We have two cats who are brothers. They are two years old and couldn’t be more different. One is very chilled out, goes out exploring for miles and loves meeting people. The other came to us I’ll, underweight and terribly frightened of everyone and everything. He was full of fleas and obviously the runt of the litter.
We put a collar on the adventurer early on as he was desperate to get outside, which was not a problem after a few shakes of his head to get used to it. This one just nipped out in the am and pm and spent the days inside as a lap cat (my baby), so it wasn’t necessary.
He’s since made a wonderful recovery and has been going out more and more since the weather warmed up this year. He’s been staying out pretty much all day and has been missing meals too, which is unusual for him, so we thought it best to put a collar on him now, just in case (although he is chipped) and to show anyone who might be feeding him that he is owned.
He hates it. He’s literally been climbing the walls and tearing back and forth completely spooked since it went on last night. He was getting himself in to strange positions, rubbing his neck on things and really freaking out like a mad, out of control horse. It’s clear it’s more than mere irritation at the new thing. He is properly disturbed by it.
He won’t let us near him to adjust it as it’s too loose, and was even hanging off the upstairs window sill last night like he was threatening to jump!
This morning he has a really gammy eye, which is what he gets when he’s stressed out. The poor thing is not himself at all and I fear we’re going to go right back to square one with regards to his confidence.
What would you do? How long shall I give it before I take it off? I can’t bear the thought of losing him but equally can’t bear the thought of him never trusting us again.
I can’t let him out until I can adjust it so that it’s safe, which is only making matters worse.
