Cat suddenly doesn't like girls?

Hello all.

I live in a boarding school with my two cats. One cat used to be feral and so lives in my apartment bedroom (attached to the boarding school/common area) and doesn't come out until nighttime. The other cat has always been more active. He loves other people, has been playful, and goes between my apartment and the common space without issue. At least, he had until a week ago.

It seems that over night, he's put out a vendetta against all girls. It took me a few days to realize it was all girls. He is 100% fine with boys petting him, holding him, etc. I'm a girl and he loves me and lets me hold him and pet him without issue, but I'm his mom so it kind of doesn't count. whenever one of the student girls pass by him he yowls terribly and swats at them. Unfortunately, this means that I now have to keep him to my apartment because I can't allow the cat to terrorize the female students. But we've been living here for close to five months and this has only just happened in the last few weeks.

For context: Ferb is never out in the common space unless I'm there. I'm not always right beside him, but I am always within earshot so I can hear if he's hissing/growling/yowling/etc. I trust him to know his limits, but don't always trust the teenagers to be able to read or understand his body language (some of them have never had animals, so I like to be there to answer questions or just chaperone). More than once, even when I'm out there, they've tried picking him up when he doesn't want and etc. I'll usually tell them quickly to put him down if I hear him unhappy. This isn't just limited to girls, though, which is why I'm scratching my head over why now he refuses to let girls come near him?

I'm stumped. Does anyone have any advice or has anyone experienced this before? I'd like for him to warm back up to the girls considering that he'll be trapped in my apartment until I can confirm he won't scratch them up, but I'm wondering what the typical protocol would be for reintroducing them since it seems that when they go near them, he's quite 'hiss hiss'. Any thoughts are appreciated!

submitted by /u/Elghoti_Prince
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/jedmvs/cat_suddenly_doesnt_like_girls/