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- Jul 6, 2013
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I have a cat that I have had for almost a year now. (10 months)
When I first got her she was very shy. She didn't want to be pet, she walked away from me, she growled when you tried to lift her and so on.
I found out after having her for about a week that she was pregnant, so she came to me about three weeks into the pregnancy.
I took it very slow with her because I didn't want to stress her, especially in her condition, and slowly she started trusting me more.
She even let me be there and help her deliver the babies! Which was good, because the didn't know what to do at first. (she was only 11 months when the babies came.)
Fast forward a few months, after the kittens moved out, and she went from being a mom to a young playful cat. She has made amazing progress. She lets me pet her, she even head butts my hand when it's near. She lets me walk close by and at night she sleeps in my bed. But she is still very skittish. If you make any sudden moves near or toward her she gets really stressed. She can go from being really calm to really stressed and I don't think that's healthy. She also has a problem with food. She scarfed it so quickly that her stomach got really bad and she had to eat special stomach food for a while. Now she has a tunnel feeder and that slows her down a lot and her stomach is fine, but she still stress eats if she finds food that is not in her feeder.
I just wanted to now if this behaviour could be something from her past home? I can't call her previous owner because she refuses to pick up her phone ever since she found out she sold me a pregnant cat... So I can't get any medical or behavioural history from her.
Is there anything I can do to make her feel less stressed?
When I first got her she was very shy. She didn't want to be pet, she walked away from me, she growled when you tried to lift her and so on.
I found out after having her for about a week that she was pregnant, so she came to me about three weeks into the pregnancy.
I took it very slow with her because I didn't want to stress her, especially in her condition, and slowly she started trusting me more.
She even let me be there and help her deliver the babies! Which was good, because the didn't know what to do at first. (she was only 11 months when the babies came.)
Fast forward a few months, after the kittens moved out, and she went from being a mom to a young playful cat. She has made amazing progress. She lets me pet her, she even head butts my hand when it's near. She lets me walk close by and at night she sleeps in my bed. But she is still very skittish. If you make any sudden moves near or toward her she gets really stressed. She can go from being really calm to really stressed and I don't think that's healthy. She also has a problem with food. She scarfed it so quickly that her stomach got really bad and she had to eat special stomach food for a while. Now she has a tunnel feeder and that slows her down a lot and her stomach is fine, but she still stress eats if she finds food that is not in her feeder.
I just wanted to now if this behaviour could be something from her past home? I can't call her previous owner because she refuses to pick up her phone ever since she found out she sold me a pregnant cat... So I can't get any medical or behavioural history from her.
Is there anything I can do to make her feel less stressed?