A kind of progress report on our new cat. She's been around here for a month and a half now, and is getting more and more bold every day. She started off a very timid thing hiding under a bed in a room we put her in, and was just scared of any noise she heard.

Since then, we've slowly exposed her to more things, and the doors that we closed to contain her and keep her away from the other cats are now open. So she has the run of the house if she wants. She's not been downstairs on her own, but she has been brought downstairs and she's explored before going back upstairs.

The other cats, who are psychotic and fight any intruders under normal circumstances have been very good towards her. They've made general cat meow noises, but nothing in sound or body language suggests any kind of aggression towards her. She's wary of them and makes defensive noises, but integration of the three seems to have been pretty much painless.

What is of concern is the flinching she does. If I put my hand out to stroke her, or just towards her, she'll flinch and freeze. This concerns me. I've never seen this behaviour from other cats (ones I have known, or even random ones I have encountered). This makes me feel that she's been roughly handled, maybe hit (though I can not prove this), and is bracing for impact. When she realises that nothing bad has happened she relaxes and does usual happy cat things, but there's this small moment in time when I think she's expecting something less pleasant.

So rehabilitation goes on - she plays with us and by her self, runs around the top of the house and is generally a much happier cat than she was when we got her.

Yes it probably is a sign of abuse in the past. It can take ages for her to learn that you are not a threat, but it might still be a problem with strangers for a long time.

Boss was the same for ages, he would flinch and actively avoid your hand if you went anywhere near his head or neck. According to our vet it's a sign that in the past he's been scruffed when he's behaved badly, or in order to do things to him (get him in a box, worm him etc) so we're very careful to only stroke when we touch his head and neck, now he's much more relaxed and will seek your hand when you put it down to him. We are still having trouble with de-flea-ing, but we're getting there slowly by stealth and when I did him tonight while he was eating dinner he appeared to not even notice which is a big deal.

That's my theory. It's a real shame as she's a very good natured cat when she's got past the flinch and freeze response. We'll never know what has been done to her in the past, but rest assured that she's got a good home here.

Our two cats were like that – but after 5 years we now think they are just both mental and should be sectioned