A friend suggested hormones from a vet, others say to neuter him, although after 2 years it seems like it may be too late to make the difference it would make with a kitten... Any suggestions?I have adopted a 2 year old male cat that has not been neutered that is incredibly timid and flinches?
Do you have any knowledge of how he was kept by the breeder? If he was kept isolated and didn't have much human company he will lack socialisation skills and may be very timid around people. Flinching is a sign that he may have been physically punished. This may be his first time living in a home as a pet, and it will take him time to become accustomed to the change.
Un-neutered or insecure cats will spray to mark territory, so you definitely need to get him done. The vet may also have recommendations for helping your cat aclimatise to his new surroundings.
The web articles below offer advice and suggestions on helping a nervous cat settle in to your home.
http://www.yorkcats.org.uk/nervous.htm
http://www.messybeast.com/nervous.htm
Be very patient as it may take some time to win his trust, but it will be worth it when you do. Often nervous cats can make the most loyal pets, once they get to know you.
I hope everything works out okay. Good luck.I have adopted a 2 year old male cat that has not been neutered that is incredibly timid and flinches?
Get it neutered. First of all, we have too many unwanted animals. It will spray your house and cause more problems altogether. Start with this.!
with the neutering that would be a wise idea.. i dont think it would help much with him being timid.. but when they are still attached mating is on the mind.. and if they cant mate they get frustrated. it also makes them want to wander.. if you keep him inside he will want outside where he smells all the excitment. As to helping him feel more comfortable in his new surroundings there is a wall plug in its kinda like glade plug ins except you can buy it at a vet or pet store.. its called feliway and it releases hormones into the air that calms your cat. heres some info on it... http://www.catfaeries.com/feliway.html
It is best to get him neutered. It will stop him worrying about other cats competing over territory and female cats (and not bringing any poor kittens into the world).
Neutering him will likely release his fear of other male cats within the area because he is not a threat to them. Since I got my furball spayed, once a lazy ball of fluff, he has never been as lively as he is now.
It sounds like he was traumatized somehow. Neutering may help (it's going to at least protect your stuff from any spraying he may feel he needs to do). But the personality change probably hinges on some action that scared the bejeeses out of him.
Keep a quiet tone of voice around him, see what scares him. If it's sudden moves or feet, he may have been physically hurt accidentally. Somethng may have fallen on him. He might have gotten a limb stuck in something and coulnd't get free. An unescorted visitor might have freaked him out without the breeder knowing. Could be anything.
Do the neuter though. Hormones will even out for him. If you do something specific that scares him, try to work around it. We adopted a seemingly nice cat who turned out to be terrified of being picked up (some kid fell while carrying her we found out) and who panicked when something long and thin came near her--she hated brooms and wood dowels (I do crafting), and the cat dancer toy. She would watch the end and hiss continually at it.
Patience got her to accept all of what had scared her, so just give him the benefit of the doubt and work around it.
On the way off chance that it's medical, ask your vet about brain tumors in cats. They're not prone to them, but I do know one friend who had a cat who turned ultra aggressive almost overnight who ended up having one of those. It was the cause of the behavior change and he was a hard cat to deal with because of it.
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