Jealous Cat

Hello, I am new member to this forum, but have been visiting for a while to try and figure out what is wrong with my cat, Relay. Relay is a male, neutered cat that is about 1.5 years old now. I got him when he was only 5 weeks old and we have bonded quite well over the last year and a half. He is normally a very good cat and loves plenty of attention.
The problem that I have has developed over the last few months, when I got married and my wife moved in. From time to time, he will get scared over nothing and go into a "panick mode" where he will freeze in one spot, hiss, yowl and attack anything that comes near to him. Normally, I can leave him alone and he is fine a few hours latter, but sometimes, we have to get by him and I have a few bite and scratch marks to show for it. There have been a few times that he seems to go into this mode just because me and my wife are close for a while (such as cuddling on the couch). My wife has been around Relay ever since we got him, so he is very familiar with her. I understand that her moving in might be causing Relay a lot of stress as he is not used to sharing me, but most of the time he is fine around my wife and will come to her to play or for petting. We are trying to get him to a vet, but with our work schedules, it has been hard. I just need some tips for the meantime. We do not want to send him to a shelter because we are too attached to him. At this point we are thinking of making him an outdoor cat although we are afraid that something might happen to him. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

First, it is far more likely that your cat is reacting to something in his environment, and is not acting this way out of spite or jealousy. Cats do not think as we do.

Don't make him an outdoor cat. You are right, something could happen to him, as something bad can happen to any outdoor cat, but when he's been a pampered indoor kitty the chances are even worse because he is not used to being outside and doesn't have the street smarts.

Think of everything that is different. Does your wife use scented lotions or perfumes? Is she sitting in his spot, which would upset his routine? Are you feeding him at different times, or cleaning his box more often, or anything?

Keep a log of when these little tantrums occur, and what exactly is going on, and where in the house he is, what time of day, everything. Patterns will begin to emerge.

Until you can figure out what is stressing him out, get a Feliway plugin to help calm him, and put some SoftPaws on his claws so he can't do as much damage when he freaks out.

And first and most importantly, get him to a vet.

Oh, and Welcome to TCS!

Thanks for the quick reply. We have been keeping some sort of log and there does not seem to be a pattern. One time everything will start based off of something scaring him. The next time, he may not like my wife being near to me. He has also went into this mode if my wife gets a little emotional. There does not seem to be any set place in the house that it starts either. My wife doesn't use a lot of perfume, but she does use a little from time to time and she will use scented lotions or body wash. I will try to get him by a vet this week.

Just an update. Relay went into another one of his "modes" last night when it was just me around. I am going to talk to the vet today about how I can get him in for a checkup. Something has to be wrong with him. I wasn't even near him last night when he started acting up.

It does sound like something might be wrong medically. I'm glad you're getting him to a vet, keep us posted!

Pain can make some animals act strange. Maybe he has something medical and is having pain attacks that are making him act this way. I'll be glad to hear what the vet says.

Well, I dropped Relay off at the vet this morning. He was fine the entire morning, even at he vet's office. It may be a few days before I really know anything since they will be doing bloodwork. They did mention that it could be mini seizures causing disorientation and making the cat paranoid. I'll keep you posted.

Ok, I got Relay back last night. The vet had to sedate him to work on him, so he was still pretty out of it for a good bit of the night. His bloodwork came back today and shown some elevated activity in his thyroid gland and a low white blood cell count. I bought some Feliway to try around the house, but that's all for now. Any suggestions are welcome.

Well did the vet suggest putting him on thyroid medication? Or what? It's fairly common in cats, but that's not a reason to treat him.

Feliway is great! Especially with my kitty, Broomhilda. Be sure to post updates. I'm curious to know what's going on!

The vet did not say if she wanted to put him on medication yet. She said that there were some follow-up tests that could be done to check for problems with the thyroid. I have looked up the symptoms and it seems like this is a very good possibility. I also looked up the costs associated with treatment and it is going to be too much for us to afford right now. The Feliway seems to be working pretty well right now. I'm at a point that I really don't know what I should do.