All my life, even since I was a baby, I've lived around cats and at the very least have always had one cat around. Last year my cat and best friend of 12 years passed away. Some months ago one of my Mom's friends called us to ask if we wanted a cat because he had to go out of town. We said ok, he then brings us a small (though fully grown) cat in, not a cat carrier, but a cage trap like you'd catch a possum in. When he came in our house to drop her off he said "When I open this cage, she's probably going to run and hide" He opened the cage and reached in, the cat promptly sunk it's claws deeply into his arm. After peeling her off his arm she did in fact run and hide.
It took me two months of work, for at least an hour each day I'd go to her hiding spot and lay down and talk nicely to her, bring her food, etc. After a few weeks she'd allow herself to be seen by me in the open without hiding but if I got near she'd still hiss and hide. Sometimes she would growl, at one point I even got scared by the growling and thought I may have to release her back into the wild. As the weeks went on though she let me get closer and closer in proximity until she would reach out to my hand to get food. Then one day as I was giving her food out of my hand I reached out back to her and petted her, immediately she started purring and even that same day let me pick her up.
However this cat is the most frightened and aggressive cat I've ever had out of all the many cats I've had in my life. She still hisses and growls at other people, like my mom, and hasn't bonded to anyone else but me, but with me she's very close now and follows me around the house from room to room. Whatever room I'm in, she's almost always in too, and she purrs whenever I pet or hold her.
The thing is she needs to go to the vet. I know that she's going to be very scared and aggressive with the vets and have to be scruffed and sedated. I worry that this will be a traumatic experience and break some of the trust I've worked so hard to build with her.
What should I do? Should I try to find a vet that makes housecalls so that will be less scary for her? Or should I just take her to the normal vet anyway?
It took me two months of work, for at least an hour each day I'd go to her hiding spot and lay down and talk nicely to her, bring her food, etc. After a few weeks she'd allow herself to be seen by me in the open without hiding but if I got near she'd still hiss and hide. Sometimes she would growl, at one point I even got scared by the growling and thought I may have to release her back into the wild. As the weeks went on though she let me get closer and closer in proximity until she would reach out to my hand to get food. Then one day as I was giving her food out of my hand I reached out back to her and petted her, immediately she started purring and even that same day let me pick her up.
However this cat is the most frightened and aggressive cat I've ever had out of all the many cats I've had in my life. She still hisses and growls at other people, like my mom, and hasn't bonded to anyone else but me, but with me she's very close now and follows me around the house from room to room. Whatever room I'm in, she's almost always in too, and she purrs whenever I pet or hold her.
The thing is she needs to go to the vet. I know that she's going to be very scared and aggressive with the vets and have to be scruffed and sedated. I worry that this will be a traumatic experience and break some of the trust I've worked so hard to build with her.
What should I do? Should I try to find a vet that makes housecalls so that will be less scary for her? Or should I just take her to the normal vet anyway?
