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Advice wanted. Why does my cat jump out of his skin? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hi all,

I've recently adopted an 8 year old ginger tom from the rescue centre. We don't know much of his history except for that his old owner passed away and no one else in the family was willing to take him.

We've have had him about 8 weeks and he does have some strange behaviour issues like being a little bit scratchy and bitey, but this mostly seems to be misdirected play and he has been improving whilst we try to be understanding and accommodating. Apart from that he's a lovely cat. He's quite clingy and always wants to know what you're up to!

Anyways, on to the question. Every know and then, when he is relaxing, not even asleep sometimes. He will launch him self out of his skin! It's obviously a fear reaction but I have no idea what sets him off. He recovers from this almost immediately and usually just starts relaxing again.

I wondered if anyone had any experience or advice of a cat that does this? I've had cats my whole life but I have never seen one do this before.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I would imagine this is similar to PTSD in humans.

Imagine if one time you were sleeping and got suddenly woken up by someone literally trying to kill/eat you, not an uncommon occurence for a cat -- it might cause similar symptoms.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago (4 children)

This certainly sounds feasible. It's such a shame for him.

I wonder if there is a way to help him with this or if it's something that will hopefully get better with time.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago

My parents adopted a quirky cat that seems to have had some past trauma. She's finally getting more friendly and less skiddish - AFTER FOUR YEARS.

Sometimes it's just love and time that helps them get over past trauma.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago

My cat was not a trauma victim, we got her quite young, but she sometimes still jumped out of her skin while doing nothing - because she got an itch. You'd see her skin twitch in a spot, and then she'd jump out of her skin to dash off to somewhere else just to scratch it. It was just the sudden unexpected unpleasant physical sensation that triggered her, so it's not always a trauma thing. Admittedly she was a rather flighty cat, despite her leisurely safe flea-free existence.

However, for a new rescue, they're definitely going to be extra jumpy for a while. I hate his format, but Jackson Galaxy gives solid and practical cat behaviour info. He doesn't go into trauma and memory anywhere near enough but here's a perspective on cat memory you might find useful. Maybe your cat remembers a smell from a cleaning chemical at the rescue place?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Give him nothing to be scared about and he will slowly forget.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I'm trying!