Hi Everyone,
I know there have already been similar threads with this issue but I just thought I'd throw my hat in since they didn't seem to address our specific problem. My boyfriend and I adopted a cat from another couple who already had two other cats and a dog. She's 2, and had grown up with this family. She was always nervous around new people, but since their dog was very active it was stressing her out, and they felt like she would be better off in an apartment with no other animals or maybe another cat. My boyfriend has had cats before and I'm a newbie. Getting her into the cat carrier to take her home was something I could tell was very traumatic for her, but I set her up in our guest room with food, water and a litter box, which she almost immediately started using with no problems. After about a week or so we left the door open for her to check out the rest of the apartment and she found her 2nd litter box with no problems. She doesn't scratch furniture (only the post), she uses the boxes with no problems, and eats and drink regularly.
That said.....she will not let us come into contact with her AT ALL. She will not eat or drink if we are in the area, and if I walk into a room where she might be hanging out or sleeping, she immediately runs to hide under a bed. She will not let us touch her or anything like that. She will not respond to offers of play with different types of toys (there is one toy she likes that doesn't require us to play with her). She will not accept treats from us (but will eat them if we leave them for her). She isn't aggressive in anyway, no hissing or anything like that, but she just looks terrified all the time. What made things worse is that my boyfriend tried to get her to come out of hiding and she ended up running around like crazy trying to get away from him. Now before anyone starts talking about how mean he was, I gave him an earful already so any more comments about why he shouldn't have done aren't necessary. He has realised the error of his ways and leaves her alone now.
So here's the problem: all the advice I've read is that I should play with her and show her affection....which we would both LOVE to do, but she won't let us! The few times we've tried to pet her she just looked really upset and found another hiding place. Any suggestions? At the moment all we can do is wait it out and hope that she'll come say hi eventually. It's been 2 months now so I'm just a little....concerned. I would love some advice!
Thank you in advance!
I know there have already been similar threads with this issue but I just thought I'd throw my hat in since they didn't seem to address our specific problem. My boyfriend and I adopted a cat from another couple who already had two other cats and a dog. She's 2, and had grown up with this family. She was always nervous around new people, but since their dog was very active it was stressing her out, and they felt like she would be better off in an apartment with no other animals or maybe another cat. My boyfriend has had cats before and I'm a newbie. Getting her into the cat carrier to take her home was something I could tell was very traumatic for her, but I set her up in our guest room with food, water and a litter box, which she almost immediately started using with no problems. After about a week or so we left the door open for her to check out the rest of the apartment and she found her 2nd litter box with no problems. She doesn't scratch furniture (only the post), she uses the boxes with no problems, and eats and drink regularly.
That said.....she will not let us come into contact with her AT ALL. She will not eat or drink if we are in the area, and if I walk into a room where she might be hanging out or sleeping, she immediately runs to hide under a bed. She will not let us touch her or anything like that. She will not respond to offers of play with different types of toys (there is one toy she likes that doesn't require us to play with her). She will not accept treats from us (but will eat them if we leave them for her). She isn't aggressive in anyway, no hissing or anything like that, but she just looks terrified all the time. What made things worse is that my boyfriend tried to get her to come out of hiding and she ended up running around like crazy trying to get away from him. Now before anyone starts talking about how mean he was, I gave him an earful already so any more comments about why he shouldn't have done aren't necessary. He has realised the error of his ways and leaves her alone now.
So here's the problem: all the advice I've read is that I should play with her and show her affection....which we would both LOVE to do, but she won't let us! The few times we've tried to pet her she just looked really upset and found another hiding place. Any suggestions? At the moment all we can do is wait it out and hope that she'll come say hi eventually. It's been 2 months now so I'm just a little....concerned. I would love some advice!
Thank you in advance!