# Chronically Terrified Cat



## Jaenak (Sep 17, 2009)

First a short rundown on my cat...

I have a 3 year old, male Chartreuse cat. He's been fixed, declawed (front) and had all his shots. He's about 15 pounds of solid muscle, he has a calm and very gentle disposition, neutrally dominant, and is unusually intelligent. I've trained him to come, lay down, get down, get out, and stop that. The things he's scared of the most are the outdoors, interior doorways, cars and car rides, surge protectors, and other animals (even just their scent). The odd thing is that he's had absolutely no tramatic experiences whatsoever and I can say that with 100% confidence and certainty so how he's developed such an odd list of fears is beyond me. The things that throw off his psychological balance and rhythm are moving places of residence, adding or substracting residents from the home (guests don't count), or adding other animals (even if it's just the smell of one).

Okay, now for the issue...

In the last three years we've done all the things that throw him off quite a bit. He usually takes about a month to get used to new environments, or people, a little longer for animals. He's just now getting used to a new environment and a new animal so he's got two weeks under his belt and will need about another three weeks yet. In the meantime he's absolutely terrified of anything and everything that moves, is moved, has been moved, or makes any noise regardless of the sound of the noise, the duration, or the volume. From the time he wakes up to the time he falls asleep he's sneaking around the house from one hiding place to another carefully making sure everything scarry is still and silent. His eyes are huge and he's on high alert constantly and he jumps out of his skin even if you're across the room and do something as mundane as retracting a "clicky pen". He's never been this terrified before! And never for this long! Just three hours ago my wife turned on the ceiling fan when I was holding him right underneath it and he went ballistic! He tore up both of my forearms, ripped up my left hand, and bit my left shoulder in his attempts to get down and away from the fan. He was yowling like I was slowly cutting off body parts, breathing so hard he was wheezing and has been hiding ever since it happened three hours ago. I have countless scratches and puncture wounds and lost more blood than I ever have before for any reason.

And now for the question...

Is there anything I can do to calm him down? Anything to make him get used to things faster? Anything to keep him from being so terribly scared so &#@*ing often? I absolutely hate medications for pets but I'm even willing to give him a pill! Anyone know of any anti-terror and any anti-anxiety pills for cats?


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## Elmstar (Apr 7, 2008)

Hiya,

You could try these.

Zylkene Natural Pet Destressing 100 Tablets - £31.57

I haven't tried them yet but the reviews are good.


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## ambercat (May 4, 2009)

I would say that he has had quite a few traumatic experiences, firstly he's been declawed (a traumatic experience as its a very painful operation - not one thats undertaken in the UK), you've moved home, and added a new animal, I'm not surprised he's terrified. Cats take time to adjust to a new environment and new additions to the household and shouldnt be rushed. How did you help him to settle into the new home? How did you introduce the new animal?

You say he has a calm and gentle disposition - and while its likely that all the recent changes and experiences have upset him, I would get him checked at the vets to make sure there is no medical reason for his behaviour, before looking into behavioural aspects.


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## ChinaBlue (Feb 3, 2008)

Welcome to the forum by the way.

First of all I would say that he has indeed had a traumatic event - he has been declawed and amputation such as this often affects cats pyschologically in the long run - usually manifesting itself in anxiety and stress
_
"*Psychological And Behavioral Problems After Surgery*
Using the litter box and grooming will be especially painful during recuperation. The whole process can lead to psychological trauma and behavioral problems such as avoiding the litter box and excess fear and stress around anything the cat associates with the surgery. Cats who associate pain with the litter box and are also excessively anxious will choose other places in the house to urinate and defecate. Cats experience a build-up of stress and a primary way they relieve their stress is through scratching. De-clawed cats will not scratch and thus will become anxious and restless. This often leads to more serious behavioral problems such as aggressive behavior, i.e. biting."_ This is from a Vet Info website.

If you have introduced another animal into the household he may also feel anxious because he doesn't have the means to defend himself as such (i.e. claws).

You could try having several plug in Feliway diffusers around the house as these may help and perhaps put a few drops of Bachs Rescue Remedy in his water.


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## Milly22 (Sep 15, 2008)

Elmstar said:


> Hiya,
> 
> You could try these.
> 
> ...


My Mother in law used these whilst moving house for one her ragdolls, they worked although they made him *very sleepy*.


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## dollydaydream (Sep 19, 2009)

Our first cat was very shy & jumped at the slightest thing, she was from a feral colony & hadn't had experience of people.

A year on she is still a little shy, but much better. I'm not saying it will take a year for your cat to come round, but what we did with Mao is give her lots of cuddles & reassurance, and made her know that everything was ok with us.

I think that in time he will come round, just be patient with him. I hope he gets better soon. It wasprobably all just a bit much for him to take all at once, the move & the new cat.


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## Jaenak (Sep 17, 2009)

Thanks for all the advice and links for the calming aids. I suppose it could be a gradual build-up of stress over the long haul. I always figured it was a stress thing in the short term. I really don't think it's the declawing though. He had that done over 2.5 years ago, I believe if it was that, I would have seen him acting up much sooner than this. Although that might be why he hates cars now.

As soon as my next paycheck comes I'm gonna try a calming aid or two on him.


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## Elmstar (Apr 7, 2008)

ambercat said:


> I would say that he has had quite a few traumatic experiences, firstly he's been declawed (a traumatic experience as its a very painful operation - not one thats undertaken in the UK).


I read that San Fransisco are considering becoming the second US state to outlaw this awful procedure. The sooner it's banned completely the better!

The trouble is that it's been turned down before in that state and if you look at the current results of the poll on the link above it seems that most Americans are in favour of declawing?


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