Help! Our 2yr Old Cat Is Now Scared To Death To Walk Near Our Front Door.

[lifewith3cats]

Good morning. Our 2yr old Tabby cat, Comet, who is an adorable cat, is scared of an area by our front door. Before it happened, Comet was a secure, social, talkative, lighthearted cat. Since this happened, she walks around slowly and scared, and all stretched out as if a monster is lurking around every corner. It is killing me to see her do this.

Here's what happened. On Friday I was sitting on the stairs, that are located near the front door and I asked my 12 year old to throw me my socks. At the same time all 3 of our cats, ages 3, 2 and 1, were at the front door, which was wide open, DEEP in thought looking at a bird that was staring right at them at the door. This is one of our cats' favorite places to lay in the house.

Anyway, my daughter threw one of my socks towards me. The sock was not balled up, she just tossed it to me and it landed near my 2 year old, Comet. Comet immediately jumped wildly in the air and I admit, at the time it looked funny, like something you'd see on youtube or something. However, within a few seconds we could see Comet was deeply affected, and it's heartbreaking. She won't go anywhere near the front door and she now walks around in our living room slowly and all stretched out, and any sudden movement, sudden noise, anything and she freaks out. She also jumps in response to the smallest thing. It's like she's on high alert.

I don't know what to do. My 12yr old who threw the sock was crying this morning saying she's given her cat an anxiety disorder and wondered if Comet would ever recover. Is there anything we can do? Just an aside, Comet also has pica, but we have pretty much pica-proofed the house, so it's not a big issue. I just wanted to point out that she is sort of OCD as it is. I will do anything to fix this, so please, if you can, help our beloved Comet.

 

[susanm9006]

I would just let some time pass, ignore her behavior and she will likely get over her scare and fear of the front door area. You could try giving her some treats there to see if she can change her associations of it from negative to positive.

 

[elliesvictim]

Geez, hous full of drama queens, everyone's overreacting.
Tell ur 12 year old it'll pass, no tears it'll pass.
My 2 year old has phases where she's scared of everything and then scared of nothing. I have recognised her fearful behaviour and gentle hold her and state "your panicking" and after a short while she calms. Sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes she'll freak out and come back later, rubs against me as if to say "man I really freaked out".
It's difficult to understand cats as we can't talk to them. So look I wouldn't overthink this it'll pass.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Good morning. Our 2yr old Tabby cat, Comet, who is an adorable cat, is scared of an area by our front door. Before it happened, Comet was a secure, social, talkative, lighthearted cat. Since this happened, she walks around slowly and scared, and all stretched out as if a monster is lurking around every corner. It is killing me to see her do this.

Here's what happened. On Friday I was sitting on the stairs, that are located near the front door and I asked my 12 year old to throw me my socks. At the same time all 3 of our cats, ages 3, 2 and 1, were at the front door, which was wide open, DEEP in thought looking at a bird that was staring right at them at the door. This is one of our cats' favorite places to lay in the house.

Anyway, my daughter threw one of my socks towards me. The sock was not balled up, she just tossed it to me and it landed near my 2 year old, Comet. Comet immediately jumped wildly in the air and I admit, at the time it looked funny, like something you'd see on youtube or something. However, within a few seconds we could see Comet was deeply affected, and it's heartbreaking. She won't go anywhere near the front door and she now walks around in our living room slowly and all stretched out, and any sudden movement, sudden noise, anything and she freaks out. She also jumps in response to the smallest thing. It's like she's on high alert.

I don't know what to do. My 12yr old who threw the sock was crying this morning saying she's given her cat an anxiety disorder and wondered if Comet would ever recover. Is there anything we can do? Just an aside, Comet also has pica, but we have pretty much pica-proofed the house, so it's not a big issue. I just wanted to point out that she is sort of OCD as it is. I will do anything to fix this, so please, if you can, help our beloved Comet.

lifewith3cats , don't worry, this can be a temporary situation. From my experience with things like this, the cat just needs to basically locate That Surprising Thing that startled her, and understand what it is. When this event occurred on Friday, did you show that pair of socks to Comet afterwards, let her sniff them, etc.? If not, I suggest "introducing" those socks to Comet once again in a non-surprising, non-threatening way. What Comet is trying to do by slinking around the area, all on edge, is... to find or hunt down That Surprising Thing that startled her on Friday. In my experience, the best thing for you to do is to put the pair of socks on the floor near where this happened and just let Comet slink around, discover them, maybe punch the socks with her paws a few times to see that the Evil Socks are harmless... and she'll gain her confidence back. You can also gradually (or not gradually) play a tossing game with socks near the area, to get her acclimated to this event -- which was meant to be harmless, and Comet just needs to realize that socks are harmless. Have fun with such a game, let her know socks are quite fun. Leave some Surprise Socks laying around the house in odd places (unless because of her PICA, she'll eat them, lol!), and let her discover that her hunting instincts are really rather fabulous.

 

[lifewith3cats]

I would just let some time pass, ignore her behavior and she will likely get over her scare and fear of the front door area. You could try giving her some treats there to see if she can change her associations of it from negative to positive.

That's what we've done all weekend and as of this afternoon, it's gotten worse, she won't come into the living room at all. I suggested last night we put a piece of furniture over by the door to change it up a little and to move their first floor feeding station to that spot, but dh though further disruption would make things worse. He may change his mind when he comes home from work and sees Comet hanging out (only) in the kitchen.

 

[lifewith3cats]

lifewith3cats , don't worry, this can be a temporary situation. From my experience with things like this, the cat just needs to basically locate That Surprising Thing that startled her, and understand what it is. When this event occurred on Friday, did you show that pair of socks to Comet afterwards, let her sniff them, etc.? If not, I suggest "introducing" those socks to Comet once again in a non-surprising, non-threatening way. What Comet is trying to do by slinking around the area, all on edge, is... to find or hunt down That Surprising Thing that startled her on Friday. In my experience, the best thing for you to do is to put the pair of socks on the floor near where this happened and just let Comet slink around, discover them, maybe punch the socks with her paws a few times to see that the Evil Socks are harmless... and she'll gain her confidence back. You can also gradually (or not gradually) play a tossing game with socks near the area, to get her acclimated to this event -- which was meant to be harmless, and Comet just needs to realize that socks are harmless. Have fun with such a game, let her know socks are quite fun. Leave some Surprise Socks laying around the house in odd places (unless because of her PICA, she'll eat them, lol!), and let her discover that her hunting instincts are really rather fabulous.

It's interesting you brought up the game of socks, because ALL Comet's life she has brought us a sock as an "offering". She does it, or rather used to, on a daily basis. She comes down the stairs screaming like the town crier, with a sock in her mouth. She presents it to the room and then we all cheer her on and pet her. It's really something adorable to see. That is why it's so surprising to me that the sock landing near her freaked her out like this. I don't think she realized it was the sock that scared her, and no, I didn't show her the sock, regrettably.

As for her Pica, it's been mostly my purses and any and all electrical cords. I finally found a purse a couple weeks ago that Comet turned her nose up at. After 3 years of Pica it felt like a victory.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hhm. Okay, well - it wasn't the socks that scared her then.

When you say that your front door was open, do you mean that the outside was directly accessible, or do you have a screen door or glass door in addition to your main front door (e.g. was a glass door there, that could have reflected the flashing image of the socks in her peripheral vision and startled her even more)?

Was there a concurrent sound that happened when the socks were thrown? You'll have to kind of pick apart the event to see if you can figure out what has startled her. Could she have possibly twisted a limb just slightly when it happened, so that she is feeling like something caused her physical discomfort during the mishap, even if just a fleeting pain?

But the best thing to do is not change up that area by moving furniture around, in my view, and to stay calm yourselves around that area. You can even try sitting on the floor there when she's near, and see if she'll approach the area if she feels safer when you are sitting there. She needs to get acclimated again, to feel safe exploring.

 

[danteshuman]

You can also try sitting on the ground by the door and reassuring the other cats. Talking to them, puurrring, meowing at them by the door while ignoring her until she approaches. That way you are not rewarding her nervous behavior. It will pass in time. I like the sock idea to

 

[heathensservant]

Maybe have 3 socks with some cat nip in them. And play with the other two cats by the door, each with their own sock. See if she overcomes her fear because the other two are having so much fun. Poor little girl. Everyone should feel secure inside their own home. Reassure your daughter it's not her fault. Your little kitty has a long life ahead of her and she's still really young. She's just learning a valuable life lesson right now to help her later in life.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

How is Comet today?

 

[lifewith3cats]

Good morning! Comet is completely back to normal! It took her 8 days though to get to that point though. For about 6 days she would NOT go anywhere near the front door, nor remain in the living room. She lived entirely in the kitchen. What changed it all was I removed everything out of the front door area, including shoes etc. I also kept the door closed, which never happens. That door is open from 6am to 8pm every day. Anyway, after I did that she instantly, albeit slowly walked into the living room all stretched out as if she thought she was going to get attacked at any moment.

She smelled the front door area completely but she still looked extremely scared, so I moved their downstairs food station to the front door area. I wanted her to see something positive for her can be found at that spot. Comet slowly, after watching our other 2 cats eating there and leisurely hanging around it, she made her way over to the food and started eating. We all nearly jumped for joy! She then remained in the living room. By the next day to day and a half she was back to normal: relaxed, happy, curious. I've kept the foot station there and will for sometime. It's not a real convenient spot for us, but I don't want to make any sudden changes now that Comet is finally back to normal.

It's amazing to me that a simple sock being tossed and landing near our cat could freak her out like that. No doubt she saw it in the reflection of our inner door that has glass in it and reflects everything. We will never again throw anything near her without her seeing it first. Our Maine Coon loves to play fetch so that's not going to stop, we'll just make sure Comet is aware of it.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hooray! Very good news!

 

[danteshuman]

Yeah

 

[lifewith3cats]

Thanks! It's so good to see Comet back to her old self.