KNOWN HISTORY:: Lived Indoors Previously lived with: 2 Adults, 2 children (1, 14 y/o), 10 cats Behavior toward strangers: Autumn prefers contact on their terms and is shy, but once they warm up they are friendly, outgoing, and will play gently. Behavior toward children: Autumn was in a home with 2 children. Autumn prefers contact on their terms and is shy, but once they warm up they are friendly, outgoing, and will play gently. Behavior toward cats: Autumn was in a home with 10 cats. Autumn prefers contact on their terms and is shy, but once they warm up they are friendly, outgoing, and will play gently. Behavior toward dogs: No experience Bite or Scratch history: No bite history Litter box training: Energy level/descriptors: Medium Other notes: Autumn is a friendly, independent indoor cat. Autumn will spend most of her time where people are and at the window. Autumn is used to interactive play more than twice a day. Autumn will play gently. The owner's favorite thing about Autumn is that she is gentle and nice. Autumn is used to eating both wet and dry food. Upon intake, Autumn had a tense body, eyes dilated with their tail tucked underneath them. Because this was Autumn's first time leaving her home and being placed in a carrier, staff approached her slowly, reached a cat wand inside the carrier, and gave her treats. Autumn was not receptive to the treats but liked face scratches with the cat wand. Autumn then allowed staff to do all handling. Staff checked for MC, collar and picked her up to be placed in a kennel.

ENRICHMENT NOTES:: 9/5/24 FB58 Sitting at the back of the cage with a tense face and body, eyes wide and dilated, ears tilted to the side (cone on post surgery), back hunched and tail pilo-erect. When the cage door is cracked, she lunges multiple times while hissing and spitting. With some help I place a hidey box in the cage and when I check later, she is up on the shelf low growling before she can see me. She lunges at the glass when I place a linen over the door to provide her with some privacy. 9/18/24 FB79 Laying with her paws tucked away, Autumn has her tail tightly wrapped around her body, she has wide/dilated eyes and hisses when i approach. I toss in some treats and toys which causes her to continue to harshly hiss once again so i respect her space. 9/25/24 FB61 We have begun a behavior modification plan called the "Fraidy Cat Club", an Operant Conditioning training method where an unpleasant stimulus is removed when a desired behavior is observed. In this case, the negative stimulus is the presence of feline behavior staff; as soon as an improvement is noted, staff will "mark" the behavior with a sweet "good girl" and then leave. The idea is that the cat learns to relax because every time they do, they "operate" on the stimulus causing it to be removed. This is currently their "reward" or "motivator" since they are too nervous to accept any other forms of enrichment. In time, we hope that the cat will improve enough so then we can transition to positive reinforcement. Autumn was hunched in the back of her cubby, ears completely flat, pupils dilated, body small and tail wrapped tightly around her body. She hisses and lunges continuously as I talk to her. When she pauses for a moment to slow-blink I mark the behavior and remove myself. I repeat this 3 x today. 10/4/24 FB58 Lucky to catch her in her box with her curled up and she remains calm for a second before she registers me and begins to hiss. As I wait and slow blink, she will eventually slow blink back at me with a tense face and body and I slow blink back before clicking to mark the behavior. I repeat this three times and she appears to be settling down, remaining in her box and alert but not lunging at the front of the cage. When I am later trying to place a cage cover on the door of her cage, she stands in her box and hisses taking much longer to settle down and remaining much more tense and alert. When I need to open her cubby door maybe 30 minutes later, she hisses and lunges from the box to the cubby door and is able to cross that distance very quickly. 10/6/24 FB79 Got some slow blinks out of her today; stopped lunging upon approach but continues to harshly hiss and spit with flat tilted ears. I visited her a few times today and she progressively hissed left and even allowed me to open her cubby door enough to slip in some treats which she did come forward to eat at some point. - GAN

ACTIVITY LEVEL:: Subdued

VOCAL:: Quiet

CHARACTER TYPE: : Skittish,Independent

POTENTIAL CHALLENGES:: Fearful

Potential challenges comments:: Please see behavior flyer for more information.

BEHAVIOR DETERMINATION: : Level 4

BEHAVIOR SUMMARY:: Autumn was sitting upright in the back of her kennel as the assessor approached, ears completely flattened, pupils dilated and tail wrapped tightly around her body. She hissed when spoken to and then lowered her body and continued to hiss repeatedly as the kennel door opened. Autumn tolerated petting along her head and back with the scratcher tool while hissing and leaning back into the corner of the wall. When the assessor was removing the assess-a-hand Autumn lunged forward and swiped at it with another hiss. Pick up was not attempted at this time. 10/3/24 Upon re-evaluation, Autumn is in the back of her cubby with eats completely flat to her head, wide/dilated eyes and her tail tightly wrapped around her body; she harshly hisses continuously and her hisses become louder and more harsher leading up her lunging at the door. Coco continues to hiss and spit at the assessor as they watch her through the cubby door and when they reached closer to open the door she lunged forward hitting the glass as she continued to hiss. Contact was not attempted again. Autumn is not open to interaction at this time and does not currently tolerate petting or handling. Because her previous owner reports she is friendly and plays gently with children in a home environment, we believe the behavior seen in the care center is shelter-specific and this cat would make a great pet but is really struggling in the shelter environment. This cat is suitable for adopters with previous cat experience who are willing to work with a cat who needs time and patience to help her adjust to their new home.