Davidson's afraid :(

[babyharley]

Originally Posted by LSULOVER

I don't know what to tell you to do any different, maybe Davidson is just afraid of John because he associates him with the vet?

I don't know why he would do that, John's never taken him to the vet- and Davidson's disliked John WAY before we even took him for his 1st checkup

 

[missymotus]

Missy 'flirted' outside with my husband for several days before he brought her inside, she never came up to me outdoors. Once she was in she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Since I've been on vacation and DH is the one giving the food she has really come around, even sitting on his lap and purring.

Hopefully you'll get similar results if John starts feeding Davidson

 

[karmasmom]

I missed how you got Davidson. Was he a rescue?
Karma was like that for the first 6 months or so with my DH. She would very never go near him and would attack him for no reason. We found out shortly after rescuing her that the couple who owned her didnt treat her very well. The woman liked her and was nice to her but the man did not. He would yell at her, through things at her and was just basicly mean. Because of this she did not trust men. She still doesn't trust any other men but my DH. She was force into trusting him when I got a job outside of the house. If she need food or anything while I was at work she had to go to him. She still has some issues with him but likes to cuddle him now and is not attacking him as much. I started having him interact with her more. He would play with her stuffed tiger with her and play fetch with her. She still won't eat if her feeds her though. For some reason she thinks only I know how to feed her. He changed her litter for the first time yesterday and she flipped out. I was at work but he said she kept running up to him and was bitting and punching.
I say give them alone time. Have him play Davidsons favorite games. He will come around. It just may take some more time and a bit of pateince.

 

[sar]

Mackenzie, does John wear shoes or hard soled slippers in the house? From what I noticed with my lot (the girls, mainly) they disliked men who 'clumped' around in their shoes - I can understand how scary that could be at their size!

Does John try to get Davidson's attention? Maybe if he ignores him and doesn't try so hard, it will help Davidson to realise that John isn't so scary. Play with Davidson near to John and entice him closer each time (take it slowly though)

With that and John feeding Davidson, it might just work

I have my fingers crossed for you all

 

[babyharley]

Originally Posted by KarmasMom

I missed how you got Davidson. Was he a rescue?
Karma was like that for the first 6 months or so with my DH. She would very never go near him and would attack him for no reason. We found out shortly after rescuing her that the couple who owned her didnt treat her very well. The woman liked her and was nice to her but the man did not. He would yell at her, through things at her and was just basicly mean. Because of this she did not trust men. She still doesn't trust any other men but my DH. She was force into trusting him when I got a job outside of the house. If she need food or anything while I was at work she had to go to him. She still has some issues with him but likes to cuddle him now and is not attacking him as much. I started having him interact with her more. He would play with her stuffed tiger with her and play fetch with her. She still won't eat if her feeds her though. For some reason she thinks only I know how to feed her. He changed her litter for the first time yesterday and she flipped out. I was at work but he said she kept running up to him and was bitting and punching.
I say give them alone time. Have him play Davidsons favorite games. He will come around. It just may take some more time and a bit of pateince.

Nope, not a rescue, he was a litter from John's Mom's cat- Harley's 1/2 brother anyways. When Davidson was an itty bitty baby, he didn't have problems with John... I don't know what triggered this reaction!

Originally Posted by Sar

Mackenzie, does John wear shoes or hard soled slippers in the house? From what I noticed with my lot (the girls, mainly) they disliked men who 'clumped' around in their shoes - I can understand how scary that could be at their size!

Does John try to get Davidson's attention? Maybe if he ignores him and doesn't try so hard, it will help Davidson to realise that John isn't so scary. Play with Davidson near to John and entice him closer each time (take it slowly though)

With that and John feeding Davidson, it might just work

I have my fingers crossed for you all

Nope, he doesn't wear shoes in the house...

Today I had John feed the boys their wet food. At first Davidson was right up near him like he is with me when I feed them, meowing, and then John put the bowls down, and he was able to pet him for a good minute, and then he got scared and ran off

So I had to coax him out and then he ate alright.

He hides whenever John is home, and if I'm on the couch near John, he won't come near him, even if I try to play with both of the boys near him. Its so frusterating!!

 

[starryeyedtiger]

Awww kenzie- it's ok

It's actually not too uncommon for a kitty to cling to one person and be a scardy cat around the other. Isabella is exactly the same way. She is petrified of everyone except my mom and I. Even Colin! And his home is the first one she was ever in as a kitten when i first started fostering her. He is the first person who could get her to play (she was soooooo several abued by her breeder that she was even scared of toys!

(that's a whole other story

)/ She is still scared of just about everything - but she has gotten a bit better. I'm sooooooo not looking foward to a few weeks down the road when i move the girls into Colin's house. I know without a doubt she is going to freak out and go balistic. She doesn't adjust well to change. So we're setting up a guest bedroom just for the kitties and we are building a massive kitty gym with lots of hide away places on it and good height to it so she'll feel a bit more comfortable. I tried feliway- never worked around her....so i don't suggest wasting money you don't have on it unless you think it will work. What has helped is getting her slowly adjusted and used to household sounds and other animals. She still hides away and runs at the slightest sound or loud noise. I've gotten used to it.....i just make sure that when she gets nervous she has a nice quiet spot that she feels comfortable in to go to. I never chase after her or pick her up when she's scared (i don't want to reinforce that behavior.) / I did notice that she does really well around my siamese Jasmine. She is like her baby- and since Jasmine has "adopted her" she has done much better. I know harley and davidso are already bonded -so that helps a bit. / The best thing to do for now is let John perhaps help feed them....very slowly and gently and just be patient. He will come around eventually. He may never bond with John...but hopefully he will at least get accustomed to him and not run off as much.

Good luck sweetie.

 

[debbie4121]

It could be the cigarette smoke. Our cat sleeps on the bed with us, except when we've been out for the evening, when he won't come anywhere near us. Neither of us smoke, but think it's the smell of other people's smoke on us that he doesn't like.