Building Trust with a Feral Family

During my last blog, I wrote about the more introverted or reserved cats. I would like to share an experience from my perspective with a family of feral kitties that I had the opportunity to meet. A client had gently trapped the mom and four kittens bringing them into a second bedroom during the late fall to see if they could be socialized and to eventually get all spayed, neutered and checked medically.

My client had them a few weeks before I had the occasion to see them. I began all my visits by first connecting with those that live at the home fulltime offering Reiki, connection and music therapy before heading to the new family’s room. As you can imagine, mama kitty was apprehensive about the whole thing in the beginning.

I would start the conversation directly with her before reaching out to her kittens. I focused on mama, showed and explained as best I could what I was going to do and offered to do Reiki with her and play some of the frequency style music. Mama acknowledged what I shared with her through the blink of an eye. You might ask why I chose to go about the process in this manner. I feel all beings deserve love and respect for the journey they are on. And talking with the mother cat is the same we would want of any stranger approaching any child of ours – for them to chat with us before talking to our kids. Respect goes both ways and across worlds.

What this often looked like with mama:

·        If I brought treats for the kids, I gave her one first so she could confirm for her kittens that it was okay

·        I shared with her the toys in the form of shoelaces that I brought in to see whether any of her kids were open and felt safe enough to play.

·        I focused the Reiki with her before offering it elsewhere

Mama enjoyed the music therapy and Reiki to the extent that she eventually would nap while I was there which I saw as a huge step on the journey to trust. Towards the end, going as far as to sleep with her back to me. The kittens comprised of two girls and two boys were led by an outgoing and curious female that guided one of the brothers to join her in the fun with shoelaces which gave them some space before any truly intimate play.  The second brother ventured out of his safe place when I would focus my attention elsewhere seeing him mainly out of the corner of my eye at the start before joining his sister and brother in play. The second sister was the most cautious and reserved of the young foursome mainly staying hidden in the beginning.

The four siblings decided to stay inside with their stepbrothers and stepsisters. Mama chose to live outside but remains close by checking in on the crew from the patio, yard and surrounding neighborhood. The sibs have come into their own to take steps to connect with me in their own way and time. The outgoing sis is one of the first to greet me when I arrive, her brothers prefer to brush themselves up again my fingers versus me petting them with the more extrovert of the two giving me affectionate gentle love nips on my fingers. The reserved sister comes out to greet me and is now open for playing as much as her sister and often more than the boys.

All four are very loving in their own unique ways. It is wonderful to see the transformation from apprehensive to trustful that has occurred with each visit.