Helping two cats with declawing issues

I have recently been involved with two cats who live in the US (I am currently living in Johannesburg South Africa). Their owner wanted me to do an EFT ‘overview’ on them to see if they had any issues that needed sorting out.

She sent me pics of the two cats, Paddy and Tiger*** and a bit of background info on when she got them, how old they were etc.

I did an overview on them and discovered that the biggest issue for both of them was that they had been declawed many years previously and were still carrying around lots of emotional ‘stuff’ regarding this.

It was agreed that I would then do individual surrogate sessions with each of the cats and I muscle tested to find out which cat to work with first as during my initial evaluation they were both extremely emotional about the declawing.

I was ‘told’ to deal with Tiger first, so I did.

I usually do my EFT surrogate sessions while out walking as I find I can tune out any distractions. I start by saying I am doing this for XXX… I am doing this for XXX. Then I think about what to say for the set up and take it from there.

I begin by muscle testing to see what is the primary emotion I need to deal with – and for Tiger what first came up was anger. I started to tap on even though I am angry that… and got no further as there was too much emotion and Tiger could not let me say ‘declawing’ – it was far too emotional a word. We then settled on ‘this terrible thing that happened to me’ and he seemed OK with that.

So… even though I am angry that this terrible thing happened to me I am a great cat. No way! Tiger ranted at himself saying how could he be a great cat – he doesn’t have any claws… how could he call himself a great cat… how could he be named Tiger when he didn’t act like a Tiger – couldn’t act like a Tiger.

I just tapped around my face points and kept tapping on the collarbone point while he calmed down a bit. Then out of the blue the word ‘guilt’ leapt out of my head and I burst into tears. I was so upset (or rather Tiger was so upset) that I couldn’t stand up. I thought I would have to sit in the road as I couldn’t breathe, was sobbing so hard I couldn’t see where I was walking.

I just kept tapping my collarbone and after a few minutes I/Tiger had calmed down enough to talk through the tapping points. I was amazed that he felt guilty. I would have expected him to feel angry or depressed perhaps but not guilty that he hadn’t stopped the declawing.

If anyone thinks that when doing the surrogate EFT you use your own thoughts, then this ‘guilt’ should help them understand that I just tune into the animal. There is no way I would ever have thought that a cat would feel guilty; in fact I think guilt would be the last emotion that would ever come to me!

We tapped on it was not my fault – I didn’t know what they were going to do to me – my mommy thought it was the right thing to do at the time – lots of rounds on it was not my fault and I forgive myself even though I couldn’t do anything about stopping it.

After several rounds of that, Tiger calmed down and we were able to mention the DC word. We worked through his anger at the vet that did the op – and anger at his mommy for not thinking more.

Eventually after about 20 minutes of tapping we got his anger down to zero for his mommy and himself and his guilt down to zero. He would not forgive the vet though and it took another session (the next day) to get him to agree to say I am open to the possibility of being open to the possibility of forgiving that vet. But not yet.

The next day I tuned in to Paddy about the declawing. He was depressed, not very angry. We did set ups of ‘even though I feel life is not worth living, after that terrible thing that happened to me, I am working through this’. He also could not say he was a great cat… as he felt so down about himself.

We did rounds on what is the point of living… I have no claws – I am not a real cat. I see no point in eating… and eventually we got more positive and he decided that he liked his life.

As the depression lifted, anger came to the fore and we had to do several rounds on that: even though I am so angry with that vet for telling my mommy it would be a good thing to take my claws away, I AM a great cat – in fact that is what you must call me, the Great Paddy – and I am working through this.

He forgave himself for not stopping the op. I found it interesting that both the cats felt that they ‘should’ have done more to stop the declawing.

Paddy also was not open to forgiving the vet totally. He also needed some positive reinforcement after we lifted the depression. He told me that his self image was at a 7 out of 10 but he wanted it to be a 10! So… even though I still have some issues with my self image I am a great cat, I am the Great Paddy and I am working through this.

Two rounds later and he was at a 10 and feeling very confident!

The next day (I allow one day for the changes to be assimilated) he was feeling fine but still not open to forgiving the vet. He said he was happy to have that bit of anger still there for the time being but did think eventually he would forgive the vet.

Feedback from their mommy has been that they both seem more confident and less depressed after doing the EFT. There are other issues that we can work through such as their jealousy of each other (‘jealousy? what jealousy’ said Tiger snippily. I have no issues with jealousy although others might!) but are letting the declawing settle a bit first.

I work with people and animals and have to admit a sneaking preference for cats – we have five of our own plus a lodger cat, Splodge, whom I have written about in another mail.

It is really wonderful that I can help so many animals however far away from me they are physically, thanks to EFT!

*** names have been changed