Help! Saimese In Need!

[Ryukossei]

I hope you all can help me. I have a month and a half to figure out what to do for my 2 year old simese. She is fixed after having 2 litters.

The problem I have with her is that she is Skitty. She can be lovable and seems good with other cats. But she is terrified of other humans. And currently is terrified of me. She hates my brother to the point of she litterly bit hm so hard that she drew blood. And she's never done that before. As a matter of fact, she was just being nice to him the day before she bit him for catching her so she didn't hurt herself.

I know before I got her, she was abused so I think this plays a roll in this but I'm at a loss. Right now to protect her from harming herself I have her down in my basement where she can run and play while I'm at work. She's been there for the past month that with no issues or fear. That started yesterday.

We are suppose to be moving in a month and a half and she's suppose to be my therapy animal (possible Ms). I don't want to have to give her up but right now I don't know what to do. Please help she is my baby!!!!

 

[Kieka]

Couple of clarification questions:

1) She bit your brother after he caught her? Why did he catch her? What was the circumstances? What were her prior experiences with him like?

2) What is she doing to show she is terrified of you? Is she terrified in the basement?

3) How often do you go in the basement with her? How often do you play?

4) Does she have a cat tree? Shelves? Cat beds? A safe spot?

5) Do you know any details about her prior abuse? How old did you get her? Was she in foster care between?

6) Has she harmed herself? How?

7) How long ago was her last litter? Was she in the basement with kittens or in the home?

Hopefully with some more details we can help you figure out a solution.

 

[Ryukossei]

Couple of clarification questions:

1) She bit your brother after he caught her? Why did he catch her? What was the circumstances? What were her prior experiences with him like?

I was out of town when this happened. From what my brother and his girl at the time had told me, she started to scale the window like something had scared her. He said she kept falling out of the window and would start again, so one of the times she fell he was quick enough to grab her, she turned and bit him hard. As I said, she was just laying with him the day before like everything was normal. Her normal attitude was to stay away from him, she always hid in my room and didn't associate with him until I was busy on a trip.

2) What is she doing to show she is terrified of you? Is she terrified in the basement?

She's running from me as if I am going to harm her. She acts as if I am the one who hurt her right now. She was filled everything for a month down there. This terrified started yesterday. The day before she was coming to me. (Note: after posting originally I went back down to her with some moist food. I managed to coax her back to me and she wanted rubbings and pets.)

3) How often do you go in the basement with her? How often do you play?
I am down there every day to feed and water her. She gets pets when I am there I would say roughly about a half hour each day unless I mess up my time for work. Play is not that much as I don't know ow what type of toys to give her down there that she won't lose them. I already know that when we move, all her balls and mice are under furniture.

4) Does she have a cat tree? Shelves? Cat beds? A safe spot?
She does not have a tree down there. Her tree went to Ohio ahead of us. She has some shelves and hidy spots in the rafters. I know where she is as she has sown me where she hides lol. I have been thinking g a cat bed but not sure the type to get her.

5) Do you know any details about her prior abuse? How old did you get her? Was she in foster care between?
I do t k ow the condition of her abuse. I k ow that were I got her from the lady had seven cats and smy Siamese hid behind the fridge. When the prior owner brought her over, it was in a Rubbermaid tub and when snow tried to run she grabbed her by the leg. I was not happy.

6) Has she harmed herself? How?
She has yet to harm herself but there is that fear because of her scaling windows problem.

7) How long ago was her last litter? Was she in the basement with kittens or in the home?
She was in my room when she had them. Last August is when she gave birth to 5 kittens. My brother took her first daughter and two sons ahead with him when he went to Ohio.
Hopefully with some more details we can help you figure out a solution.

Before you all do ask, medically at the time of the original move it was deemed to hard for me to make it. This trip is about 10 hours long. We are not suppose to be leaving in until the end of July. I am hoping that I can fix this before I leave. I don't want to have to find a new therapy animal.

Also, she has two cats downstairs that she plays with. I do t know if the fact they always want rubs and push her away is an issue or not as well. She knows the cats as she lived with them at the old place.

 

[Kieka]

Was the window incident before or after her spay? If after, how soon after?

 

[Ryukossei]

This happened in December. She was fixed mid March.

 

[sargon]

Since she's young and playful, off the top of my head I suggest starting with interactive play with a wand toy. It will help build good associations with humans. Just be sure not to push beyond letting her play with the toy for a while.

 

[Kieka]

Got it...

Best guess is that she was scaling the window trying to get out because she was in heat. The hormones from being in heat override the logical and cause them to act desperate to get out. Your brother stopped her from getting out and she attacked him as a direct result. I don't think she would have bit him if she wasn't in heat nor would she have tried to climb the window. Essentially, she was crazy in heat and not crazy in general or trying to hurt herself. Cats have been known to jump out of second story windows to get outside when they are in heat. Now that she is spayed she shouldn't be trying to scale windows and shouldn't overreact when someone touches her. While she may still be skittish of your brother I doubt she hates him and I doubt she would lash out like that again.

The basement. If she comes from a neglected (possibly abusive) background from a young age then she has it in her head that away from humans in general is best. When she was living upstairs and interacting with you more frequently she override her nature with nurture and accepted you were good. After a month in the basement and with limited interactions during that time it takes her brain a second to catch up with her instant reaction. Instant reaction is "human is scary hide!" but she comes out again when she realizes it is you and you get low and safe.

I have a former feral from a extremely neglectful and likely abusive background myself. She had no human interaction and spent the first 4 months of her life seeing the adult cats run and hide when humans were around. She is now 2.5 years old and has been with me for 2 years. She does the exact same reaction of initial fear then recognition when my parents go out of town (they are in town for 3 months and out for 1 month).

So get her out of the basement and give her attention and that problem should resolve itself in a few weeks. It will take time though so be patient with her. If the basement is for more purposes then spend more time down there. Even if it is bringing down a laptop to watch movies with her instead of watching on the TV. Spend time so she remembers you and remembers you are good. Wand toys might draw her out of hiding or get more of the toys she likes so you can toss them around. We probably have a couple dozen of my boys favorite toys and we toss them for him. Every other month of so we hunt them down and regather them to start again. Make sure you are sticking around when she eats too so you are firmly attached to the concept of food.

 

[Ryukossei]

I know I relocated her to a friend's house as I became worried for her. She is responding well with his two cats there. Little worried she's gaining too much weight. But I am happy that she's doing well. My friend sent me a pic of her today of her eating with one of his cats.

 

[danteshuman]

I have a hyper punk/super wuss. Yes both my cats are afraid of shoes. However my scared-y cat was afraid of most of my roommates. So for about 4 months I stopped feeding my cats treats and encouraged everyone to feed them treats within limits (please no more than 6 a day.) It worked! Yes he is still skittish but he is braver. He even shows himself to visitors from a safe difference. The other thing I did was make my room a safe zone. No one could follow him in there but me (he is very bonded to me.)
I would add that if you are dealing with a previous feral cat over a pet cat it is a whole different ball of yarn. So that might be worth figuring out. You can still work with her, it just takes more time and she may never be as cuddly as a cat that was socialized to humans from an early age.
I hear you about the MS. I have it, I was diagnosed in 1999. There are many MS support groups online so don't be afraid to look them up The best thing you can do if you have it is find yourself a great neurologist and if you are really lucky, one that specializes in MS

 

[danteshuman]

sorry safe distance not difference

 

[Ryukossei]

Update!!

In July, I ended up at my new home in Ohio. Snowball was left behind as I wasn't told this was happening. A month ago, my brother went to get her, and she's doing okay. She knows where her safe spot is though she runs down to the basement scared. She will come see me at night/early morning. I figure this is because she's use to a place with only 2 people and we are a count of four.

I think however we might have scared her a bit as that she hasn't been up in the past two mornings. We have two games here: rockband and just dance 2016. I think the noise and the movements have scared her. I know she's not use to that. Though one day me and my brother's girlfriend were playing and she came up and looked at her almost as if to say 'what do you think your doing'.