Thank you if you read all of this! I know it's long, but I wanted to be descriptive and not leave anything out.
I want to understand her behavior so that I know what she wants.
Little backstory:
I recently adopted a cat from a rescue (about 2 weeks ago). She had been with the rescue for a year (i think) then was adopted for a year and given back because the people had to move and couldn't take her because their aunt or something was sick and was allergic. She also has 3 legs (missing back left). Her foster mom said she had found her on the side of the road and her leg was messed up so she had the vet amputate it. Her info says she is around 2 years old so I assume she has been missing the leg most of her life and was young when she was found. She gets around pretty well, but occasionally slips or falls or has to take some extra time to line up a jump.
When I brought her home she only took a couple of hours to adjust to my bedroom. I kept her in there for a couple days before letting her explore the house, so she had an established safe room that she knew and has all her food and play things in (I also spend a lot of time in there). She hasn't had any problems with eating or drinking or using her litter box.
For the most part, she is very sweet. She loves to play, sleeps on my bed with me, and occasionally ventures out to the rest of the house to run around or lay in the spots she likes. She seems to follow me around. She follows me upstairs to the kitchen and family room when I go up, to the bathroom, and then back to my room when I go back. If I leave for a while, she runs to my room (or is already there sleeping) and greets me, rubs on my hands and purrs, jumps on my desk and walks back and forth while I pet her, etc...
The weird stuff:
Her behavior is making it hard to understand how she feels towards me and what she likes or doesn't like.
She is very on/off about being petted. Sometimes she loves it, rubs on you, closes her eyes, purrs. Other times she just tolerates it and will just walk slowly out of reach. If she is laying or sleeping, again sometimes she seems to like it, especially scratches under her chin, but other times she will either get up and go lay somewhere else (usually on the floor), or sometimes will lay there and push your hand/grab it with her paw, then if I try to slowly (or quickly..have tried both) pull my hand away to leave her alone, she will claw into me very lightly and nibble at my hand. she doesn't do it that hard so it doesn't hurt much, and she usually lets go quickly and licks me a few times. Are these "love bites" or does she want me to stop?
Sometimes she will lay in a spot next to her scratch post and some toys where we usually play. The problem is that when she lays there she always seems a bit agitated. If I try to touch her she will get up and run away, then come back within a minute or two, or she will do the nibbling. Sometimes when we are playing or when she is in this spot, we will be playing and she will grab my hand (no claws) and give me playful nibbles and bats and such, then will go into something like a trance where she grips into my hand really hard, kicks at my arm with her back leg (doesn't seem like she's using claws), and chews on my hand which hurts quite a bit. Sometimes she still licks me after she does this. Then she will just let go and lay back down, start grooming herself, or walk to somewhere else in the room and lay down. She also will easily go from playing, to this state, back to playing again if you show her the toys. The spasm with kicking and biting seems to happen mostly if I try to pull away from her while she is "holding" my hand with her paws and giving me the more playful nibbles. Is she just getting carried away with the playing? is the trance thing normal and also what is it? some kind of playful happy spasm or does she actually hate me and want me to stop?
She doesn't like when I pick her up. Unless it's for a very short time, she will start whining and growling or will twist away (even if she seems content for a second, she never lets me set her back down gently..always twists and jumps away). Then for a couple hours after she will run away if I try to touch her or even if I just stand up out of my chair. The part I find strange about this is that she will come right back into the room after a minute, will still get on the bed with me, follow me around, and even make her happy little chirps at me. But if I do something that looks too much like I'm going to pick her up, or if I try to touch her while standing, she will run away for a minute again. Also she lets my mother pick her up.
Sometimes she lets me stroke down her back or sides and even seems to be enjoying it, but other times I will be scratching her chin or rubbing her cheek and when I go to rub down her side or back she looks up at me all wide eyed, but will go back to content and sleepy if I rub her chin again. She also lays on her side and stretches out on the floor, and sleeps on her back in bed a lot. I thought that this was supposed to be a sign that she is comfortable and trusts me, but whenever I try to rub her tummy/chest lightly or even just reach to rub her cheek, she grabs my hand or gets all defensive.
When we sleep, she snuggles up close/on top of my feet or legs, and always walks around the bed kneading and purring loudly. Sometimes she even kneads on my leg or arm. However, if I try to pet her she stops kneading and sometimes will stop purring too, but she still lays down with me. She also does all the on/off stuff with touching her and the nibbling/biting. Sometimes she will let me pet or hold her paw, or will pull my hand in and kind of cuddle it or lay on it.
She also randomly will just crouch low to the grown and sniff around kind of searching with her eyes wide like she is scared of something, but it happens so randomly and without any kind of stimulus that I can see or hear.
It's just becoming so confusing because I never know if I can pet her or if she is going to start biting me or if she is just playing when she does this or if she actually wants me to stop or what.
She seems to constantly want to be around me, since she follows me around and stuff, and she shows lots of affection. I just don't know how to give her love back because she is so random. It would be one thing if it was an off day, but instead it is just constant throughout every day and most of the time she will seem to be enjoying the attention and then suddenly my hand is getting nipped at or she starts whining or something. Just an hour or so ago I was laying on the bed with her and she was cuddling me hand and had her leg over my arm fast asleep. I got up slowly because the phone rang, gave her a scratch on the chin, then answered the phone. When I went and got back in bed I went to pet her paw to see if she would snuggle back up and she pushed my hand away then started doing the nibbles then licks.
She also will let my mother pick her up and pet her all she wants, which I found weird because she hardly knows my mom at all.
I'm really just looking for any little bits of information to understand her, especially the trance biting thing.
I try to let her just do her thing, let her walk away if she doesn't want to be petted, she has free roam of the house, etc...but she seems to just want to be in my room or following me around the house. It's just so confusing to me :/
Why doesn't she just get up and walk away if she doesn't like what I'm doing? Why does she come back right away if she leaves the room, and always get on the bed with me if she doesn't like to be touched or snuggled or anything? Does she actually like it?
She's such a sweet cat, but it's starting to seem like she is crazy. It's great that she seems to like me, but I would like to be able to pet or even cuddle her or have her sit on my lap, not just have her keeping me within her sight. It's like she loves and hates me at the same time. Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated
I want to understand her behavior so that I know what she wants.
Little backstory:
I recently adopted a cat from a rescue (about 2 weeks ago). She had been with the rescue for a year (i think) then was adopted for a year and given back because the people had to move and couldn't take her because their aunt or something was sick and was allergic. She also has 3 legs (missing back left). Her foster mom said she had found her on the side of the road and her leg was messed up so she had the vet amputate it. Her info says she is around 2 years old so I assume she has been missing the leg most of her life and was young when she was found. She gets around pretty well, but occasionally slips or falls or has to take some extra time to line up a jump.
When I brought her home she only took a couple of hours to adjust to my bedroom. I kept her in there for a couple days before letting her explore the house, so she had an established safe room that she knew and has all her food and play things in (I also spend a lot of time in there). She hasn't had any problems with eating or drinking or using her litter box.
For the most part, she is very sweet. She loves to play, sleeps on my bed with me, and occasionally ventures out to the rest of the house to run around or lay in the spots she likes. She seems to follow me around. She follows me upstairs to the kitchen and family room when I go up, to the bathroom, and then back to my room when I go back. If I leave for a while, she runs to my room (or is already there sleeping) and greets me, rubs on my hands and purrs, jumps on my desk and walks back and forth while I pet her, etc...
The weird stuff:
Her behavior is making it hard to understand how she feels towards me and what she likes or doesn't like.
She is very on/off about being petted. Sometimes she loves it, rubs on you, closes her eyes, purrs. Other times she just tolerates it and will just walk slowly out of reach. If she is laying or sleeping, again sometimes she seems to like it, especially scratches under her chin, but other times she will either get up and go lay somewhere else (usually on the floor), or sometimes will lay there and push your hand/grab it with her paw, then if I try to slowly (or quickly..have tried both) pull my hand away to leave her alone, she will claw into me very lightly and nibble at my hand. she doesn't do it that hard so it doesn't hurt much, and she usually lets go quickly and licks me a few times. Are these "love bites" or does she want me to stop?
Sometimes she will lay in a spot next to her scratch post and some toys where we usually play. The problem is that when she lays there she always seems a bit agitated. If I try to touch her she will get up and run away, then come back within a minute or two, or she will do the nibbling. Sometimes when we are playing or when she is in this spot, we will be playing and she will grab my hand (no claws) and give me playful nibbles and bats and such, then will go into something like a trance where she grips into my hand really hard, kicks at my arm with her back leg (doesn't seem like she's using claws), and chews on my hand which hurts quite a bit. Sometimes she still licks me after she does this. Then she will just let go and lay back down, start grooming herself, or walk to somewhere else in the room and lay down. She also will easily go from playing, to this state, back to playing again if you show her the toys. The spasm with kicking and biting seems to happen mostly if I try to pull away from her while she is "holding" my hand with her paws and giving me the more playful nibbles. Is she just getting carried away with the playing? is the trance thing normal and also what is it? some kind of playful happy spasm or does she actually hate me and want me to stop?
She doesn't like when I pick her up. Unless it's for a very short time, she will start whining and growling or will twist away (even if she seems content for a second, she never lets me set her back down gently..always twists and jumps away). Then for a couple hours after she will run away if I try to touch her or even if I just stand up out of my chair. The part I find strange about this is that she will come right back into the room after a minute, will still get on the bed with me, follow me around, and even make her happy little chirps at me. But if I do something that looks too much like I'm going to pick her up, or if I try to touch her while standing, she will run away for a minute again. Also she lets my mother pick her up.
Sometimes she lets me stroke down her back or sides and even seems to be enjoying it, but other times I will be scratching her chin or rubbing her cheek and when I go to rub down her side or back she looks up at me all wide eyed, but will go back to content and sleepy if I rub her chin again. She also lays on her side and stretches out on the floor, and sleeps on her back in bed a lot. I thought that this was supposed to be a sign that she is comfortable and trusts me, but whenever I try to rub her tummy/chest lightly or even just reach to rub her cheek, she grabs my hand or gets all defensive.
When we sleep, she snuggles up close/on top of my feet or legs, and always walks around the bed kneading and purring loudly. Sometimes she even kneads on my leg or arm. However, if I try to pet her she stops kneading and sometimes will stop purring too, but she still lays down with me. She also does all the on/off stuff with touching her and the nibbling/biting. Sometimes she will let me pet or hold her paw, or will pull my hand in and kind of cuddle it or lay on it.
She also randomly will just crouch low to the grown and sniff around kind of searching with her eyes wide like she is scared of something, but it happens so randomly and without any kind of stimulus that I can see or hear.
It's just becoming so confusing because I never know if I can pet her or if she is going to start biting me or if she is just playing when she does this or if she actually wants me to stop or what.
She seems to constantly want to be around me, since she follows me around and stuff, and she shows lots of affection. I just don't know how to give her love back because she is so random. It would be one thing if it was an off day, but instead it is just constant throughout every day and most of the time she will seem to be enjoying the attention and then suddenly my hand is getting nipped at or she starts whining or something. Just an hour or so ago I was laying on the bed with her and she was cuddling me hand and had her leg over my arm fast asleep. I got up slowly because the phone rang, gave her a scratch on the chin, then answered the phone. When I went and got back in bed I went to pet her paw to see if she would snuggle back up and she pushed my hand away then started doing the nibbles then licks.
She also will let my mother pick her up and pet her all she wants, which I found weird because she hardly knows my mom at all.
I'm really just looking for any little bits of information to understand her, especially the trance biting thing.
I try to let her just do her thing, let her walk away if she doesn't want to be petted, she has free roam of the house, etc...but she seems to just want to be in my room or following me around the house. It's just so confusing to me :/
Why doesn't she just get up and walk away if she doesn't like what I'm doing? Why does she come back right away if she leaves the room, and always get on the bed with me if she doesn't like to be touched or snuggled or anything? Does she actually like it?
She's such a sweet cat, but it's starting to seem like she is crazy. It's great that she seems to like me, but I would like to be able to pet or even cuddle her or have her sit on my lap, not just have her keeping me within her sight. It's like she loves and hates me at the same time. Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated
