Everytime I give one of my nan's cats spot on treatment, she becomes really scared. She will just curl up, and become very flinchy, and she kind of half closes her eyes if I approach he afterward (similar to someone would react if they were about to be hit). She only acts this way after spot on.
She's a bit of a timid but feisty one. She will approach for love, curl up on my lap but will also lash out if you move your hand toward her suddenly for example. But after the spot on, she is so subdued and not her normal defensive self.
I don't hold her or anything to do the spot on, I usually just do a swift move whilst she's lying down, so it's not a result of being 'manhandled'.
Usually she will do the flinchy routine, rhen run away and hide, and I'll then get the catnip out. She will eventually be less scared but more on defensive than usual, until the next time I see her then she's back on my lap.
I don't know any cat that is fond of the spot on, but I've not seen a cat act the way she does before. I'm wondering whether it could be the spot on causing soreness or similar? She doesn't try to bite the area, and from what I can see her skin doesn't look irritated. Or just maybe a bad experience she's had in the past (she was a stray and I'm a cynic, some things about her make me think she wasn't treated very well in a past life)
Wondering if anyone elses cat is like this?