Elsa..

[Luke]

Well as you all know Elsa has various behavioural issues..caused by having a rought start very young with her breeder and then when she first came too us and we nearly lost her..and she was at the vets all the time etc etc it all mounted up and parcelled together to cause a few nasty problems..Elsa is VERY timid you can only pick her up or even get a stroke very rarely and even then it is food orientated usually. She has started to become quite destructive lately, paper her favvourite object of destruction but she has also started to unpick the threads in material suck as clothes etc
Not to long ago she began to make progress..and then for some reason she seems to have took a leap backwards again..she is just so mistrusting and worryfull and its quite sad to see.
So i want any advice, tips etc you can offer to by someway help with Elsa's problems..she sore a behaviourist briefly a short while back..and we've consorted various breeders of her parentage breeds for any help they can offer etc etc..but it still doesn't seem to solve everything, the behaviourist said her problems are due to her not trusting people totally..yet she also has a sort of dependance on knowing your there..so those two combined are like a never ending battlefield..because why she doesnt totally trust us..she panics if she doesn't feel we are near to her..so as asked for before, any ideas or advice that can be offered would be greatlly appreciated!

[Donna]

Chloe is much the same Luke. Scared of her own shadow. Nothing really to blame it on, other than she is just so timid. I try not to pressure her into anything and let her come to me. She does "talk" to me a bit, and likes to know I am around, but I darent pick her up. Tis a shame.

Any advice you get I will be watching carefully!!

[dandysmom]

Luke, can't really offer any advice on this except to keep loving her...some cats are just naturally timid, some had an unhappy kittenhood & find it hard to get over. Patches was always scared of anyone who came to the house, even though they were people she had seen frequently for years...I was at LEAST her fifth home...where ever she came from originally, the animal shelter in New York State, the college boy's apartment (he adopted her), then his parents home here in the Washington suburbs where his younger sister developed a cat allergy (?), and then my house. And she was only 1 1/2 ...and been shuffled from place to place all those times!! I am convinced that she always thought anyone who came to the house was going to take her away! It was almost 15 years before she finally decided that this house WAS home. Safe home. Please give Elsa a big hug from me Eileen

[deester]

Poppy one of ours is more timid and prefers the company of other cats but since she has been seperated from the other cats (due to being heavily pregnant and having her kittens) she has been a changed cat and is now demanding attention and talking to us, its so sweet. So maybe a bit of one to one without the other animals would make a difference with elsa too.

[Luke]

Thanks for the advice folks!
Deester i think you're right...ever since coming here Elsa immediatley has been twinny with one of the terriers in particular and used too suckle off the other terrier..so well and truly classes them as the gods! So maybe without them..she would be different *goes off to try it*

[Mags]

Luke, Cassie is very similar in temperament. She is extremely timid, terrified of strangers and I am the only one she really trusts.......even I can't pick her up for a cuddle, although she will jump up for a cuddle on my lap. I am accustomed to it now, I don't think anything will change her.......as you say it is something to do with having a rough start in life (Cassie was with her siblings in a dark shed in a field with hardly any human contact).

Elsa is still young so don't give up hope.....you may still win her round.....

[Luke]

Thanks Mags..i aint giving the fight in yet!
I decided to try Elsa on her own last night..she slept with me on her own without the rest of the crew and she actually seemed quite content...wouldnt let me near but still there was none of her typical Elsa behaviour..she settled herself at the foot of the bed and didn't wake up intil about 5 minutes ago.....i think this could be a start too her rehibillitation.
I know little hands (i.e nephews and nieces) do not help when they constantlly attempt to touch her maybe i should threaten loss of hands if they do it again?!?!

[Sweet]

Sending Elsa ((((((hugs)))))) ready for her new routine x