Karen Jo: I am getting a little concerned about Emma. A few days ago I had a visit from my financial advisor. He and I sat around the table in the living room and talked. Herman seemed to get jealous, but instead of pulling at my pants leg with his claws like he usually does, he took it out on Emma. Emma was just lying on the couch, watching the visitor and me. Herman went and sat and stared at her, as he does when he wants to chase her. Emma wasn't interested in playing chase. Herman took a swat at Emma and Emma swatted him back, then there were angry cat noises from both of them and a mad dash down the hall. Emma went to her most secure hidey-hole and stayed there for the rest of the day. She did come out to eat, then retreated to her high shelf in her room. Since then, other than coming out to eat and use the litter box, she is up on her high shelf or in her hidey-hole in her room, or in her secure hidey-hole in my room. I did see her lying on the kitchen floor last night, but it didn't last long. She got up, ate a bit, then went back to her room. Has Herman terrorized her once too often, so that now she is scared to get near him? Is there anything I can do about it? I feel terrible that Emma is restricting herself to just a few spots in the house where she feels safe. I am petting her while she is up on her shelf to show her that I love her and she purrs up a storm. Would going and getting her for playtime in the living room help or make things worse?
I kind of miss her company, but otherwise I am enjoying being king of the castle.
Karen Jo: I just wish you would be nicer to her.
8 comments:
Wow, that sounds exactly like a case of redirected aggression, except that usually happens when there is another CAT who's an intruder, not a human!
If it does not resolve itself soon, you may have to go through the same steps you did when Emma first came home, as far as isolating her, getting her comfortable again and reintroducing her to Herman. But I hope it doesn't come down to that.
TBT here: Does it mostly happen when there is a visitor? Does it happen before dinnertime? Does it happen after you have given attention to one or the other kitties? Are thing calm around the litterboxes?
When it was just Ayla an Iza here, there were some hissyfits. I think that scratching both of them at the same time helped.
Just some thoughts...
Just to add to the other comments: Feliway or calming collars? Not sure either would work. Feliway never seemed to work for Annie and I'm trying it again to see if helps Derry's general stress levels, but I don't see a difference. I've heard lots of good things about those calming collars, though, from others around the CB.
Fingers (and paws) crossed this can be resolved easily.
Maybe she is not feeling well and that is more reason than fear.
Oh dear. Emma we are sorry Herman scared you . Sounds like he is jealous.Maybe lots of scritches for both kitties can help. WE purr both of you kitties will be more accepting of each other again.
Purrs Tillie and Georgia,
Tiger,Treasure and JJ
Oh dear Emma
We are sorry that you have gotten scared and we hope that you grow less afraid and that things go back to normal.
purrs
>^,,^<
♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥
Aw, poor Emma. We hope things get better and she doesn't stay hiding.
Hi KarenJo.
TK Mom here. We had a similar situation with TK and Squashies when they first came to live with us. TK (who is twice Squashie's size) would pounce on her. He seemed do this in a playful way, but he was hurting and scaring her.
There were 2 things I did to lessen the situation. The first was show TK that I was not please with the situation. This is hard. Play fighting is something cats do by nature, so I didn't want to make a huge deal about him being.. well.. him. But TK so wants me to be happy with him; so whenever TK went over-the-top and Squashies got scared and cried or hid, I did what cats do when they are upset with you. I turned my back to him, and ignored him while talking to Squashies. It only took a minute of doing this a few times for him to get the point.
The other thing I do is "play him out" in the evening after dinner, which is when most of the spats happened. When I get red-mousie-on-a-string out they both come to play. I make sure it is a group activity.
The one thing that never seemed to work was yelling at TK. My theory on this is that when he hears me hollaring his name after he pounces, he thinks I am cheering for him.
It's hard to know what to do in these situations, but it sounds like you are giving Emma lots of support, which seems like the most important thing.
Post a Comment