Non-human alters

Recently a new part formed. Turns out she believes herself to be a jaguar.

Do you have experience with parts who believe themselves to be non-human?
How do you interact with them?

I wonder if I should try to make her feel safe, but I also don't really want to reinforce the substitute beliefs.

All of us are non-human. We consider ourselves therian and otherkin. Terms used by people who identify as animals or other beings not human.

Jaguar's are big cats so they may want to indulge in cat activities. Climbing, clawing objects. Rubbing up against things. look up the animals behaviours to understand them better.

Try and keep an open mind about them.

Boi (genet)

Safety first. Then attunement and empathy. Then exploring their view of themselves, others in the system and the world. Dissolving beliefs is at the bottom of the list, when you know they have the capacity for that. If you try to force it you only get more dissociation (or psychosis if it goes badly)
We have a cat girl. she is now at a point that she knows she is a girl and why she tends to behave like a cat (a grooming context). it took months of gentle work to get there.
maybe climbing is something important that could build a bridge?

Hello, qilin here! (or if you prefer, a bunch of animals in a trenchcoat. I'm a sub-system of sort)

In here we're either non-human or fictive introjections (or both!). We make a difference between, our identity inside, and the human body with human needs living in a human society.

We struggle sometimes when it comes to body perception, though. Like, "hands have too many fingers" or "where the fudge is my tail?" or ducking low because "heck my antlers are gonna get stuck in this doorframe!". It's embarrasing. It gets better with time though.

Just like any other stuff inside, we do our best to find a balance between: our own personal needs/preferences/tastes/points of view - and the needs of the physical body and physical life. For example, if I need to "gallop in the forest" but there is no possibility to physically go in a forest or gallop on all four, I make do with the next best thing: walking under no-forest trees with a prancy two-legged walk. Ulysses has issues eating some foods, so we give them space to enjoy the things they have no problem eating whenever we're eating them. And so on.

It's a case-by-case thing. But it's do-able. Like HiveMind said, otherkin/therian/fictionkin ressources can give you ideas on how to integrate jaguar things to do with a human body in a safe way whenever the jaguar wanna have fun. For example she might like to have a jaguar plushie to keep as her cub, or a jaguar onesie to sleep with, or watch documentaries about jaguar's ecosystem, or (co)front next time the system is having a big steak, or eat ribs with her fingers...

As long as she's aware that she's a jaguar "inside only" I don't think it would count as psychosis or be dangerous. Animal alters are a thing after all. She might need rules about behaving when she (co)fronts. Maybe she will think it fun, "going undercover as a human". Or maybe she will just don't care about human things and come out only to cuddle a plushie cub while watching a documentary and eating chicken nuggets.

The important is to keep the whole system safe. As long as she understands that, her being a jaguar won't be an issue IMO. (But I'm not very objective on that matter, being a zoo in a trenchcoat and everything...)

__
Zami

We have 'changelings' in our system. They can literally become anything (like shapeshifting) in the inner world or blend with other things, animals or humans. (like a spirit entering a body).

Most of them live very deep in the system in their own forest but we have one child changeling who came to the front many years ago to be 'best buddy' for our youngest (human) little. Changelings are actually 'ageless' (and genderless) so they can become the sex/age of the person/animal they blend with but she often chooses to present as a child the same age as our little so they can play together, but also likes to be around 12 years old too.

Do you know if she understands language and how much? If she's totally locked into the thought that she's a jaguar she might ignore all spoken language?

Non-human alters can have a wide range of awareness of the situation and the body they live in.

Some will 100% behave like animal ; others will be more 50/50 animal/human ; others will have a full human mind, but with animal shape and reactions.

I'm the main host and I'm an animal-alter (coyote). I'm more in the last category, unless I'm physically triggered. Turns out the animal shape, and feelings, and perceptions that come with are a symbol for hypervigilance and the need to protect myself (coyotes have good hearing, 42 teeth and run even faster than wolves, all of that would have helped...). Now I've worked enough on my traumas and anxiety, I feel human most of the time. When the "coyote" feelings come back too much, I know it's time for grounding and resting a bit.

I would say, the first thing to do is to work on reassurance and the relationship you have with this part. Like other have said, the way she sees herself isn't an issue as long as the system is safe.

It's kind of like handling Littles. You don't force them to realize they're adults, you reassure them, then help them grow up at their own pace. Same with animal alters, you don't force them to realize they're human, you reassure them, then help them become human at their own pace.

Hello, we also have a Jaguar in our system. She tends to keep to herself (in our inner world jungle) though, so not much is known about her yet. We also have a Wolf pack, a hyena, plus others. A lot of them can take human, or human-like form (so it is easier to communicate), BUT NOT all of them.

There also is a cat and a dog, who roam the hallways of our main building. The dog loves to play fetch. The cat seems to like yarn, and items that make a jingling sound (the cat loves chasing a jingly ball we have in our inner world. Similar to playing fetch). Those two can't talk, or take human form. The best way, we found, is to play with them (when they want). These two, for example really act like outer world animals, so we found a lot of stuff those animals would like in the outer world (also works here).

Phoenix here - I am a changeling. If I choose to be an animal I know it can only on the inside, cos there is a vast landscape there. so for example the host may have been watching a documentary on snow leopards and I'm feeling bored and thinking that looks good I could do with stretching my legs! ..so I go back inside, switch to an eagle so I can fly to the mountains (fastest way to get there!) and best aerial view to look for a good spot to land!....then even as I'm landing and my talons are touching the snow the legs are changing and within a few minutes I'm a snow leopard and having fun bounding up and down the mountains!!

I always switch back to human form before coming back 'to the front' cos it scares some human alters. Though I used to play Aslan the talking lion from Narnia for Little Susie when the body was a child, she loved it and we still role play it sometimes just for fun and 'old times'