Possum Babies by Sarah Fisher

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OFFICIAL TTOUCH AND TTEAM IRELAND
The Forward Thinking Approach to Training, Handling and Rehabilitation

Please note: There is no TTouch Centre in Ireland, all Practitioner Training Courses are held at the UK Tilley Farm Centre. We are planning some TTEAM Practitioner Training Clinics, in Ireland, in 2012 - please contact Liz Serinken to join our free 'TTouch and TTEAM' online newsletter for immediate news updates!

Possum Babies

By Sarah Fisher

I was on a training course for horses near San Francisco with Robyn. It was incredibly hot and we were in the middle of a drought. At the end of the day I was walking back to the house when I spotted something struggling in the swimming pool. A baby possum was clinging desperately to the pool cleaner as it swirled around the edges of the pool.

We used tiny TTouches around his ears and began doing Ear Work

Fortunately the possum was in easy reach and I fished it out. Another participant was on hand as well and we wrapped him up in the towel to dry his bedraggled body. He was very weak, freezing cold, limp and in shock. We used tiny TTouches around his ears and began doing Ear Work - stroking his tiny, finger nail shaped ears from the base right to the tip. I knew the effects of Ear Work on horses but was still stunned at the response from the possum. He came back to life in a matter of seconds, warmed up and became interested in what we were doing. A cotton bud was fetched and we began doing tiny TTouches around his mouth with the dampened tip of the bud. He began moving his mouth and

licking at the water. Within half an hour he was sitting quite happily in a warm bed made from a cardboard box and was hand feeding and drinking water with relish.

Later that evening another drowning baby was found in the pool and after the appropriate TTouch work, he too was popped into the box with his sibling. They were checked periodically throughout the evening and early the next morning, and they were both alert but settled in their temporary home.

Three more babies were found in the yard by other participants during the day but as they were only in need of food and water they were put straight into the box without receiving any TTouches.

The difference between the TTouch babies and the other babies was marked. When food was being put into their box the two TTouch Possums ran over to take the food whilst the lid was still open. Their eyes were bright and their coats were gleaming from all the self grooming they had been doing. The three unhandled babies however hid, hissing and displaying defensive behaviour when the lid was raised. Their stress levels were really high. Their eyes were hard and staring, their mouths were open and their coats were dull. Although this work is not about forcing the TTouch on every animal that comes our way, there was concern later that evening that the three un-TTouched babies were not feeding. We took them out of the box one by one

A cotton bud was fetched and we began doing tiny TTouches around his mouth with the dampened tip of the bud

and did a few minutes of Ear Work and lightest TTouches on their body to see if they would settle.

The result? Five fat, shiny possum babies, feeding well and ready to be moved on to a temporary home before being released back into the wild. Prior to doing TTouches on the other three youngsters it had been easy to tell which were the babies that had been in the pool as the behaviours were so different. After all of them had been worked on it was impossible to distinguish between the pool possums and the yard possums. It only took a few minutes to change and possibly even save the lives of these little animals. This story is not unique. There are countless testimonials from around the world from people who have literally saved an animals life by using the TTouch techniques.

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