tl;dr recently moved in with roommate and their cat won't stop following me around, camping out in common spaces, trapping me in my room, and acting aggressive when I try to pass by.
My roommate and I moved in together about a month ago. They have a cat (female, around 4, spayed) who is generally quite shy and takes time to warm up to people, especially people of my gender. From the first day, cat has been wary of me and will hiss at me if I attempt to approach. We tried to make a slow introduction, keeping her mostly in roommate's bedroom for the first few days. She did initially sometimes approach me and sniff me out, but would walk away right afterward. Other times, she would mark my leg with her scent and walk away.
The problem is that instead of growing to tolerate me, she seems to be doing the opposite.... While she does still approach me occasionally, her other behaviors have steadily worsened. She will now camp out in the narrow hallway outside our bedrooms, or right outside my bedroom door whenever my roommate is not home. If I attempt to leave or slowly walk by her (to use the bathroom or generally just live my life), she will hiss and growl at me. She does the same when I move up or down the staircases, camping on the stairs or the landing and blocking my way, acting all like I am the one trapping her. Yesterday, she greeted me by rubbing up against my leg, and then started hissing for some reason. Today, she followed me around to the kitchen, sat at the entrance, and wouldn't let me leave for around ten minutes.
When my roommate is home, cat will follow them around all day and be less aggressive toward me. That is, unless my roommate happens to be in another room where the cat cannot go. In that case, it's back to angry kitty.
I should note that there are plenty of cat-friendly surfaces, climbing objects, and scratching objects around the place that she does enjoy. She is also completely healthy and properly fed. She gets treats for good behavior from both my roommate and myself. We have attempted placing my used clothes near things that she likes to get her used to the scent, et cetera.
I generally do not act aggressive toward her and ignore her or wait her out when she displays bad behaviors. Sometimes, when she is being especially stubborn, I am forced to lure her into my roommate's bedroom using a treat and lock her in for 10-20 minutes--I recognize that this is a bit of a mixed message, but I can't exactly wait around all day for her to allow me to get to work. Another way in which she sometimes may get mixed messages is that my roommate will pick her up and take her to their bedroom when she displays aggressive behaviors--I suspect that alone time with her favorite human isn't doing much to discourage her behavior toward me....
I desperately need ideas on what to do here because I'm approaching the end of my rope. At this point, I don't even need her to like me. I just want her to respect me and allow me to live my life, at least.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/pw18ky/help_roommates_cat_keeps_trapping_me_and_acting/
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