New baby is NOT happy.

[lrmichelle]

Tara - sorry to hear about your new kitty's behavoir, but as others have said, I'm sure he'll come around. He must be scared and nervous.

I can't give much advice other than to do what the others have said, because I met Vienna several times before she came home. That, and she's an "only child" and extremely confident. She acted like she owned my bedroom the first second I let her out of the crate!

 

[Trish Allearz]

Tara- can you update on your kitten here now that time has passed?

 

[Niels]

Just read the entire topic.
I hope an update too.
I myself have a 11 week old kitten now and don't know yet what to expect of it in months.

 

[Trish Allearz]

Just read the entire topic.
I hope an update too.
I myself have a 11 week old kitten now and don't know yet what to expect of it in months.

She has an update, Lawwste- I'll just have to remind her to update.

 

[Tara]

Thanks for the reminder, Trish. It's definitely been an uphill battle with this guy. It has taken 9 months of patient hard work to turn him around. He was terrified of hands in any way, so we'd pet him with the end of a feather wand toy, spent countless hours each day for weeks on end just quietly being in the same room with him, so he could learn we weren't a threat. We had Marilyn come out for a consult and help. Eventually he started to ever so slowly come around. About two moths ago he decided my husband was going to be his person. Occasionally he'll come up to sniff at my fingers, but will only rarely let me touch him. He hangs out in his tree house and sleeps most of the day. However, when Daddy comes home? Whole different story. He comes chattering and chirping for attention. We've seen a Lot of progress just in the last few weeks. Jim's able to pick him up for short periods, he comes to give him headbutts and purrs while he's on the computer, and plunking on the keyboard when he's trying to work. He came out while we were watching tv last night and stretched out next to Jim on the couch and just hung out for almost an hour. He's a beautiful, healthy boy. There's still plenty of progress left to be made, but he's come a long long way.

 

[Tara]

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

That sounds positive, I know it is sad for you that you weren't chosen to be "his person" but great that he has bonded to one of you! He will come around... my husband endured years of my F1 Missy detesting him and she loves him now, not quite as much as me, but definitely bonded. I had to tell him over and over to not push her, he so desperately wanted to be her friend and that just doesn't work.

So did you find that Marilyn gave you a good plan to work with your kitty? Or at least explain to you what she thought was going on? Sometimes it just helps to understand the kitty's motivations to know how to then tackle the situation.

 

[Niels]

Good that everything is coming fine, even if it is by little steps.
Hope he will see a great buddy in you too soon.

 

[Tara]

It did help somewhat. I think one of the biggest things I picked up from her was that eye contact can be taken as threatening when they're already afraid. She gave us some training tips as well which are in her book, but most of those had to wait until much later, because he just wasn't up to that much interaction for quite a long time.

Honestly, I'm just fine with him having picked Jim to bond so closely with. One, the fact that he's made this much progress at all is fantastic. For a long while I wasn't sure whether he'd ever get to this point. Two, the last couple of kitties we had, my occicat, Baby, and then Winston, our F3 savannah, were both very much MY babies. It's great that Jim has one of his own now. I'm continuing to gradually work on him allowing me more contact, most especially so if there were an emergency, I could get him in his carrier and to the vet by myself, but I'm content that he's happy and has picked his special someone.

 

[admin]

Tara, it all sounds like such wonderful progress and I am happy for you and your hubbie - and your SV, of course