Emma Has Had A Meltdown!

Hi All--

Yep, it's been awhile since I've posted, so first of hello!

And now to the crux of the matter. Last night, I had a friend from work come over for a drink. This friend has two cats and lives in a one bedroom apartment--so, apparently, she smells a lot like her two cats. Oliver just sniffed her up and down and then was clearly unphased. Emma, on the other hand, has a flair for the dramatic. She hissed, she screamed, she freaked out. She continued to freak out ALL night long, long after my friend left, holing herself up under my husband's nightstand and SCREAMING her fool head off all night long. The only other time she screams like this is when we have to take her to the vet--and they have to sedate her to work on her.

Hubby, Oliver and I slept in the guest bedroom and hoped we would wake up this morning to find she had calmed down. But, no. 12 hours after my friend came and went she is still screaming-- screaming at us, and periodically screaming just for the sake of screaming, it seems.

We called the vet this morning and they advised us to just ignore her for a day, put her in her own little room and wait it out, which is what we're doing. However, I can't help but wonder if locking her in a room by herself ( with water, litter box dry AND wet food, mind you) is making her more worked up.

Anybody have any advice? How long is "normal" for a cat to react this way to smelling a strange cat? At what point do we worry about her? Not that I'm not already...

I just feel like I'm living with her evil twin and right now I just want things to go back to normal!!!

Hi and it's nice to see you back.

Poor Emma! If you go sit quietly with her will she calm at all? Maybe you will need to invest in one of the Feliway diffusers. I don't know what to say other than try the Feliway. Let us know how she is doing.

We're sitting here now in the office, just us girls. She's still quite on the alert and is prowling the room growling at inanimate objects. But, she seems to be okay with me, and has stopped the banshee screaming, and even came on to my lap and licked my hand.

Hopefully as the day goes on the growling will subside and we'll be back to "normal" around here. She just seems like she's trying to be very big and tough and scare away those phantom kitties that she smelled last night, poor dear.

Both my cats are adorable, but neither, I fear, are too bright!


Later this afternoon I'll leave the office door open and see if she's ready to tackle the "real world"--including her brother who is on the other side of the door just utterly confused as to what us crazy broads are doing in here!!!

She's eaten some greenies and used her litter box, so that's a good sign.

It's a good thing I didn't have anything I needed to get done today!!!

Poor Emma!! Ireally have no advice for you!! I hope everything gets back to normal soon!!

BTW - they really are adorable. I can't speak for the IQ portion though. I'm starting to get a real thing for black and white kitties.

Have you tried spraying some At Ease or other kitty pheromone to calm her? The only other thing I can think of is calling the vet and getting something to sedate her.

Originally Posted by lookingglass

Have you tried spraying some At Ease or other kitty pheromone to calm her? The only other thing I can think of is calling the vet and getting something to sedate her.

Click to expand...

She's calmed down considerably as the day has gone on, thank goodness. I cooked her up a little piece of center cut bacon which seemed to be a sufficient peace offering!

She's still in the office but seems content there so I won't push the issue til she seems ready to tackle the rest of the house. Still keeping her and Oliver separated as well as she doesn't seem to keen on him at the moment--though just growling and hissing, no more screaming, thank god!

The vet did say that, given her flair for histrionics in these sorts of situations, we could consider some sort of "kitty prosac" as an option, but since these things really have only happened 4 times since we've had her, and two of those times were going to the vet, and the third time was when we moved, I don't think she's quite "crazy-cuckoo" enough that I want to medicate her on a daily basis.

Hopefully, as she ages and deepens her trust in us, we'll have less of these little meltdowns....

Thanks everyone for your help!