My poor kitty

Question
I got two sister cats from a rescue place. They are two sisters and the complete opposite.
I was told they were found outside in a stable and heir mom had been eaten by rats!
They were bottle fed and cared for by a nice woman.
We got them at about four 1/2 months. One shows no signs whatsoever of any problems. She is perfect.
The other is insanely scared. It has taken her nearly s month for her to even let us pet her.
She runs away at the slightest movement towards her. Every noise scares her. She will not allow us to touch her unless she is laying down and resting... This juts tarted a few days ago.
Two weeks ago I gave her a few doses of homeopathic aconite per my homeopath.
Ive also been giving her a few drops of the star of Bethlehem flower essence on and off about ten days also only once a day.
She is still running all the time and now seems very anxious restless going all over, scratching a lot..and is constantly meowing. No she's not in heat.. She is upset. It's like she is torn. She WANTS to come near us but she can't.
It is breaking my heart!
Please help.. Tell me what to do!!!

Answer
Delia,

Based on the history that you've provided it wouldn't be a bad idea to have this kitten assessed by a vet just to be absolutely certain that there isn't a medical cause for her anxiety if you haven't already done so. Once you've gotten a clean bill of health from a veterinarian then there are other holistic options to try with this baby. It sounds like this baby is extremely fearful and anxious, it's possible that the move from her foster mom's house to your home has thrown her off balance and caused her to fall apart a bit. It might be worth talking to the foster mom if at all possible to see if this kitten exhibited such fearful behaviour before she came to live with you, and if so what worked to help calm her down and make her more comfortable. It's well worth trying Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of 5 flower essences including Star of Bethlehem, this remedy works to calm and reassure frightened/traumatized cats quite effectively. I don't recommend administering the Bach flower essences orally except in cases of emergency because they are preserved in grape alcohol and cats don't like the smell or taste of alcohol, instead I'd recommend gently rubbing 3-4 drops of the Rescue Remedy into the outside of your kitten's ear flaps 3-4 times a day until you begin to see improvement. Elm may also be a helpful essence as it fosters optimism and you can give this remedy at the same time in the same fashion as you give the Rescue Remedy.

Essentially it sounds like this baby will need lots of time, patience and love to recover from her early traumas and it sounds like you love her very much and are willing to do whatever she needs to get better. It might be helpful to place her and her more confident sister in a smaller room together with all of the usual feline necessities and creature comforts because the more fearful kitten could very well be overwhelmed if she's got a whole house to contend with. Ideally if you take this approach then it's helpful to use food rewards that your kitten will find irresistable (tuna, salmon, sardines, etc) to encourage her to come to you. You'll want to back off of the physical contact and allow this fearful baby to initiate it in her own way and her own time. Based on her history it's possible she'll never be as confident or affectionate as her sister, but she should settle in nicely with time, patience and by having you spend persistant quiet time with her where you are focused on something else (reading a book is a great activity for this type of situation as it's quiet and requires a minimum of movement).

There are other great holistic techniques to help this kitten once she's calmer and more comfortable being touched - it sounds like in her fearful state she's retreated into a semi-feral state based on what you're saying and when someone is that afraid and functioning on a fight/flight basis you can't reason with them which is why I generally recommend a hands off approach with these kinds of cats because allowing them to come to you is a trust building exercise where you teach them that you are willing to respect their need for space and their need to purge excess toxic energy created by fear. You can certainly look into local practitioners of Tellington touch which is a form of calming massage for pets, some areas even have courses for pet parents to teach them the basics. It's well worth considering having a veterinary homeopath and/or veterinary acupuncturist assess this kitten to see if she would benefit from treatments as well. I really wish that I could offer you a quick fix but this is a situation where love, patience and persistance should eventually win out. If you have any further cat related questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me again - I'm happy to help you and your cats in any way that I can.

Regards,

Ali