Cat in a Seemingly Random State of Hysteria

[pantherj]

Our 5 year old house cat Belle is naturally a very vocal girl, we are used to her talking a lot and making noise to communicate. We've had her since she was a kitten, she keeps good health, is well loved and is also affectionate in return... when it suits her of course :-).

This morning we were woken up with her in a fit of hysteria. We've never seen her like this. It was as if she was either in extreme pain or petrified of something. She was sitting close to small table in the hall meowing frantically and hissing. In the panic, I thought she may have somehow got her paw trapped under a corner of the table due to the way she was sitting, so went closer to her to help then she ran away, hid under the bed and wouldn't come out for a while.

She settled down after about 30 minutes but has been acting a bit cagey in the hallway. There are no windows in the hall and there was nothing obvious which could cause her alarm. We checked and checked again.

Does anyone have any experience of this kind of behaviour or any advice as to what may have caused her to react this way. It gave us a fright and we are worried that she may be distressed about something that isn't obvious to us.

 

[Ms. Freya]

I would start by visiting her vet. If you saw nothing out of the ordinary and she didn't have the ability to see outside to be startled by something there, I think it's worth ruling out some sort of pain or illness that caused her to react like that.

If everything's clear from the health end, keep a close eye on her and see if the reaction duplicates, either in the same spot or elsewhere, then maybe you can find something in common. I know I've had a few cats (mostly older males) who will suddenly wake from a deep sleep and still be reacting to whatever they were dreaming about. It takes them a moment to sort of finish waking up and realise where they are.

Just to be safe, I'd start with the vet, though, especially if you can't find anything out of the ordinary.

 

[scratch n dent]

Could she simply have jumped off something and hurt her paw or something else?