Suggestions for a panic-stricken cat

heisenberg

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We have 3 indoor cats, rue is 4 and the other two are 8'ish. Rue has always been anti-social with the other two cats and is/was the alpha. They've easily coexisted with no issues really. Rue was always social with humans.  Recently we moved to a new house which was a couple of years old and a dog lived there previously.  We also have two dogs so that shouldn't be anything foreign to Rue.

Ever since moving to this new house Rue will not leave the laundry room where we kept them the first few days after moving in so they could get acclimated.  He has gone from only staying in that room to now hiding behind the dryer in a panic anytime someone comes near.  If I or my wife went in the room and sat down he would come hop in our lap but now he screams out in fear when he sees us.  He has stopped grooming himself.  He does eat and drink.  We brought him to the vet and the physical exam and blood work all were fine.  We started him on Prozac about 15 days ago but it hasn't had any effect at all.  The vet said we need to give it a full 30 days to see what happens but we're not overly confident. This poor guy seems to get worse, more panicked each day.  Really a complete meltdown and we don't know how to help him.

Anyone have experience with something like this or have advice?   thank you.
 

foxxycat

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how about a quiet bedroom? Can you lure him out to live in your bedroom? Maybe the dogs are scaring him. If a cat was not raised with dogs-they don't usually get along with them especially if the dog is always trying to sniff/lick the cat.
 
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heisenberg

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how about a quiet bedroom? Can you lure him out to live in your bedroom? Maybe the dogs are scaring him. If a cat was not raised with dogs-they don't usually get along with them especially if the dog is always trying to sniff/lick the cat.
He's lived with those dogs his entire life and never had any issues.  We have thought about moving him to a new room completely so thanks for that suggestion.
 

orientals

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Hi Heisenberg, Prozac or anything chemical in a situation like this would not be my choice. It makes it very hard to see what is the cat and what is the chemical speaking. Also after getting on this drug, he needs to be weened off this drug. I am not a vet, I can't give medical advice, but I would not give such a serious drug for having trouble to adjust to his upside down life. It will also be hard to tell if he experiences any (bad) side effects. 

At four years old, he is like in his early thirties in human years, nice comfortable life, top cat, good house, good humans. Now suddenly everything he knows does not apply anymore. Some cats take that in stride, others have a hard time with it. Poor guy sounds quite lost. How long has he been in the new house?

Cats will normally always take the easy way out of every situation. He probably will calm down on his own. He may have just caught you guys unexpected with his behaviour, which is freaking you out. Have you been able to spend significant time with him? Make him comfy, reassure him, play with him, sleep in the same room with him? He is making it very clear he needs help to adjust, but my guess is, as he was a-okay before, that he will calm down, especially if you guys can be there for him.
 
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heisenberg

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We moved into the new house about 2 months.  We have spent time with him daily and like I said, he used to enjoy our presence and would come to us and let us pet him etc.  Now he's panicked by the site of us.  His posture is fearful, tail tucked down between his legs, hair standing up on his back, hunched way down...  Really sad and upsetting to be honest.
 
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heisenberg

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try sleeping on the floor with him tonight. Maybe he is lonely. I would be lonely if someone kept me in a room with no interaction.

Or move him to your bedroom and let him sleep with you.
Sleeping with him isn't a bad idea. To be clear, we are not "keeping him in a room with no interaction".  Read my post(s) - he interacts (or used to) with humans and other pets all day long.  The door to that room isn't padlocked shut, its wide open at all times.  Forgive me but you sound accusatory which is fine if it applied, but you're off base.
 

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These are important questions, please don't take them the wrong way. My only goal for being active on this site is to help cats with people problems. I am more a cat person than a people person. 
 
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heisenberg

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These are important questions, please don't take them the wrong way. My only goal for being active on this site is to help cats with people problems. I am more a cat person than a people person. 
I didn't take any of your questions the wrong way.  Very much appreciate your input.  Thank You.
 

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try sleeping on the floor with him tonight. Maybe he is lonely. I would be lonely if someone kept me in a room with no interaction.

Or move him to your bedroom and let him sleep with you.
Sleeping with him isn't a bad idea. To be clear, we are not "keeping him in a room with no interaction".  Read my post(s) - he interacts (or used to) with humans and other pets all day long.  The door to that room isn't padlocked shut, its wide open at all times.  Forgive me but you sound accusatory which is fine if it applied, but you're off base.
I am only trying to figure out the whole picture. one paragraph of text leaves out a lot of holes. I apologize if I came off abrasive-I am trying to answer your questions in short concise sentences. Normally I tend to write a novel-I am trying to be better at keeping it short. Unfortunately it comes off as curt. I apologize.

Maybe provide us with more information than 2 paragraphs=so the room is open you say? What about how you moved the animals-did you move the furniture into the house then the cats or did you bring the pets first then the furniture?

Also maybe the cat is picking up smells from a prior person/pets. have you tried that plug in relaxer for cats Feliway? I am currently trying this in my 2 cat home. One is alpha and chases the submissive one. the submissive one spends her time hiding-we are trying to make more hiding places in the same room we are in so she can feel safe to "hide" from the other cat but still be in the room with us...so far it's working 50% of the time...one other thing cats are not as easy going to change like we are.

I apologize for shortness in answers-trying to answer you back without writing a novel.
 
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heisenberg

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I am only trying to figure out the whole picture. one paragraph of text leaves out a lot of holes. I apologize if I came off abrasive-I am trying to answer your questions in short concise sentences. Normally I tend to write a novel-I am trying to be better at keeping it short. Unfortunately it comes off as curt. I apologize.

Maybe provide us with more information than 2 paragraphs=so the room is open you say? What about how you moved the animals-did you move the furniture into the house then the cats or did you bring the pets first then the furniture?

Also maybe the cat is picking up smells from a prior person/pets. have you tried that plug in relaxer for cats Feliway? I am currently trying this in my 2 cat home. One is alpha and chases the submissive one. the submissive one spends her time hiding-we are trying to make more hiding places in the same room we are in so she can feel safe to "hide" from the other cat but still be in the room with us...so far it's working 50% of the time...one other thing cats are not as easy going to change like we are.

I apologize for shortness in answers-trying to answer you back without writing a novel.
We moved all of the furniture in and got the new house ready, then brought the pets over.  We kept the cats in the laundry room with door closed for the first few days, as that's how we always did it when we've moved previously.  We read that's the proper way to acclimate pets to new residence.  After we opened the door fulltime the other two cats came out and explored the entire house and settled right in.  Rue came out but was a lot more cautious.  At first he would only venture out of the laundry room across the hallway into the guest bathroom and would hang out there then return.  He looked cautious but not scared and was loving when approached.  He then ventured out of the laundry room less and less as time passed until completely shutting himself down.  The food and litter box is in the laundry room by the way.

I'm not familiar with Feliway but will look into that now.  Definitely willing to try anything to help this guy.  Also, we're concerned about dehydration since he's becoming a bit more lethargic as well so we've been making him intake water via droppers since we're not sure if he's getting enough water.  He definitely eats well but even that is strange.  When I pull him from behind the dryer and put him at the food bowls he attacks it taking big bites and eating from both sides of the double food bowl.  It's like a dog that eats really fast so no one else can get his food.  So he's possessive or territorial I guess you'd say with the food and that's not something he's ever done.  He ate when he wanted to and the other cats would give way since he was the alpha.  But he never ate real fast and big bites like this.
 

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do you have a new vet in your area or go to someone you trust? I am concerned about this lethargic behavior. Sometimes stress can bring on problems. The vet can assess his health and if dehydrated can give him some fluids.The first sign of illness is hiding/not interacting. Cats are notorious for hiding illness until they show signs.  Sometimes stress can bring on illness like behavior. what about bathroom habits? any changes in pee/poop?

my apology-you already have a vet-and the Prozac I forgot about-I am answering several threads-sorry=trying to keep it all together. what does the vet think? and have already done the bloodwork if they did the Prozac...hmm this is puzzling.
 
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heisenberg

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Very hard to tell with the Prozac. Lethargy may be chemically induced?
Yes that's certainly possible and something we've considered.  Still, we haven't seen him interested in the water bowl, only the food bowl so just making sure by giving him water via dropper. 
 
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heisenberg

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do you have a new vet in your area or go to someone you trust? I am concerned about this lethargic behavior. Sometimes stress can bring on problems. The vet can assess his health and if dehydrated can give him some fluids.The first sign of illness is hiding/not interacting. Cats are notorious for hiding illness until they show signs.  Sometimes stress can bring on illness like behavior. what about bathroom habits? any changes in pee/poop?

my apology-you already have a vet-and the Prozac I forgot about-I am answering several threads-sorry=trying to keep it all together. what does the vet think? and have already done the bloodwork if they did the Prozac...hmm this is puzzling.
The vet thinks its all mental and was his idea to try the Prozac since the physical exam and blood work were all fine.  I spoke to the vet yesterday and he said lets try the Prozac for full 30 days and see what happens.  I asked him what the plan would be then if no improvement and he seemed kind of puzzled really.  He said pet psych treatment is fairly new (I'm not sure that's accurate) and he wouldn't really know what to try if this doesn't work.
 

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I'm stuggeling to come up with something usefull with the Prozac in between. Is it an option to stop using it? Then at least your cat is clear headed and that is a good place to start. If cats were fine before, experience shows they will usually be fine again. It is rare, unless something very traumatic (abuse) has happened, that they don't return to their old selves.

If this were my cat I would try to love him through it. Be with him as much as possible, pet him, try to engage him in play to take his mind off things, be with him at night, try feeding him favorite foods (with extra water added if wet food), and talk to him a lot. I'm a great believer in this. Of course he can't understand the words, but everyone loves to be reassuringly spoken to.

Just tell him that it's ok that he freaked out, that this is a great new home and he will be very happy here, that you love him to bits, things like that. Also have some faith, he will overcome this. He may be in a vicious circle a bit with you guys, because his freaking out made you freak out. Calm everything down as much as you can, try the Feliway and just be there for the little guy, he'll come around.
 

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I wonder if you move him to your bedroom and have food. litter. water and see how he does at night. I have a very scared cat-she hides during the day-but at night-she can be seen wandering around. Whenever we go to a new place she hides during the day then at night comes out.
 
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heisenberg

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I wonder if you move him to your bedroom and have food. litter. water and see how he does at night. I have a very scared cat-she hides during the day-but at night-she can be seen wandering around. Whenever we go to a new place she hides during the day then at night comes out.
I'm going to try sleeping with him in my room or elsewhere and see what that does.  If not the first night, maybe after a few nights he will start to chill out, hopefully.
 
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heisenberg

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I'm stuggeling to come up with something usefull with the Prozac in between. Is it an option to stop using it? Then at least your cat is clear headed and that is a good place to start. If cats were fine before, experience shows they will usually be fine again. It is rare, unless something very traumatic (abuse) has happened, that they don't return to their old selves.

If this were my cat I would try to love him through it. Be with him as much as possible, pet him, try to engage him in play to take his mind off things, be with him at night, try feeding him favorite foods (with extra water added if wet food), and talk to him a lot. I'm a great believer in this. Of course he can't understand the words, but everyone loves to be reassuringly spoken to.

Just tell him that it's ok that he freaked out, that this is a great new home and he will be very happy here, that you love him to bits, things like that. Also have some faith, he will overcome this. He may be in a vicious circle a bit with you guys, because his freaking out made you freak out. Calm everything down as much as you can, try the Feliway and just be there for the little guy, he'll come around.
Appreciate and agree with all your suggestions, thanks.  As far as the Prozac we will probably go the full 30 days and then stop if no help.  I'm checking out the Feliway as we speak!
 
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