who knows about cat behvior?
a couple years ago we got this kitty. i've bitched about her before. she started out so nice, turned out that was starvation and illness. we brought her back to health, and since then she's all smug and too good for us. when we walk in the room, she leaves, or goes under some furniture. oh, she'll YOWL for food, but she won't watch tv with us or play with yarn while we knit, nothing that cool cats do. the kid gets to snuggle in bed at night. for some reason a sleeping girl is ok but not wakeful engaged people. unless they're giving her food.
but she loves the dog. i mean L-O-V-E. he can't walk from one room to another without her following and walking under his snout, and rubbing her head against him. he gets sick of it, especially if he's trying to sleep while she is trying to snuggle. he'll snap at her to tell her to get lost.
i'm thinking this kitty has issues, self esteem or otherwise. she only seems to like those who can't stand her. if Mr Filth just looks at her she runs away.
here's the thing. i have this cool little pantry in my new house, which i don't use as a pantry because there's no light. the litter box is in there, and her food bowl is on a shelf, high away from where the dog can steal it. well don't you know she LOVES going into that tiny room? in that little cluttered room where i have my file cabinets and sundries that i don't knwo what to do with, where there is no room and no light, she goes and purrs. she gets on a shelf and sticks her head around teh doorjamb, looking at me. and when i go pet her, she acts like a normal cat. she purrs loudly, leaning into my hand and licking. it's like she feels safe in there.
i'm just curious if this is something that's seen with rescues. in teh old house she didn't have a spot she could go to be away from everyone. now it's like she has her own space and she's alright having us visit.
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Your kitty's behavior sounds a lot like one of my stepmom's cats we've had since I was in high school. Sidney is a rescue cat. My stepsister was driving behind a truck on her way home one day, and saw the truck stop, pull over, and throw a kitten out of the window. Legend has it that this kitten turned around and hissed at the truck as it drove away. My stepsister stopped and lured the kitty in, and we've had him ever since. He is beautiful, but skittish under some circumstances. He also likes safe, small places, and is quite affectionate if he feels safe. If there's any space around him that might be inhabited by danger, it seems that he feels scared.
The only difference is that he doesn't yowl much. (I once had a black and white "tuxedo" cat that did this, though...she would yowl CONSTANTLY, and this was right after I had a new baby. She got a new family that could handle her.)
Good luck; kitties can be so mysterious! I love them, though, and miss having a kitty around. I get a "guest" kitty this month because we're pet sitting! Yay.
"Thou shalt not" might reach the head, but it takes "Once upon a time..." to reach the heart. -Philip Pullman
Most rescued cats I know of act like that, even if you get them as kittens. It sounds like either she was a stray or she was abused. Either way it seems like she sees you guys as enemies. Funny that this behavior has been going on for years. After about two years my rescued cat got really snuggly, where before he would hide behind the dryer if there were people in the house. Also, a lot of rescued cats will find one person they like and won't give anyone else the time of day. It's just a survival thing.
Also, most cats prefer to be around people who don't like cats, and here's why: They see eye contact as a sign of aggression. If you look directly at a cat, especially a rescue cat, and try to go up and pet it, they see that as aggression! You've got to let them come to you. Weird, I know!
And most cats I know are pretty aloof, not just rescue animals. I've had lots of cats in my life, and less than half of them did that cool chasing-a-ball-of-yarn typed stuff. Although I did have a cat that liked to lick my hair. That was weird.
Good luck with your cat!
"Overcome the angry by non-anger; overcome the wicked by goodness; overcome the miser by generosity; overcome the liar by truth." -Buddha
if they don't have a place to go hide- shelter- like a cave or something. Some cats really like to have a dark place to lurk. It's about comfort I think. I get that way myself. Some kitties value privacy more than others. Most of them prefer to stare at you more than you stare at them- they need a safe place to do that. She might need a cave in order to decompress, which would make her feel more confident as well. It's like how cats love boxes, you know? It is also rare for an outdoor cat to enjoy being in an open field- open spaces can put them on high alert. I wouldn't say it's necessarily because she's a rescue cat. Maybe she's showing you she's happy with the way you arranged her new home. If she's in a small space then nothing can come and attack her from behind, which is why she might be okay with you petting her head- she knows that she just has to duck back into the cupboard. I really wouldn't take skittishness from a rescue cat personally, or any cat for that matter. I never met a cat that wasn't strange in one way or another- which means that the less strange ones seem strange because they are more kitty "normal", you know what I mean? *the revised version*
She might see the dog as being closer to whatever she is.... maybe she sees the dog as a comrade or protector of some kind. Or a really big kitty- they're both black, they have similar markings......... maybe she thinks he's her mom. It's possible she had some traumatic mom- separation- cats can have insecurity problems if they are separated from their mothers before 8 weeks of age.
separated from mom younger than that. her vet said she looked 4 weeks when i brought her in, and she'd been at the shelter a few weeks already.
i thought that when you get a kitty as a kitten, you're getting a cat with less shit ingrained in their brains. i mean, what could she possibly have retained from that ONE MONTH of her life that's bothering her so? i mean, she's live 24 times that long with me and i don't hurt her.... gad.
i have read that cats enjoy small spaces. this one used to go into her carrier and stay there. i just find it odd that her behavior is reflective on a tiny portion of her life.
i love odd cats. my last one used to steal used condoms from the garbage and eat them, and poo in the bathtub, and chew the crotches of my underpants, and sleep in the seat of Mr Filth's pants, and steal my daughters stuffed monkey and bring it to the litterbox. i miss him so much. he'd have kicked poison's ass. i don't care if this one never gets snuggly, i'd just like her to not run away when i come in the room.
I read in a cat book once that kittens who are separated too early from their mamas often have serious trust and confidence issues- even if nothing else traumatic happens. Having first contacts with people when there is no big comforting mama to protect them is a special kind of mind fuck (if that did happen), but just imagine- she lost her mama while her brain was still developing- what's more traumatic than that?
Tigerfish Mama
I have a shy yowler, Kit-TON. "We", meaning the other cat in the house, adopted him as a kitten. He's now 7. It took a l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng time before he got to be anywhere close to friendly. For years, he wouldn't come in the house unless he could see that the other cat or the dog were at the door to greet him--he would just yowl (he's a big guy with a super high-pitched Mike Tyson voice) until one of the other animals came to say hi. At some point, he decided that my bed is a safe place, so I can pet him when he's on my bed. More recently, like in the past 6 months, he's gotten almost friendly. Now, he wants me to pick him up when he comes to the back door, otherwise he won't come in. At least I can pick him up.
I have learned from this cat that cats aren't here on the earth to be our pets. They exist for their own reasons, they have their own lives, their own likes and dislikes. We are their housemates and we provide food for them but that doesn't mean we "own" them. I'm glad for that.
"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius"--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
so there's hope for this one, if kitTON took that long to warm up. sort of. i don't care if she's ever my buddy, i can get another kitty for that. i just think it's weird that she will only let me pet her if i stand outside the pantry while she's inside, and stick my hand in. lately too, now that i think about it, she's randomly come up to me while i was chopping vegetables and sniffed my face.
i guess the move was good for her then.
Yeh, I kinda knew things might be okay with this cat when, one day while I watching Buffy with my kids, the cat randomly came up on the back of the sofa and sniffed my eyelashes.
He never lets us get within 3 feet of him. Even after 3 years I think he's just not convinced that i didn't save him in order to fatten him up and eat him. I think the problem is compounded by his seizure disorder- who could trust a bunch of ginormous people when they can't even trust their own body (ykwim).
The only time he'll come anywhere near us in a calm way is when it's very cold and we're snuggled up on the couch and we have blankets over our legs, and both the other cats are sitting on top of us. Then he might come and sit on top of our legs as long as we don't look at him, say his name, or move our legs. The only time we can touch him is when he is having a seizure, and we have to move him from a dangerous place or limit his movements so he doesn't bash his head against something or claw out his own eyes. He even treats meal times as possible suicide missions.
It sounds like your cat has found a safe place that makes you seem less threatening. I wish that my poor cat would find something like that. At least he loves the other cats and they have fun playing mad dash and snuggling in the closet together.
ANYWAY, this is about you. Your cat's behaviour sounds like it's on the spectrum of normal for a rescue cat.
mine did that too. she would mill about her bowl, meowing a bit (nothing like she does now) asking for her food but when anyone accommodated her, she would run away and stealthly watch from a safe spot till we were gone, then come to the bowl to eat, always watching to see if we're coming after her. meanwhile, when teh dog is eating she grooms him, licking inside his ears and rubbing against his neck. he ignores her.
so i guess i did see a change in eating behavior because she no longer runs away. she will stay in that tiny pantry, on a 12" shelf in teh corner with her back against the walls and purr.
they really are stupid animals, aren't they? i mean, i know that she's not going understand that we saved her and brought her back to health, particularly me. but she does see us bring her food every day, and still, even at meals, she's suspicious.
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she might get snuggly yet. that's good to hear that yours turned around that late, i thought it was permanent. i do notice when i look away she seems more receptive. mostly i give her space and she graciously pretends i don't exist.