Have you seen a cat limping, scorched or severely maimed? It is a sad thing to learn that there are abused cats out there. Cats that were abused physically need a bit of time before they can respond to a physical human touch or call. Eventually, they will react positively to the kindness that you show. However, the situation is different if the damage occurred internally or emotionally. This is harder to solve.
If your cat has been abused emotionally, the waiting time for it to respond to any call or affection may take longer than if the damage was only physical. You have to prolong your patience because the cat is still confused. It may be hesitant because it does not know whether you will hurt it or not. Fear is still in its system. What you have to do is to allay its feelings by being extra gentle and not forcing it to come to you. When you do this, it may start to come a bit closer to you and sniff you. Let it do this. Then after a while, slowly and gently pet it. In due course, it will realize that you are not someone that it should fear and will come to trust you.
Refrain from shouting or using disciplinary tools like water guns and flyswatters on the cat. It will only further the trauma. If the cat becomes mean, it may just be being defensive. In fact, the cat turning mean may not be a bad thing because it still gives a form of response to you. What is worse is if your cat has become lethargic.
If a cat has been abused and it refuses to respond to anything you do, it will not play, nor accept treats, then the cat is lethargic. To reach out to this kind of cat, you have to bring in another cat as its companion. Eventually, the lethargic cat will want attention. If it does this, you should pet it gently and speak softly to it. Assure it that it is behaving much better.
Using slow, gentle movements is best for a lethargic cat because he is still in a trauma. Once it comes to you and allows you to touch it, it means it is starting to recover from its trauma. It may take a bit of time for it to recover. This is normal in this kind of situation. Just give it some time. If it receives crude treatment such as hearing raised voices, the cat will become upset and might hide once more. If you treat the abused cat properly, it will get past its lethargy. You should get ready for a long healing time though as lethargic cats are not that easy to heal. Their problem is from within due to the trauma caused by the abuse.
In contrast to the lethargic cats, the mean cats simply scamper away from a person. Never use strict discipline on mean cats as they will only get angrier. Do not make them feel trapped because they will react negatively. Coax it gently to come to you. Take time to persuade it to come to you. In time, it will calm down and go to you.
Cats too can be subject of abuse. It is a sad thing that something brutal happens to innocent cats. If a cat does something to annoy you, remember that sometimes it only happens because it was in the cat's instinct to do so. Sometimes the annoying things that a cat does is also a product of wrong disciplinary actions made by the owner. If a cat does something to infuriate you, think twice or thrice about what to do about the situation. Do not resort to violence right away.
Ampie loves cats and adopted a couple of strays, one of which was an abused cat. She found an ebook about the the best cat tree plans and had fun when she tried to build a cat tree for her kitties.
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