cat personality completely changed!

[devit]

Hi all, hoping that someone out there can help or experienced something like this before.

I've had my 5 y/o male DSH for around 2.5 years now; ("Pilau"), I got him from a cat rescue place and from day one he's been amazingly affectionate, a real lap cat and "daddy's boy". I also got another male cat (they were abandoned together, same age) and they get on OK with occasional play fights.

both cats are allowed outdoor free reign during the day, but when I go to bed I have them indoors as we have a few foxes around here.

a couple of weeks ago, I noticed Pilau was disappearing for longer than usual during the day. When he came back, he smelt differently; sometimes of fried onions and then of chinese food! this carried out on for a few days and eventually he would not come home at all during the night - this has *never* happened before. I'm in London, UK and we've had very cold weather recently and am almost 100% sure that he has somewhere else to go, with a neighbour for example.

I got him checked out at the vets last week, but his bloods were normal and the vet has suggested a behaviour specialist- which I can't really afford.

the current situation is he's out all night, but he does come back in about 10am, and has a few mouthfuls of good. SOmetimes I see him occasionally in the afternoon, but generally after 4PM, that's it! gone for the day... when he is back, he is not affectionate with me at all.

there have been no changes in my home that could account for him being unsettled.

I have seen the direction he goes into, and I have posted a leaflet through the doors of my local area asking that if anyone is feeding/taking him, to not do so. I'll see how that goes...

so my questions really are:

* has this happened to anyone else? and what was the outcome?
* if he continues to stay out, is it worth keeping him in for a couple of weeks to see if I can "retrain" him, or get him to trust me again?

any other advice would be so welcome (sorry for the long first post too!)

Thanks

 

[orientalslave]

If he isn't wearing a collar put one on him for the time being.  Some people are very stupid and assume any cat begging is a stray.  It happened to me, when I put a collar on the cat they saw it enough to realise he had a home.

 

[ambernicole]

It sounds like he's found somewhere to eat! I don't think he's purposely being unaffectionate towards you, but it does sound like he's become somewhat indifferent. I would consider keeping him locked inside for a week or so and seeing how it goes. I would also make sure he is wearing a collar and tags so that others know he has a loving home. Like the above posts says...a lot of people assume that a cat roaming the streets is hungry or homeless. Someone is probably feeding him out of kindness.
 

 

[darwin]

My parents had this happen(their cat wears a collar). She started disappearing which is weird because she normally never leaves the yard. She also started putting on weight. She then disappeared for several days and they got a phone call from an elderly lady who said she found Sammie.

I went over to her house to "pick up" Sammie and got to talking with the lady. Apparently she and her husband had recently lost their beloved cat to cancer and had been feeding Sammie and then took her inside when they gained her trust. I told them Sammie is indoor/outdoor so they don't have to worry about letting her out, and not too feed her too much.

Sammie has two families now, and my parents are fine with it. I'm sure it's kind of nice for Sammie, as she gets two places to hang out