8 year old cat terrfied of everything

[callista]

My Christy felt safer after I provided her lots of hiding spots she could use. She's relatively confident now. Maybe hiding spots would help.

Ditto on the Prozac idea. It's worth a try if it helps the cat.

 

[lungro]

I agree with Lesliecat about the idea of a separate room, and with Callista about the idea of hiding spots.

Of the three ferals (11 mos.) who come in and sleep on my bed with me at night, one (a female) is still quite skittish.  To keep her from getting upset, I have had to set up a couple of small "safe zones" in my apartment where she knows that I will never disturb her.

One such safe zone is under my bed.  The bed is a single bed placed in a corner of a small bedroom.  The mattress rests on a high, Italian-style metal/spring frame, with no boxspring, so there are about 16" between the frame and the floor (much more than with a typical American bed, which might just have 6-9").  And with the blanket hanging down nearly to the floor on the long side that is away from the wall, every cat that comes into the house instantly falls in love with the area under this bed as a wonderful, hidden place from which the cat can observe without being seen.  It is very dim, and protected by walls on two sides, and high enough that the cats can run around and play under it.  It is somewhat the same with the space on top of the chairs under my kitchen table: they can jump up there and observe the feet of anyone walking by without being seen themselves.  In addition, I always leave the kitchen window open, so that they can go in or out any time they want.  As a result, when I see them near me in the house I can be certain that it is their own choice to be near me at the moment, because they know that they always have other options.

Two of the cats have recently begun experimenting with the ladder-like staircase leading up to my attic.  It is very steep, so although they can climb up very easily, climbing down can be rather challenging.  Nevertheless when the weather is a bit warmer I am thinking of cleaning up the attic and leaving the attic door open around the clock, so that they will have one more place where they can be away from any human presence when they want to be.

 

[lesliecat]

I would really recommend kitty prozac.  As another reader said, it comes in a liquid form and can be compounded with a flavor.  My cat didn't like any of it flavored or not but it sure helped her to calm down.  It didn't make her a zombie at all.  TammyP gave you some really good suggestions.  I hope you will take her advice.

 

[lesliecat]

I don't think we are trying to make her feel bad.  We are trying to help with our suggestions and that's just what they are..suggestions.  It is her cat and we should honor her decisions.

 

[otto]

I saw these being discussed elsewhere and knew there were a couple of threads here where the information might come in handy. Don't know if the OP is still reading, but just in case, I thought I'd add the info here.

http://www.calmingcollars.com/index.html

 

[sukina]

Hi everyone, I've been reading all your comments and found all very interesting. I live in Spain and volunteer in a cat assosiation. I currently have a cat that do not tolerate being touched, his name is Peter Pan. He loves to be with my other cats but not people, I understand that it is not the same as Barney, but his behaviour made me look for solutions. I read about the Tellington Touche method. There are many expert and practitioners in this in UK and USA and I read that it may help scardy cats. Its a kind of massage. I still haven't triend on Peter but I want to try and see if this method really works.

I also know that there are etologist and cat beahvoirists that may help understand and solve the problem.

Have any of you tried the Tellington Touche method? I'd love to hear your feedback.

Regards and many purrs for Barney.

 

[otto]

Hi Sukina and welcome. Peter Pan sounds like a very special boy. I looked up the Tellington Touch, here is a link to the website:

http://www.ttouch.com/

If you try this on Peter Pan be sure to let us know how it helps!

 

[lungro]

Hi Sukina.  Over the last 9 months I have been dealing with a very large clan of feral kittens, all of whom, initially, fled from humans.  I have not tried the Tellington Touch method, but from the TT video it looks like it is something you use on an animal that is already happy to sit stil and let you caress it.  But it sounds to me like your question may be how to get to that point in the first place.

From my own experience with these feral kittens -- now 1 year old -- I can say that one by one I have been able to get to the point where I can cuddle them, but it took a lot of patient, hard work.  There is still one who loves to have me touch her all over but gets a little scared if I put my face in front of her face and try to touch noses with her, there is one who lets me cuddle and scratch him while he is lying down asleep or half asleep but otherwise avoids contact with me (except when he is hungry, when he runs around my legs), and one whom I can touch only when she is fully asleep with her siblings.  I would sum up my experience as follows:

1. Avoid at all times anything that could startle or displease them.

2. Approach them slowly, and get down on the floor, on their level.

3. With kittens it is easiest to sneak in a little caress when they are in a group, eating together.

4. When they are in a narrow place and I have to walk past them, I turn around, with my back to them, and walk by them sideways, slowly, so as not to frighten them.

5. Whether the kittens are small or large, it is easiest to begin touching them while they are lying down or sleeping with other kittens/cats.  Caress the kittens/cats that are adjacent to the shy one, and -- if the shy cat does not have its eyes open wide in fear -- also let part of your hand brush occasionally against the body of the shy cat.

6. If you are good at playing with and massaging a cat, eventually you will find the shy cat looking on in jealousy when it sees the other kittens/cats purring and wriggling in delight.  At that point you can try sneaking up to the group while they are asleep, and caressing the shy cat while it is sleeping with the others.  It is best to do this from behind, so that the shy cat cannot see who or what is touching it.  It is best to start with the head, scratching lightly the top of the head and the cheeks, caressing the sides of the neck, and perhaps tickling under the chin.

7. If you can get that far, then I would suggest also touching the soft underside areas while the kitten/cat is asleep.  That is something that other cats never do to them, but which they sometimes find very cozy and pleasant.

8. If the cat, when awake, will come near you in play but will not let you touch him, then keep a brush and a carder close by and try brushing him with one or both of those as he rushes by.  Often a cat finds this sensation surprising and pleasant, and will slow down and let you continue for a moment.  Both a brush and a carder seem to remind cats of how their mother licked them when they were kittens.  (Cat's tongues are barbed, like velcro, so when a mother licks her kittens her tongue has a dragging effect.)

From your message I am not sure whether you have already reached the point where you can touch Peter Pan consistently, at any time and in any way.  If you have, then perhaps what I have written above might be helpful in introducing him to others.

 

[callista]

Anne. I really encourage you to just get the thundershirt on Barney. My little Pumpkin was attacked by her brother and has been petrified of the entire family and has refused to eat. At my wits end with everything possible exhausted I tried the Thundershirt. She did the flop over and lay there but we spent 30min cuddling and she started purring. When I took it off and sat with her in my mom's room she was far more social and not as fearful. I am still having to syringe feed her but with the shirt it is far easier and relaxing.

Yes you will have to freak him out to get it on but it has made remarkable changes for Pumpkin our session.

Amusingly, the same thing--pressure all over the body--is useful for autistic people too. Now I'm imagining myself looking very silly wearing one of those deep-pressure shirts. The most common way for us is to get a weighted blanket, which is like a regular blanket with heavy beads or plastic sand sewn into it, to make it very heavy. I have a ten-pound one, and I crawl under it when my brain starts to blue-screen because of too much sensory input, which can cause anxiety, stress, and exhaustion.

Autistic people have a hard time sorting out sensory information and paying attention to only the important things. So instead of only noticing some things, we notice everything and it just comes flooding in like a tidal wave that gets hard to handle sometimes. Somehow, pressure (and quiet and dim light) can really help relax me. I don't know how it works; I only know it works for me and for many other autistics. Even typical people can find pressure comforting--why do you think we hug each other so tightly? So it makes sense to me that it might work for a cat, too. After all, "All cats have Asperger's", right? (Title of a book, in case you were wondering--written for kids, to explain what AS is; uses cats as a surprisingly well-fitting analogy.)

It probably only works if the cat does not feel trapped. Being restrained or caged can be absolutely terrifying to the cat. And just like weighted blankets don't work for every human, pressure shirts might not work for every cat. Still, it's an intriguing idea to me because of how I benefit from it myself.