Hi everyone! I've lurked this forum for a long time but hadn't thought to make an account until now. I have a very strange and sad situation with one of my cats and I really need help.
So, I have two cats, Paulo and Yuki. They are 8 years old. They are littermates and have always been together. Paulo has always been a bit more sensitive of the two, and more clingy to me. A bit over a year ago, I lost my job and ended up being unemployed for nearly a year. The cats, of course, loved this. However I was able to finally get a new job and move on with my life in March. Now, the cats had always seemed to deal fine with me being gone during the day before this, but after I moved in March, Paulo started acting a bit off. He used to get along better with Yuki but they fought more now. He was just a little less active and friendly.
Then a couple months ago, Paulo started pooping outside of the litter box. Off to the vet we went. We changed his food and that seemed to be helping. I had to start separating the cats at meal time so Yuki the big pig wouldn't eat Paulo's special food. I started the Feliway multicat plugin around this time too.
Around a month ago, I had to take a short trip for work, Monday through Thursday. I had a friend come and watch the cats while I was gone. My friend told me that Paulo wasn't eating as well and wasn't very responsive. We gave Paulo his own room with 24/7 access to his food instead of specific meal times and that helped though. And he has always been a pouty baby with strangers.
I assumed that when I got home, everything would be back to normal. It seemed that way at first. When I came in from the trip and he saw me, he got right up and greeted me. Unfortunately, that didn't last. He hid all the time, and would sit in weird sulky positions and slink around the apartment very low to the ground. He'd yelp sometimes seemingly randomly, or when touched. It was hard to get him to eat. I of course took him to the vet immediately. They did all kinds of tests, but said they couldn't find anything wrong. We tried some pain pills but they didn't seem to do anything.
After maybe a week there was some improvement. He would actually come out of hiding, slowly, once it was meal time, and he'd eat generally well enough. Sometimes if I was quiet he'd come out of hiding to sit on my lap. But I have been back from this trip for nearly a month and he's still acting very unlike his old self. He still hides most of the time, slinks around like he is in danger, yelps when startled or picked up, and will barely look at me. The vet said that he is not physically sick, it is all mental, but then had no further help to give.
What do I do with this cat? Again, it has been almost a month of this bizarre anxious behavior. The Feliway didn't seem to do anything. Should I try another vet? Will he maybe get better with time, or is every day I make him wait around another day of him suffering?
So, I have two cats, Paulo and Yuki. They are 8 years old. They are littermates and have always been together. Paulo has always been a bit more sensitive of the two, and more clingy to me. A bit over a year ago, I lost my job and ended up being unemployed for nearly a year. The cats, of course, loved this. However I was able to finally get a new job and move on with my life in March. Now, the cats had always seemed to deal fine with me being gone during the day before this, but after I moved in March, Paulo started acting a bit off. He used to get along better with Yuki but they fought more now. He was just a little less active and friendly.
Then a couple months ago, Paulo started pooping outside of the litter box. Off to the vet we went. We changed his food and that seemed to be helping. I had to start separating the cats at meal time so Yuki the big pig wouldn't eat Paulo's special food. I started the Feliway multicat plugin around this time too.
Around a month ago, I had to take a short trip for work, Monday through Thursday. I had a friend come and watch the cats while I was gone. My friend told me that Paulo wasn't eating as well and wasn't very responsive. We gave Paulo his own room with 24/7 access to his food instead of specific meal times and that helped though. And he has always been a pouty baby with strangers.
I assumed that when I got home, everything would be back to normal. It seemed that way at first. When I came in from the trip and he saw me, he got right up and greeted me. Unfortunately, that didn't last. He hid all the time, and would sit in weird sulky positions and slink around the apartment very low to the ground. He'd yelp sometimes seemingly randomly, or when touched. It was hard to get him to eat. I of course took him to the vet immediately. They did all kinds of tests, but said they couldn't find anything wrong. We tried some pain pills but they didn't seem to do anything.
After maybe a week there was some improvement. He would actually come out of hiding, slowly, once it was meal time, and he'd eat generally well enough. Sometimes if I was quiet he'd come out of hiding to sit on my lap. But I have been back from this trip for nearly a month and he's still acting very unlike his old self. He still hides most of the time, slinks around like he is in danger, yelps when startled or picked up, and will barely look at me. The vet said that he is not physically sick, it is all mental, but then had no further help to give.
What do I do with this cat? Again, it has been almost a month of this bizarre anxious behavior. The Feliway didn't seem to do anything. Should I try another vet? Will he maybe get better with time, or is every day I make him wait around another day of him suffering?
