You might remember my topic from months ago, asking about cat behavior and all that. Well, things went screwy with the cat... D:
For those of you that don't remember or never read the topic, here's the general gist of the situation:
I was trying to become friendly with the cat that my neighbor takes care of(the cat is an outdoor cat), and I eventually succeeded.
Well, I ran into another problem... My mom is afraid of basically every living animal, including cute small kittens. So when she saw me pet the kitty, she got really freaked out and started yelling really loudly. This really startled the cat, and now he's afraid of me and almost always run away. Occasionally it'll let me pet it, but even then it(I don't know the gender of the kitty D:) is really tense and looks around like it'll run away at a moment's notice.
This situation happened couple months ago, and I didn't bother posting about it before cause I thought the kitty will go back to loving me again in no time... D: Am I too late to try and get this kitty to love me again?
inb4ghostjokes
Seriously guys, it was funny before, but it's not funny after the 100th time.
I don't think you have a ghost of a chance of earning that cat's affection again.
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If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? [HERO'S PLUNGE] http://img.imgcake.com/finegifdy.gif
In general you cannot make a cat like you and you must let him grow comfortable with you at his own pace, however long that may be. Bribing him with food (setting it down and walking a little bit away) may speed the process up, but won't be as effective if the cat has a home and gets food on a regular basis.
I feed a couple of feral cats in my neighborhood, so I have a little experience with that kind of situation. One of the cats I feed took four years before he became comfortable enough to let me pet him. I had given up after about a year. The rest usually take several months to a year, but they are strays that don't live with people. Cats that are comfortable with other humans will usually trust faster.
The worst thing you can do is try to force it. If the cat doesn't want to let you pet him or go near him, respect his boundaries. Figure out a distance he is comfortable with and just sit down there for a little while and let him see you are doing nothing to hurt him. Repeat until he lets you get a little closer. And if you think the incident with your mom is likely to be repeated, don't go near the cat. You don't want him associating you with yelling or something that scares him.
Always let the cat approach you first at this point. If that means sitting in the relative vicinity of the cat for a long while at a time for many sessions then so be it: if it's that important to you then just bring a handheld and hang out while dodging odd looks from passersby.
And always let the cat sniff your hand before moving much for the time being too. That's putting the cat in a stronger position of trust. So if he comes to you at some point (you can hope!) then he may wish to sniff you a bit to make sure you're not, like, an alien or something.
Also, what the heck @ your mom.
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"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~ http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png