My cat is about 9 mts. old, female, and she's always been the type of cat that doesn't enjoy a lot of petting. But she's always loved to play. Everyday when my boyfriend and i would come home, she'd stretch out on the floor for him to rub her tummy. And we'd always chase her around the house, her waiting for us to catch up, then she'd run then let us catch her. In the last 2 days, she won't even come near us... well, mostly with my boyfriend. Lately, him and I have been argueing, and there's been yelling, in the past she'd jump on our laps in the middle of our arguements as to say, "settle down". Well, she barely lets my boyfriend touch her anymore. She'll slink away from him. He's tried to feed her her favorite treats but she won't even take them. We think he could have played with her too hard, (but we've checked her and she's not hurt or bruised) or we thought it could have been the yelling. I'm scared she'll never feel happy in her home agian. I'm really worried about her. Will her scared feelings ever go way? Does anyone have any suggestions of what it might be, based on what i've said, and what we can do to help her be her playful, loving self agian?
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my cat's suddenly REALLY timid
- Thread starter michelle22
- Start Date
A change in behavior could be a sign that a physical problem or an illness has developed. Since cats are good at hiding signs of illness you may want to have your cat examined by a vet just to be safe.
Hope your boyfriend isn't secretly abusing the cat because he's upset with you.
Yeah, it could be a sign of an illness. Vet time.
Yeah, it could be a sign of an illness. Vet time.
It could very well be that all the arguing has stressed her out or has even made her fearful. Cats are very sensitive and something such as a yelling match, even though she had seemed to be fine with them in the past could set her off. Now why she'd be fearful of your boyfriend vs. you may be because men tend to have deeper voices and the tone of his voice when it's raised could have upset her.
If her behavior is due to fear then the fear will slowly fade if it's not reinforced. Although if she seems to come around and then you two were to fight again then the fear would be rekindled and you'd start back where you began.
If this is due to the arguements, if it's possible try to have then outside of where your kitty can't hear them. Just give her time and don't get frustrated with her.
I've delt with a similar situation but with my dogs. They'd get very upset when me and Brian would fight. Natala would bark at us and sit in between us while Scooby slink away and hide in the bedroom.
It became apparent that it was just as hard on our puppies as it was on us. Now we TRY and talk things through and that has seemed to help them as well as us.
If her behavior is due to fear then the fear will slowly fade if it's not reinforced. Although if she seems to come around and then you two were to fight again then the fear would be rekindled and you'd start back where you began.
If this is due to the arguements, if it's possible try to have then outside of where your kitty can't hear them. Just give her time and don't get frustrated with her.
I've delt with a similar situation but with my dogs. They'd get very upset when me and Brian would fight. Natala would bark at us and sit in between us while Scooby slink away and hide in the bedroom.
It became apparent that it was just as hard on our puppies as it was on us. Now we TRY and talk things through and that has seemed to help them as well as us.
