I have 3 cats, most of the time they tolerate each other but my oldest girl Misha, (12 years old) never did get along with the newest addition to my cat family, Socks...Luke the best tempered of the 3 is sort of the go-between and has never gotten into any cat fights with the girls.
While I was in the hospital for my back surgery, their routine changed since I wasn't around to cater to their every whim, yes they are very spoiled...My husband took care of them but I'm sure not the way I do...
When I returned home I tried to get things back to normal but it's hard since I can't bend down very well or pick them up...Misha would always sit on my lap in the evening while I watched TV in the living room...I would brush her, it was our special time together...But I haven't been able to do that in the last month since, for the most part, I spend my down time in bed...My other cat socks has taken over my bed and sleeps with me during the night, hangs out beside me on the bed during the day.
I've even tried to discourage Socks and bring Misha into the bed with me but she refuses to..I think she smells socks on the blanket.
Then one night last week, they had an altercation and Misha got very upset, made some very strange gutteral noises after load screeching at Socks..I don't know what precipiated it since I was upstairs in bed...My husband said she looked very upset...
Then for the next few days I couldn't find her anywhere in the house.. finally Saturday I found her under one of the beds in our extra bedroom...she wouldn't come out until I brought food to her and left it on the side of the bed...she came out and ate..(believe me I'm not supposed to be crawling around the house looking under beds while my back is healing), then I took her to my bathroom for a drink of water....she loves to drink out of the palm of my hand, I then put her on my lap, brushed her and bonded a bit...I checked her out and she had no injuries but then she ran away and I couldn't find her again for another day...then I found her in a small compartant in my living room wall unit.. I did the same thing and she seemed ok...But now nearly a week after the fight she still is acting strange, doesn't do anything like she used to, and hangs out in tiny cramped spaces. She doesn't jump on or sleep on the chairs like she used too..even the one where I keep a special blanket for her, the one in my picture above.
My question is this, has this happened to any of your cats, I'm afraid she may be ill but when I do hold her she seems fine...her little nose is wet, she seems hydrated, and apparantly uses the litter boxes at night...I just wish she would act like my same old Misha again.
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Comments: 20
Thanks for the input though..
Lori, will look forward to your imput..
I'm glad you're doing what you can to pay attention to her. I'm sure that will help in the end.
(I work in the veterinary industry and I've seen this a lot- we call it the ADR syndrome - ain't doin' right).
Hope things work out!! Let me/us know!!
abandoned her... they're just like children and if they think they've fallen
out of favor will sulk for weeks! All you can do is what you have been doing...
find her hiding place, spend time with her, brush her, feed her in a seperate
space from the others for a while... in short make her feel special.
I have a "princess" cat (see my Icon) and if I go away for any length of time
she will 'punish' me by ignoring me for the first day or so after I get back,
then we get back to our usual routine with her spending time in my lap each morning before I go to work with me diligently plying the brush! Some times
she gets fed up with the other cats in the house and I'll have to bring her
food to her, where ever she's chosen to spend her 'sulking time'.
It's tough being 'housekeeping staff to the cats' some days :)!
Thanks everyone I do so appreciate your imput...
Echo I will let you know...If things don't improve in a few days I will definitely figure out a way to get her to the Vet...If I could drive we would have been there today..:)
As each kitten was born, my other cat grabbed them and ran off. I could not get up to find out what was going on, but hoped for the best. There had been no discernable animosity between the two females up until then. Turned out the other cat was feeding the kittens to the dog.
The persian then for days began jumping up into my lap as she always did, but then she would pee on me. I never was able to get her head straight again. She was waaaay traumatized by the whole thing, and blamed me.
I know what your cat is going through is different, but it does sound to me, like others have said, that she is traumatized by the the other cat... or hurt internally. Echo is a pretty smart chickie. I'd listen to her.
Thanks for the imput..I think I will go look for now and try to bond a bit
It's a good thing I'm a cat and dog shrink too. I've had scores of cats, mere peasants and Persian Royalty,but even more dogs. When I was in college I had a 100 lb Doberman, a miniature Dachshund and a blue-brindle Afghan Hound. Only psychiatrists can get away with wearing funny ties and having pets who seem to belong in the circus.
Not so long ago we had two German Short Hairs that, like rabbits, suddenly became twelve. None of them were fed to the cats, though. We kept two and papa went to live with John Wayne and Loren Greene (I'm sure they're in heaven. Not Rock Hudson, though, not after insulting the love of my ten year old life, Doris Day). Now we are down to three dogs who live in, and rule, the house. My wife's idea of disciplining them after they've been naughty is to feed them a pound of wieners. They are much easier than cats, owing to their diminished IQ. Dogs are "special needs" pets and they can't lie. Therefore, they are so much more attractive than people, even though they slobber, but at my age, some of my friends slobber too.
Seriously, the older cats (and dogs) are, the less likely they are to tolerate change; new additions to the family, changes in your routine, and in you. Like dogs, they are also very perceptive when it comes to your health. You could simply have a neurotic cat, but like people, it is very unusual to develop a mental illness late in life. Whenever a pet demonstrates a dramatic change in behavior, especially an older pet, I worry about some kind of illness. It may be something that is relatively minor. It doesn't take much to get us down when we are over the hill (or at least viewing the crest). You, the cat, and all of your support group, including me, will feel better after a trip to the vet. Keep us posted.
Possibly...I just don't know.. we've had socks now for 2 years you would think she was used to her already...I will try to take her to the vet next week..hopefully I will be able to find her hiding place that day and be able to manage.
We've had our good days recently but today she's in the linen closet...Don't know where she will hide next..
Thanks to all for your imput