Kitty is REALLY afraid of the carrier

Aside from coming back from the shelter in one 6 weeks ago, he has never been in a carrier since. Since that carrier was too small, I gave it to a friend. Today I bought another carrier.

It's almost funny how afraid he is of it. Normally he is afraid of big things, like boxes or my backpack. He'll sort of take off a few feet the opposite way. This one? He ran all the way to my bedroom and hid behind my laundry basket.

Fast forward a few hours later, it's meal time. The carrier has been in the living room all this time, and every time he walks near it, he stares at it cautiously and then walks really quickly past it with his ears to the side. I put a treat in there and he refused to even go near it. He was hungry and I put his bowl just inside the carrier, but nope. It's as if there is an invisible barrier that prevents him from getting more than 2 feet near it.

I put his bowl back down at his usual place, and he starts eating. Then I went to the carrier and placed an old undershirt inside it. Unfortunately while I was doing that, he bolted away from the bowl. A few minutes later when I wasn't near the carrier, he went back to his bowl and resumed eating.

This is going to be an uphill battle.

It'll probably take him days or weeks to. view it as a "piece of furniture". If it has a removable door on one side, take that off, and drape a towel over the top of the carrier to make a "cave". Put a towel you've slept on for two or three nights inside.
Once he's no longer skittish around it, you can try feeding him treats or a meal in it, or tossing a toy near the entrance, then into it.
Some people use catnip or Feliway spray to make carriers less threatening.

Well. Woke up to this:

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I tossed some treats in there and seems he doesn't mind it anymore, although he still comes out the carrier if I approach it. Now to get my roommate to agree not to startle him while he's in the carrier (my roommate likes to randomly scare the cat).

That didn't take him long at all!

I know right? Tonight he was mostly sleeping in the carrier. I probably tossed enough treats in there to equal one meal. 

Maybe I can speed up the introduction a bit, and do the close-door-for-5-minute thing next week.

I was gonna recommend Feliway spray until I scrolled down and saw your cat comfortably lying in the carrier. Awesome!

Now your roommate enjoying scaring the cat at random times? Kinda not cool. 

pinkman said:

Now your roommate enjoying scaring the cat at random times? Kinda not cool. 

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Yeah, he thinks it's funny. Well, it kinda is. 

It's mostly the harmless kind. Like bunny hopping towards the cat. Or deliberately moving towards him with a big box. Stuffs like that. Not yelling, or banging cymbals while Jed is sleeping, etc.

I did make him promise he won't do anything while Jed's in the carrier though. I explained that I really need Jed to not see the carrier as a threat. He didn't think it was possible... but then again a month ago he didn't think it was possible for me to call Jed and he'll come towards me. 

Awesome!

Yes, scaring cats (even if its not malicious) in carriers OR litter boxes are a huge no-no to me! Glad you're handling things well man.

Doing really well with that, Kat-Kat still won't go near carrier after years of trying. Last couple of times I took him to vet I let him sit loose in passenger seat he really likes to have a look around (even though still scared of being in cars)