Cat Chat 2

[payno.]

I’m getting this girl tomorrow and want unique name suggestions!

[payno.]

I’ve decided to name her Sage ❤️

[rileypillow]

We have a pet cat who we’ve had for quite a few years now. She’s a rescue, and hates other cats (we think she may of moved away from a farm to get away from other cats, ended up in a bad place, and ended up getting rescued by us when she was mistreated).

A few days ago, she stopped coming into the living room at night and began acting as if a monster was chasing her. She’s fine during the day, but won’t come even when offered food or stroked softly. She’s even more scared of this room than the vet’s. She also kept me up hours past midnight, and ended up wrecking my bedroom and scratching the person trying to get her out. I don’t understand what’s happening, it’s like she’s possessed and it frightens me. Never done this before, not even when she first arrived.

We have tried thinking of what scares her most, but we’ve also removed anything that scares her. We thought it might be other cats, but she’s happy in any other room, regardless of whether there are cats outside. Now we have all the doors to other rooms closed so she doesn’t end up messing them up, but she still has the door to the living room open to see if it helps.

Please send help ;~; She’ll have to be rehomed otherwise, nobody else can work out why this is happening and I’m honestly terrified. :'''0

[Thalassic]

We have a pet cat who we’ve had for quite a few years now. She’s a rescue, and hates other cats (we think she may of moved away from a farm to get away from other cats, ended up in a bad place, and ended up getting rescued by us when she was mistreated).

A few days ago, she stopped coming into the living room at night and began acting as if a monster was chasing her. She’s fine during the day, but won’t come even when offered food or stroked softly. She’s even more scared of this room than the vet’s. She also kept me up hours past midnight, and ended up wrecking my bedroom and scratching the person trying to get her out. I don’t understand what’s happening, it’s like she’s possessed and it frightens me. Never done this before, not even when she first arrived.

We have tried thinking of what scares her most, but we’ve also removed anything that scares her. We thought it might be other cats, but she’s happy in any other room, regardless of whether there are cats outside. Now we have all the doors to other rooms closed so she doesn’t end up messing them up, but she still has the door to the living room open to see if it helps.

Please send help ;~; She’ll have to be rehomed otherwise, nobody else can work out why this is happening and I’m honestly terrified. :'''0

Have you considered that she might be sick or in pain? Cats really aren't good at showing it when they feel off, and will instead start acting in strange ways, like hiding and lashing out. So maybe if the living room is a more open area, she might feel too stressed to be out in the open like that. It would be good to speak to a vet and see if they can find anything.

If there really was something there that spooked her, she probably will need to explore the area on her own terms, meaning, no humans around, no one pressuring her to go there, just quiet, calm, open doors, and maybe some treats left out where she could see/smell them. Of course consider if there have been any changes in that area lately. New furniture, any sort of new noises or smells that she could be unfamiliar with. Rescue cats can be very sensitive to change, even if to you it doesn't feel like a big change.

[darling feathers]

-snip-

Please send help ;~; She’ll have to be rehomed otherwise, nobody else can work out why this is happening and I’m honestly terrified. :'''0

as thalassic said, have you had any new furniture or smells come through that room? have you had any
guests over recently? any things fall over recently in that room?

seemingly small things can be a huge deal for cats. if you've had any guests over (or even family that
maybe doesn't like cats as much), could someone have lashed out at the cat or accidentally hurt it? in
that room, is there any possibility for the cat to see something outside like a large animal or a person
who could have spooked it?

the best thing to do is to try and keep the cat away from any stressors. it seems like something may have
happened at night, so see if maybe you could just keep the cat away from that area at night. if the cat
does come into that area, positively reinforce that behavior with treats. you could even try feeding the
cat near that area to see if it'll be in there with some food encouragement.

i hope you find whatever has triggered this behavior in your cat! two of my cats also deal with issues with
some objects/rooms, and i've just kind of had to modify my life to fit with them. one is scared of ceiling
fans (we think he may have fallen off a high shelf in one of our rooms & hit the fan when he was younger)
and the other is terrified of our laundry room (probably from the noise from the dryer/washer). knowing
the stressors have really helped us keep them calm.

[rileypillow]

Thank you so much Thalassic and darling feathers! I will try and see what I can do.

I don’t remember anything new arriving in the living room, and all the same people are here, but it’s a good suggestion. There was a wasp in there, but that’s long gone and we’ve odour neutralised in case it still smelt. The wasp seems like the most likely thing so far. We also stopped making potentially scary noises at night and were as calm as possible. Luckily, she did come in last night and was calm for a few hours before starting up again.

Unfortunately, I don’t think other rooms would work for the night. She would be too tempted by treats in the kitchen, and in any other room she’d wake us all up early. Outside is dangerous, there are frequent cat fights and she got sick in the winter after a fight, and she also hunts a lot and can get stressed if not let back in, since we don’t have a catflap. I wish there was an easy way out of this ;~;

I genuinely don’t know why this is happening. I’d try to get in touch with a cat behaviourist or something but I wouldn’t know where to start, and I’m not used to doing that kind of thing.

There is one thing I’ve thought of, but it seems a ridiculous one. A few nights ago I could’ve sworn someone was in my room, as I heard a beep in my ear. It could’ve just been my ear, which was sore then. It’s a bit far-fetched and silly and probably makes me sound paranoid, but maybe someone else was in our house?

[Thalassic]

Thank you so much Thalassic and darling feathers! I will try and see what I can do.

I don’t remember anything new arriving in the living room, and all the same people are here, but it’s a good suggestion. There was a wasp in there, but that’s long gone and we’ve odour neutralised in case it still smelt. The wasp seems like the most likely thing so far. We also stopped making potentially scary noises at night and were as calm as possible. Luckily, she did come in last night and was calm for a few hours before starting up again.

Unfortunately, I don’t think other rooms would work for the night. She would be too tempted by treats in the kitchen, and in any other room she’d wake us all up early. Outside is dangerous, there are frequent cat fights and she got sick in the winter after a fight, and she also hunts a lot and can get stressed if not let back in, since we don’t have a catflap. I wish there was an easy way out of this ;~;

I genuinely don’t know why this is happening. I’d try to get in touch with a cat behaviourist or something but I wouldn’t know where to start, and I’m not used to doing that kind of thing.

There is one thing I’ve thought of, but it seems a ridiculous one. A few nights ago I could’ve sworn someone was in my room, as I heard a beep in my ear. It could’ve just been my ear, which was sore then. It’s a bit far-fetched and silly and probably makes me sound paranoid, but maybe someone else was in our house?

I'd guess she might have been hurt or freaked out by the wasp. Maybe try keeping windows closed in that room as much as possible, and let her explore the room on her own terms so she can make sure there's no more bugs hiding anywhere.

[payno.]

Ah, look at my baby ❤️

[Kryno'iru]

》We (me and my fiancé) adopted a cat about five years ago, a very loving and affectionate Birman cat (his name is Rexu by the way), and we are now thinking about getting him a companion/getting another animal/pet and was wondering if anyone here knew of any good animal (doesn't have to be another cat) that would be/make a good friend/get along with Rexu.

[darling feathers]

@ Aura
your kitty is precious! i miss when mine were small <3

@ Династия
that largely depends on how your cat gets along with other animals. i personally
would try another cat (especially since there are so many cats & kittens up for
adoption currently) but you could also try a younger dog that is able to be socialized
with cats or an older dog who behaves well with cats. i would personally stay away
from smaller "prey" animals, as instinct can kick in even when you least expect it.

no matter which pet you choose, i would recommend looking up the best ways to
introduce your cat to new animals. when my mom & i brought home another cat to
our two, we had to keep them in separate rooms for a week before letting them
see each other face-to-face. during that time, we would feed the cats with their bowls
on either side of the door to get them used to each other's scents. it took a couple
rounds of hissing for them to be comfortable but now they're all good with each other c: