there, but within a minute - to the front of hs cage. Can now touch his body and head with brush & stroke w/wand --- but he really likes to bite down hard on the brush or whatever --- I'm really happy though. His first posture looked more like --- Come one step closer & I kill!
Now he's allowing the interaction & I hope benefiting from the circles I can do with him."

Marge has done such a great job with Porter, and I'm sure that all her work prepared him for the interaction I had with him yesterday. I started out with him doing some strokes with a plastic back scratcher, but he seemed to dislike this. So I changed over to a long feather. I was able to do some circles and strokes on his head, and a few strokes on other parts of his body, but he would also bite and play with the feather. I gave him many breaks, and each time I stopped, he came to the front of the cage to see what I would do next.

I decided to see what would happen if I really calmed and slowed my energy down, and if I felt an invisible connection from my fingers to him. He sat down and looked at me, blinking at me. I began to do clouded leopard circles in the air about a foot away from where he was lying down. I could tell he was familiar with the circles and I could feel him being calmed by them, as he settled into a more cozy position and his eyes got more sleepy. He in the back of his cage so it was hard to reach him, but I started to do some strokes and circles with the back of my fingers around his jaw and cheek area, and then his forehead, and felt him begin to push back with his head. I did some circular touches w/the back of my fingers on other parts of his head and neck area. Then he came to the front of the cage and down on the bottom level, right in front of me, where I was able to continue doing circular touches and strokes with the back of my hand down his back, as well as some ear work, and he was really responding, leaning into my hand. When he had enough, he went back to the top level, back of the cage for a bit, and when I closed his cage he came to the front again, watching me work on the cat next to him. I came back to him again after that, and when I started out with him he was a little shy, in the back of the cage again at first, but then was leaning into my hand again.

Big thanks to Marge, Mary and other volunteers who have worked w/Porter, I know all their patient work with him got him ready to be able to make complete contact. Porter is such an intelligent, engaging cat, that once he becomes more accustomed to being touched, his chances for being adopted soon will be very great.

Update on Buddy

A few days ago I went to visit my friend Jordyn and her animals, especially to work on her dog Buddy, who she is fostering and who we were first told was "paralyzed". When I saw him a couple of weeks ago, Jordyn had had him for just a few days, and within these few days he was walking pretty well with a sling around his hind end. His hind legs were still figuring out what to do and sometimes his feet would flop over so the front of the foot was dragging, but still he was getting along well and had a great attitude about everything.

As you will see in these clips, Buddy is now walking amazingly well on his own without the sling, doesn't flip his feet over any more. He is doing great! He still can use some TTouch etc to help increase awareness in his back end and especially his feet, as he is still stiff there. But he can really move along. Jordyn's concern now is that he tries to go too fast sometimes and then gets out of balance, so I am having her walking him using a step-in harness and a double-ended leash attached to the two side clips of the harness.

I have to credit Jordyn with all the love and care she and her guy John have given Buddy, they are doing an awesome job on him. And Buddy's positive attitude has really helped him to progress as well. After Jordyn and I walked Buddy for a while, I did some TTouch on him back at their apt. I did zigzags going down his back and down his legs and connected abalone touches on his back, some python lifts on his legs, and some raccoon touches all around his feet. I showed Jordyn what I was doing so she can do these touches on him as well. Great job all! I am so grateful that this dog has made such wonderful and quick progress.

Update on Sparkle

Sparkle is a feral kitten who I have been working on for a couple of months or so. She is one of the most challenging cats I have met so far, as she is SO fearful. She still will hiss and spit, and sometimes swat, when first approached, but she is much more curious and outgoing than before, and seems to really long for contact. She now is mostly in the front of her cage, reaching out to anyone who passes by (especially me or some of the other volunteers who she is familiar with), and sometimes trying to play with someone in a cage adjacent to hers. She is growing, as she must be about 5 months old now, and is long and slim, her body type seems similar to some Siamese cats. We still have her in a cage with Wally, who is a very sweet grey and white adult kitty, and they cuddle together.

Sometimes recently I had been sneaking my hand onto Sparkle when the two of them were cuddling, putting my hand on Wally first and then going around the back of him to the back of her head and doing some TTouch on her that way. A few days ago, I decided to take a plunge and try touching her directly. In order to protect my hands, I have been wearing some rather thick, but snug-fitting gardening gloves, so I can be protected but still feel what I am doing. At first she will still hiss at me, but once I begin to do some raccoon touches on her head, she will settle down for a few minutes. I have been keeping these sessions short, as I don't want to push the issue too much, but if feels like she is beginning to get used to the contact. This is such an interesting ongoing adventure -- Sparkle is teaching me so much about being in the moment and being patient, and letting go of any expectations I might have.

Milton, the Savannah Monitor Lizard

Social Tees Animal Rescue Shelter does reptile rehabilitation (the reptiles are not adopted out, they are rehabilitated and then generally go to a reptile refuge or sanctuary) as well as rescue of cats and dogs, and one of our current reptile residents is Milton, who is a Savannah Monitor Lizard. He is a very chill guy, and sometimes you would swear he is smiling. I had the unusual experience of holding him and doing some TTouch on him the other day.



I was instructed to hold Milton rather like a baby, with his head facing over my shoulder, one of my hands under his rear end and the other behind his shoulders. What an interesting texture of skin, I had never felt anything quite like it. It felt a bit like thick, scaly leather.


Very slowly I began to do some abalone touches (circular TTouches which use the whole surface of the hand, which can be very soothing) on Milton's back with the hand that was supporting his shoulder area. I would do a circular touch, then slide my hand to the next location, going down his back a ways and then moving to the side a bit and coming back up, pausing at the end of each circle and a quarter. At first Milton felt as though he was a bit unsure, as this must have been a new sensation. So I would pause for a bit, then start again. After a while I felt his body begin to relax down against my body. His tongue was coming in and out of his mouth, and at one point he actually kissed my cheek with his tongue.


After perhaps about five minutes (remember, with TTouch it is moments, not minutes, that we strive for -- quality, not quantity), I felt that Milton had had enough of this new sensation, so I returned him to his enclosure. He soon settled down for a nap.

Thank you Milton, for giving me this very different experience. I look forward to further contact with Milton and lessons from him. And thanks Estee, one of the very kind and dedicated volunteers at the shelter who took several of these pictures, and who does so much to help!

New Article and Pet Identa-Search

My friend Jordyn Thiessen has developed a great website with her father called Pet Identa-Search, and a page of this website is devoted to articles about pets. I had the honor or her asking me to write an article, so here it is: http://02cd1c2.netsolhost.com/pettalkarticles.html.

Please also check out the site, it is fascinating, has a lot of great information, and the Pet Identa-Search toolkit is a great idea.

Thanks so much, Jordyn, you are the best!

Iggy and the Baby Chimp Touch

Iggy is another one of my sister Katie's gorgeous kitties, and here he is above as I demonstrate the baby chimp touch. This is a circular TTouch which is done using the very top part of the finger. It is a very nice touch to use on cats and small animals as you can touch a very small area, such as the head or around the mouth, and as it uses a back surface of the hand, it is a less threatening type of touch than some others which use the front surface on the hand. Thank you Iggy!