Trust issue with my cat
I adopted a female kitten when she was around 5 months old. At first I started harness and carrier training and things were going pretty well. Then she got giardia and had severe intestinal issues for more than two months. During that time I stopped taking her outside so she could recover, and I also stopped carrier training because I didn’t want to stress her further.
The problem is that during those same months I had to take her to the vet many times, so now the carrier is strongly associated with bad experiences. She’s doing much better now, but I honestly don’t know where to restart.
Right now my main priority is getting her used to the car, because when I visit my partner it’s a 2-hour drive and I can’t really afford a cat sitter every time.
The issue is that she now seems to hate the carrier, and I also think she became slightly more distrustful in general. During those months she was sick, I was extremely stressed because I was constantly cleaning due to diarrhea, giving medication and antibiotics, cleaning her up, handling her a lot even though we hadn’t built a bond yet. Everything was basically emergency mode all the time. I feel like that may have damaged our relationship a bit because we never got to take things slowly.
She’s now 6 months old. She’s playful, but very independent. I think she has slept on top of me maybe 3 or 4 times since I adopted her. At the beginning she was more affectionate. Now our bond is mostly based on playtime and just being in the same room. She still rubs against me when I put my face near her though.
I already tried leaving the carrier open around the house, but she doesn’t care about it at all. She’s also not very food motivated. I bought one of those bubble backpack carriers and it has been sitting open in the living room for weeks. Sometimes I can lure her inside with food, but I know the moment I zip it closed she’ll panic and permanently blacklist it.
Harness training is actually going better: I can put the harness on her without problems. But if I want to take her outside I still need some kind of carrier because there are dogs in my building and I can’t just walk downstairs holding her.
So yeah… this is the situation. Any advice from people who had to rebuild trust and carrier tolerance after months of medical stress?