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Adopted world's most frightened cat

My cat hated being picked up. Loved a good old belly stroke though. She would also lick my ears to wake me up :hmm:
 
I wonder why they bite?

My ex housemate brings her niece to see the cat sometimes, im alwyas worried she'll get bitten.....

Mine wont let you near her belleh.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
btw lots of otherwise very affectionate cats hate being picked up. ime cats at best only tolerate being picked up - none of them actually likes it. If a cat doesn't like being picked up, don't pick it up! Cats normally don't like being cuddled much either. Strokes, yes please. Arms around them squeezing, no thanks.
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I think it will be quite a while before we find out if we can pick this cat up. Right now just not having it flee the room in mortal terror or hide behind the sofa would be a good step. I realize it'll take weeks or months before it walks around happily. Next time I've got some money I'll get one of those Felway things....
 
I've always found getting down to the animals level to help with nervous critters. Suddenly you're not this towering beast they fear. It may help, may not.
 
tbh i find this thread quite heartwarming - you didn't have a fucking clue what you were doing at the outset and fucked up a bit, but you're doing your best to make up for it so far. fwiw if you have the time and patience to put into him i reckon you could easily have a lap cat at some point in the future. he's not feral, just scared. you need to do some serious reading up on cat behaviour/care and re-read and absorb some of the excellent posts on here. if you're not up to that you need to rehome - properly and soon.

we got our latest two as kittens from a rescue - they were taken from their mum too young any had flu when we got them, was touch and go whether they made it and definitely not the best start. they always had different temperaments - girlcat was the runt and always jittery, scarpering at strangers/strange noises, while boycat was more laid back. girlcat moved into the garden when kid1 was born and used to spend all day sat on the windowsill, she'd only come in at night. but even then she was mega affectionate if you let her come to you and would curl up on your lap and purr and she had the softest ever fur :)

just a note: your mentioning of the way the cat ran up the curtains reminds me - please make sure not to leave plastic bags lying around the flat, spesh if they contain anything a cat might like the smell of. i'll never forget when boycat got his head stuck through the handle of a carrier bag, tried to run away and it just stuck to him, rustling. he was literally running up the walls in fright :(
 
The cat has been hiding in the clean litter tray cage for the last couple of hours. It's one of those covered-over indoors ones.

I just made something more comfortable out of a small table, a pillow, a couple of blankets. There's a blanket over the top that covers all sides except the way in. So I'll see if the cat takes to that instead.
 
Ah, I must have missed that bit!

But yeah, your little DIY hidey hole sounds awesome. Hopefully the cat will associate you with a nice, warm place to hang out and sleep :)
 
did anyone mention putting a jumper of yours or summat else you've worn and will have your smell on it in there too? ime cats never sleep in lovingly prepared spots, but they usually find somewhere they like for themselves and you can put it wherever that happens to be.
 
wayward bob said:
did anyone mention putting a jumper of yours or summat else you've worn and will have your smell on it in there too? ime cats never sleep in lovingly prepared spots, but they usually find somewhere they like for themselves and you can put it wherever that happens to be.
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I gave Artichoke a netbook for her birthday (extensive travel, blah blah blah).

The box from it has proven to be the best present Nigel's ever won.

She's slept in it, night and day, for slightly over 4 months now.
 
I appreciate this sounds crap, but I didn't know that cat sexing was that easy, and I didn't believe Artichoke was serious when she said she thought Nigel was a 'she.'

tbf, Artichoke's owned cats all her life, and she wasn't sure cat sexing was all that easy, either.

(Should also probably add that the one thing we were sure we weren't going to call him / her was Nigel, so she was 'Not-Nigel' for a week or two whilst we thought about it. And only the latter half stuck. Though now it feels completely right for her, and I can't imagine her being anything else.

Her original owners called her 'Purdy' :()
 
Re picking them up. Saffpuss only tolerates it most of the time, and only because she knows that as soon as she does a little wriggle I'll put her down again*. On occasions though, particularly if I've been away for longer than usual, she loves it, cuddles into me and purrs like a jet engine. :cool:

*Good tip for picking cats up that. Start off by picking them up, stroking them once and putting them down again (gently!). Once they're used to that, hold them a bit longer but as soon as they squirm at all put them down immediately. They'll slowly start to understand that they're in control of when to get down, and then they won't object so much, and may even come to like it sometimes.
 
wayward bob said:
nigel is a great name for a cat. the next boycat (or possibly girlcat :D) i have is gonna be a dave :)
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My girlcat is called Frank (after Sinatra cos she's got blue eyes) and my boycat is Alan.

I have had a few comedy moments where people overhear me talking about them and think they are humans.........:D
 
wayward bob said:
did anyone mention putting a jumper of yours or summat else you've worn and will have your smell on it in there too? ime cats never sleep in lovingly prepared spots, but they usually find somewhere they like for themselves and you can put it wherever that happens to be.
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at which point kitteh decides they don't like sleeping there any more, thanks very much...
 
mrs quoad said:
The box from it has proven to be the best present Nigel's ever won.
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funny-pictures-cat-got-you-a-box.jpg


my next door neighbours seem to specialise in having cats with gender-inappropriate names, although current kitteh being called Charlie was covering all bets...
 
I left the conservatory kitchen door open this evening as I saw the cat had moved in the room and eaten his food. A little while later the cat came into the lounge and spent about ten minutes pacing around miaowing. My guess is he was trying to say "Let me back outside, you bastard!" He climbed back on the desk a couple of times and looked forlornly at the still-shut window.

Still, I think it's a good sign that he was able to wander around in the lounge when I was in there, although he did run away if ever I moved suddenly. But I hadn't expected to see him today - I thought he would stay hiding in the conservatory for a good while longer.
 
i recently had 2 identical cats called herman and non-herman but herman got runover.....which makes non-herman the most meaningless name ever :(
 
Minnie_the_Minx said:
When one of my cats was a kitten and new to the house, she decided to investigate the bathroom whilst I was in the bath. She hopped up and walked along the edge and slid in. She never did walk along the edge of the bath again
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My cat did this. Was hilarious. He was a long haired cat and he shrunk to about half the size.

I've never seen a more pissed off looking cat. :D
 
i'mnotsofast said:
I left the conservatory kitchen door open this evening as I saw the cat had moved in the room and eaten his food. A little while later the cat came into the lounge and spent about ten minutes pacing around miaowing. My guess is he was trying to say "Let me back outside, you bastard!" He climbed back on the desk a couple of times and looked forlornly at the still-shut window.

Still, I think it's a good sign that he was able to wander around in the lounge when I was in there, although he did run away if ever I moved suddenly. But I hadn't expected to see him today - I thought he would stay hiding in the conservatory for a good while longer.
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patience is the name of the game. But if he is happy to have a wander, even with the big scary man in the room, this is good. As others have said, just ignore him for a good few days in order to let him suss out his surroundings and get his head together.
 
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