Introduction & Advice with a Behavioral Problem

bobbie sue

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To begin my story, on December 2lst, my son found a cat who was approximately six months old when a car stopped near him and let her out.  The vet surmised she was part-feral...most likely fed at times by someone who owned a home and then when it was sold... they wanted her not to hang around.   When she was found, it was obvious she was a street cat since  there was a bite wound on her hip and her nose was all scratched up.  The next day we took her to a veterinarian who treated her and thankfully she tested negative for feline aids and leukemia.   We took her in, gave her a good home; she's well fed, kindly treated and we had her fixed.    We have had her for 2 months now and find she still sometimes responds to touch with aggression.  Her moods are somewhat unpredictable and in a moment, she can turn from sweet to a bit hostile.  We have tried everything we can think of and am at a loss to know what to do at this point.  

She hasn't been declawed and at times when we pet her and she is unwilling, she may either strike us with her paw or attempt to nip us.  Although she is not going all out to bite or scratch it is nonetheless enough to make us hesitant to interact with her.  Is there anything we can do to make her more calm and modify her behavior?   Also, she is very active and we give her play time using string and balls with bells in them and a feather stick. 

Any comments and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as this would enhance both Penny's life and ours.

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Bobbie Sue 
 

kissthisangel

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Hello Bobbie Sue,

Firstly it was great of you to take in this cat. You obviously wished to give her a loving home and take care of her.

Thats wonderful, but this cat she's been let down before, she's perhaps not as trusting as you'd like. I'll cut to the chase, it's a long road. Start with a trail of treats, the treats will lead to you, or another member of your family, leave the last treat within arms reach of whoever you're trying to get her to approach. Don't touch her. Don't move, stay still. At first she will walk away, move the last treat closer and closer as time goes on. Still don't touch her.

You must keep up the play you are giving her, lead her to you, as soon as she gets close give her a small treat. Keep that up.

Eventually, hold your hand out, let her sniff it, she still may not touch you. Keep it up. Eventually, she might come and sniff. hold yor hand out. Keep building it. It will take a long time. Eventually she will trust you.

Keep this up gradually decreasing the distance between you and her, keep rewarding her for being near you. At some point she will show you she is ready for being petted. She will rub her face on your hand, give her a pat on the head or under her chin, withdraw your hand immediately after. Over time, this will build until she only comes to you when she wants affection. Then its up to you to stop when her tail is flicking or she stops purring.

 You have to show her you're not going to do anything that she doesn't approve of until she trusts you.

I hope this helps.

Kiss
 
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bobbie sue

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Hi Kiss,

 

Thanks for your reply and input.  Penny does at times get close to us and when she is in the mood to be petted, she does permit it but I notice that if we approach from behind, she becomes skitterish and I attribute this to her being bitten by some animal on her hip and who knows????  possibly other assaults from animals or humans. Also... we find that it is strange but she seems to flick her tail quite often and even when she seems most relaxed.  Having had two kittens at the same time several years ago (one lived for 20 years, the other 15) we see it is an entirely different situation since we adopted them from a shelter when they were only about 8 or 10 weeks old and they had never experienced living on the street... they were completely innocent.  We will be patient since we don't know what her history involved.  

 

How many cats do you have and what are their ages?

 

Again, thank you.  

 

Bobbie Sue 

 

pippen

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I had a cat that had unpredictable moods like that, and what helped most was to 1) never assume that he wanted petting,  2) pet with a light touch, and 3) make it brief--as in get our hand out before he got irritated instead of waiting until he got irritated.

We had him since he was a week old so he was in a trusting home with lots of love, but even ten years later unless we were really certain, we'd always take a moment to let him sniff our hand thoroughly first, and then when he was done we took that as the go-ahead and we'd pet him lightly around the ears or neck area only--not the full body unless he signalled that. Sometimes he'd want a little deeper massaging or full body petting, but not often. 

It was hard getting the mindset shifted to the fact that a cat didn't enjoy a lot of petting--not just because the natural assumption is that a cat should, but also because petting your pet is one of what we consider as being one of the basic mutually enjoyable parts of pet ownership. It was frustrating to my kids that our cat just didn't want to sit around in their lap and be petted. It surprised me as well, but in time I really came to view it as accepting the cat for who he was, just like we all have our own individual preferences when it comes to physical touch. Personally I hated being touched around the ears, and if someone kept it up day after day, I'd be snarling too. 
 
 

solomonar

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I got the habit of always approach my cat by first presenting my hand to him, to see. Only after this "introduction" I do anything else. My cat is very close to humans and like to be cuddled. But I do not want to get an aggressive response for tomcat being taken by surprise.

Welcome to the world of crazy people who care animals for the sake of affection (not to eat them :-)) ! Sometimes love means frustration, sometimes we all have moments we would like our beloved to leave us alone.... for some minutes, not more,  of course :-)).  So, why a cat woudlnt be allowed to do the same?!
 

kissthisangel

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Hi Kiss,

 

Thanks for your reply and input.  Penny does at times get close to us and when she is in the mood to be petted, she does permit it but I notice that if we approach from behind, she becomes skitterish and I attribute this to her being bitten by some animal on her hip and who knows????  possibly other assaults from animals or humans. Also... we find that it is strange but she seems to flick her tail quite often and even when she seems most relaxed.  Having had two kittens at the same time several years ago (one lived for 20 years, the other 15) we see it is an entirely different situation since we adopted them from a shelter when they were only about 8 or 10 weeks old and they had never experienced living on the street... they were completely innocent.  We will be patient since we don't know what her history involved.  

 

How many cats do you have and what are their ages?

 

Again, thank you.  

 

Bobbie Sue 

 Hi,

I have two cats, one is 18MO and the other is around 7MO. It's normal that Penny does not like being approached from behind. Approaching her from the front shows trust, it shows her that you are being open and your intentions of approach are clear. Approaching a cat from behind can make them anxious, they aren't clear on what you are going to do, you mentioned that the cat may be part feral this means that she may have haad to literally watch her back. Just like you said, attacks from other cats / animals are common for ferral cats.

If your cat is flicking her tail even when you think she is relaxed, there may be something that has irritated or excited her. Tail flicking is often a sign of frustration at a prey that they can't get like a fly, or something outside. It it is all the time, it may be that she is sensitive to lights or sounds in the environment that she is in. Again though, she may just be used to being on edge because of her partially ferral past.

It might be an idea to get a feliway, or other diffuser to try and calm the environment down, and if you can adopt a schedule for food and play that she can settle into.

 Kiss~
 
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