Seems she does let you get very close and simply shows interest with her meows. It's when you go to pet her that she hisses. Seems you'll have to work up to her being friendly with being touched. She appears so sweet otherwise.
The best thing I can say? Keep respecting her not wanting to be touched. Eventually she will let you touch her once she sees that you’ll respect her signals not to touch her if she doesn’t want you to. This is how I won over my feral TNR girl that showed up in our yard. By respecting her boundaries and measuring my progress in weeks and months and not in days. Try to hang out as near to her as possible when she seems settled or comfy and just chill in her vicinity, just doing your own activity calmly, reading or whatever. She may never be a lap cat. But the affection she will show will feel sooo special once it happens, I swear. Each little milestone feels so significant and so amazing knowing what she has gone through. Just be patient with her and understand she has had some very negative experiences with humans. But your patience and continuing to respect her body language as she sends you clear signals will win her over big time, you just have to give it a few weeks. She’s willing to trust you, clearly. She just needs a little bit of time. And I would also say if you’re going to move around her, like go from sitting to standing, if you guys were just calmly hanging out in the same area, try to introduce the words for standing up, and do it slowly. I would tell my girl, “I’m just gonna stand up” before I stood up, and even now, if I tell her, she is calm when I stand up, even kinda quickly, but if I do it suddenly, she can bolt even though she knows I love her and would never hurt her. Just remember how huge we are compared to them so if you’re gonna stand up suddenly, either start to introduce the words, to help her know you’re going to get real tall all of a sudden, or do it very slowly. Also slow blinks-that’s a way to show cats affection. Give her some slow blinks and lots of verbal praise. She can tell if you’re telling her nice things in a nice voice. My kitty likes me to tell her how pretty and fast and soft and fierce and special she is, while giving slow blinks, even if I’m not even touching her. They can tell when you’re sending them affection without petting them and they like that too. Hope some of this was helpful!
Their faces give away their moods. I always laughed when I'd annoy one of my cats (by playing or rough housing) because the facial expression changes and eyes go dark. God Bless You for having patience and loving this beautiful elder girl.
Patience is key. If she goes into the kitchen asking for human food do another bonding activity to distract. You can play with her to help with some of that energy. I can see she's only been with you about 20 days, it can take some time but it's clear she doesn't hate you, just needs to keep adjusting. Has that tooth been looked at? I can see the top left canine has been chipped; if that is causing any pain it might be part of it. Either way, she's still fairly nervous. Keep being a patient sweet heart and I'm sure she'll come around to some degree.
Thanks for the advice. You have good observation. Yes she has a chipped tooth. It's not affecting her according to the SPCA vet and my vet. She just being fussy. She is feisty little girl.
My cat gets like that where she will scratch me and hit me too. I believe it's overstimulation possibly for me cause she will be fine if I pet her but after a while she gets annoyed. She just likes to smell food though, doesn't want to eat it. Maybe she got used to it if she was on the street? Hope things get better she is beautiful and you seem like a great meowmy.
Seems like she’s the kind of kitty that just isn’t comfortable with human touch unfortunately… you could try to start with a toothbrush or pet her while she’s eating. Since she just came from a stressful situation she may just need time! She seems very sweet otherwise. But she may never grow out of it. It’s rare but some cats can have types of psychosis or mental health issues. I love cats and am a cat person but my mom’s cat is like that, she seems totally crazy. Friendly one second then awful mean another. Her vet says she has severe “redirected aggression” and the next step to treat it would be to give her kitty Prozac and take her to a kitty psychiatrist 😢 my mom declined considering she can’t even touch her- how would she get her to the vet or feed her medicine?? They basically live separate lives in one house although she does like to sit in the same room as my mom when she gets home from work… If Lila has that it looks pretty mild, my mom’s cat is genuinely scary, will hiss, yowl, screech and even chase after her if she walks in the room at the wrong time. She had to spray her with the kitchen faucet once from the counter to get her to stop attacking her ☹️
I'm sorry. I know this isn't funny, but the way you describe it, just made me laugh hysterically. Sometimes she lets me pet her for 30 sec. but she's getting better
try give her small treats and try to pet really lightly.. if it might not work need to ask vet because she seem uncomfortable in her room perhaps? but she seems okay okay, just be honest and gentle with her
Hi🙋🏻♀️Precious Lila❤️🐈& everyone 🗺️🕊️🫶 Whenever I meet any new Cat 🐈 I bent down/Squat low & extend my hand speaking gently! All the Cats 🐈 put their heads/Forehead/One side of their face on the palm of my hand! Please do kindly try sitting besides her! Maybe your shoes/Slippers are troubling her sometimes animals are abused or hurt by their previous owners that’s why they hiss to defend themselves!
Lila is a nice kitty. Any pet that has grown with insecurities and threats will take a long time before they become ok with ppl petting them. Esp if they were already adults by the time you had them. As adults these pets are already programmed to think that any touch could possibly harm them. They are unable to distinguish between good touch and bad touch. So, scratching you with claws, biting and hissing are reflex actions that ensue any touch. NO HARM OR HATE INTENDED. Lila loves you - just that her style is a bit different. Will take some getting used to for both of you :)
One thing to try: see if she will come sniff your finger tip if you hold it in front of her, don’t put it right in her face but just near enough that she might be curious to come and sniff it. Cats like to sniff things and a finger is smaller and less imposing to a cat. That will get her used to your hand being near her. also perhaps try not coming from the top but from the front so she can see your hand coming and, importantly, you know to take it away early enough if she doesn’t want it.
although sometimes they can prefer if you let them smell your hand, then pat their neck and neck from behind, as hands in the face can be overstimulating sometimes. depends on the cat.
You may want to contact Jackson Galaxy, cat whisperer or at least watch some of his videos on his You Tube channel. He deals with all kinds of cat behaviors, especially aggressive cat behaviors. He's very calm and patient with them, a true cat lover. God bless you; you have much patience and love to give her😊
This is not an ''agressive'' cat. Also there are countless behaviourists that would gladly help, there is no need to recommend the literal celebrity to someone you don't even know the location of.. A conversation with a vet may suffice.
It is very good you don’t give her vegan food as cats are pretty much Carnivores (you probably already know it - but I think it is worth noting as for example dogs are a bit more omnivores than cats, I didn’t know it before!) and a part of some herbs (valerian, cat mints, chamomile, and more) , non posterized goat milk or Goat Kefir, bone/meat broth - that are actually good to enrich their diet, too much veggies may cause a stomach upset as cats are not really made to eat them. However! There are things that could be prepared just for her as a supplement to diversify the nutritional content in their foods (almost none but herbs - that would be have to be fed moderately, are vegan)- which would both be good and mentally satisfying ! I am vegan just like you, so find it icky , but it is safe to feed the cat food with meats as long as they’re just plain meat with no spices. I have purchased books on home-made nutrition and recipes for Parrots, and a booklet about herbs for dogs in the past, I wonder if there are similar cooking/herbalism books for cats too!