Comments on: Coping with Upsetting Stimuli http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/coping-with-upsetting-stimuli/258 understand their nature Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:52:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kate http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/coping-with-upsetting-stimuli/258/comment-page-1#comment-6371 Kate Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:06:45 +0000 http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/?p=258#comment-6371 Just wanted to thank you, this older blog entry came in handy a few weeks ago when my landlord installed new, automatic garage doors. Terrific, right? Well, my cat Zilpha was TERRIFIED of the noise, which I as a human don't find as loud or scary as other noises, but for her, obviously, it was very frightening. For three nights after the first time she heard it, she wouldn't even come INTO the living room and hid under the bed. But I read this & a few other articles and continued to act nonchalant & just casually reassuring, not making a fuss, about the noise and although Z. will never LIKE that noise, she's so much better, she hardly reacts at all except with a little bit of tension as expressed in her ears/face/body language. Just last night I came home from the market and could see her on her perch in the front window as I rolled into the garage. What I saw thought the window was that she turned her head and her ears flattened back a bit as the doors opened and a moment later closed, but she didn't even leave her perch. Such amazing progress! So now the new doors don't disrupt our evening time together at all anymore, and I assume in a few more weeks she will hardly notice them. Plus, I no longer have to feel guilty about using & enjoying the convenient new doors. So thank you! Just wanted to thank you, this older blog entry came in handy a few weeks ago when my landlord installed new, automatic garage doors. Terrific, right? Well, my cat Zilpha was TERRIFIED of the noise, which I as a human don’t find as loud or scary as other noises, but for her, obviously, it was very frightening.

For three nights after the first time she heard it, she wouldn’t even come INTO the living room and hid under the bed. But I read this & a few other articles and continued to act nonchalant & just casually reassuring, not making a fuss, about the noise and although Z. will never LIKE that noise, she’s so much better, she hardly reacts at all except with a little bit of tension as expressed in her ears/face/body language.

Just last night I came home from the market and could see her on her perch in the front window as I rolled into the garage. What I saw thought the window was that she turned her head and her ears flattened back a bit as the doors opened and a moment later closed, but she didn’t even leave her perch. Such amazing progress!

So now the new doors don’t disrupt our evening time together at all anymore, and I assume in a few more weeks she will hardly notice them.

Plus, I no longer have to feel guilty about using & enjoying the convenient new doors.

So thank you!

]]> By: Bill the Splut http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/coping-with-upsetting-stimuli/258/comment-page-1#comment-5446 Bill the Splut Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:01:10 +0000 http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/?p=258#comment-5446 Ms Killsy would hide under the bed at the first rumble of thunder, and not come out until 20 minutes after the last one. I would stand by the bed and talk reassuringly to her. After a couple of years, instead of hiding, she'd sit under whatever chair I was in. If I wasn't home--well, then back under the bed! Once I adopted Byron, she saw that he was never scared of any loud noise (because he's deaf). Having seen both a human and a feline shrug off thunderstorms, she now sleeps through them. Young DJ, with 3 exemplars of calm to learn from, also ignores outside noises. But if I drop a pan in the kitchen...! it's like a bad horror movie. "The noise came from <i>inside the house!</i>" Ms Killsy would hide under the bed at the first rumble of thunder, and not come out until 20 minutes after the last one. I would stand by the bed and talk reassuringly to her. After a couple of years, instead of hiding, she’d sit under whatever chair I was in. If I wasn’t home–well, then back under the bed!

Once I adopted Byron, she saw that he was never scared of any loud noise (because he’s deaf). Having seen both a human and a feline shrug off thunderstorms, she now sleeps through them. Young DJ, with 3 exemplars of calm to learn from, also ignores outside noises.

But if I drop a pan in the kitchen…! it’s like a bad horror movie. “The noise came from inside the house!“

]]> By: Amanda/Naamah http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/coping-with-upsetting-stimuli/258/comment-page-1#comment-221 Amanda/Naamah Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:42:18 +0000 http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/?p=258#comment-221 They really do pick up on their humans' behavior. The kittens I recently fostered were scared during their first big Oklahoma thunderstorm. It was an all-nighter, really intense. I didn't react, just fed them and cleaned them and cuddled them as normal (they were only a couple of weeks old), and told them again and again that everything was fine. Their next one, only a few days later, they did not react to at all (except when it started to hail violently, which startled even me). Even as tiny babies, they are capable of reacting to a threat, and they look to US, their "parents," to tell them what is threatening, just like a human child will watch its parents for cues how to react. I've noticed that dogs will come to you if they are scared (our dog used to be scared of thunder). I have only ever had one adult cat that would come to me when it was frightened. They might put themselves in the same room I'm in if something weird is going on, but they don't need to be right in my lap, like a dog. Interesting that I hadn't thought about that before now. They really do pick up on their humans’ behavior.

The kittens I recently fostered were scared during their first big Oklahoma thunderstorm. It was an all-nighter, really intense. I didn’t react, just fed them and cleaned them and cuddled them as normal (they were only a couple of weeks old), and told them again and again that everything was fine. Their next one, only a few days later, they did not react to at all (except when it started to hail violently, which startled even me). Even as tiny babies, they are capable of reacting to a threat, and they look to US, their “parents,” to tell them what is threatening, just like a human child will watch its parents for cues how to react.

I’ve noticed that dogs will come to you if they are scared (our dog used to be scared of thunder). I have only ever had one adult cat that would come to me when it was frightened. They might put themselves in the same room I’m in if something weird is going on, but they don’t need to be right in my lap, like a dog. Interesting that I hadn’t thought about that before now.

]]>