Hiko and trauma
Dec. 29th, 2010 08:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyraxisMy parents' cat got traumatized. The vet told them. My mother doesn't even know how to pronounce "traumatized". She tries to make the first syllable rhyme with "cow". The cat, Hiko, likes my dad but he's terrified of me and hisses at me and runs whenever I come close. He wasn't like this last year when I was here. He doesn't even look like the same cat.
They said they didn't know what caused it. I asked if he'd gotten lost or locked outside overnight and they said no. Then when I pointed out that my brother used to come stomping towards him to make him run and then chase him, they acknowledged that my brother wasn't always a very nice person. Essentially they admitted that my brother did it.
I took a little bit of cream that I was going to use to make candy and put it in a bowl and got the cat to approach me long enough to take a few licks. But then the other cat, Rutu, the curious and healthy one who's just growing out of kittenhood, tried to push her way past. Even when my mother distracted her in the other room, Hiko wouldn't come near the cream anymore.
I couldn't figure out whether to take the cream away and try again later, or whether to leave it for him. Hiko didn't want to approach it while I was sitting nearby, even though I wasn't making eye contact. But if I left it, Rutu might just push past and get it. I put the bowl in the fridge. Anyone have suggestions for how to approach it?
They said they didn't know what caused it. I asked if he'd gotten lost or locked outside overnight and they said no. Then when I pointed out that my brother used to come stomping towards him to make him run and then chase him, they acknowledged that my brother wasn't always a very nice person. Essentially they admitted that my brother did it.
I took a little bit of cream that I was going to use to make candy and put it in a bowl and got the cat to approach me long enough to take a few licks. But then the other cat, Rutu, the curious and healthy one who's just growing out of kittenhood, tried to push her way past. Even when my mother distracted her in the other room, Hiko wouldn't come near the cream anymore.
I couldn't figure out whether to take the cream away and try again later, or whether to leave it for him. Hiko didn't want to approach it while I was sitting nearby, even though I wasn't making eye contact. But if I left it, Rutu might just push past and get it. I put the bowl in the fridge. Anyone have suggestions for how to approach it?
