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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / June 2005Cat Terror
I've receintly installed a ceiling fan (and am scheduled to install 2 more). My 3 year old cat--timid but usually friendly and happy--is completely terrorized by the site of it, even when it's off. He will not go anywhere near the room with the new fan and has taken to crouching low and staring at all ceilings in fear. He has spent the last 3 days hiding. Any ideas? I can't desensitize him with food because he has no favorite food treats. Boy. Fans are hard. Grant finally got used to ceiling fans (after walking through any room with one crouched to the floor for six months). BUT, I either had to have it ON or OFF. If I didn't leave it one way or the other, he got spooked all over again. Can you lift him up to it an show it to him while NOT in motion? Let him sniff it? Maybe once he has seen it up close, it will lose some of the fear for him. Consider getting a Feliway diffuser to relieve stress. Does playing with a wand toy distract him? > I've receintly installed a ceiling fan (and am scheduled to install 2 > more). My 3 year old cat--timid but usually friendly and happy--is [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > I can't desensitize him with food because he has no favorite food > treats. Thanks. I don't have the heart to carry him into the room with the fan to let him sniff it. He goes nuts when I just try to carry him upstairs. Wand toys used to engage him but now he's too scared to be distracted by anything. He's now taken to opening the cupboard doors below the kitchen sink and hiding behind all of the cleaning products. I tried pulling him out but he fights to go back in. So I've just removed all of the cleaning products and left the doors open for him. I don't know if this is a good idea. I don't want him to think this is his safe haven. What's a Feliway diffuser? > Thanks. I don't have the heart to carry him into the room with the fan > to let him sniff it. He goes nuts when I just try to carry him [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > What's a Feliway diffuser? www.feliway.com WEll if he feels safe in his little cave, that is good. Is he eating? Going potty? Is the fan a different color than the ceiling? > He's now taken to opening the cupboard doors > below the kitchen sink and hiding behind all of the cleaning products. > I tried pulling him out but he fights to go back in. So I've just > removed all of the cleaning products and left the doors open for him. > I don't know if this is a good idea. I don't want him to think this is > his safe haven. Awww, poor baby :( I wonder what it is about the fan that freaks him out so much. Wonder if he thinks it's a giant bird? Anyway, there is a natural remedy called Rescue Remedy that you might try. It helps calm cats (and humans too). Some people have had success with it while others haven't. I've used it when I've taken my cats in the car and it does seem to help. Here's a website about it if you're interested. Also, you can buy it any most any health food store such as Whole Foods if you have one in your area. http://www.petsynergy.com/flower.html#C1 I would recommend trying the flower essence called Mimulus which is indicated for fear. If you scroll down the page, I believe it's listed. Lauren See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe > I've receintly installed a ceiling fan (and am scheduled to install 2 > more). My 3 year old cat--timid but usually friendly and happy--is [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > I can't desensitize him with food because he has no favorite food > treats. Assemble one fan on the floor and leave it there for a few days to allow your cat an up close encounter with the device. >> I've receintly installed a ceiling fan (and am scheduled to install 2 >> more). My 3 year old cat--timid but usually friendly and happy--is [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Assemble one fan on the floor and leave it there for a few days to > allow your cat an up close encounter with the device. That's a brilliant idea! I also think you need to find some favorite food treats for him. Rosalie is partial to Bil-Jac cat treats in the fishy flavors. Partial in the sense that she comes running when she hears me pick up the package.  SignatureCatherine & Zoe the cockerchow & Queenie the black gold retriever & Rosalie the calico I'm going to try that for the next 2 fans! Thank you! Now if only I can get him calm enough to come out and check them out.... > I'm going to try that for the next 2 fans! Thank you! > > Now if only I can get him calm enough to come out and check them out.... My late cat, Cory, was 8 when we moved into a house that had ceiling fans in every room. He had never seen them before. We did not have them on for the first couple of days and then turned them on without even thinking. He was horrified and proceeded to get under the bed in the room that he was in at the time and not come out for about 2-3 days (we had 2 other cats that were oblivious). Turning them off didn't help at that point. The poor little guy even pottied all over himself under the bed, something he had never done before. Finally, he came out but very scared. Eventually, it got to where he could tolerate them but it took several years before he was completely comfortable with them. For the first few years, when we would first turn them on in the spring, he would hide for awhile. In the last couple of years of his life, he no longer cared although he would look up at them from time to time and give them some serious thought. Candace > I'm going to try that for the next 2 fans! Thank you! > > Now if only I can get him calm enough to come out and check them out.... My late cat, Cory, was 8 when we moved into a house that had ceiling fans in every room. He had never seen them before. We did not have them on for the first couple of days and then turned them on without even thinking. He was horrified and proceeded to get under the bed in the room that he was in at the time and not come out for about 2-3 days (we had 2 other cats that were oblivious). Turning them off didn't help at that point. The poor little guy even pottied all over himself under the bed, something he had never done before. Finally, he came out but very scared. Eventually, it got to where he could tolerate them but it took several years before he was completely comfortable with them. For the first few years, when we would first turn them on in the spring, he would hide for awhile. In the last couple of years of his life, he no longer cared although he would look up at them from time to time and give them some serious thought. Candace Well, I guess there's hope he'll just learn to tolerate them. Now I have to learn to stop feeling so guilty and stop being so worried. He's young! A few months of cowering won't hurt him. But he sure looks pitiful and I hate to see him so unhappy. Has anyone tried anti-anxiety medication for cats? > Well, I guess there's hope he'll just learn to tolerate them. Now I > have to learn to stop feeling so guilty and stop being so worried. > He's young! A few months of cowering won't hurt him. But he sure > looks pitiful and I hate to see him so unhappy. Has anyone tried > anti-anxiety medication for cats? Lots of people use them, but they are rarely necessary. I think I would use them as a last resort if the cat was behaving in a way that hurt himself or others, or made it impossible for me to live with him. Give him some time, and play with him and distract him. Don't worry, they learn and change over time! ;) > Well, I guess there's hope he'll just learn to tolerate them. > Now I have to learn to stop feeling so guilty and stop being so > worried. He's young! A few months of cowering won't hurt him. > But he sure looks pitiful and I hate to see him so unhappy. Has > anyone tried anti-anxiety medication for cats? I adopted two kittens in November. In late spring, I turned on a ceiling fan for the first time since they've been here, and they FREAKED OUT. The same reaction your cat had, but they recovered quickly. Within hours. They still have a reaction if the one in the living room has been off, and then I turn it on (been really really HOT here lately, and face it, they do help even with central air) and they cringe for a minute and then realize it won't hurt them. I guess they are all different in how they react, though I suppose I'd be scared of it too, if I didn't know it wasn't a big bird ready to swoop down. As for anti-anxiety medication, I've recently had to try that as a last resort to calm a very aggressive cat because he attacked me, attacked one of my other cats, and then just before trying the drugs, started attacking the kittens. I don't mean attack like playing, but he really meant to maim. He'd trap one cat in particular under a bed and would stand guard not letting her out. After trying reintroductions and failing, he's now on Clomicalm. Some vets don't know there is a use for cats since its usually prescribed for separation anxiety in dogs. After nearly 3 months and seeing a huge improvement without drugging him to a stupor, I'm ready to start cutting back the dose to see if the behavior modification that's been taking place can work drug-free. Vet said we'll know after a week or so of a lower dose, but stepping down gradually. SignatureCheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields >I've receintly installed a ceiling fan (and am scheduled to install 2 >more). My 3 year old cat--timid but usually friendly and happy--is [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >I can't desensitize him with food because he has no favorite food >treats. This house has two of them in it. When I first moved in here, the cats were absolutely terrified. But it took awhile to connect what was happening. While waiting for the closing date, I was living in the proverbial parent's basement for 3 days after leaving the apartment. The cats weren't phased by that. But, when I brought them up to the new house, with all the furniture they knew in place, they couldn't process that, and were in absolute shock. Floppy literally hid in the covered litter box for almost 7 days, only coming out in extreme slow motion once or twice a day to nibble a little food and then would go back into hiding. When they finally started coming out, they'd hide behind the entertainment center, and would come out, and run like hell into the kitchen to use the litter boxes or eat. I finally realized it was the fans. It took them a good 3 months before they could handle them, now everything's fine. eq |
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