She had quit eating her usual portions, slowed her exercise, no longer played with any toys and quit grooming herself. She was a tidy Cat. Normal in every way. Relinquished by her family for reasons known only to them. Most likely age-related. And now she had been in the shelter too long. Her actions matched up with what they call: shelteritis.
'Failure to Thrive" is another term.
Katie had her fan club of compassionate guardians at the shelter and they were worried about the changes in behavior. They recognized the warning signs and tried everything they knew to turn the tide. One volunteer had seen BlackWing Farms' Remedies work on a stressed Dog and thought: 'What the heck... at this point, we have nothing to lose.'
Five of us stood around the top-tier cage and watched Katie not move. Slumped down. Barely blinking. Just a blank stare at no one in particular. Pulled into her sadness, I almost forgot why I was there. First, I sprayed all of us watching as I was sure I was not the only one buying into the sadness and then sprayed the corners of her cage. Not her.
I turned my back to the cage and started to pontificate. Of course I did - I was nervous the Essences would not work - even with a 99% success rate - I always stress about that 1%!
A volunteer said: "Look! She is grooming."
In all the sophistication I could muster, I asked: "Grooming grooming?"
Volunteer said: "Yes. Grooming grooming." There were tears in her eyes. As I turned to look - Katie now groomed behind her ears and her face with her arm. Licking, moving, now rolling over to get at her belly. We knew we had helped her turn the tide.
The Flowers we used? Glad you asked!
Flower Essences of Forget-Me-Not, Mustard for lingering depression, Yarrow for the 'wounded Hero', Echinacea to re-balance, BlackWing Farms own Drama-Trauma plus homeopathic Aconitum Napellus 30x for overcoming emotional shock. We call this formula Grief, Depression, and Shock. I have been known to spray myself often and as the shelters and rescues do = overspray so that my own drinking water, coffee, tea gets a spritz as well. Animals suffer when we witness others' suffering - called: Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder. Very true. Very valid.
