Advice about mom and cats
Hello, friendly folk! I'm looking for a bit of advice, about cats and moms.
My mom is coming to visit on Tuesday, staying for about a couple of weeks. However, I have a cat, and my mom is scared of cats. My mom says she's not going to stay anywhere but with me, so I tell her that we'll help her get acclimated to my cat, but she says she doesn't want to try to get used to cats. She's just afraid of them, period, and wants me to hide her or move her away for the duration of mom's stay. I have no friends that can take her (no pets allowed in their apartments) and I don't have money to pay for cat-boarding or anything. I have a studio, so I cannot lock my cat up in a separate room or anything. I have a small carrier, but I can't keep her in it all the time, she might need to go pee/poop/eat/etc. I would like to know the best way to deal with this situation.
My plan is to try to help my mom get acclimated to cats anyway, however stubborn and resistant she may be to this idea. I was wondering what the best way to do this is. Is it best to:
1) just leave the cat to run free and not doing anything special, and mom just has to get used to her?
2) lock up my cat as much as possible, try to keep her away from mom?
3) somehow force my mom to interact with my cat?
4) gently force mom to interact with my cat? e.g. hide cat, and then bring her out occasionally when mom's not around, and hold on to her for mom to pet, etc.? in other words, be as gentle as possible to mom?
5) something else?
What method is best for getting my mom used to cats, you think?
My cat is pretty friendly, she's not the haughty type that goes and does her own thing, and so my cat will probably go and try to sniff and interact with my mom if I don't prevent her from doing so. This will freak my mom out. So I need to do something.
My mom is coming to visit on Tuesday, staying for about a couple of weeks. However, I have a cat, and my mom is scared of cats. My mom says she's not going to stay anywhere but with me, so I tell her that we'll help her get acclimated to my cat, but she says she doesn't want to try to get used to cats. She's just afraid of them, period, and wants me to hide her or move her away for the duration of mom's stay. I have no friends that can take her (no pets allowed in their apartments) and I don't have money to pay for cat-boarding or anything. I have a studio, so I cannot lock my cat up in a separate room or anything. I have a small carrier, but I can't keep her in it all the time, she might need to go pee/poop/eat/etc. I would like to know the best way to deal with this situation.
My plan is to try to help my mom get acclimated to cats anyway, however stubborn and resistant she may be to this idea. I was wondering what the best way to do this is. Is it best to:
1) just leave the cat to run free and not doing anything special, and mom just has to get used to her?
2) lock up my cat as much as possible, try to keep her away from mom?
3) somehow force my mom to interact with my cat?
4) gently force mom to interact with my cat? e.g. hide cat, and then bring her out occasionally when mom's not around, and hold on to her for mom to pet, etc.? in other words, be as gentle as possible to mom?
5) something else?
What method is best for getting my mom used to cats, you think?
My cat is pretty friendly, she's not the haughty type that goes and does her own thing, and so my cat will probably go and try to sniff and interact with my mom if I don't prevent her from doing so. This will freak my mom out. So I need to do something.