Bit freaked out/scared of my newly rescued cat.......

[paisleyII]

i tried to usher our otherwise affectionate quiet cat off my bed just before, we've had her for a week, as i have asthma and can't have her sleeping in my room (she was sitting on my bed right by my pillow, i am allergic to cats) and she scowled twice although didn't actually go for me. she has never done this before and it has left me edgy. quesion - is it normal for a loving cat to sometimes turn like this and do most cat owners let their cats go in their bedroom/sleep on their bed? thanks

bless, she does need attention, that was one of the reasons i took her home, she seemed so needy and for an affectionate cat living outside in a yard what too much to bear. funny really, dh has gone to bed, she is more than welcome to got and sit on him but she is instead sitting outside my bedroom door sulking. it is good she has come out of the hiding cave she had hidden in mostly for the first 5 days, fussy eater too, she won't touch the dried food, meows for the gravy stuff which smells awful but there you go :)

It's still early days, it honestly took this pair 9 months to be fully settled in and they hadn't been neglected came from their previous loving owners straight to us. They really don't cope with change well.

Mine are quite fussy about which dried food they like. I would ring around the manufacturers and ask for some free samples.

My cats sleep in the kitchen at night. If on our bed, one of them spends the night patting me on the face to wake me up.

My shittens aren't allowed in the bedrooms. Despite having a litter tray, one of them pissed all over the bed with me in it last week .
They accept it with reasonable grace, although one wants to be in DDs bedroom under the wardrobe

kreecher I bet you noticed though, didn't you? My boyfriend couldn't understand why I was cross that he hadn't noticed when the MASSIVE CAT was doing a MASSIVE PISS right on top of him in bed.

OP, sounds like you cat adores you, don't be scared of her. After all, if you'd curled up somewhere comfy to sleep and someone moved you, you would probably glare at them too...
And if she's had a rough few months she's probably just clingy at the moment, sounds like she's getting plenty of love and will settle in soon.

no. I think that one of them must have done it while I was in the loo.
I woke up at about 5.30 with cold, damp legs.
If today's discovery is anything to go by, it's a good job I showered soon after. I have found a pile of semi important paperwork which is absolutely destroyed by cats piss
Luckily, both are doctored or the stench would be ridiculous.

I am allergic to cats and have asthma and cats. I take 20 mg of Cetirizine a day and use puffers, keep the cat out of the bedroom, (shut the door at first, but 17 years later, she stays out even if it is open) and off my chair. (I pile cushions on it when I am not sitting in it). I have a Roomba, which helps keep the hair and hopefully the dander down.
She was a huge suck when younger, well, she still is very affectionate and likes to sit with people all the time, but was ridiculous when younger.

As you said, if you sat down she was in your lap almost before you knew it. Her neediness bugged dh and he began to place her down every time. She did learn not to sit on him, but she does sit pressed right up against him. when he is home.

Oh, one idea, perhaps a heated pet bed/lay would encourage her to sit in that, instead of on your lap?

Mine has a hot water bottle, loves it.

Mines will hiss if I take a baby rabbit off him but it's just swearing, cats are mostly show anyway.

Haven't read the whole thread but just wanted to add a couple of things in case they were helpful! I used to be allergic to cats. We got a rescue cat 8 years ago and it has made a massive difference to me - I am certainly not allergic to her anymore (and i was when we first got her) but it has really helped with my general cat allergy. I think I've sort of acclimatised to it. Also, we used to let her sleep on our bed but when I was pregnant with our first child we decided we had to stop letting her in our room as it would be dangerous in there with a baby at night. She did not like it at first, but they do get used to where they are allowed to go if you put limits on them. In our current house, it is big enough downstairs that she has plenty of space to choose from so we keep her out of upstairs all together (to avoid extra cleaning, her jumping on the kids in the night and because she is quite a good hunter, brings in live prey - no fun in the middle of the night!). When we go to bed at night because of the hunting issue we close her into a garden room off the kitchen (has a sofa etc, her cat flap to outside and her food is in there) and she knows the drill - when DH starts turning lights off she gets up and goes out there. So - sorry, that was a bit long - they can be quite OK with some limitations on where they can go in the house.

she is a real wriggler too when on your lap, it is really funny as she likes to sit on dh (he has quite a big tummy which is probably quite comfy to sit on), what is it called when they push with their feet? something i think to do with getting the milk from their mother. she does this for AGES and it really drives dh nuts but i think it is funny and she has a really loud purr. this morning when i got up for work (at 4am), i opened my bedroom door for her to be actually slumbering in her bed that i bought her, i was really pleased. it's nice having company in the morning when it is dark although not when i am greated with the smell of her poo....

zoo - thanks for your post. we don't have a cat flap but we have been friendly for years with a male cat who would come in. he would let us know when he wanted to go out and in and it seemed to work well. litek doesn't seem to want to go out at all at the moment and this morning when i got up for work it was raining, when i opened the door (it was 4:30am) otto (the cat that used to come in sometimes) RAN IN, fortunately litek was upstairs, i managed to get him out. sooner or later he is going to walk in and see her in here, not looking foward to it, i hope he doesn't pick a fight with her. what sort of things does your cat bring in....and what do you do? otto brought me in a dead mouse once......

It sounds quite normal - my cat isn't happy when I move her from my seat on the sofa (even though the seat next to me has a throw over where she normally sits, she sometimes sneaks into my spot) - she grumbles a bit or tries to bite me if she's particularly grumpy!

We've only had our cat for a few weeks - she was a rescue cat, and for the first couple of weeks she was quite 'clingy' and liked to follow us around the house. We let her sleep on our bed and she used to follow us upstairs when we went to bed. I think she feels more secure now as she's a bit more independent and doesn't come upstairs to bed when we do.

Hopefully your cat will calm down soon - she's probably just very happy to have a new home after being a stray for so long. It's really nice that you took her in instead of just calling Cats Protection or another rescue, especially as you're allergic!

Most cats object to being kicked off a comfy spot in the middle of a nap. You might even get a bit of resistance or growling. I agree that it's worth toughening up and banning her from certain rooms. I feel bad that while I type this, I have the cutest wee kitten yelling to get out of her room (utility room). But I know she's be attacking these typing hands, then trying to get to eat my dinner when I do in a few minutes. But I know she's safest and best where she is for now, until I'm finished cooking at least, and can give her the attention she needs. IME cats get used to routines pretty quickly so if you find her a pest, keep her in another room and ignore her when required.

Allergy wise in this house... new kitten triggering us all a bit, but DS most of all. I'm hoping it eases soon - it usually does for me and DH, but I have never seen DS react like this before. DD is having a huge eczema breakout but I think it's unrelated. I started on the petal cleanse today - can't see how it can work since she just groomed herself afterwards. But I thought it was worth a try. new kitten is in kitchen and utility only so far... living room to come when she's not so mental with our fancy leather sofas lol. But I'm going to be firm that she doesn't get in any of our bedrooms to sleep, ever. I wish I could have done with the last cat but by the time I wanted to, he was so old I felt too bad.

hi suzi2 - it would be interesting to hear how you get on with the petal cleanse. i bought some but have been too busy to try it or even take the air purifiers i bought out of the boxes...! frantic week and am behind with my work but am not being too bad but if i sit with her and stroke her for a longer period i can feel my nose 'swelling up' inside (i doubt it does acutally swell up but it always feels like taht). i was asthma'ish yesterday, but today i haven't felt it at all. i remember feeling in the morning yesterday day that i had inhailed some of her fur so that could have triggered it. dd used to get eczema and still has the odd outbreak but fortunately she doesn't appear to be allergic to animal. strange, she (the cat) only seems to want to be with me, i feel quite flattered really. i give her lots of attention (talk to her, stroking sessions) & give her lots of grooming, she likes being brushed which is just as well as she has long hair so i try to keep on top of it rather than it being everywhere although it is anyway, all over my clothes. you may think i am being a bit ott but i have arranged for a cleaner to come once every two weeks and blitz the place. i do basic cleaning but just don't have enough time to do what they can. i work hard and will be paying for it out of my earnings, i think worth every penny if it makes the place less 'hairy'. she is a sweet cat, all she does is laze around but she doesn't go and hide anymore although she doesn't seem too keen to go downstairs unless to go to the loo or eat. she likes to follow me if i am upstairs and walk on me :) pls let me know how you get on with the petal cleanse. it says on the bottle that it is fine for the cats to groom themselves after it has been applied. how did you put it on? i can't imagine her liking me doing it tbh. i am still a little wary of her, she barely knows me and i know cats can be temperamental, the male one we used to let in would go for you for no reason sometimes

I love cats but you do need to say who's boss. Literally say it - we talk to ours all the time. Her bed is outside our room and she nearly always sleeps out there. When dh is trying to work he has to shut her out of the room because she LOVES him and his laptop and will always squeeze in and sit on it...

I have two cats, one called Tilly who is really quite placid and laid back (unless she sees another animal) and then a kitten called Gypsy who is a complete nutcase.

I talk and sometimes shout at her tbh. It's like having another child that never listens lol. She keeps trying to eat the living room blind at the moment and if i get up and move her, she attacks my legs when i put her down.

I quite like feisty cats though tbh

Oh and neither sleep in my room. Tilly does in the day, but not at night because she wakes me about 3am wanting to go out.

Gypsy sleeps in the living room and Tilly spends most nights out.

Our cats don't like being turfed off anywhere either. They will try and nip you if you try and bodily move them, cheeky things. They're shut downstairs at night and if we need to get them downstairs before we go to bed we shake the treats box (whiskas temptations) and they're at your feet in an instant! Also useful for getting them in from the garden if necessary, etc.
We use petal cleanse as DH's family are allergic (the stuff that goes on the cat and the spray stuff for carpets and furnishings) and it works well, also the guest room is always out of bounds to the cats. One of the cats who has very thick fluffy fur (though shorthaired) gets furminated every few weeks and it makes a massive difference to the amount of hair around the place. The final tool in the armoury was the Miele cat and dog we got recently which is amazing, our house almost looks normal now!!