I still don't know what to do

[yosemite]

Originally Posted by keeper130

I strongly hope many of the posters reconsider some of the advice they give. Blocking off the couch and the bed has worked great. And maybe he is 'forced' to come to me, but curling up next to my leg and purring is hardly a bad thing, if you do it enough, he wont even remember the couch, after all... he thinks like a CAT not like a human.

The veterans on this site have a great deal of experience and know what they are talking about. Most of them have been successfully dealing with scared, feral and shy cats for many years so don't just assume they don't know what they are talking about. If you force the cat out from hiding or force your attentions on the cat, you WILL be hurting your future relationship with this cat.

Our Mika was a litter runt and tends to be more "scaredy" than Bijou. There are times she will "ask" to be picked up and be quite content. Other times she is very nervous and does not want to be held. We respect her wishes and as time goes by she is becoming far more comfortable with my husband and me and asks to be picked up more often and rubs herself against our legs when she wants up. She is actually our daughter's cat and our daughter had a roommate before she moved in with us who forced themselves onto Mika and made her very uncomfortable. The roommate thought they knew what was best for the cat and also tried to feed it a raw diet but didn't bother adding any of the important ingredients like taurine. I'm glad Mika is now in our home.

 

[larke]

Hi, right now he is busy growing up, figuring out his place in the world (both human and cat), and deciding what's safe, what's fun, who's who, etc. and when he's grown up some more may turn out to be a lot 'easier' all around and want a soft place to rest... like you. You can't force affection though, and may just have to wait it out til he's older and more stable. Good luck.