Terrified of new window seat

[rhian]

Sadie has always been easily spooked. There are nights when she'll be sleeping on my chest and all of a sudden my hand or my chest will be apparently very threatening and I'll get a smack or two.

I've been rearranging my room lately, getting rid of a bunch of junk I don't need and freeing up some space. I decided to use that space by getting a few things for Sadie to use. A new cat tree, a seat for the window and a new water bowl.

So far the tree and the bowl have not entered the room, but the window seat was tested out. It's one of those ones with suction cups and I wanted to test it out to make sure it could hold her weight. So far it hasn't fallen down after a night of another cat sleeping on it, so I'm hoping it works out if she'll ever sit on it.

I didn't notice at first how freaked out by it she was. So I picked her up and I was going to show it to her so she knew she could get up on it. I got kicked in the neck for that one. Then for several hours afterwards she sat and stared at it. Even if I took her out of the room she would go right back to staring at it. If I ever pick her up nearby it she'll tense up and get ready to escape. Even now a full day later she'll suddenly be reminded of its existence and glare at it accusingly.

I was kind of hoping she would use it. She likes climbing up on top of a fish tank I have nearby the window to look outside (which I was hoping the window seat would fix because the lid to that tank is so flimsy!). She has used other window seats before, they definitely looked different though. One was just a shelf we made out of some random bits and pieces, another was a cat seat that you attached to the window ledge. I'm not sure if because of how the suction cups are on there if it just looks more imposing?

Are there any good tips to getting her to at least stop wildly overreacting to the existence of the window seat?

 

[shadowsrescue]

You can try enticing her up there with play.  Get a wand toy or a laser pointer and see if you can get her up there.  Sometimes in the midst of playing they lose all fear.  You also could try putting some catnip up there.  Otherwise give it some time.  If she sees the other cats using it, she too might get brave and want to try it out.  But you can't force her to like it or to use it.  Cats are finicky.  My kitties like to think that when they find something new, that is their idea.  HA! 

 

[rhian]

Two days have passed and Sadie still does not care for the new window seat. She has witnessed every other cat in the house go up and use it, she has even cautiously approached the furniture needed to climb up to the window but it is still just too scary.

I did manage to calm her down enough to sit her nearby it but her tail just poofed up, she hissed at it, ran away and glared at the seat once more.

Sadie isn't super into playing with toys of any kind. I have laser pointers and kitty wands all over the place but she wants nothing to do with them. The closest she gets to playing with a toy is when she brings me a toy mouse or ball as an offering. Her idea of fun games are to play run up and down the stairs, hide behind the wall and wrestle(which aren't very fun for me! I don't fit in the places she wants to play and the stairs eventually start to kill me).

 

[fhicat]

For what it's worth, my cat avoided the cat tower for a whole month before he decided it wasn't going to eat him.

Yours admittedly has a more extreme reaction, though. I would just leave her to explore the seat on her own. You can try feeding her near the seat, and playing with her near it (which you seem to be doing). Otherwise she'll just have to like it on her own.

 

[rhian]

I managed to get her to sit on the seat!

Granted, I did kind of ease her onto it myself and she still hasn't gone up there on her own but it seems like progress. She was rubbing her face all over the sides of it and seemed pretty pleased with herself until she got down. She has gotten slightly closer to it on her own as well, she jumped up onto the furniture nearby it at least.

Hopefully this means she'll start using it on her own soon!