So my mother-in-law is out of town for a month and she asked to cat sit her 13 year old kitty (Chrissy). We have our own cat, and we were not sure how they would get along, so we decided to keep her in the spare bedroom until they could get socialized. We have watched her before, and she's always been very skittish (she's a small completely black cat, and behaved much like black cats I have had in the past, no big deal). My mother-in-law keeps her in her master bedroom closet (she's free to roam the house, but retreats there whenever frightened anyway) and she completely destroyed the carpet in there recently (pad and all). She's also become much more skittish, much less friendly even with my mother-in-law.
So with that said, something has gone horribly wrong with this poor cat since we last watched her. She's become extremely hostile towards anyone who comes near her. She will hiss, spit and lunge at you if you approach her at all. Apparently she has also stopped using her litter box and so we have put her in the spare bathroom for now so she will not destroy the carpet. I don't think my mother-in-law has really done anything specifically abusive, but the cat clearly has developed some severe mental issues (anxiety, at the least). The other night I went in and sat with her for about 15 minutes and just talked to her calmly to try and build some trust. Even though I never approached her, or made any attempt to directly engage her in anyway, after about 10 minutes she started violently trashing and spitting and attacking her own tail whenever it would move.
My guess is the cat is suffering from FHS (feline Hyperesteshia Syndrome), which explains the tail thing. We are going to get her to a vet and see if we can get her some anxiety medicine. Beyond that, I'm looking for suggestions on how to help her. It's so bad my Mother-in-law is planning to surrender her after her vacation (she's a good pet owner, but she just doesn't have the capacity to deal with an animal this troubled) and I would like to try and prevent that if possible. We also have our own cat, who is young and extremely friendly (and tolerant) named Glitch. I think she might be helpful if we can get Chrissy to a state where we could introduce them, but we are nowhere close to that right now. Until recently we had an elderly cat who was initially very hostile towards Glitch but Glitch just completely ignored her, never so much as hissed back, just gave her space and ignored any aggressiveness until our older kitty finally calmed down after a few weeks.
Anyway, I've never dealt with a cat in such an extreme state as this, and I'm looking for advise from anyone that has. The regular stuff isn't working and I'm feeling a little out-of-my-depth.
Thank you in advance.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/d3rd99/catsitting_a_broken_cat_for_a_month_looking_for/
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