Nervous rescue cat.

[supertramp]

Hi, we re homed two sister cats from the CPL in january, we were made aware that one was very nervous and the other was far more confident. The nervous cat, Winnie, is improving in leaps and bounds, when she arrived she hid under the sofa, whilst her sister was happy t mooch about with us. Winnie is a loving cat now, but she lives on her nerves, bless her. She will jump onto the sofa if thereis only one person sat on it and lie on her back and demand to have her tummy tickled, there are no claws shown, just a very happy cat. But on the other hand we cant pick her up, vet visits are terrible for her, the slightest noise sends her under the sofa, but she will creep out to go into her basket not long after. Everything is on her terms, and we do understand this and just want her to be more relaxed around people. Visitors have her running for her bolt hole under the sofa. She is more confident first thing in the morning and last thing at night, as long as she is having a one to one session.

Winnie is stayig with us no matter what happens, and i would hate people to think we aren't happy as she is not a lap cat, we just want to help her feel more secure.

Her sister is currently sat on the coffee table demanding treats!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Just more time needed.
Fluffy cat came to me in April 2013, he took a long while to not be behind the sofa 24/7.
He couldnt even jump on the sofa, he struggled going out of the cat flap - he took around 6 months to fully get his muscles properly working.

Rock on to now, 2 years & 3 months later. He will now (after a complete year of looking hopefull but worried) sit on my lap if DH doesn't move on the sofa (happier if DH not there at all). He runs to meet me at front door, now wont run off from DH if DH has orders to give him dinner & can even bear to be brushed in front of both of us!

He still scarpers when the doorbell goes, tho this is only to just outside the cat flap (he got weaned off his beloved behind the sofa, after around 8 months or so.

All I can says is still take your time, the rewards may not be big, but its worth it in the end

 

[supertramp]

Hi TFF, thanks for the reply, your chap sounds very similar to win, she reminds me of a Victorian lady who is in a constant state of the vapours! I think the thing that concerns us is vets visits, she just cannot abide being picked up so we just don't do it, she looks horrified less her. Winkey, her sister with one eye enjoys an outing!

Should we continue to try and handle her or just pick her up for emergencies and vets visits? We have been told by the vets that they both need to be seen twice a year to get a supply of stronghold, if they don't get seen they don't get the flea product.!! So stressful for the Victorian lady!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

It took me about 15 months before i could comfortably pick up fluffy cat. His predecessor was much harder as was a spitfire if handled.
Not really knowing yours, i really would try to keep daily handling and try to find a treat that is acceptable, in fluffy cats opinion a fresh small prawn is the bee's wotsits

Try speaking to vet again, i only have to attend annually with fluffy cat, if they won't play ball then try your local rep from the rescue for advice.

Good luck x

 

[supsup]

My tip would be to create a low-stress environment for her by providing her with plenty of observing/hiding places up high (cardboard box/cat bed on top of high furniture), and by having a designated retreat area that she likes which contains all she needs (litter box, water, food) if she wants to disappear for a while. My nervous cat likes to run upstairs and sit on the top landing of the stair, or in one of the upstairs rooms where there's a litter box and food/water. That way, she can take herself out of the picture, and won't feel the need to confront the scary visitors (or whatever) to use the litter box. She still runs off when there's people in the house, but she now comes back down within minutes after they've left, rather than being distraught for days (and howling the house down because of it).
She also does best if I stick to a routine when it comes to feeding etc. It took a while, but "sitting on the human on the couch in the evening" has now become part of her routine, and she's really put out if I don't sit down with her at least a little every evening.
She's also overall less stressed since I completely separated her cat stuff (feeding place, litter box) from my other cat's stuff. The two of them get along most of the time, but forcing them to interact (as I used to, by feeding them close to each other) just led to conflict and more stress. These days, they rub along just fine so long as neither one tries to sit on my lap together with the other (but one on my lap, the other next to is fine).
I also have microchip activated cat flap to make sure we don't have any strangers visiting to upset her. Lastly, I also found that Zylkene helped lower the stress levels.

 

[spookypony]

Lots of good ideas above! I think you can also get plug-in pheromone dispensers that are supposed to help with stressed or nervous cats.

I have a rescue cat that I got when he was 6 months old. He's now 10, and is no more friendly/confident than he was when he arrived. The one thing that has made me able to pet him very occasionally is that he and my other cat now go outside, so that they can avoid each other when they wish (often, they sleep snuggled up to each other, so it's not like they hate each other). Your cat already seems a lot more friendly and confident than mine, but I just wanted to tell you about mine so that you know that sometimes, they stay scaredycats no matter what you do, and that's ok too! My cat is big, beautiful, and a highly-competent serial killer of rodents. He seems pretty ok with his lot in life!

 

[AmyMay]

A cat I had (from a kitten) was always nervous. Fine with me, but if I had visitors he was reaching for the prozac and on the phone to his psychiatrist!

No help, sorry.