On mobile, so please excuse typos! Also want to give as much context as possible, so post may be a bit lengthy.
In mid-2015, I inherited my grandmother’s cat after she was put into a nursing home and her house sold. I had been there when my grandmother adopted the cat as a small kitten in 2007-ish, but I’d been at college for some of that time and then not in the area afterwards, though I visited with some frequency. She was indoor/outdoor for those years with my grandmother, mostly due to necessity at the end as my grandmother’s memory suffered, and she would think she fed/watered the cat but hadn’t in many days.
She’s an extremely friendly and sweet cat and has been from the start. Naturally it took some adjustment, but I was able to give her free reign of my mom’s basement which became her “territory” and let her up to the main area of the house constantly and when she wanted to come up. I have another cat who I’ve had since he was two months, and after their initial adjustment period, they also got along perfectly well. He’s about 8 while she’s about 13 at this point.
I moved into an apartment in January, and it was a harrowing experience for the younger cat. He’s only JUST started to adjust, though he gets angry every couple of weeks and goes from being the sweetest to growling, reclusive, and avoidant. The older cat adjusted almost immediately and, since I’ve been working remotely since March, she and I have developed a better bond. She started showing visible signs of a deeper trust with me, and she became more and more affection as time’s gone on.
Flash forward to this morning, just a little while ago. I woke up to use the bathroom at about 5am. She’d been fine last night, falling asleep on my bed as normal. As soon as she saw me get up, she tucked her ears back and jumped off the bed and assumed a frightened position - freezing, tail down, ears back, large pupils. She wouldn’t walk near me and immediately ducked away when I went to pet her to see if she was okay. Then she went from the water, to the food, to the door, and back again twice, eating and drinking each time. I approached very slowly and picked her up as gently as I could. She started purring loudly and was leaning into my petting her, rubbing on my hands. She didn’t move or make motion to get away at all. I did this for maybe 10-15 seconds and set her back down. Then it was the exact same as previously mentioned - frightened behavior, food, water, door, repeat. Worth noting that she did drink water and eat a few pieces of food each time she went over to them.
Once I got back into bed, she hopped up as normal and went to the foot of the bed with her back towards me. Not an uncommon position. Now, she’s moved closer and is in her usual, happy, and comfortable position (laying on side, tail tip gently moving or still, one arm outstretched, purring). I tried gently petting her head, and she was fine.
Worth noting is that I live in NYC, and as recently as last evening, we’ve had constant fireworks. The fourth was the worst by far, and she spent most of the night under the bed (they didn’t stop until after 4am). There were a handful last night, though much farther away; the ones on the fourth were literally outside of my apartment building. I know those make her skittish, but when I went to bed last night, there weren’t any going off, and she was acting as she usually does at bedtime.
I have a feeling a vet trip is probably the first thing I need to do. I haven’t found one since moving (pandemic and all), but I know I need to. Other than that, has anyone ever experienced this kind of behavior change that happened quite literally overnight? Any thoughts or advice (other than the vet trip, which I’m going to research later today)? And/or, if you’re in NYC, do you have recommendations of a good, trustworthy vet in the area from the UWS to Washington Heights?
[link] [comments]
from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ho0mks/older_cat_suddenly_afraid_of_me/
No comments:
Post a Comment