Two days ago, my girlfriend and I adopted a kitten from a shelter. When we first saw her, we could tell she was very timid and scared, but we felt a connection with her and decided to bring her home. We really want to give this cat a chance at a happy and well-adjusted life, and it would be a gift to have this kind of companion. But…
The best guess is that she’s around 12-14 weeks old, and was brought into the shelter with 3 other littermates – apparently they were found in a city parking lot. All 3 littermates were adopted, and she was the last one left. She’s had all her tests, first round of shots and worm treatment. She was sneezing constantly and we have been giving her antibiotics. The sneezing is getting better.
So before I get into my questions, let me take you through her first 3 days with us:
Day 1: Brought her home from the adoption event, fed her properly with canned food and formula. Her eating habits are very good – she polishes off anything we give to her, so we’ve been sticking to a high quality canned food. She spent some time in a large pet carrier we got for her to get used to the smells and sights. We took her out for around two hours and she calmed down when we started petting her. She is calm and comfortable when we pet her and she starts closing her eyes and falling asleep. She spent her first night in our bedroom, in the carrier, and my girlfriend got up in the middle of the night and in the morning to feed her. Anytime we approached her with a hand to pet her or pick her up, she cowered, but did not hiss or swat.
Day 2: My girlfriend spent the day with her and saw more of her behavior. She continued to sneeze, but ate well throught the morning and afternoon and we mixed her meds in so she wouldn’t notice. She spent most of the day in the corner on our sofa sleeping, with my girlfriend studying next to her. She was not comfortable enough to relax and be held and would get up and walk back to the corner when my girlfriend tried to hold her with a blanket. She did not approach, and was not curious, not looking around much.
We tried getting her to play by dragging a string away from her, but she started squinting really heavily while trying to concentrate on the string and would not chase it. Also, and this is strange, *she begins to salivate heavily when she sees the string moving*. She continued to cower when she saw a hand and when someone walked by.
She tried exploring the living room a little, but ended up under the sofa looking out. When it was much later in the day, around 11, she finally let my girlfriend hold her and was even purring. At night, I took her to bed alone, and she slept the whole night next to me on our bed. When she heard a noise, she would rouse and look around, but calmed back down quickly. No issues there.
We decided to keep her in a smaller space for the day – the bedroom, and close off all places she can hide under. She’s got her carrier and litter in there now. TV is on for voice comfort.
Day 3 (this morning): Ate well, same as before, but was not comfortable in her surroundings and sat in the carrier, despite being very relaxed on the bed all night. I can tell shes trusting me a little more, but she still cowers when i walk by or pick her up to move her. Sometimes it seems like one step forward and two steps back. She responds to my voice positively. Planning to return from work around noon to check on her.
So, now that you have the info on her, here’s what my girlfriend and I are really wondering/worrying about:
1) She won’t play yet, no reaction to string or other small toys. When we try, she squints constantly while observing and starts salivating heavily (the drops fall to her feet).
2)Seems too scared to explore, and continues to cower when we reach to pet her, despite being comfortable when we pick her up and hold her.
3)She hasn’t displayed that natural kitten mischief and curiosity, probably because she is stressed/scared. Right?
4)She seems to be scared all the time, and is only comfortable when she’s falling asleep/sleeping. Noise wakes her quickly.
That’s the general picture. We really want to socialize her properly and get her to lose this fear she has. I read somewhere that kittens receive that fear imprint in the first few weeks of their lives, and this stays with them forever, generally. Is this true?
How do we reverse what she’s been through and move forward to a happy, curious, friendly cat?