Often when Aurora González visits with cats at the Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in New York City, they seem to form a line to meet her.
That’s because González offers a unique technique for calming stressed cats: reiki, a Japanese healing method involving gentle hands that hover or offer light touch.
“I describe it as an energetic therapy. It helps reduce tension and stress,” she said. “We need to help them relax so that they can really shine and let their personalities come out.”
When their personalities blossom, shelter pets are more likely to connect with potential adopters. So the attorney typically volunteers twice a week with cats at Best Friends — and has for the past three years.
She started volunteering about a year after the death of her 15-year-old rat terrier, Snoopy.
“I was just a little bit lost and especially after the pandemic, feeling disconnected,” she said. “I was very much drawn to Best Friends because at the time they were starting a Spanish translation program where volunteers would go in and help translate for adoption.”
Being bilingual in Spanish and English, González welcomed the chance to use her language skills to connect with people and also work with animals. Coincidentally, she’d also recently started studying reiki for humans.
When there was downtime between adoptions, González would ask the staff how she could help — and they typically needed help with cats.
A Reiki Realization
One cat who had recently been spayed seemed “really down” in one of the free-roaming cat rooms, where González was sitting on the floor, interacting with cats. She wanted to help the frightened kitty.
“I found her hiding and tried everything that I could from training, and nothing was working,” she recalled. “So I thought to myself, ‘Well, I do this thing called reiki on humans — let me try the technique on her.’ One of the biggest things for me was always having almost a little dialogue, just trying to focus on her and seeing if she’ll accept what I’m offering her. And the kitty, she put her head on my hand without any prompting, and then she put a paw on my hand as well. That’s really the moment where I realized this is my calling.”
González immediately enrolled in classes to become certified for reiki work with animals and practiced at home on her dog, Biggie, and cat, Frida, who enjoyed her ministrations.
She believes no matter how great an animal shelter is, it’s still a shelter — not a home. So now she loves seeing stress melt away from shelter cats, and the joy she feels when she learns they’ve been adopted.
One orange tabby named Kitty preferred to be isolated from people and cats but got adopted after numerous reiki sessions with González helped him feel safe. Recently she learned Kitty’s family was even able to welcome a second cat into their home because Kitty blossomed so much.
It’s an example of why she loves offering reiki to shelter cats.
“It’s something that’s so wonderful to see because sometimes they’ll fall asleep on my hand,” she said. “Now I sort of walk into a room and sit down on the floor and see which of the kitties comes and they naturally gravitate. They’re very energetic beings and they really can sense your energy. I just sit down and sometimes I even have a little line that’s waiting for me, and most of the time they’ll lay on my lap and I can start a session with them right away. So they love it.”
The Need For Shelter Volunteers Nationwide
Her creative approach to calming shelter cats is a “unique demonstration” of the many ways people can get involved with pet lifesaving in their own communities, according to Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society — and the need is great. For instance, just this year, over 4,100 cats have entered the Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in New York.
According to Best Friends’ data, in 2024, 2.3 million cats entered shelters and around 188,000 were killed simply because they didn’t have a safe place to call home, Castle noted.
“Community support is the heart and soul of the no-kill movement, and Best Friends could not manage the lifesaving work that we do without our incredible volunteers,” she said. “Best Friends — and our network of shelter and rescue group partners — are always looking for volunteers to help us pursue our goal of ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters.”
Volunteers can take on a variety a roles, from walking dogs and cleaning kennels to marketing and data entry or advocating for local pets through the Best Friends Action Team — or coming up with specialized jobs, like practicing reiki with stressed cats.
“No matter how much or how little time or resources someone has, anyone can play a role in saving the lives of pets as a volunteer,” Castle said. “Adopting is one of the most powerful ways to help homeless dogs and cats, but for those unable to adopt, fostering and other forms of volunteering can be just as impactful. Every person in every community has a role to play in pet lifesaving.”
Spreading The Love
For her part, González is grateful to have found a special way to help cats get adopted. She shares her adventures on TikTok (@ThatChronicLiving) in English and Spanish to spread awareness about the benefits of reiki for shelter pets.
She fervently hopes other animal lovers will find time to volunteer at their local animal shelter, and adopt whenever possible. In fact, five months ago, she and her husband adopted a kitten from Best Friends named Lola, who helped their cat Frida regain her “sparkle” after the loss of both family dogs, Snoopy and Biggie.
“It’s so satisfying to be able to work in the shelter as a volunteer. And really, I would love it if more people volunteered — regardless of what your background is, you could really change a little living thing’s life completely just even volunteering an hour a week,” she said. “And obviously adopt because there are so many animals in need.”