Cat Novice Need Help!!! Cat Changed Personality

We call our cat Boo because it NEVER has let anyone near it. It's mostly an outdoor cat and comes in to eat. Boo was an adopted stray and is about 14 years, we think. My aunt had the cat for 12 years before us and said Boo never let her pet her. Not once.

Few strange things happened this week
- Boo got really affectionate. Cuddling up to us, jumping on the couch for petting time. Not at all like the cat we know AT ALL. She usually runs when she sees anyone.
- Yesterday we noticed cat urine in a corner. Boo has never done this in the house and doesn't even use a litter box inside. (We live in the country.)
- We thought maybe it was a neighbor cat - a male - that came in through the cat door. A neighbor had told us his cat was banished to the outside since it was "going" in the house. We haven't seen this cat in the house, but we're gone a lot.
-Then today: pee again AND POOP in that same spot - unkind!
-And Boo is more affectionate than ever

Now, if Boo is going in the house, WHY NOW? And what's with the TOTAL PERSONALITY CHANGE? Does this happen with older cats? Is she trying to tell us something? Could it be from another cat -- do other cats get into people's houses to pee on their floor???

She is eating normally, no weight change, and she is definitley not acting stressed. There was no blood in the urine to point to --if it was her -- a UTI.

Possible other clues to the puzzle: Boo and the tomcat were fighting last week. (But that was last week.) There have been a lot of changes in the last three years: Moves and deaths of Boo's primary caretaker. But things have been pretty normal for about two months and Boo's been her normal self until now. Do cats have a delayed response to stress?

ANY THOUGHTS? We are not cat experts, but love Boo a lot, and any advice would be appreciated!!

Well, first put a box of litter in that corner to save your own sanity. Then make an appt. with the vet because if Boo has never been spayed (and I'm not suggesting now is the time to do it), there could be various things going on with female hormones and related problems that could be serious. She may just be reverting to being a house cat again, maybe she likes some new(?) food you gave her, but whatever it's about, at her age a vet visit's in order. Now you'll need to have some kind of carrier for her, and absolutely need to get her into backwards or from the top, depending on the style of it, so she doesn't freak out, but will also need to drop a big bathtowel over her to wrap her in long enough to achieve it - and put just a little bit of catnip inside first. Or you could try leaving it out near (but not right adjacent to) the box, with its door open and catnip inside just before you have to go to the vet's (maybe they're flexible about your coming in without a spec. time?) - this will mean you have to watch her every second to be sure she's in, had a whiff of the catnip, and you can close the door on her. I have to say that it's very tempting to tell you just to try the litter box first for a while and see how things go, because it would be a shame to spoil her new good mood - and you can do so obviously if you want - but you need to also (within wks if nothing else) get her checked over by the vet regardless.

Originally Posted by Raven506

...definitely not acting stressed...Boo and the tomcat were fighting last week. (But that was last week.)

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Inappropriate toilet and any other abrupt change of behavior are signs of stress.
I am concerned about the fighting. Before I got my boy Wawa, my spayed females Joji and QT would fight off strange cats in the property. Most of the intruders did not come back, but those who did would cause stress to my girls. Is Boo familiar with the tomcat?

There was no blood in the urine to point to --if it was her -- a UTI.

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Believe it or not, it is difficult to see blood in the urine with the naked eye. There has to be one heck-of-a-lot of blood to turn the urine red or pink. So, just because you don't see blood does not mean that there is no blood present. So, I agree that a vet visit is important.

I agree with the idea that you should have Boo checked out. A cat her age might undergo a personality change when they are ill, and are near the end of their life. I'm sorry to put it so bluntly, but that might be the case. She's quite the old little woman, your Boo, so I would take her in at any sign of a change in personality. Better to be safe, then sorry.

My hugs to you both!

but one of the signs of rabies is animals becoming very affectionate seeming and docile??? If she was fighting with a tom cat she could have picked up something else too. Maybe I am totally off base. Our first cat, Bruno (yes it was a girl, but my hubby names her), she was not a very affectionate cat. But toward the very end of her life, she would sit in my lap by the hour and want to be petted and cuddled. Maybe they mellow with age or get more lonely or something.

Anyway, anytime there is a total personality change and change in potty habits, it is time to see the vet. If you want to see if it is Boo going in the corner, put some of these drops you can get at the vet in her food and you can then check it with a black light to see if it is her or someone else using your cat door.

If she just moved in, some of the neighborhood cats might be trying to establish their dominance or something too.

There are several possibilities so if it were me, I would be talking to my vet for more guidance. Hope everything goes well for you.