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So things have progressed a lot with Zena…he’s a sweetie, he lets me pet him, he’s friends with Quinn & Merlin now- I’m so relieved that he and Quinn finally became friends! I can comb & brush him and I clipped his claws once. However he is still very skittish and he is off gabapentin and all the meds now. He still gets scared sometimes when I approach him especially when I’m wearing a new coat I have or any coat I think maybe that makes a hissy noise.
I have broken down the cage now and I left him the carrier part he likes to sleep in and a little cat house so he can hide in them, he likes to hide behind my sewing table when he gets scared so he has somewhere he can go if he’s scared.
I wasn’t sure if he was ready for that, that was two nights ago but he jumped right into it and Quinn being there to run around with him helped.
So today I let him come out into the garage because he’s expressed he wants to come out of the studio numerous times which is in the garage. He hates being alone in the studio. But he can be ok there on his own for quite a while too. But if I come in to see him and give him his food he will start eating it, only after saying hellos usually, and then when I say OK I have to go to do something else he comes over to try to stop me from leaving and say hi more.
The thing is he got scared there in the garage and he was hiding behind a bunch of stuff- it’s really overcrowded and it’s not a full-size garage because of a room being built in there. I was trying to show him that he can go back into the studio with the cat door- I opened the part that locks it etc., pushed the flap and Quinn went through it once but he didn’t seem to get that- he just stayed there and I went and left them for a while. When I came back he was still hiding.
I was only able to get him out by shaking a bag of treats but I had trouble getting him to come back in the studio. At one point Merlin came out and said hi to him in the garage and I had the door to the house open but he didn’t show any sign of wanting to go in there. He looked in but he looked like he was scared someone dangerous could be there.
I think part of this may be because he is scared of my brother, we are the only two people he has been exposed to and he has been scared when my brother went in to say hi to him. I usually sit with him and Quinn till about 5 to 6 AM and then I go to sleep. Quinn stays in there for a while and my brother lets him out eventually, so my brother has gone into the room at other times but Zena is still scared of him.
We also had an emergency with our furnace so we had people coming into the house making lots of noise at least twice I think. When I came in to check on him after that he was hiding in my sewing table/ cabinet which is open at the back And he wouldn’t come out for a while. I had to sit in the room and talk to him I think I did the treat thing again.
So I am concerned about trying to integrate him fully into the house and how to do this because I’m scared he’s going to hide in the garage and somehow if someone opens the door which would be highly unlikely of course he could escape or whatever you know. I of course will take all measures to make sure he is in the studio in that event but you never know what emergencies could happen.
I am just wondering if I should put him back on a half a capsule of GABA a day and see if that makes him feel less stressed out while he integrates into the house. I also have to set up a litter box somewhere in the house for him because I don’t think the two in the garage are going to be enough.
I have a Cat Genie which nobody uses anymore- it’s like a toilet, I have a regular hooded box and then I have the open stainless steel box for Zena which is in the studio.
I’m just wondering if I should try having my brother go to feed him sometimes so he will get more used to him or if that may just make him even more scared.
Has anyone had a similar cat intro situation like this where the cat was friendly with the other cats, OK with that one room but still keeps getting scared with people, even me sometimes, and new people etc.
I’m not sure if that is the only factor here. It I could also just be his generalized fear from everything that has happened to him. It could be that his baseline personality has some anxiety in it, it’s kind of strange because he’s such a talkative, sweet guy too. And he came to ask for help when he was initially dumped but then he was too scared to let me help him.
I have broken down the cage now and I left him the carrier part he likes to sleep in and a little cat house so he can hide in them, he likes to hide behind my sewing table when he gets scared so he has somewhere he can go if he’s scared.
I wasn’t sure if he was ready for that, that was two nights ago but he jumped right into it and Quinn being there to run around with him helped.
So today I let him come out into the garage because he’s expressed he wants to come out of the studio numerous times which is in the garage. He hates being alone in the studio. But he can be ok there on his own for quite a while too. But if I come in to see him and give him his food he will start eating it, only after saying hellos usually, and then when I say OK I have to go to do something else he comes over to try to stop me from leaving and say hi more.
The thing is he got scared there in the garage and he was hiding behind a bunch of stuff- it’s really overcrowded and it’s not a full-size garage because of a room being built in there. I was trying to show him that he can go back into the studio with the cat door- I opened the part that locks it etc., pushed the flap and Quinn went through it once but he didn’t seem to get that- he just stayed there and I went and left them for a while. When I came back he was still hiding.
I was only able to get him out by shaking a bag of treats but I had trouble getting him to come back in the studio. At one point Merlin came out and said hi to him in the garage and I had the door to the house open but he didn’t show any sign of wanting to go in there. He looked in but he looked like he was scared someone dangerous could be there.
I think part of this may be because he is scared of my brother, we are the only two people he has been exposed to and he has been scared when my brother went in to say hi to him. I usually sit with him and Quinn till about 5 to 6 AM and then I go to sleep. Quinn stays in there for a while and my brother lets him out eventually, so my brother has gone into the room at other times but Zena is still scared of him.
We also had an emergency with our furnace so we had people coming into the house making lots of noise at least twice I think. When I came in to check on him after that he was hiding in my sewing table/ cabinet which is open at the back And he wouldn’t come out for a while. I had to sit in the room and talk to him I think I did the treat thing again.
So I am concerned about trying to integrate him fully into the house and how to do this because I’m scared he’s going to hide in the garage and somehow if someone opens the door which would be highly unlikely of course he could escape or whatever you know. I of course will take all measures to make sure he is in the studio in that event but you never know what emergencies could happen.
I am just wondering if I should put him back on a half a capsule of GABA a day and see if that makes him feel less stressed out while he integrates into the house. I also have to set up a litter box somewhere in the house for him because I don’t think the two in the garage are going to be enough.
I have a Cat Genie which nobody uses anymore- it’s like a toilet, I have a regular hooded box and then I have the open stainless steel box for Zena which is in the studio.
I’m just wondering if I should try having my brother go to feed him sometimes so he will get more used to him or if that may just make him even more scared.
Has anyone had a similar cat intro situation like this where the cat was friendly with the other cats, OK with that one room but still keeps getting scared with people, even me sometimes, and new people etc.
I’m not sure if that is the only factor here. It I could also just be his generalized fear from everything that has happened to him. It could be that his baseline personality has some anxiety in it, it’s kind of strange because he’s such a talkative, sweet guy too. And he came to ask for help when he was initially dumped but then he was too scared to let me help him.
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