I adopted my kitty a little over a month ago now. At first I didn't really notice anything too alarming, just that she seemed to refuse to jump up on anything too high which was a little bit weird. I took her to the vet for a check up at the humane society I adopted her from (they gave one free within two weeks if I noticed anything) and they didn't notice anything that would stop her from jumping.
When I adopted her they told me that she was found outside, presumably abandoned when she became pregnant. I asked if they knew if she had been abused at all and they had told me that they weren't sure, but it didn't seem like it.
Fast forward a few weeks and she got more confident and started to sort of follow the other cats' lead. She cautiously started to go on the counters, and we really don't care if the cats go up there. We keep everything edible out of the way, know enough to clean the counters before we prepare food and they know not to be up there when we're using the counter space.
So I would walk into the kitchen, say hi to her and she would just freak out. She will basically throw herself off of the counter and sometimes fall really awkwardly on the ground. Then when I would go to check on her she would immediately recoil away from my hand, or she would run and hide. I thought at first maybe I had just spooked her, but that didn't really account for her ducking away from me and scrunching up her face like she expected a smack.
No one in our house hits our animals, I'm 100% certain of that.
Is there anything I can do to make her feel more comfortable? I'm worried that she's going to slip off of the counter or a table or something else and end up hurting herself one of these days. I haven't seen her act like this in any other situation, it's just being on the dining room table or the counters that seem to do it.
When I adopted her they told me that she was found outside, presumably abandoned when she became pregnant. I asked if they knew if she had been abused at all and they had told me that they weren't sure, but it didn't seem like it.
Fast forward a few weeks and she got more confident and started to sort of follow the other cats' lead. She cautiously started to go on the counters, and we really don't care if the cats go up there. We keep everything edible out of the way, know enough to clean the counters before we prepare food and they know not to be up there when we're using the counter space.
So I would walk into the kitchen, say hi to her and she would just freak out. She will basically throw herself off of the counter and sometimes fall really awkwardly on the ground. Then when I would go to check on her she would immediately recoil away from my hand, or she would run and hide. I thought at first maybe I had just spooked her, but that didn't really account for her ducking away from me and scrunching up her face like she expected a smack.
No one in our house hits our animals, I'm 100% certain of that.
Is there anything I can do to make her feel more comfortable? I'm worried that she's going to slip off of the counter or a table or something else and end up hurting herself one of these days. I haven't seen her act like this in any other situation, it's just being on the dining room table or the counters that seem to do it.
