My Cat Sees A Ghost (according To My Wife)

[chrisdillon]

So some of you might remember me from the ordeal I went through last November with our Bitty..and again I come to you with a situation our Russian Blue just developed the other day - she somehow got spooked and stares at a corner of the house like there's something or someone there! This cat LOVES sitting in her tower looking out the window, but for the past two days when she's in the living room, she stares at the corner. When she moves through the room she creeps slowly not taking her eyes off the corner, and then she hides upstairs. We've taken her from her room a couple times for food and water and the litter box - she is eating and drinking, but not as much as usual, and she does use the little box. She's fixated on the dang corner of the room and my wife is convinced there is a freaking ghost standing there!

We've been home so there wasn't a time when she was alone in the house during this period.

* our other cat is completely acting normal

Any ideas or similar experiences??

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Well, something happened in that corner to spook her, that seems the best possibility. Even if you have been home, it could have been something like a bee or wasp (or even a STINKBUG, ugh) that got into the house and into that corner... she noticed it and approached it? Maybe (if a bee or spider), it stung or bit her? Maybe (if it was a thing like a STINKBUG, ugh), it exuded some of its stinky goo onto her and now, she is forever spooked until she figures out that the corner is "safe" again.

Have you checked her nose, face, paws for possible stings or bites? It's the season, at least where I live, that all the bees, spiders, stinkbugs and their cohorts come out of hiding.

 

[chrisdillon]

It could've been something like that we're in a n old military housing unit and we do see a bug or spider once in a while. Checked her face and paws and all seem normal. Today is better than yesterday and the day before - she still eyeballs the corner of the room, but she hasn't been running away and hiding upstairs. Now she's just hanging on the far side of the room chilling out. no wide eyes or anything but still occasionally alert with ears perked up checking things out..

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Sometimes part of "de-spooking" a corner could entail you setting a few of her favorite food treats or toys, or even a piece of clothing that smells like you, in that corner for a while. It might get her calmed down again if she associates the corner with "non-bad" things. (Who knows what spooked her... these things usually pass and she'll likely get over it!)

The humans could even hang out in that corner for a while, off and on, and the cat will see that you yourselves survived the ordeal.


Set up a chair or pillow and read a book there or something, lol.