Mellow was about a year old when I worked on him. Mellow was always jumpy, very panicky for no reason. He appeared to startle very easy for the simplest of things. I spoke to his mum, who says he did not use to be like that, but feels as he is an outdoor cat maybe something frightened him outdoors.

Although Mellow had the jumps from time to time, he is a very friendly cat and would talk to anybody who goes by. He was very overfamiliar with people which got me thinking.

As a Social Worker of Children and Families, when a child is over familiar it raises red flags. In children they have no awareness for stranger danger.

I asked if I could do a session with Mellow to see if he had any underlaying issues. What I found was very interesting and really fitted with Mellows character.

Mellow’s mum was out all the time, she worked and her daughter was at school so Mellow spent long periods of time out of the home and seeking shelter. Mellow’s trapped emotions were loneliness, not feeling loved and abandonment.

Mellow’s family had to move from their previous home and their new home was not pet friendly. So Mellow now resides with a friend of the family who are more available to serve his needs.

Jericho has always been a very mischievous, boisterous cat. He definitely give’s his mum a run for her money, keeping her on her toes. Jericho appeared to be very demanding and it would appear he ran the house.

During my session with Jericho, I discovered he was jealous of his human mum’s partner. I was able to pinpoint the approximate timeline in Jericho’s life when he started acting out. His mum confirmed it was correct. She had just started dating her new partner at that time. Jericho didn’t take too kindly to having to share her and even though it has been over two years he still is not welcoming to her partner.

After my session with Jericho I checked in with his mum about a week later to see how things was going. She said he had calmed down a bit but she was in anticipation waiting for him to kick off again.