- Joined
- Jul 7, 2016
I had an abused cat when I was younger. The thing we figured out was her trigger was bags, beautiful cat. Never liked people and someone apparently tried to strangle her when she was younger. Most the time, people she'd avoid, to the point she hurt herself. However most the time she was what we called our beauty. One we'd keep as a shelf beauty because she was just that pretty. However, we soon found out she felt most comfortable outside by the time she was oh... Eight or nine years old? And despite being fixed, she ran a whole cat colony in our neighborhood. We let the animal control know and we let her free for the rest of her years. She had been tormented enough with whatever abuse she went through when she was near a kitten. But she had a good final however many years as I didn't see her final years, but neighbors did leave food and cared for the colony.it's really hard to rehouse and rehabilitate them. most of the time a typical family household with kids won't be able to handle a traumatised pet, the best homes for them usually end up being with people who work with belligerent or disturbed pets, because they have the most chance of fully rehabilitating them. hyper vigilance and paranoid attachments (snapping at anyone who enters the house who isn't the owner, etc) are the typical kind of behaviours you'll find.
someone more informed will be able to give a much better and updated answer, but this is the little bit I've learned and had my heart broken over. a lot of abused pets have to be put down because there's no home than can manage them, and shelters can only afford to keep them so long.
Edit for clarification: sometimes they can rehabilitate, it just takes years and an odd caveat.