My "Other Animal" case study

As part of our training we are supposed to do a case study on a different type of animal that we usually work with.   At first I was a bit concerned about this part of my study as everyone I know has DOGS!  We don't really have "other animals" - I wondered who would come along to fill this need.

Turns out one of my BFF's got two baby kittens!  Nillie and Willie!  Aren't they adorable?  Aren't they wiggly?  Yes, they are adorable AND they ARE wiggly.

Nillie and Willie

Celeste is trying to do all she can to have well behaved, happy, balanced cats when they grow up so she was more than willing to try some TTouch with them.

So far I've learned that working with kittens is very different from working with puppies.  With a wiggly puppy I can give them a bully stick to chew on while I work for a couple minutes and let them go.  Not so lucky with kittens.  I felt like we were working with live, half filled, water balloons!

 We would catch a kitten and try to work with them secured in a small towel but they would "squirt" right out the top....or we tried to work with them in a basket with the top covered with a towel..well they found a way out of there too.

We actually had our best luck holding them close with all 4 feet on the ground and doing about 30 seconds of touches and then letting them go.

Having 2 kitties to work with was ideal.  We could work with one a bit and then the other.

I don't think the kittens were adverse to the idea of Tellington TTouch.  It was more that they had other and better things to do.  Not much for resting at this point in their 3 month old lives.

Nillie, the little girl and the most independent of the two, actually allowed me to do touches all along the outside of her mouth. 

We worked ears, mouths, and toes.  Were able to do a few Lying Leopards here and there.

Next time we may try tiny body wraps and see how that goes.  I'm thinking the kitties will thing the wraps are really fun toys.

What do you think?