- Joined
- Dec 4, 2019
- Messages
- 6
- Purraise
- 8
Hi all,
So I have a 2 year old black domestic short hair male named Bailey. I adopted him from the local shelter when he was 9 months old; 7 months of his life was spent in the shelter as no one wanted the poor thing but I knew immediately he was the one!
From the very beginning, we could see he was a terribly scared cat. We couldn’t hold him without him struggling to break free, he would run under beds when we walked in - just any sight of humans freaked him out.
Fast forward to today, he has made some improvements. He follows me around to the bathroom and to be fed & he will come up on the bed if I’m lying very still and just sit by my feet. The one issue we are still having is he absolutely will not let us hold him, sometimes even pet him, because he gets scared and runs off. I’ve tried kissing the little guy’s head but he is so afraid of our faces up close - you guessed it, he runs. When he hears someone come up the stairs, he jumps off the bed and hides. He does not bite or scratch us when we try to hold him which I suppose is a good thing, but he does struggle until he can leap free from our touch.
As a cat lover, it makes me so sad to see him terrified of noises and even us humans. I am really hoping to hear of any suggestions someone may have to help rehabilitate him in a sense where he doesn’t have to fear us. It can be terribly frustrating for me as well when I see him do loving things near me but then when I want to give back affection he runs from it. It seems as if he wants human attention but then when we try to give it, he runs from us. I don’t know what to do to help my little guy...
Please help!!!
So I have a 2 year old black domestic short hair male named Bailey. I adopted him from the local shelter when he was 9 months old; 7 months of his life was spent in the shelter as no one wanted the poor thing but I knew immediately he was the one!
From the very beginning, we could see he was a terribly scared cat. We couldn’t hold him without him struggling to break free, he would run under beds when we walked in - just any sight of humans freaked him out.
Fast forward to today, he has made some improvements. He follows me around to the bathroom and to be fed & he will come up on the bed if I’m lying very still and just sit by my feet. The one issue we are still having is he absolutely will not let us hold him, sometimes even pet him, because he gets scared and runs off. I’ve tried kissing the little guy’s head but he is so afraid of our faces up close - you guessed it, he runs. When he hears someone come up the stairs, he jumps off the bed and hides. He does not bite or scratch us when we try to hold him which I suppose is a good thing, but he does struggle until he can leap free from our touch.
As a cat lover, it makes me so sad to see him terrified of noises and even us humans. I am really hoping to hear of any suggestions someone may have to help rehabilitate him in a sense where he doesn’t have to fear us. It can be terribly frustrating for me as well when I see him do loving things near me but then when I want to give back affection he runs from it. It seems as if he wants human attention but then when we try to give it, he runs from us. I don’t know what to do to help my little guy...
Please help!!!