She's won't step on the floor

I came back from my trip to the Dominican Republic exactly a week ago. At first Planeta didn't appear, and by the time I was growing desperate thinking she had run away, she shows up - on top of a closet screaming at me.

Once I got her down, she literally spent the whole night running across the house like a bullet, and jumping from one place to the other, trying not to touch the floor, and screaming like if someone was beating her.

She didn't eat anything, and the next day, was spent entirely inside a closet she had found half opened. When I finally got her to eat was atop a table.

She's gone bonkers. She won't touch the floor. She's made a home of a little coffee table in the living room, and absolutely refuses to get from down there. And if she gets beyond the coffee table, its jumping from one high place to the other. Chairs, tables, sofas, desks, you name it. She would only go to the floor for the litter box, and today she's making her necessities atop the high places. Today is the first time she actually spends more than 24 hours in that coffee table. I tried persuading her by putting the food and water on the floor as always, but she refuses to eat, if it means going to the floor. I waited all these few days trying to see if she would get back to normal, but it hasn't happened, and this is worrying me. She has a phobia to the floor. Something happened to her while I was abroad, and I can't even start to comprehend what could have been so traumatic to her.

I also tried repeatedly to put her on the floor and hold her there for a few minutes, but then she will get all scared and jumpy and at first chance jump to a higher place.

Otherwise she's normal. She's got the same appetite she had before the trip. She drinks water normally. She sleeps normally, and stares out the window from the coffee table. And when I give out canned food, she will ask for it - from the coffee table. It seems to be more psychiatric than medical from what I can see of her. The only physical things thing I see of her: She's thrown up a couple of times in the last week, and before the trip she had an iron stomach. And she dips her paw into the water bowl, before drinking, like if she couldn't see if its full unless she touches it.

I'm running out of ideas here. I left her for a week, while I was off in the Dominican Republic. My cousin Vicky fed all the cats, and she came every day of the week and left food and changed the water. The litter boxes were not changed, but I just cleaned all the mess when coming back. And this is the first time I left her alone for a considerable amount of time (The other cats have been home alone before). And when I came back she has gone crazy.

I haven't got a lot to give you in this.
I will say though that the only time my cats avoided the floor was when the house had a flea infestation.

Is she mad at you for leaving?? Was anything tipped over that could have possibly frightened her. You should pm Eddie (shasacat) as I remember she had a situtation similar to your cat-that something had scared her.
Several yrs ago one of my cats disappeared we knew she was outside somehow after a week we got her in the garage and she ran into the house onto the bed and stayed under the covers for 24 hrs!! She was always a bit jumpy after that but with lots of attention after we got her in the house she was much better. We never knew what triggered this.

Hi, the vet could give you a very mild sedative or tranquilizer for her to use for a day or two, and it might make all the difference.

Originally Posted by GailC

Is she mad at you for leaving?? Was anything tipped over that could have possibly frightened her. You should pm Eddie (shasacat) as I remember she had a situtation similar to your cat-that something had scared her.
Several yrs ago one of my cats disappeared we knew she was outside somehow after a week we got her in the garage and she ran into the house onto the bed and stayed under the covers for 24 hrs!! She was always a bit jumpy after that but with lots of attention after we got her in the house she was much better. We never knew what triggered this.

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Hmm... spilled, like one of those floodings that happens when the water is left running... no. But, due to the fact that the litter box wasn't changed, nor hairballs, when I came back, I could barely walk across the house without stepping on something nasty. I spent a full half an hour cleaning every single form of feline bodily waste in existence. So, you could say the floor was covered in sh*t. Could that be it? Either that, or the fact that she's shy and didn't knew Vicky a whole lot?

I could imagine her being angry... she's always been the more devout one, if you will. Since I rescued her while starving and wandering off on the streets after being half crushed by a car, she stares at me like if she were in Heaven and I'm St. Peter. And she's never been home alone before for that amount of time.

Next time you leave and someone feeds her make sure they scoop her pan. she may be ticked that you let her stay in a house with crap everywhere. Cats are very clean animals. they dont like living in smelly stuff. Its very possible she is mad a t you.

Wow, she does sound a little mad at you, imo.

This is a long shot, but maybe because she had to do her business on the floor, she has started regarding it as an extention of her litter box, and therefore doesn't want to spend a lot of time walking on it and getting "dirty."

How well did you scrub the floor after all that? Since her sense of smell is more developed than ours, maybe she's picking up a residual odor.

Did you try putting down some area rugs?

I had a dog who was trained as a puppy not to go into the kitchen in our old house. It was the only room in the house that was linoleum (tile). Every other room had carpet. As long as he lived, he never learned to walk on the smooth flooring. His feet would slip and slide, and he got very very scared. We would have to lay throw rugs down to make a path if we wanted him to walk across a tile floor.

Maybe the dirtiness made her not like the floor when you were gone, and now she is afraid, and then when she steps down her feet slide a little. I would just put a big rug under the litter box, so it is not on the bare floor. Or put a litterbox up on an elevated surface until she gets over this.

Could you get some Feliway spray? That can help a nervous kitty calm down.

Originally Posted by Rockcat

How well did you scrub the floor after all that? Since her sense of smell is more developed than ours, maybe she's picking up a residual odor.

Did you try putting down some area rugs?

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Hmm... I just picked every single blob of crap with paper towels, and put them in plastic bags for disposal, and then clean it up with a bit of scented cleaner. Afterwards, I mopped the floor. Its pretty much what I've always done for cat puke all my life, but in a large scale. Any ideas for doing a better clean up?

My floor is not carpeted... its tiling. In fact, I was always against carpeting it, because of it then becoming harder to clean any mess the cats leave behind. But I am more than willing to try it, if it will relieve Planeta's dementia.

Also, whats that Feliway spray?