Flinching During Petting

[Pixelated Cat]

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since I've been on here. Anyhow, hubby and I have noticed Pixie sometimes flinches when we go to pet him. It almost looks like he is afraid we are going to hit him. We really don't know much about Pixie's history prior to us rescuing him. We found him living on the streets, and he trusted us right away when we first found him. Our vet, my hubby, and myself think he was abandoned at our apartment complex and lived outside until we took him in. Back to the flinching. He sometimes flinches when we reach to pet him. He used to do this a lot when we first met him and took him in. We took him in in January, and he flinches a lot less than he used to. He is really sweet and gently, he has never scratched, hissed, or bitten us. So I guess my question is....could the flinching possibly mean that he was abused by other people before abandonment, or is he startled easily? Anyone have any ideas?

 

[tabbytom]

I guess so, my boy does that at the slightest sound. Sometimes he just jump up. He was an abandoned kitty with a serious injury and he was traumatized and he was all alone when he was rescued.

So I think your boy might have experience something unpleasant.

 

[catlover73]

I adopted a cat that had been abused and abandoned. I adopted her almost immediately after she was abandoned. Someone abandoned her in the bed of a friend's pick-up truck. Him and his room mate found her when they decided to get food. She was taken inside immediately. She did let my friends pick her up to bring her inside. Once she was inside though all she did was hide behind the couch when anyone was home. She would eat and go to bathroom when they were asleep or at work. She lived there for 2 days before my friend's landlord threatening to kick them out if she was not gone. I adopted her right away. I had to kick my friend's out of their apartment and it took me two hours to lure her out from behind the couch. I had to use lunch meat on a plate. My friend's knew nothing about cats and were giving her human food when she would not eat cat food.

Once I got Baby-T to my apartment I noticed her back leg looked infected and she was limping. I took her to the vet the next day. She had to have her leg drained due to the infection. I had to put her pain meds in baby food on a spoon to get her to eat. She was too scared to eat cat food of any kind. The vet also took x-rays and found broken bones in her body from being kicked that had healed wrong. Once the infection went away so did the limp so the vet and I made the decision to leave her bones alone. The pain she was in was being caused by the infection. I went through hell trying to get her to eat. My vet gave me a long handled spoon and told me to use baby food to gain her trust. I did eventually get her to realize it was safe to eat cat food. She hid constantly when I first adopted her. The chosen hiding spot was my room mates laundry pile. She was sorting clothes on her floor before doing laundry. We actually shared my clothes for two weeks so we would not traumatize the cat. She bonded with the other cats in the household before the humans.

Based on my personal experience I would say that Pixie is easily startled for some reason. In my experience a cat that has been abused does not trust that quickly. If there was abuse it may have been an isolated incident instead of long-term. Perhaps try petting him in different places and make sure that he can see your hands approaching. My Baby-T did learn to fully trust humans again but it took time and patience.

 

[daftcat75]

Cats are both predator and prey. As prey animals, it’s not in their nature to be trusting especially of larger animals. Socialization as kittens goes a long way to make them more people-friendly. He may grow more trusting with time. He may not. He may also be more amenable to attention and affection at different times or different days. It’s that cats are still more wild than not that makes them and their relationship with people so fascinating and rewarding. I think if you’re patient enough with him and allow him the space to flinch and feel you out, I’m sure he will become more trusting with time.

 

[daftcat75]

For what it’s worth, my Krista has lived 12 of her 14 years with me. She will flinch if you go for top of the head but she’ll meet you halfway if you go for a cheek. It could be that you’re just petting him wrong as far as he’s concerned.

 

[basschick]

a friend of ours found a young adult female dog by the freeway entrance and manged to tempt her with treats after two days. we ended up adopting her, and when we first got her, she would scream and drop to the floor if we lifted our hands too fast. our vet found she had been beaten regularly, and numerous bonus including her pelvis had been broken at some point.

after she learned we were safe to be around, she became bold and annoying. whoever beat her also taught her lots of common dog things including "shake". when we wouldn't pay attention to her, she'd come over and shake with us whether we wanted to or not. i bet at one point, she shook hands with me 100 times a day *LOL*

the important thing is that you have pixie now and he's safe. and although he flinches, he still lets you pet him. that seems like a good thing.

 

[sabrinah]

I've had my cat from day 1 so I know for certain she's never been abused, but if I move too fast to pet her she'll flinch and put her ears back. I think she just doesn't realize it's my hand right away, she thinks something is trying to attack her. As soon as she realizes it's me she calms right down. Maybe just try moving slower and making it obvious that you're moving in to pet him so there are no surprises?

 

[Wile]

I'm in the same position as sabrinah , I have had both of my cats since they were kittens. The more skittish one tends to be more jumpy. If I go to pet her without warning she flinches and runs. It is just her personality. To counteract this I try to make my interactions with her as predictable and understandable as possible. Before going to pet her I always say "do you want a pet?" so she knows it is coming. You could try this with Pixie.

 

[duncanmac]

I'm in the same position as sabrinah , I have had both of my cats since they were kittens. The more skittish one tends to be more jumpy. If I go to pet her without warning she flinches and runs. It is just her personality. To counteract this I try to make my interactions with her as predictable and understandable as possible. Before going to pet her I always say "do you want a pet?" so she knows it is coming. You could try this with Pixie.

I use a similar warning phrase with my cats "Say hi" which will cause some of them to come over and get a pet or at least warn the skittish one that I'm going for him.

The other thing that helps is to not go at them from above - it makes your hand seem like a bird of prey. Again with my shy guy, I have better results of I get my hand down low 2-3 feet in front of him and generally do a frontal approach.

 

[MeezerMamaMia]

I’ve had my Mia 9 of her 10 years. She is very bonded to me and always has to be ON me... but has always flinched when I go to pet her head. Sometimes even walks away. But doesn’t if go pet her Chin or side of her face. It might just be an instinct... they can’t see what’s going to happen to the TOP of their heads.

 

[RajaNMizu]

I've also had my cats for most of their lives and I know their experiences prior to adoption weren't abusive. Mizu startles easily and while she doesn't flinch exactly, if she doesn't want petting at that moment, she will slink her body downward to avoid it. She enjoys it on her terms when she comes looking for it, not the other way around.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Pixelated Cat , does he continue to flinch while you actually pet him? If you pet him 10 times, would he flinch 10 times?

 

[Pixelated Cat]

1 bruce 1 When he flinches, it is when we are reaching out to pet him.

 

[1 bruce 1]

1 bruce 1 When he flinches, it is when we are reaching out to pet him.

Got it. I would suspect abuse first, eye problem distant second.
I only asked because our Queenie visited a chiropractor for pets and was always flinchy, she was so out of whack and jammed up in her spine and front end that her flinching stopped after a few adjustments.
I think he'll pull through OK. Just do what you're doing.

 

[Pixelated Cat]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I learned a lot from them, and now I have a few ideas for what we can do for him. 1 bruce 1 when you are saying eye problem distant, is that similar to being near-sighted/far-sighted? I have considered taking Pixie to a pet chiropractor. Do you feel that it helped your Queenie?