pacing?

My male 8 year old cat has taken up pacing again and again in the same large circular pattern in my house. He is neutered and only indoor for the last 5 years. This behavior started a few months ago and has only gotten worse in time. Does anyone know if this pacing is a problem and what I should do about it? He seems healthy other than the pacing.

Background: I have 2 other cats...one is a 10 year old female who has never liked the male since I rescued him as a stray 5 yeas ago and they tolerate each other. No change in their behavior towards each other during the pacing episode. I rescued the third cat in August when she showed up on my doorstep half dead. She has been a housecat but is now semi feral because of her seeminly terrifying experience on her own, almost starving to death, and attacked. She is gradually adapting to being an indoor only cat -- but she cannot (and does not) have contact with the other 2 because she is still scared of even me to a degree and goes into attack mode when she even sees the other two cats.

thanks in advance for your suggestions!
Cris

Hi Cris and welcome to the forums!

I don't want to alarm you but I think you need to get the cat to the vet. I looked it up in one of my cat books and they specifically list pacing as one of the symptoms of a brain tumor.

This is not to say that your cat has a brain tumor! Only that you need to look into it before you decide to treat this as a behavioral problem.

What makes me suspect a medical cause is that you mentioned a gradual onset and the fact that this seems totally unrelated to the presence of the other cats. Cats that have problems with other cats usually exhibit aggression, restlessness and litter box problems or such things. Actually, I don't think I've ever heard of pacing as a behavior problem.

Please let us know how he's doing and what the vet says!

Thanks for the suggestion, Anne! I'll check it out and let you know.

Regards,
Cris

Any news Cris?

Thanks for asking, Anne! I had the vet do a full blood workup of Mac and she said he is fine. She thinks he is pacing because he is stressed out because he can smell the other cat but not see her. He has calmed down a bit so I'm really in a wait and see mode.

thanks!
Cris

So glad to hear he's physically well and getting better emotionally.

I hope you'll keep posting here, about Mac, or about other things!