will my cat ever be the same again?

[mauser]

Sorry for such a lame first post title, but I need input. I was never a cat person until a few years ago, when my then-girlfriend's cat mysteriously failed to send me into a sneezing, itching mess, and also snuggled up to me without suddenly changing its mind and leaving me bleeding (as my housemate's cat liked to do). Now I am a bona-fide cat lover. I love them all (even Bruno, the mean kitty)!

Anyway, here's the situation:

Ours is the most easy-going cat ever. She is so snuggly and tolerant that we cradle her like a baby daily. In five years of knowing her, I had never /once/ seen her swat her claws except at toys -until today. I should say that in recent months I have been shocked to see her chase away any cats that get near our yard. I always had her pegged as a weaker, smaller cat, but I suppose with age comes seniority. She is and has always been an outdoor cat. I should also admit that she kills mice and rats, despite the bell I attached to her. A mouse was on the lawn yesterday. A neighbor swears she killed a squirrel in their yard, but I just can't see it as being possible.

Yesterday a friend brought over several kittens he had found at his work. We were curious to see how she would react, so I brought her out of the room she was laying down in and held her in my arms while everybody looked at the kittens on the couch. My friend's daughter held one of the kittens up to her and she went crazy. I put her back in the room.

All day today she has been growling and hissing at everyone and everything. I went to pet her when she curled up in the room and she hissed and actually SWATTED at me viciously. The kittens had only been in the living room. We vacuumed and mopped. Even upstairs she is hissing and growling as she sits next to me on the bed, especially if I pet her. She even hisses at inanimate objects. We are worried she'll never be the same, or that in a strange coincidence, she may have even caught something from that mouse.

We've been leaving her alone, feeding her as much as she normally would try to con us into feeding her, etc. She has eaten, but at first this morning she walked away from it, which is unheard of.

Normally, merely picking her up to sit on my lap will change her mind about eating or anything bothersome. She LOVES sitting on laps. Not anymore. I tried this morning and she freaked. The kittens had been on the same couch.

Is this normal? Might it or some of it be permanent?

We're worried.

Thanks for your input!

 

[GoldyCat]

With such a dramatic change in behavior, I would say take her to a vet. If she's cleared medically, then you can start working on the behavior issues. I'm afraid that if you assume that it's just behavioral/environmental problems you might miss something really serious until it's too late to do anything about it.

Welcome to TCS. What is your kitty's name? Good luck at getting her back to her normal happy healthy self.

 

[mauser]

Hi, thanks for responding!

Her name is Muffin.

I called the vet and they advised me to give it a couple more days before bringing her in. They said she was overreacting to the kittens in an uncommon way.

Then a couple of hours ago I was sitting on the couch and she walked into the living room growling with her eyes glued to the spot on the couch where the kittens were mostly handled yesterday. She was extremely jumpy and seemed to be convinced that a strange cat was sitting there. I moved my girlfriend's hair dryer that was sitting on the couch and she jumped and hissed as if it were another cat. I let her out and she hasn't come back to be let in yet which is very unusual.

Another cat used to live in this (old, large) house but it died a few years ago. During that time, Muffin was definitely the underdog. The other cat 'owned' the house except for one room upstairs, and Muffin was constantly reminded of her inferior position. This may explain her current extreme insecurity. She is stressing out badly that there is another cat in her space -even though the kittens are all gone!

I am worried that she will begin to spend time away from home or never revert to her snuggly, laid-back self. Every noise seems to put her on edge.

 

[missymotus]

Your poor girl must have been every frightened by having strange creatures not only in her home but thrust up into her face as well.

Her reaction is not all uncommon, many cats require slow introductions to new cats. I think she now has redirected aggression, hissing at other objects.

Perhaps an enzyme spray to thoroughly wash away any lingering smells of the kittens, even if you cannot smell them she probably can. A Feliway diffuser might help stable her mood, or Rescue Remedy both in her water and applied on her ears.

 

[hissy]

Your cat is acting normal, and does not necessarily need a vet. It is hard enough to get resident cats to accept kittens during a gradual introduction period of several days or even weeks, but to put them right into her space and upset the scent in the house, of course she is on edge. I would suspect that she is going to be a solo cat and would hope that you would honor that and just let her be the Queen Bee.

I would suggest you get a bottle of Feliway and spray the couch thoroughly where the kittens were setting. Spritz the room and also buy a plug in feliway diffuser. You can also put a little bit of vanilla extract- straight and not the imitation kind- on your kitty's chin to help diffuse the situation. Leave her alone for awhile and let her readjust. See to her needs, but otherwise just ignore her and for heaven's sake, don't try such a sudden introduction to other kittens on her again- it is amazing she didn't turn your arm into shredded meat!

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by hissy

it is amazing she didn't turn your arm into shredded meat!

No kidding! General common sense rule with cats: It's never a good idea to show something new/strange to a cat while you're holding them.

The reason she's responding to objects being moved is because a cat's eyesight is only so good. She's simply not able to make out some objects and when they're in an unexpected spot and suddenly moved that can startle her. She's already jumpy over the kittens.

 

[mauser]

Thanks for all the responses.

She's sitting next to me now, and is back to enjoying being petted and actually nudging my hand to solicit such. Yesterday she was growling and hissing if we pet her where she's sitting now. The living room couch, however, is still growl-zone (though it was one of her main spots before the kittens visited), but we're confident that will fade in a week or so.

Despite how adorable these kittens were, I really regret bringing them into the house. I'm pretty surprised at how insensitive I was about that. Everybody expected that because they were so tiny and harmless that she wouldn't be threatened by them. I suppose the fact that they looked just like her (fluffy black with white tummies & feet and yellow eyes) also figured in. Very naive, I know. I cannot overstate how much I adore this cat. She is just the prettiest and most loveable cat ever. To reflect on her insecurity and imagine how seeing other cats indoors removed it as a sanctuary from 'watching her back' in her mind, I feel pretty guilty. It all makes sense, especially considering how she has lately ruthlessly chased away young, curious harmless kitties that stray near the house and that yesterday she kept wanting to go into the one room that years ago was her only territory in the house away from its dominant, but now-deceased cat.

I've learned a bit about cat psychology through this incident and reading on the forum, and I'm going to respect her space a bit more now. She tolerates but doesn't truly /like/ being cradled like a baby, so we're going to stop doing it. We also aren't going to yell at her when she scratches the furniture, but try other approaches. It's a shame that my girlfriend threw away the supreme cardboard scratch box I made at work using a 20-ton cutter press intended for cutting huge reams of paper at once. You guys would think it was pretty neat. I cut a large 3x3 foot cubical box down to a 1.5 foot deep tray and then filled it with perfectly-cut 3 foot by 6 inch cardboard strips, then put a half-roof on it. It looked like it came from the store as the ultimate cat scratch product. She LOVED it.

Thanks again for your input.