Cat Behavior Case Study: Living with a Neurotic Cat

I don't really know how and why Uma had become such a neurotic cat - or a scaredy cat, as we put it. When I brought home three kittens I'd picked up at Grandma's yard, all three were playful, curious, and daring, like most healthy kittens are. Uma was one of them. Later on, I had given away his brother and sister, so he became our only cat. Still, he remained friendly and social. Then I began to notice that Uma was getting easily scared, of both people and things.

The first thing to terrify him was the Vacuum Cleaner. That I could understand: a huge roaring machine four times his size, sucking air and moving around. Every time we had to vacuum, Uma was under a major stress. We would take the poor fellow away to a different room and try to keep him there. However, he could still hear the vacuum cleaner, which informed him that the monster was on the loose. Not seeing it seemed to be even scarier for him, my guess is because he did not know what the monster was up to. So, he'd crawl out of the room and slowly make his way towards the vacuum cleaner. He would then watch the monster with his eyes huge and crazy, darting off when the hose would move in his direction and then always coming back. He would remain jumpy for several hours after the vacuuming was done.

Uma's second greatest fear was Visitors. To him, the world was populated with three people: me and my father and mother. Other strange creatures he liked to observe through the window did not count, and had no business entering the house. When we had visitors, Uma screamed "INVASION!!" the moment they came in, and ran to hide. He'd cram himself into unimaginable places, like far behind the gas stove, where he would be completely out of reach, and no coaxing, no treats, not even his beloved string toy would induce him to come out until the invaders were gone.

Another fear was New Things and Sudden Noises. I guess Sudden Movements can be included here as well. The fear of new things was the funniest: if anyone brought home anything new - I mean, anything, from a clothes item to a gardening tool to a pop bottle - Uma would be afraid of it. He'd crawl to the new item with his eyes fixed on it, as if it could suddenly attack him, and sniff, and sniff, and sniff to make sure it was not dangerous. Any noise made during this investigation would send him through the roof.

I had no explanation to this change from normal to neurotic and easily scared behavior. Uma was never abused, and we had a peaceful, quiet home. Yet he acted this way for several years. We'd figured he just was a scaredy cat and accepted him as such. However, as he matured, his behavior had gradually changed to more stable. I had gotten married and moved out, and Uma stayed with my parents. They reported the changes to me as those changes took place. The major one was accepting Visitors. At some point, visitors were okayed by Uma; he'd decided to expand his world and allow temporary intrusion. He'd even let visitors touch and pet him. New Things and Sudden Noises continued on and off, to a lesser degree, but Vacuum Cleaner never lost its horror-inducing powers.