Cat mommy at her wits' end.

[kellinator]

I don't know what the hell is up with Heidi these past couple of days. I thought I was making real progress with her, what with her climbing up on me and licking my face. But the past couple of days, she's been skittish as hell -- maybe moreso than she was when I first got her home. She's not hiding, but she's not having much to do with me. Remember the Calvin and Hobbes strips where Calvin would be interacting with strange aliens who turned out to be his parents? That's how she's looking at me. Like I'm some strange alien. It's not that she's snooty, she's just not even in the same universe.

I was so concerned with doing the right thing for her that I didn't think about the right thing for me, what I wanted (which I realize now was a nice kitty, probably orange, that would climb all over me like B.J. and Nick used to), and now what I most feared has come to pass: I have a cat that doesn't like me.

Comments

[polychromatic22.livejournal.com]

Every cat I have had in Georgia has gone through wackiness come the changing of the seasons. Winter to spring, summer to fall, they freak out and act super weird. Some of them got more playful and wanted to run everywhere, some of them wanted to hole up and have nothing to do with me. Not weird. Cats have personalities, and sometimes they just aren't in the mood for people,or other cats.
Also, some cats go through a depressurization period when being adopted. Especially older cats. They might go through a slight "huh, what the hell is all this new home junk?" and then seem to get over it, but that was just the first stage. This could be the real settling down. Just like human foster kids settling into adoption, these things take time. Love, respect and stability will even things out.
I also find that *most* cats (though not all) are happiest in at least two cat situations. Heidi might need a companion kitty. I wouldn't think kitten kitten, as that might be too much for her, I would think at least 6-7 month old female, neutered, never bred (breeding often changes the personality of a cat, and how they interact, and two mother cats together do not often do well, even if they no longer have kittens).