Cat afraid of ceiling fan

Jasper. Sigh.

So my kids were hot and they turned on the ceiling fan in the den. Jasper was in the house. Jasper freaked out over the fan. He ran as fast as he could upstairs, then he hid in the master bedroom sink. I guess that's his new "safe" spot.

So now he will RUN through that room as fast as he can when the light's on. For that matter he freaked out this morning when I turned the kitchen light on.

I told the girls NOT to turn the fan on in there anymore.

Any ideas how to de-sensitize this very nervous cat?

And I thought I'd heard everything until I googled cat afraid of ceiling fan and I got a ton of hits.

I really don't want to put him on medicine. I don't know why he's just so skittish. Maybe it's because it's a multi-cat household. Well- there's nothing we can do about it. Sneaky and Holly were here first and I can't get rid of them. And I can't get rid of him b/c he's 10 years old and I took him in as a favor to a neighbor.
cheryl

Leave the fan on slow, he'll eventually figure out it doesn't do anything as he stares it down from a safe distance poking his head around the corner.

Wesley was afraid of plastic bags for a long time, after he got caught in one. He got over it, and as a precaution now the first thing I do when bringing in groceries (Krogers stopped carrying paper... dangit) is grab scissors and just cut all the handles. Wesley is back to his regular curious self and sniffs and shuffles through everything I bring back home.

What color are the blades? Brown?

When Pam Johnson-Bennett (cat behavior expert) had a message board she explained that brown ceiling fan blades remind cats of predators (owls and hawks) and that's why they are afraid of them.

I believed her because I saw an owl go after a cat once.........

The only thing I can think of right now (because it has been suggested by experts) if the blades are brown, painting them white should be helpful.

If they are white, let us know......

The above post is a very good suggestion. That is partially how I got my very nervous DLH used to the cealing fan about a year ago. I also gave her Whisker Temptation cat treats when the fan was on and she looked at it. In about three days she loved the fan cause it gave her treats .

Leave the fan on, either low or medium. Blue was born in the house, in ceiling fan season (just past the year mark last week) but when I turned the one in the living room on in May, she went nuts. Left it running and it didnt take long for it to cease bothering her and when I turned the kitchen fan in, she did no more than make herself dizzy watching it and now ignores all fans completely. Oddly, she is the ONLY cat that was bothered by them - even the wannabe indoor boys didn't care the few times they been in to get out of rain or wind.

Originally Posted by Cat Person

The above post is a very good suggestion. That is partially how I got my very nervous DLH used to the cealing fan about a year ago. I also gave her Whisker Temptation cat treats when the fan was on and she looked at it. In about three days she loved the fan cause it gave her treats

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I did try that. The room attaches to a garage. We've got a cat door leading out to the garage since that's where the litter box is.

So Jasper was hiding in the garage. I thought I'd get a treat out (he LOVES treats) to coax him into the room. I put the treat on the floor and went out to the garage to get him. When I came back into the room with him, HollyHeart was licking her chops and the treat was gone Hm- wonder where it went (Holly likes treats too)

I had the bag of treats on the floor (and Holly was trying to open them) so I gave him another one.

Cheryl

I help take care of four stray/dumped/feral cats in a friend's attic; we are in the process of resocializing them. The attic is unheated (read: no air conditioning), but good cross ventilation.
The first time we turned on a tall fan (not ceiling fan), three of the four cats were nonchalant. However, the biggest male (and proud of it!) cat ran behind the sofa and stayed there for about ten days. He finally got use to the fan. Don't know if he was scared of the sound or the blades (white, not brown).

Interesting!

I have 2 large ceiling fans in my living room, always on, and the cats could care less. I think the color of the blades is the trick here - mine are light beige, almost match the ceiling paint color.

I recently added a small stand fan in front of the litter boxes because I read the airflow helps extend the life of crystal litter - IT DOES!... and my little girl was so afraid of it... not the fan, but the air flow! She'd act like some hand is touching her body anytime she'd walk 3-4 feet in front of the fan. She still ducks her head when she's going into the boxes, just so that the air flow doesn't 'touch' her. Very odd but funny!

You know, cats are a constant source of laughter in our lives [example: running around with head stuck in bag handles ]. I too cut all bag handles as soon as I get them in my house - I've been in that situation when I have a cat freaking out with a bag on his/her head.

Ritz totally ignores the two ceiling fans, one is in the bedroom (barely out of reach) and the other in the living/dining room. They are on almost 24x7. She is fascinated by the sound the central ac return air register makes.
I recently installed a window ac unit. There is a window sill that Ritz likes to jump up onto and gaze out. The window ac unit takes up half the length of the window sill. Initially Ritz was leary of the window unit, but knowing how much she loved gazing out of the window sill I was determined to make it 'cat friendly'. So, I put some treats on the window sill, making sure Ritz saw what I was doing. When she worked up her nerve to jump on the window sill, I praised her a lot. She is no longer afraid of the unit.
That said, I can't wait to remove it so I can open the window (screen in of course) and we can breath some fresh air and so she can hear what ever it is cats hear.

My feral, Shadow is petrified of ceiling fans. Of course we have them in almost every room. If he sees one running, he runs away and hides under a piece of furniture. I tried for a few weeks with the fan on low for him to adjust, but nothing changed. Now when he comes in, he spends most of his time in the family room, I turn the ceiling fan off and run a tower fan instead. He could care less about the tower fan. When he on rare occasion ventures upstairs to the bedrooms, all of them have ceiling fans running. He refuses to go into the rooms unless I turn the fans off. I know that eventually he will get used to them. My indoor kitty, Jake loves the ceiling fans. He used to make himself dizzy watching the blades go round and round.

On a positive note, Shadow has been coming in the house all spring/summer and I can now close the door and he will let me know when he is ready to leave. He also used to be very frightened of the tv. This summer, he adjusted and now will come in for a quick nap in the evening while we are watching tv and he is just fine.