- Joined
- May 24, 2016
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- Purraise
- 1
Hi all,
I'm new to this forum so first of all, hello!
I have been looking after a cat called Peter for someone for around 3.5 months now (how I "acquired" this cat is another story...) and I'm not sure what's going to be happening with that.
I've been noticing really odd behaviour and I'm not sure if this is just that he's a bit mad, or might have an underlying health issue. As he's not our cat and we don't have a lot of money, I haven't yet taken him to the vet. However, when he was dropped off to us, I noticed a lot of brown gunk in his year but the owner told me not to worry about it as he'd just been to the vet and they said "he just has waxy ears" - why they didn't clean them, I don't know. I did wonder if could be because he's not having any grass to chew on so lacking in nutrients? We just have a concrete yard with no grass and the nearest grass is a park with a semi-busy road in front of it so I'm quite glad he doesn't venture that far.
He also drinks a hell of a lot (even for a cat on a pure dry food diet - I've tried him with wet over and over again but he just won't have it). I did get him off these "cat crack" biscuits called Dreamies as thought they were to blame, but made no difference, and changed his dry food to a much healthier brand, but to no avail.
As for his background, he was a rescue cat when the current owners got him - they rescued him when he was 2, had him for a year and now we're temporarily looking after him. We don't know anything of his history. He's a neutered, semi-longhair 3 year old male.
As for the behaviour...
We have a really long hallway where he spends most of his time sleeping on the floor on some sheep's wool but at least several times a day, he'll do a constant mewing. I did initially think it was attention seeking as he'd have a clean litter tray, the door would be open so he could go outside, he'd have fresh water and food, etc. but then about 60% of the time when you go to stroke him, he'll just kind of duck down - you try and play with him but he's not massively responsive. Sometimes he'll move away from you and then turn and kind of mew to say "leave me alone". He is generally very vocal and will trill virtually every time you approach him if he's lying down.
At other times, the mewing will actually turn into what sounds like the full range of feline vocal sounds - it will start with a mew, then go to a growl and all sorts of strange noises which sound like he's in a lot of distress and he'll thrash his tail around and run up and down the hall. When he cries he's quite often looking up the wall in the hall. I know cats do dash around and have these mad spurts of energy but I've had cats almost all my life and was a fosterer for a while, and I've never seen a cat like this!
He also seems to really hate change - e.g. he's got this new obsession with drinking from the tap but he'll very nervously assess whether the bathroom mat (which we use to prop the door open for him) has moved even slightly, and will then do a sudden jump over it to avoid going near it. He's the same with everything - if there's a pair of socks on the floor that weren't there yesterday, he'll nervously inspect them and then avoid that part of the room at all costs, and in extreme cases, he'll avoid going in a room for weeks if he perceives something is a bit weird about it (like now he's got a problem with the space behind the bedroom door).
He's a lot better than he was in the 3.5 months we've had him and has got used to the noise of the neighbour upstairs and just general every day sounds, but he's a nervous cat. When he does go outside, he's walks very low to the ground and is hypervigilant. He's pretty scared of other cats that sometimes come in our yard. He won't go to the toilet outside (and there isn't really anywhere he could easily go I guess other than in my plant pots) and seems to have problems using the litter tray (never buries anything and urinates in a standing, on all fours position so it comes out horizontally!).
He does purr and he does go through different phases, from being shy and quiet and hiding when we first got him, to being so friendly and affectionate, it was almost needy, to then being totally distant and antisocial again - he's just started these past few days to be a bit more affectionate. He's just generally really odd!
Anyone know if this behaviour could be severe stress, or sounds like perhaps a problem with diet or even a medical condition (thyroid?)
Many thanks
I'm new to this forum so first of all, hello!
I have been looking after a cat called Peter for someone for around 3.5 months now (how I "acquired" this cat is another story...) and I'm not sure what's going to be happening with that.
I've been noticing really odd behaviour and I'm not sure if this is just that he's a bit mad, or might have an underlying health issue. As he's not our cat and we don't have a lot of money, I haven't yet taken him to the vet. However, when he was dropped off to us, I noticed a lot of brown gunk in his year but the owner told me not to worry about it as he'd just been to the vet and they said "he just has waxy ears" - why they didn't clean them, I don't know. I did wonder if could be because he's not having any grass to chew on so lacking in nutrients? We just have a concrete yard with no grass and the nearest grass is a park with a semi-busy road in front of it so I'm quite glad he doesn't venture that far.
He also drinks a hell of a lot (even for a cat on a pure dry food diet - I've tried him with wet over and over again but he just won't have it). I did get him off these "cat crack" biscuits called Dreamies as thought they were to blame, but made no difference, and changed his dry food to a much healthier brand, but to no avail.
As for his background, he was a rescue cat when the current owners got him - they rescued him when he was 2, had him for a year and now we're temporarily looking after him. We don't know anything of his history. He's a neutered, semi-longhair 3 year old male.
As for the behaviour...
We have a really long hallway where he spends most of his time sleeping on the floor on some sheep's wool but at least several times a day, he'll do a constant mewing. I did initially think it was attention seeking as he'd have a clean litter tray, the door would be open so he could go outside, he'd have fresh water and food, etc. but then about 60% of the time when you go to stroke him, he'll just kind of duck down - you try and play with him but he's not massively responsive. Sometimes he'll move away from you and then turn and kind of mew to say "leave me alone". He is generally very vocal and will trill virtually every time you approach him if he's lying down.
At other times, the mewing will actually turn into what sounds like the full range of feline vocal sounds - it will start with a mew, then go to a growl and all sorts of strange noises which sound like he's in a lot of distress and he'll thrash his tail around and run up and down the hall. When he cries he's quite often looking up the wall in the hall. I know cats do dash around and have these mad spurts of energy but I've had cats almost all my life and was a fosterer for a while, and I've never seen a cat like this!
He also seems to really hate change - e.g. he's got this new obsession with drinking from the tap but he'll very nervously assess whether the bathroom mat (which we use to prop the door open for him) has moved even slightly, and will then do a sudden jump over it to avoid going near it. He's the same with everything - if there's a pair of socks on the floor that weren't there yesterday, he'll nervously inspect them and then avoid that part of the room at all costs, and in extreme cases, he'll avoid going in a room for weeks if he perceives something is a bit weird about it (like now he's got a problem with the space behind the bedroom door).
He's a lot better than he was in the 3.5 months we've had him and has got used to the noise of the neighbour upstairs and just general every day sounds, but he's a nervous cat. When he does go outside, he's walks very low to the ground and is hypervigilant. He's pretty scared of other cats that sometimes come in our yard. He won't go to the toilet outside (and there isn't really anywhere he could easily go I guess other than in my plant pots) and seems to have problems using the litter tray (never buries anything and urinates in a standing, on all fours position so it comes out horizontally!).
He does purr and he does go through different phases, from being shy and quiet and hiding when we first got him, to being so friendly and affectionate, it was almost needy, to then being totally distant and antisocial again - he's just started these past few days to be a bit more affectionate. He's just generally really odd!
Anyone know if this behaviour could be severe stress, or sounds like perhaps a problem with diet or even a medical condition (thyroid?)
Many thanks
