The cat who lives in the couch

[dozen2luv]

A little background. Libby is 2 1/2. She came to live with us at 6 weeks and her friend Chloe arrived too. Best friends. At 5 1/2 months we lost Chloe. Libby's poor heart broke. Libby has not and will not socialize with any of the other cats. She is not a mean cat, doesn't fight with them just hides. First it was one room then under the livingroom couch. Now she lives inside the couch in the laundry room. She comes out when the house is quiet. And for a time would even come out and play. Sometimes I catch her laying by the back screen door with one of the other cats. But she just seems to be crawling further and further into her own little world. At the moment this is how I communicate with her...I sit on the couch and talk to her. She scratchs the inside of the couch. I keep talking. She meows and out comes her paw or nose thru a tiny hole she has created. I worry about her eating I put her food in the couch, reinforcing I know. This morning she came out, she had to use the litter box. I picked her up. She purred and talked to me. I took her up to my room, with food, water and litter box and sat down with her and talked to her. I left her shut in the room with the lights out but I could hear her crying. Lucky one of the older mellower cats stayed with her. I feel so bad, I don't want her to spend her life hidden away. She used to sleep with my 15 year old every night, but doesn't anymore. I have thought about getting rid of the couch but don't know how she will react.

I thought maybe somebody could give me some clues on how to solve this problem or telling me what I am doing wrong. Libby is one of those sensitve cats and doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She is not afraid of people so that is not the issue here. She just seems so afraid to connect with the other cats.

Dozen2Luv

 

[stampit3d]

Awww I`m sorry for her. Too bad she can`t be an "only cat"...that might solve her problem.
It sounds like she has some sort of "issue"....makes you wonder what may have happened to her, (maybe by another cat) probably when she was very young?
Are there any cat-phycologists out there????

 

[dozen2luv]

Since I have had her since she was six weeks old the only issues I can think of is losing her best buddy. The two were soulmate cats. And Cue. Cue came to live with us about a year and half ago. 3 month old kitten full of himself. Walked up to Libby and wanted to play with her. She wanted nothing to do with him. What was funny about him he was a lot like Chloe, out going, bossy and sure of himself. Up until six months ago he would hunt her down to play, she would not play with him. This is before she moved into the couch. Cue gave up on Libby after growing up a bit and realizing it was a losing battle. She was never going to play with him. Now she is in the couch. I don't know if it is issue with a 15 year old meowmy that has lost interest in her. I purposely "stayed" out of Libby's life because my 15 year old complained that the cats always got attached to me. I know that my kid loves Libby she just doesn't know how to connect with her anymore. This morning I decided that I need to be "in" her life more! Just need to figure out how to get into her heart.

Dozen2Luv