Yeah, Mocha would get the “giant feral eyes” and shrink away from me, too. Her socialization was a series of tiny steps over months, not weeks.That’s good advice, thank you!! That’s sort of what I’ve been doing... but I feel as though we’re not really getting anywhere lately. I keep my hand in a loose fist with the back of the hand up, and sometimes extend a finger for her to sniff. When I’m lying in bed and do it (my mattress is on the ground) she will usually sniff my hand and not seem too scared. Sometimes she very lightly touches it with a paw to investigate. But it’s kind of stopped at that, and she doesn’t really seem to have any interest in approaching any further. If I push it, she gets giant feral eyes and shrinks away from me.
Did you give Mocha a distraction like treats while you petted her side, or not? And did you sit still and wait for her to initiate contact with you, or did you just get gradually closer until you were touching her?
I like that Chai can associate yummy treats with my hand petting her. But I worry it might be such a big distraction that it’s not actually helping her, since once the treats are gone she gets nervous again.
I couldn’t distract her with treats. She didn’t trust enough to be distracted. Oh, she wanted them. She just wouldn’t eat them when I was close to her. I had to put them down and then scoot away. It seems to be working with Chai so I’d keep it up!
It was about week three or four when she flopped onto her back and showed her belly...about three feet away from my outstretched hand. She started to purr about that time. She wanted so badly to be petted. I gradually moved closer and closer with my hand stretched out each time I sat with her. Eventually, she bumped against the back of my hand. We just worked it from there. But it really did take months for her. You and Chai are so much farther ahead than we were! Her resilience is so amazing given the loss of her leg.
Even after a year, I still can’t pick Mocha up, but in every other way, she’s a sweet, loving girl. Follows me around asking for pets, flops onto her back so I can rub her belly, hops onto my lap to nap, sleeps with me. She has even started asking The Spouse for pets. That took almost a year.
They’re all so different...as are we. Given her trauma, Chai has come a long way.