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Riley is afraid of his cat tree

post #1 of 13
1/15/10 at 8:18am
Thread Starter 
We have had the cat tree almost as long as we've had Riley and he has always loved it. It was his most common place to hang out and nap or sit and watch the bird feeder outside the window.

Now, he's terrified of it and I have no idea why

Nothing has changed with it, we didn't do anything to it, haven't moved it or sprayed anything on it. Nothing. I'm not sure exactly when it started but I first noticed it right after Christmas. I saw him sneak up to it and walk around it slowly sneaking up and sniffing at it. He did this for a few minutes, then ran.
Since then I've tried sprinkling catnip on it, putting him up there with treats, trying to entice him onto it with Da Bird or the Cat Dancer. Always before, he would hurl himself up to the top chasing those toys. If you put him up there he jumps right down and runs. He will circle around it slowly to get the window and check out a bird, but keeps looking over his should like its going to "get him".

Any idea why he would suddenly get weird about it? They have both fallen off it in the past when they get to worked up over a bird or something, but it never seemed to bother them. Also, Xander will still get up on it and doesn't seem to notice anything unusual.

Is he just being weird?
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post #2 of 13
1/15/10 at 10:35am
Did Xander mark (pee) it as his? Or has he claimed it in some way?

Is Riley's eye sight fine?

Or maybe he really did take a bad fall from it when your weren't around.
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post #3 of 13
1/15/10 at 10:44am
Capone does this too sometimes with our bath mat. I’ll take a bath an usually he will lounge on the mat with me and even after I get out he will spend most of the night there (probably because it’s warm). A few times, maybe once a month he will walk slowly to the mat, tail getting slightly poofed, stay just at paws distance and try and paw the mat. Get scared, get even more poofy, back away and repeat until he runs away in fear.

I’m sorry to say that even though my baby is terrified it normally has me laughing my butt off. I do believe it’s his eye sight. Capone can’t see anything directly in front of him.

Sorry I can’t help more. Cats are odd creatures.
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post #4 of 13
1/15/10 at 10:51am
Thread Starter 
Riley's eyes are fine. He's had a dozen vet visits in the last few months for his breathing problems and other than that he checks out fine.

Xander has never peed on anything to my knowledge. I certainly can't smell anything. I may see if I still have some Feliway spray and spray some of that on it.

He has started acting the same way about his Aunti Em catnip mats as well. They are usually on the floors and he has always loved to sleep on them. Maybe he has just developed an aversion to fleece?
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post #5 of 13
1/15/10 at 11:37am
He may have gotten static shocks from the cat tree and the fleece mats due to the cold weather and dry air from your heating, and thinks they're going to "attack" him again. The only thing I can think of to prevent static electricity is increasing the humidity inside by turning up your humidifier or placing bowls of water near the heating.
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post #6 of 13
1/15/10 at 11:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcat View Post
He may have gotten static shocks from the cat tree and the fleece mats due to the cold weather and dry air from your heating, and thinks they're going to "attack" him again. The only thing I can think of to prevent static electricity is increasing the humidity inside by turning up your humidifier or placing bowls of water near the heating.
Hmm, I wonder if that's the case? He hasn't been sleeping in my bed or any of his usual spots. He sleeps either on the bathroom rug or on the wood floors or on top of the heat vent in the bedroom. It HAS been very dry. We have a small portable humidifier that we use at night, but I may try bringing it downstairs during the day and running it.
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post #7 of 13
1/19/10 at 8:39am
Thread Starter 
Well I took the cat tree apart all except the first level. I put a blanket on it, that Riley has been sleeping on and put him up there a couple times. He has gotten up there by himself a few times since then to nap on the blanket.

Once he gets comfortable with it (he still sniffs it and checks it all over good before he will jump up) then I will start adding back one piece at a time. Hopefully he can get used to it gradually.

Silly boy
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post #8 of 13
1/22/10 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 
Here's Riley with his current short cat tree

He still carefully checks it over before he will get up, and still runs away from it about half the time, but he does sometimes get up there by himself. I'm going to give him another week or so then add one of the posts back on and see what he does.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...leyCatTree.jpg

For reference, here is what it should look like.
http://www.armarkat.com/classic-cat-...1/prod_19.html
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post #9 of 13
2/3/10 at 6:23am
Thread Starter 
Just thought I would update.

I have put most of the cat tree back together and Riley has been using it He's not on it quite as much as before but he doesn't seem afraid of it now and will jump up there to watch birds out the window. I may not put the top perch back on, since they seem to be enjoying using it as a scratching post! (its upside down on the floor).

Guess I'll never know why he got so freaked about the cat tree, but gradually putting it back together seems to have done the trick.

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post #10 of 13
2/3/10 at 6:32am
VERY creative Paula!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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post #11 of 13
2/3/10 at 8:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlleyGirl View Post
We have had the cat tree almost as long as we've had Riley and he has always loved it. It was his most common place to hang out and nap or sit and watch the bird feeder outside the window.

Now, he's terrified of it and I have no idea why

Nothing has changed with it, we didn't do anything to it, haven't moved it or sprayed anything on it. Nothing. I'm not sure exactly when it started but I first noticed it right after Christmas. I saw him sneak up to it and walk around it slowly sneaking up and sniffing at it. He did this for a few minutes, then ran.
Since then I've tried sprinkling catnip on it, putting him up there with treats, trying to entice him onto it with Da Bird or the Cat Dancer. Always before, he would hurl himself up to the top chasing those toys. If you put him up there he jumps right down and runs. He will circle around it slowly to get the window and check out a bird, but keeps looking over his should like its going to "get him".

Any idea why he would suddenly get weird about it? They have both fallen off it in the past when they get to worked up over a bird or something, but it never seemed to bother them. Also, Xander will still get up on it and doesn't seem to notice anything unusual.

Is he just being weird?
Feliway was recommended to me years ago on this site and it worked. It is the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of your post.
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post #12 of 13
2/3/10 at 8:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Persi & Alley View Post
Feliway was recommended to me years ago on this site and it worked. It is the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of your post.
I didn't try it, but I will keep it in mind in the future if something like this happens again. Money is super tight right now.

Thankfully, taking it apart and letting him get used to it a little at a time seems to have done the trick this time
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post #13 of 13
2/3/10 at 12:35pm
That Riley is a cutie...
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