Zen Meditation Chairs

Why is my cat so jumpy and afraid(especially around black things)?

A couple of years ago we switched my moms room and the living room. 3 of the 4 cats went in, saw the 2 rooms and were okay with it. The fourth was not. He started getting a little jumpy and scared easily.

Years??? This has been going on for “a couple of years” and you’re just now asking for help with the problem??

You’ve now let the problem go so long that I don’t know if you CAN remediate the behavior and assuage his fears.

Keep in mind that he could have a vision problem that wasn’t obvious when he was comfortable in the original room arrangement. If it’s what he grew up in and became used to, it’s possible that the room swapping just unhinged his sense of safety, because nothing was the same and he’s been too frightened to figure it all out. Who knows at this point — I’m just trying to think of what might have caused this.

If you haven’t ever mentioned this situation to your vet, you might want to do that. He/She may have some ideas!

I will say this: it sounds like something really frightening happened to the kitty during all the hubbub of moving things around “a couple of years ago”. So, the time to deal with it was back then.

But if you really want to try to make him feel safer, here’s an example of how to work on this. I’ll use the guitar case as an example:
Kitty shows by his behaviour that he’s afraid of the case. So, YOU have some small treats or a bit of kitty food nearby. Sit down by the guitar case and stroke it while calling the kitty over and offering him a treat. See if you can get him all the way to the guitar case, then feed him some more treats/food. He makes a “happy” association with that scary ol’ guitar case and MAYBE it’s not so scary anymore.

You can do that with anything kitty is afraid of. Patience, calm, treats, and SIT next to the object and coax him over until he can sniff the object and get in his mind that it’s not dangerous.

As for the kitchen, when NO ONE ELSE IS IN THERE MAKING NOISE, carry him in slowly (treats at the ready) — preferably under one arm as you’ll need a free arm to reach out and touch the things that he seems to fear. Slowly approach those things that are scary to him and you reach out your hand and touch/stroke the object while talking quietly and calmly to the kitty — something just above a whisper is good, and don’t underestimate the value of “baby-talk” because it’s musical and soothing. Try to bring him closer to the object, BUT if he starts freaking out, back away from the object, stroking him and talking to him. You can try again, but if he becomes more and more agitated, give up for the time being and back away from the object and gently release him in an area where he’s most comfortable.

This will probably take a long time. So, I hope you’re patient!!

Lee

I’ve never had a problem this serious before, but whenever introducing new objects to my cat…brush, flea comb, new furniture…I am very patient and calm, moving very slowly.

good luck!

Lee

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