Cat who is extremely reclusive.

[pat-anne-hockey]

I have just taken in an elderly cat ,age 15 yrs .She is called Tabitha. She has lived within the same family for more than 10 yrs. I was told that she was alarmed by toddler activity and refused to come from under furniture. She has been with me for 5 days and I have been told that she has always been in this timid state ! She is in her bed all the time. She eats ,drinks water and has used the litter tray. I am 78 yrs old and have always had cats since childhood. I can stroke her head .Any more contact and she gives warning hiss and a bite threat. It is so sad to see. Alarming that for 10 years this is her normal behaviour. She is in good condition. She purrs when I caress her head but there is tail wagging and swaying. Her pupils seem to be permanently dilated. I thought this was just a settling in behaviour however I am alarmed with the knowledge that this is her normal behaviour !! It is very sad to see her apparent desire for complete isolation . Has anyone experienced similar situation ?

[Lilith]

Hi, Pat-Anne, and welcome

Poor Tabitha! She sounds not so much alarmed as traumatised! And I think I'D be traumatised in a crowd of toddlers too! And it's a big upheaval to move to a new home, especially for a 15 year old cat. I'm so glad she's found a quiet home with you.

5 days isn't very long for a settling-in period, and I think it's a very good sign that she's eating and using her litter tray normally, and allowing a bit of stroking. Also, at 15 she may spend a lot of time on her bed and sleeping.

Earlier this year I had to have my cats fostered for a while; the eldest was 14, now 15 - and SHE settled down better than the other two; she's an ex-feral and fairly timid; her cousin didn't do too badly either; she was 13 and VERY timid. This particular one, Mouse, had no socialisation as a kitten and as a result has been reclusive all her life; for years I couldn't even go into a room where she was feeding or using her tray without her running away. For the past few months though she's been much bolder - even getting cheeky. But only with me.

Mouse's father moved in with me after apparently spending his life as a feral tom. Before the girls arrived he would give me dirty looks and run away from me in the street...he didn't seem to trust anyone; understandably so. But after disppearing for a year, he returned, obviously feeling his years and losing his fights and realised that the girls were here, and food was here...I got him neutered; he discovered my bed, and, extraordinarily, turned into a complete...well...pussycat! Not just with me, everyone he met! If anyone knocked at the door he'd run to greet them. You would think a cat so mistrustful and set in his ways could never change so dramatically - but he did.

So I think there could be hope for Tabitha, now she's found a home with you where she can begin to feel safer. I feel she may suddenly surprise you.

Hope this helps, and there will be other people along with more advice. All the best to you and Tabitha x

[Ruth B]

Poor girl, it sounds like she has had a bit of a hard time in her life and it will take time for her to settle in with you, five days isn't that long.

We had one of my current cats about 18 months ago when she was about 6 years old. The rescue mentioned they thought she had been badly treated (she had been found abandoned in a taped shut card board box, with barely enough room to move about 3 months prior), I also think she had no socialization as a kitten. We couldn't touch her for weeks. She came with a friend who was really outgoing and they were kept together in one room and our previous cat had the rest of the house. For the first couple of weeks we hardly saw her, she would eat, drink and use the litter tray fine, but run for her hidey hole in the bottom of a cupboard the moment we opened the door. Eventually she started to come out and eat if we were sat quietly in the room. After having her for months she finally let me fuss her head a bit, just a scratch behind the ear, before it seemed to get to much for her and she ran off, but what a feeling it was to have got even that far. 18 months on and she still won't let us pick her up, but she is a lot happier with being fussed and stroked, although occasionally she still has her moments of panic.

All I can say it to take it at Tabitha's speed, give her fuss, but the moment she starts to tense up and you think she has had enough back off, let her know that you aren't going to force yourself on her. Toddlers can be heavy handed with animals if the parents aren't keeping a close eye on them and if she has been pulled around too much I can't blame her for being wary of contact.

As for the eyes I've two things to mention. Firstly some fluorescent tubes and bulbs give out a wavelength that doesn't seem to register with the cats eyes as daylight and the cats eyes seem to stay dilated even with them one, I actually noticed last night when our young hooligan of a cat was gazing up lovingly at me (it was feeding time) that his eyes had gone to slits and commented that the new bulb we had fitted had to have different wavelengths to the previous one. Make sure Tabitha has as much daylight as possible and check her eyes in that light.

Secondly, when I was a kid, we had a cat whose eyes were permanently dilated. He was a farm cat who had been in an RTA and the vet didn't think he would survive. Through a lot of TLC from my mother and the rest of the family he did survive but his pupils were always dilated. I remember the vet say that there was a condition that caused it, but normally also killed the cat. The reason I am mentioning him is that hind sight has made me wonder if he had sight problems we never realised. He was always a ground level cat, he would jump on a bed, but not climb trees, it was as if he would only jump up if he already knew it was safe. He loved to sit out in the sun and as someone who has to have drops in the eyes to dilate the pupils every year I know how painful bright sunlight is at that time, and how much it effects vision. This is pure speculation after the cat is long gone, he never walked into things and generally seemed to live a happy, if quiet life and was aware of what was going on around him but knowing how good a cat's hearing, smell and whiskers are, lacking some sight doesn't effect them like it would us. However if there is anything to it, and Tabitha's dilated pupils are an indication of limited vision then it is no wonder she stays where she knows she is safe and will only start to explore when she is ready.

At the end of the day, if she is happy and healthy it doesn't matter if she keeps to her basket and just has fuss when she wants it. Give her time to get to know you and her new surroundings and I am sure she will come out off her shell a little more.

[alanc]

I can only echo what Ruth and Lilith have said. If it is any encouragement to you, my old Misty (9yrs old at the time) took 3 months to come out of his shell when I first took him in. Hardly ever came out of his igloo. However, when he did finally accept me he changed completely and became a very friendly cat (got lost as well, but that is another story). As Ruth says, even if they can't see very well, they can still find their way around. Misty went blind in his final year, but it didn't bother him unduly.

[Crewella]

Having taken on several older and/or traumatised cats I agree with the others - just give her time and let her come round when she's ready. All of mine have, including the one that was so scared and depressed that he just huddled and trembled, not even raising his head when I came near him. Good on you for taking her on, it's so rewarding when they start to come round.