Cat Not Adjusting Well To Recent Move

[MattD]

Hello Everyone,

I have a 4 year old, three legged, black cat named Peg. We rescued her from the Humane Society when she was a kitten. She had been found on the side of the road, having been hit by a car.

We brought her home, she's always been nervous and skittish, but over the last four years she's come out of her shell more and more. She was friendly, and cuddly and happy.

Well that all changed about 2 weeks ago. We moved apartments. Going from a 1 bedroom (500sq ft) to a 3 bedroom (1100 sq ft) has been too much for her.

She went into hiding, and staged a two day hunger strike. She's only wander around at night, usually meowing loudly. After a few nights of this, she calmed down and wouldn't make as much noise. She'd explore at night, and do all of her eating and drinking then. She is eating (albeit less than she used to. About 1/2 of what we leave out of her) and she is drinking water and she is using the litter box like a champion, super regular.

Now I have two main issues:
1 - She has been vomiting frequently. She eats about 1/2 of her food, but I'd say about 5 times in two weeks, she's vomited. I think she's nervous, and gobbling up the food very quickly. Then racing back to hide, and all the excitement is causing her to upset her stomach resulting in a pile of barf under the bed.

2 - She started to explore the lower level of our house earlier in the week. But the last two nights she has fully regressed. She hides 24/7 and coaxing her out of the blankets is getting harder and harder to do. She'll still come out to eat and drink and use the litter, but she doesn't want to play.

Its breaking my heart.

What should my husband and I do? We've got Feliaway around the house. She's got toys and scratching posts throughout. The water and food are super close to her hiding spot - the litter is further away.

I'm sorry for the long post, I'm trying to be detailed so I can get as much feedback and help as I can.

 

[Letta]

What a sad situation Yes sadly cats can be very bad at adapting. What about introducing her to the house like a new cat? Give her a room (if she trust you you can give your bedroom) with everything: litter box, food, drink. Maybe it will be less overwhelming like that for her. Try to make that room cosy with cat trees and window shelves and boxes. Try to block all the narrow places where she could hide like under closets ect... . Where does she hide?

 

[MattD]

So we tried that approach. We brought her home and gave her a room with food, water and the litter. We hung out with her, and when we went to go to bed - she cried and followed us out. We thought this was a good sign. She would spend the majority of the time hiding under the blankets of our bed - but she would still make the trip downstairs to the litter box. When it was dark, she would come out to play and explore the apartment with us.

As of Friday, she hasn't come out from under the covers except to eat, drink and use the litter. Its like she's reverted back to the first night.

I'm worried that she isn't eating enough, and will make herself sick. The poor thing.

Right now - she is hiding under the covers. The food and water are in the bedroom, but we've left the litter where it has always been. I guess she just needs time to adjust. I thought we'd made progress, but I guess not!

 

[bluebirdy]

Do you think the former tenants may have had a dog or cat, and she can still smell it as she moves through the house?

 

[MattD]

The previous tenants did have a small dog.

We did do a lot of cleaning when we got here. Would the smells survive? Would the lingering smell be enough to scare her like this?

 

[rubysmama]

Welcome to The Cat Site. Sorry poor little Peg is having a hard time settling into your new home. I don't have good suggestions, but one thing I read today on another thread is that cats like the sound of violin music. It was suggested to find classical violin music on the net, and play it at a low volume to try to calm an anxious cat. I have no idea if it would help Peg, but thought I'd mention it.

 

[CatsAreTheBest]

Welcome to The Cat Site. Sorry poor little Peg is having a hard time settling into your new home. I don't have good suggestions, but one thing I read today on another thread is that cats like the sound of violin music. It was suggested to find classical violin music on the net, and play it at a low volume to try to calm an anxious cat. I have no idea if it would help Peg, but thought I'd mention it.

Try this: Hour of Music for Cats - Relax your Cats and Send them to Sleep CATS LOVE THIS MUSIC!
If you look at the comments a lot of people said it soothed their cat. Hope Peg gets better .

 

[MattD]

I will try ANYTHING.
I'll report back here if it works!
Thanks so much!

 

[bluebirdy]

The previous tenants did have a small dog.

We did do a lot of cleaning when we got here. Would the smells survive? Would the lingering smell be enough to scare her like this?

It just popped into my head as we recently had to move into a shared space as my house needs to be gutted and redone due to a flood. This space has a dog and my more timid cat was terrified for the first little while, smelling every corner and hiding in her cat caves. The dog isn't here atm, so she seems to have calmed down after looking in every nook and cranny for him. She also would pull the eating very fast, and then vomitting because she ate too fast, but that's been ongoing since she was little. The only way I dealt with that was having a bit of food out all the time.

What helped my kitty was finding a prey toy that she enjoyed and playing a lot with her. Also helped to have places up high for her to perch and look down on everything. It sounds like you've already got that in place though.

 

[himawari]

There's also CBD oil if nothing else really works. But I feel like it's because of the scents she might be fearful & acting differently. And as for the vomiting, is it possible to divide her meals into small, frequent ones to try to avoid eating too fast?

 

[MattD]

Music didn't work as planned. But last night when we got into bed, we just tried to ignore her.
The lights went off. She came out. We ignored her. She ate her food. She climbed around. We ignored her.

I think she felt invisible.

Perhaps all this time we'd been paying too much attention to an animal that wanted to be hidden.

She'ls been zooming around the upstairs this morning. She's eaten all her food, no vomit. She's used the litter box. She is out and about with her tail up.

I guess we'll keep pretending we can't see her very much - see how that goes!

 

[CatsAreTheBest]

bluebirdy , how do you have the same amount of purraise as comments?

 

[MattD]

Peg Update:
She's doing much better! Ignoring her is the key. I pretend I can't see her when she does walk around, and only acknowledge her presence if she head bumps me or flops at my feet. Her confidence is increasing! She even sat on the windowsill today and looked outside. Who knows, maybe we'll have a cat who ventures downstairs in a few days!!

 

[MattD]

bluebirdy , how do you have the same amount of purraise as comments?

What is purraise?

 

[rubysmama]

Peg Update:
She's doing much better! Ignoring her is the key. I pretend I can't see her when she does walk around, and only acknowledge her presence if she head bumps me or flops at my feet. Her confidence is increasing! She even sat on the windowsill today and looked outside. Who knows, maybe we'll have a cat who ventures downstairs in a few days!!

Wonderful. Yay Peg.

What is purraise?

It's equivalent to a "like" button on other forums. If someone "likes" a person's post, they click the "purraise" icon. As of now, you have 5 purraise(s). You can see it under the heart there under your avatar pic.

 

[bluebirdy]

bluebirdy , how do you have the same amount of purraise as comments?

Probably because I posted a lot of photos (shrugs).

I'm so glad she is doing better!

 

[MattD]

Hey Everyone,

To recap, for a week I spend evenings reading aloud in the room with her, and coaxing her out to explore more of the house.

Friday night we had a BREAK THROUGH. She explored the entire house, and on her own while I watched TV with my husband.

The Good: On Friday Night, she explored and actually seemed confident. She ate all her food and used the litter box.
The Bad: On Friday Night, She barfed. It seemed like A LOT. She barfed in the litter box.
The Ugly: On Saturday/Sunday she refused to leave the bedroom, and didn't use the litterbox at all. On Sunday night, she peed and pooped under the bed.

WHHHHHYYYYYY???

I feel like I've put in so much work to get her out of her comfort zone, and now I feel like she's backtracked. I feel so sad and hopeless. What else can I do?

Does anyone have any advice??

 

[rubysmama]

Sorry, no advice. Also sorry to hear things are going backwards. Hopefully today was a better day.

Edit to add: Have you tried using Feliway. I think it's a bit expensive, but might be worth a try.

Excerpt below from this article: Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats

5. Feliway
You've probably seen your cat rubbing its body, and more specifically head and neck, against doorways, wall corners, furniture and even your legs. When cats do that, they actually smear pheromones secreted from special glands on their neck and head. Odorless to us, but remarkably noticeable to cats, these pheromones are used to mark the cat’s territory as being safe.

Feliway is a synthetic version of these pheromones, sold in the form of a spray or diffuser. It creates a sense of security and safety in your cat’s environment. Feliway is especially useful when dealing with territorial stress. You may consider giving it a try if you think your cat’s stress is related to a change in environment, such as moving to a new house, or having a new cat or pet in the household. It can also be effective in multi-cat households and specifically in cases of spraying.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Set backs like that can happen with cats. I'm betting that some little something, a sound from outside, even, spooked her. I'm also betting that, having once come out and progressed, she will do so again, and be less likely to be spooked again! Hang in there! She's proven that things can get better. Give her the little setback, and give her time. You are progressing, over all!

 

[Letta]

I am so sorry for the step back. I send you all my good thoughs. Maybe one silly advice: what if you make a trail sent for her: put some of the blankets she has been on and her scratcthing post outside the room but not too far away and maybe another litter box also there. The idea being that when she will find the courage to explore once again (and she will) it will smell like her and hence reassure her.