Ok, this will probably be a long post, well, I know it will be and i'm really sorry! I did a search and went through the stickied topics but i couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. Sorry for all the ramling!
Anyway, our cat Libby is about 10/11 months old now and in short, she hates being picked up.
Now, the thing is, she's getting a bit worse with it. She never liked being picked up, but she was usually calm enough. I'd pick her up up-right and my husband would pick her up and put her on her back and she'd play with his other hand.
A couple of weeks ago she was being held by my husband when she kinda got too feisty and twisted and fell out of his arms. Since then she's understandably been wary about him picking her up.
We also have a couple of friends (who also own cats) who pick her up and she really makes a fuss when they do. We tell them not to and how she'll react, but they do it anyway and don't let her go - and then they get scratched and bitten. I don't like that she does it but right now, after all the warnings and their own experience, they should know better and I sort of feel like they deserve it. They tell us we're just spoiling her and we're to blame. I think this might be true
but at the same time I don't want her being forced to do things she doesn't like.
I'm sorry if this is all out of order, i'm trying to give all the info and failing miserably to keep it short and to the point!
She's still fine when I hold her. With my husband and our friends though she started off maybe crying a little a few months ago to now fully flipping out and crying loudly and claws all out, etc.
I've always made sure I place her down gently, never letting her jump even an inch down from my hands... I don't let go until all 4 paws are firmly on the ground. I've been telling my husband to do the same so she feels safe and she's finally getting a little better with him.
I know she's doing all this because she's scared. I also know what our friends do isn't helping one bit and I know i've got to be more firm with telling them to cut it out.
I guess really I just want to know how we can address this issue. Should we leave her alone and just not pick her up again because she obviously doesn't enjoy it? Or should we (as one co-worker of my husbands suggested) pick her up as much as possible to get her used to it? I'm kind of going for the former because I dont' want to be selfish and subject her to something that we enjoy but she doesn't. Then again if there's any way we can get her used to it then it would be great, and also helpful for times we need to pick her up, not just the times when we want to.
Anyway, our cat Libby is about 10/11 months old now and in short, she hates being picked up.
Now, the thing is, she's getting a bit worse with it. She never liked being picked up, but she was usually calm enough. I'd pick her up up-right and my husband would pick her up and put her on her back and she'd play with his other hand.
A couple of weeks ago she was being held by my husband when she kinda got too feisty and twisted and fell out of his arms. Since then she's understandably been wary about him picking her up.
We also have a couple of friends (who also own cats) who pick her up and she really makes a fuss when they do. We tell them not to and how she'll react, but they do it anyway and don't let her go - and then they get scratched and bitten. I don't like that she does it but right now, after all the warnings and their own experience, they should know better and I sort of feel like they deserve it. They tell us we're just spoiling her and we're to blame. I think this might be true
I'm sorry if this is all out of order, i'm trying to give all the info and failing miserably to keep it short and to the point!
She's still fine when I hold her. With my husband and our friends though she started off maybe crying a little a few months ago to now fully flipping out and crying loudly and claws all out, etc.
I've always made sure I place her down gently, never letting her jump even an inch down from my hands... I don't let go until all 4 paws are firmly on the ground. I've been telling my husband to do the same so she feels safe and she's finally getting a little better with him.
I know she's doing all this because she's scared. I also know what our friends do isn't helping one bit and I know i've got to be more firm with telling them to cut it out.
I guess really I just want to know how we can address this issue. Should we leave her alone and just not pick her up again because she obviously doesn't enjoy it? Or should we (as one co-worker of my husbands suggested) pick her up as much as possible to get her used to it? I'm kind of going for the former because I dont' want to be selfish and subject her to something that we enjoy but she doesn't. Then again if there's any way we can get her used to it then it would be great, and also helpful for times we need to pick her up, not just the times when we want to.