Post by ebony on Feb 5, 2015 23:21:22 GMT
I noticed this from very early on with my Ebony: she's always seemed to get nervous when faced with someone in some form of uniform. She didn't used to show much fear around them (early on) but when Tom came to live with me she started finding them more frightening than she'd used to for some reason. I'm not sure why she seems to be so traumatised by the sight of a uniform, she even gets worried if I get called in for a job interview and have to wear my "job interview uniform".
This is what we know of her history: she was found on the streets with a litter of kittens (2 were still alive, the others were dead), the people who found her handed her into the rescue, we know she was injured at some point (when the vet xrayed her he found that her ribs had been broken at some point and managed to heal), she's definitely got emotional scars from being on the streets (she was obsessive over her kittens - checking and double checking on them in rescue), we think she had 4 kittens originally because for a long time we had this thing about keeping 4 of her toys in a safe place and feeding them like they were her kittens. We think she was probably punished for going on the bed because it's taken her almost a year to feel she can snooze on the bed without getting told off (for a long time she'd refuse to go on the bed if we were around but I did hear her jumping off the bed a few times when she heard us coming)
I've seen her run and hide when she sees anyone in a uniform, even when she's seen Tigger greet them and remain safe from them, she has got braver though about it since Tigger came here because she used to flee upstairs and hide, now if she sees uniforms she will run and hide but she'll stay where she can see them and what they're doing. When Tom was alive, both her and Tom would flee upstairs and hide in the bedroom.
We tried feliway in the old house (and early on here) but it hasn't seemed to have much of an effect on Ebony because she's absolutely fine until she sees a uniform.
I'm just wondering what I can do to help her overcome the scars of her past permanently? I just want her to be happy (which she is as long as there's no signs of any uniforms)
This is what we know of her history: she was found on the streets with a litter of kittens (2 were still alive, the others were dead), the people who found her handed her into the rescue, we know she was injured at some point (when the vet xrayed her he found that her ribs had been broken at some point and managed to heal), she's definitely got emotional scars from being on the streets (she was obsessive over her kittens - checking and double checking on them in rescue), we think she had 4 kittens originally because for a long time we had this thing about keeping 4 of her toys in a safe place and feeding them like they were her kittens. We think she was probably punished for going on the bed because it's taken her almost a year to feel she can snooze on the bed without getting told off (for a long time she'd refuse to go on the bed if we were around but I did hear her jumping off the bed a few times when she heard us coming)
I've seen her run and hide when she sees anyone in a uniform, even when she's seen Tigger greet them and remain safe from them, she has got braver though about it since Tigger came here because she used to flee upstairs and hide, now if she sees uniforms she will run and hide but she'll stay where she can see them and what they're doing. When Tom was alive, both her and Tom would flee upstairs and hide in the bedroom.
We tried feliway in the old house (and early on here) but it hasn't seemed to have much of an effect on Ebony because she's absolutely fine until she sees a uniform.
I'm just wondering what I can do to help her overcome the scars of her past permanently? I just want her to be happy (which she is as long as there's no signs of any uniforms)