Suddenly hiding

About 2 weeks ago, my 1 1/2-year-old cat started acting strangely, doing things she'd never done before-- hiding under the bed and the table and moving away from me when I went near her. Later that day, her first mouse (at least, the first since I adopted her in January) appeared in the bedroom. I figured that the mouse's presence was the cause of her strange behavior and that she'd be back to her old self after it was gone.

Since then, she hasn't hidden under the table or shied away from me, but she's continued to hide under the bed every day. I know that hiding can be a sign of illness, but her appetite is fine, and she hasn't 'gone' outside her box or anything of that nature. (I did think I saw her limping the other day, but when I looked again a few minutes later, she looked fine.) Could she have been spooked by the mouse? Could she be looking for another one? (I did find another in the bedroom yesterday.) I'm worried that my outgoing cat has undergone a permanent personality change.

Please get her to a vet. They hide pain quite effectively, but if she is hiding all of a sudden- my bet is she is ill.

I would go to the vet.
She can be sick and hiding it.

Welcome to TCS!

Cats enjoy hunting so I do not think your cat got spooked by one of their favorite preys. It is more likely that she sprained a muscle during the chase and she may be hurting. A visit to the veterinarian will be good for your cat.

Thanks for the responses.

The hiding seems to be the only change in her, so I'm going to see if it decreases at all in the next couple of days. If not, I think I will have the vet check her out.

My 14 year old cat ROCKY is suddenly shy and hidding. Here is a chronology because we had a lot of stange things happen this week:

Monday - Rocky was hidding. This is not normal - he is usually in my lap day & night.
Tuesday - same.
Wednesday - Total chaos - we found one of my labs (a 12 year old dog named REXX) dead in the yard - this was sudden...he had no health issues. We were worried that someone may have poisoned him and Rocky, so we did an all-house search for Rocky. We found him under a chair and he had an infected bite on a front arm. We took him to the vet immediately. He received a 2 week antibiotic shot that night. He was quiet.
Thursday - After the vet saw the dog she said the death was from natural cause. He just went to sleep and never woke up. Rocky and REXX were extreme buddies and hung out together a lot.
Friday - Rocky is hidding and will not repond to us at all.

Is Rocky grieving the loss of REXX? Is he mad at us for taking him to the vet? Is he still sick from the bite? Does Rocky have rabies?

Rocky was an extremely affectionate and touchy cat before this.