A very scared Tubee

We have had Tubee for two years now, and lately he has started to act differently. He is afraid of almost every noise and of any changes. First off, we got new couches about a month ago, after we got them we had to bribe him upstairs, and then he would just run right back downstairs again. After about a week he got used to it, an now will come up to them occationally. Second, my neighbors have some people over with only quiet music, and he hid in the basement, right now i have him in my room where he can't hear as much and he is doing better, but when i got him out of the basement he was shivering. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? We live near a lot of fireworks places and they are going to start doing fireworks all the time so I am afraid I'm going to end up with him hiding in the basement constantly. Any suggestions?

Manda

With the 4th being so close, I would try to get him in to see about an anti-anxiety medication. They start working quicker than antiddepressants, so a few days should help.

It may be that a short course of a couple of months will let him have some positive experiences with changes and he can get off the meds. If the med seems to work, I would try to slowly start exposing him to changes. Move furniture, desensitize to noise, etc.

Thanks, we will most likely already be putting Samba on anti-anxiety pills because he still likes to pee on everything and the vet is pretty sure it is stress because he only pees on things when things change. So maybe we will have to put Tubee on them too. I am kindof worried about doing that though because he is usually ok, and it just seemed to start recently. Any ideas on why he would go almost two years without any problems and then suddenly be afraid of noises etc?

Oh, and I am happy to say he is sleeping on the bed next to me right now, I think the quiet room helped a lot.

Manda

Something must have happened that got him uppity. Maybe something like he got in the way and accidently got stepped on... anything like that can mess with their nerves for a bit. How long has he been like this?
I suggest tha the next time he hides in the basement shut the door for 10mins, then open it, he will probably come running out. This helps get their attention off of "Oh no, SCARY, I need to hide!" and gets them thinking "Why is the door shut, hey whats going on? I want out!" I hope he calms down, poor stressed boy!

Originally Posted by KatKisses

Something must have happened that got him uppity. Maybe something like he got in the way and accidently got stepped on... anything like that can mess with their nerves for a bit. How long has he been like this?
I suggest tha the next time he hides in the basement shut the door for 10mins, then open it, he will probably come running out. This helps get their attention off of "Oh no, SCARY, I need to hide!" and gets them thinking "Why is the door shut, hey whats going on? I want out!" I hope he calms down, poor stressed boy!

Click to expand...

Thanks, he has been like this for a couple months, last year he got a little stress around the 4th, but didn't run and hide, he just acted like the other two cats. This year whenever there is a firework he either runs downstairs or into a bedroom. We have tried bribing him with treats, closing the door, using his favorite toy, etc. and the only way we can get him up is to bring him up. Also if while you are brining him up he hears a noise he bites, hisses, scratches etc. The only way to calm him down is to lock him in a bedroom for a while. We aren't sure what we are going to do, we don't want to put him on medication so I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

Manda