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Anti- Social Cat

post #1 of 5
8/21/10 at 8:20am
Thread Starter 
I have a six year old domestic short hair female cat named Sophia. Sophia is EXTREMELY affectionate with me, but hisses at everyone who attempts to touch her. She is not aggressive at all. She will come out to see who is there and eventually jump up next to them looking like she wants attention from my guests then proceeds to hiss at them when they ever so gently attempting to pet her. I have had her since she was a kitten and adopted her from friends when she was six weeks old. From what I have read, apparently that was too early, but who knew? Any ideas on how to make this little love muffin share the love?
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post #2 of 5
8/21/10 at 9:11am
I would suggest if you have maybe one friend over at a time, and ask that person not to stare at Sophia, but maybe just talk softly to you.

You could ask that person to hold on to a treat that Sophia likes - when Sophia checks the person out, just have the person extend her hand slightly toward Sophia, make a little fist so the hand is about the size of the cat's head, and letting Sophia sniff her. If all goes well, give her the treat as a reward for the sniffing - don't even progress toward petting for a bit. I bet Sophia will eventually head bunt the hand, and then you might try a little petting, very slowly.

But let Sophia control the timing of the interaction. That seemed to work for me.

Good luck - she sounds like a nice cat, but a little scared.
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post #3 of 5
8/21/10 at 9:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by darlili View Post
let Sophia control the timing of the interaction
I don't think Sophia is anti-social at all. She does check out your guests after all. I think it is all right for a cat to dictate who can or can't pet her.
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post #4 of 5
8/21/10 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kac0076 View Post
From what I have read, apparently that was too early, but who knew? Any ideas on how to make this little love muffin share the love?
A lot of people aren't aware of the age sensitivities. But yeah what you see as scared or 'neurotic' (insecure, untrusting and intolerant) comes mostly from not able to read the body language of humans and other cats that she would have learned being with her family that extra 2-6 weeks to complete the socialization process. As a surrogate mother, Sophia is probably terrified to let you out of her sight ; but at least there is still a chance if she doesn't run and hide when she does see unknown people.

I agree with the suggestions of making it safe with subtle overtures and then letting her come up to the guest one on one.
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post #5 of 5
8/26/10 at 12:29pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks to everyone who took time to reply. I will give your suggestions a try with Sophia and see how it works. She's a real sweetheart if you get to know her! Thanks again.
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