Heart is Breaking

[myvinyl333]

Last year I got a 3 week old rescue kitten, Elsa. She has long looked at me as her mom. She would crawl around my neck, chew on my ears and lick my face. As the months went by she was always on my chest or lap. We were very close physically. In October of 2014 I lost my brother to cancer, Elsa was there for me. It was if she knew I was hurting and would come sit on my chest near my cheek and purr to help me .

Over the last few weeks she has stopped. She will not let me hold her and I have to pick her up. She will lay by my legs when I am in my recliner. At night she sleeps with me the same way, at my knees.

The lack of her affection is breaking me up. Elsa means so much to me. As I said it was Elsa who helped ease my pain, now she seems not to want that anymore.

What did I do.?

I have been trying to get her back but decided to leave her be who she as become, kinda like a teenager. I have two other cats 3 year old Joni and 19 year old Sadie who sleeps on my chest and craves my attention. (That is a story in itself).

As I am with her everyday I have watched this behavior increase. She will follow me everywhere but if I try to show affection she pulls back.

I will read the forum for other such posts, but also welcome any insight-

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• myvinyl333
• Jun 23, 2015

 

[mani]

How old is she now?  Has she been spayed?  If so, it could be worth having a vet check her over as illness/pain can cause cats to be less affectionate.  I'm also wondering whether there were any changes you can think of around the time when she started to withdraw?

 

[myvinyl333]

 
How old is she now?  Has she been spayed?  If so, it could be worth having a vet check her over as illness/pain can cause cats to be less affectionate.  I'm also wondering whether there were any changes you can think of around the time when she started to withdraw?

 No real changes other than putting bird feeders outside windows. She spends her day back and forth to windows. She does scratch her ear now and then. She goes to my wife occasionally and will sit on her lap, lick her face. She does lay on her back when you call her name to have her belly rubbed.

Do you think she may be ill?

 

[myvinyl333]

Elsa is about 12 months old. She spayed at 3 weeks which my vet could not understand....

 

[mani]

 
Elsa is about 12 months old. She spayed at 3 weeks which my vet could not understand....

So the rescue organisation spayed her at 3 weeks?  That's very young, but Rescues will do that to ensure that they're done before they're rehomed, although I'm surprised they allowed her to leave her mother so early. 

My first port of call would be a vet check.. you need to rule that out before thinking about behavioural issues.

 

[myvinyl333]

After your post I made an appointment for Elsa tomorrow morning with her Vet. He wants to check her over. I know she has something making her scratch her ear. Maybe not related but she often lays on tables or arms of chairs hanging her head. We have had to watch her as she often falls off when she moves... Thank you very much for suggesting we make a trip to her Vet.

 

[myvinyl333]

Meet Elsa:

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• myvinyl333
• Jun 23, 2015

image.jpg

• myvinyl333
• Jun 23, 2015

 

[nansiludie]

Can you have your Vet shave the area to check and see if there is in fact a spay surgery scar? I have not ever known of a cat to be spayed that young, they are usually at least 6 to 8 weeks old and weigh 2 pounds. A three week old kitten is not even weaned yet and I doubt that she would weigh two pounds. 

 

[mani]

What a gorgeous girl!

Please do let us know how things go with the vet.

 

[myvinyl333]

It  turned out that Elsa has an ear infection. Her ears are clean but her Vet found a liquid in her ears that was infection. Elas is on Otomax twice a day for 8 days. If it does not improve Vet will add an antibiotic. Her surgery site is fine. Elsa was such a fake at the Vet. Let everyone pet her was very cooperative, real ham. Once home, get out of my face!  She is not happy with us and getting the drops. Vet thinks the ear issue is what is making her not want to be held as much,

Screen Shot 2015-06-26 at 9.52.40 AM.png

• myvinyl333
• Jun 26, 2015

 Helping me find my way to the Vet...

 

[cat hunter]

Oh I'm glad you found out that she had a problem with her ears! I hope she returns to her usual affectionate self. She's beautiful!! 

 

[Willowy]

Are you certain she was 3 weeks old when you got her? I've only heard of kittens under 2 pounds being spayed/neutered once before, and it was kind of an emergency situation (the spay/neuter truck was at the reservation and didn't know if/when they could come back), and they lost one to the anesthetic. Was she walking and eating normally when you got her? At 3 weeks she would have needed to be bottle-fed and would not have been able to walk well.

Hopefully the ear problem was what was making her stand-offish! Having sore ears can really put someone in a bad mood. Cats' personalities do tend to change a bit as they get older but when it's a sudden dramatic change it usually means there's some kind of problem.

 

[kntrygrl256]

I'm glad you caught the ear infection and she is getting treatment.

In my experience, at that age cats are like teenagers and are testing their "wings" so to speak. My cats only wanted me around when they were hungry or wanted to be scratched, of course that was on their own terms.

They were still affectionate but stand-offish. Once they got through that pesky "teenager" stage they became more loving. I guess it's just a normal growing phase they all go through just like our human kids.

I'm sure given time, Elsa will come around. She is such a pretty girl and looks to love you very much.

 

[stewball]

It  turned out that Elsa has an ear infection. Her ears are clean but her Vet found a liquid in her ears that was infection. Elas is on Otomax twice a day for 8 days. If it does not improve Vet will add an antibiotic. Her surgery site is fine. Elsa was such a fake at the Vet. Let everyone pet her was very cooperative, real ham. Once home, get out of my face!  She is not happy with us and getting the drops. Vet thinks the ear issue is what is making her not want to be held as much,

Screen Shot 2015-06-26 at 9.52.40 AM.png

• myvinyl333
• Jun 26, 2015

 Helping me find my way to the Vet...

Lol. She's beautiful. I hope she'll be back to normal soon.