HELP - My two kittens remind me of the movie Fifty First Dates

by Jin
(NJ)

I brought 2 6 month old egyptian mau brothers into my home about 3 weeks ago from a breeder who told us they were raised underfoot. My wife and I have spent an extensive amount of time with them but the only times they will show any affection or even allow us to pet them is when we feed them or give them a treat. They do not like being held so it is impossible to trim their nails or give them a rub down. They react fine to play time and by the end of the day are relatively close to us but every morning we see them, they look at us like who are you and why are you here? They act all skittish and are afraid to come near. Their behavior reminds me of the movie Fifty First Dates. If you have not seen the movie, basically it's about a guy who falls in love with a girl who has short term memory. He needs to make her fall in love with him again everyday because she doesn't remember who he is. I feel like I'm living this movie out. Am I expecting too much too soon? It kinda hurts my feeling that they aren't comfortable around us after we have tried very hard to make them comfortable. I wish they would at least recognize us and not run away. I am not looking for a greeting, just that they are comfortable with us. One note about our living situation. We live in a 3 level townhouse. We let the kittens now roam

the first 2 floors but have not yet let them into our bedroom on the 3rd floor. When we wake up in the morning we greet them after taking a shower. Does this have something to do with them not being comfortable? Do they need to have the run of the house?? Please any help would be much appreciated.


Answer from Kate
Your post made me smile i'm afraid, not for any bad reason, just because or our human expectations. £ weeks is a very short time really and because you bought them from a breeder (who sounds like she may have lied to you) you have no idea on how their first months of life have been.

the first 7 weeks of a cats life is known as the sensitive period and this is when they have to be socialized. it sounds to me like they were probably kept in a pen away from people, unfortunately some (bad) breeders do this.

all I can say is time will be key and it may take some time but it will happen eventually. the secret is to let the cats do it in their own time and in their own way. No amount of forcing the situation will help.

Please see my page about cat bonding for some little tips on how to be with then during these early months. hopefully after time they will come to learn to trust you both.

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/new-cat.html

best wishes to you both and I hope it doesn't take too long before you are a true happy family together. :)

Kate

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