cat taking fright?

My cat Blackie is a rescue. We adopted him at over six months and he was pretty wild. The rescue didn't believe he could be tamed. However he's now affectionate, but on his terms only, you have to bend down and see if he wants to come over, if he does then he purrs, snuggles, headbutts and all, or he'll just ignore you. He loves to be picked up and cuddled. However, he does this weird thing. You can be cuddling him and he's having the best time, and he'll turn, look at you, and rub his face against yours. But other times he'll look you in the face then suddenly take fright and tear off. We can't figure out what we're doing to him. He'll then stop just outside the door and you can go over, pick him up and cuddle him again, all purrs.

Every second time he looks us in the face he either gets very affectionate or takes fright! We're not staring him out, or anything intimidating. We're not making noises or odd movements. He just suddenly takes umbridge with the look in our eyes or something!

Does anyone have any insight into this behavior? It's very curious!

He never scratches or hisses, just takes fright, then comes back a minute later for more cuddles.

MaryK666

I have a cat who's kind of like that too but I just put it down to him being the way he is and have learned to live with it because that's what makes him special.
We got him as a rescued feral kitten at 6 weeks old and he was scared of his own shadow then. We took him with a little abandoned female who he'd befriended in the rescue centre and although they're still best buddies, they're as different as chalk and cheese.
She's a cuddle monster who's constantly talking to you, wanting to be into everything you do, crawls into bed for snuggles, washes you to death, tears round the house with her mousey in her mouth and hates being brushed.
He on the other hand is scared of loud noises, the doorbell, phones ringing, doors slamming, anything falling over and - sometimes - his own shadow.
They were both introduced to our original cats at the same time, brought up the same way and treated the same but their personalities and little quirky ways are very different.

He loves to be picked up, cuddled and carried around as long as you talk to him, don't make any sudden movements and stay standing. If you sit down with him in your arms he stiffens up, looks around like he's expecting an attack and takes off like the hounds of hell were after him.
He will invite cuddles by coming over to headbutt your hands or legs and then trot off to lie in the middle of the floor waiting for you to come and rub his belly and scratch his chin. But, like your cat, he'll suddenly tense up for a few seconds and then take off - literally - like a scalded cat.

I know that looking directly at cats can be taken by them as threatening behaviour and it's claimed that long slow blinking can be the best way around this but I think it depends on the cat. I have another cat that loves the whole staring thing and will come and snuggle into my face if I stare at him for long enough.

I think, budgese, that you'll just have to accept little Blackie for the way he is and not try and change him or 'fix' him. Think of him as your quirky little man and just adore him for being the way he is because he's one of a kind.