Cat Not Talking To You?

Anyone who knows cats knows that this is very real, but for someone who is new to cats or doesn’t know them at all, this may come as a surprise. You know you’ve told someone that you went home and your cat wasn’t speaking to you and they thought you were nuts, but this is real, and if you are new to cats or have just got a new feline in the household, it is in your best interests to figure out what you did wrong and fix it sooner rather than later.

You go and sit on the sofa and your cat walks right up to you, turns around and settles a few feet away from you with it’s back very deliberately turned to you. What did you do wrong? When you got home did you immediately go and speak to your cat, praise him or her for being such a good kitty and thank them for looking after things in your absence? Well you better go and beg for forgiveness immediately, apologise profusely and praise kitty for being the best that there is.

Have you not paid much attention to kitty today? Well you know what to do, get in there and shower kitty with love and attention. Brush kitty, play with kitty, let him or her know that they are a very important part of the household, and always remember to apologise and beg forgiveness for your faux pas.

Kitty will usually come around quite quickly once you have made amends, but don’t make it a habit or it could get out of hand. Kitty has feelings too!

Sudden Behavioural Changes

Sudden behavioural changes in your cat are, more than likely, the result of a medical problem. A bladder infection can have your cat peeing all over the house. Erratic behaviour can be the result of something going on in the brain. If your cat is becoming very lethargic and just wants to sleep, this can be a symptom of a thyroid problem. So if you notice any sudden behavioural changes in your cat, your first course of action is a visit to the vet. Depending on the problem, a course of medication and your cat could be back to normal in a matter of days.

Unfortunately, if your cat has a brain tumor, the outlook is not quite so positive, and erratic behaviour will get worse until you decide it is time for euthanasia. This is the situation we had with one of our cats, now deceased. When his quality of life disappeared, we made that very difficult decision.

Sudden behavioural changes can also occur if there is a change in the household - someone moves in or out, there is a death in the household (human or animal), a traumatic event in the household. Cats are very sensitive to the energy of others and can respond negatively to a change in the household. Depending on the situation, the remedy can take some time.

The onus is on you the human, to be aware of changes in your cat’s behaviour and take the necessary steps to nip the problem in the bud so that life can get back to that happy balanced household.

Two Weeks After Trauma

It has taken about twelve days for my cat to feel semi-comfortable upstairs, so much so that she has started lying on my desk again. It took the cat longer to move on than it took me after a burglar came into our home.  The point here is that cats (any animal) can be upset when something unexpected happens in the household, good or bad, and that it takes them time to get over it too.

Animals live in the present whereas we humans think about things that have happened throughout our entire lives and even picture the future, we live in the past, present and future. We can rationalise things to help us move on after something has happened. Our animals can’t do that. It helps them tremendously if we explain why something happened, or how it came about, what it means, what difference it may make to the animal and in the household generally. This is what really helps our animal companions get over that unexpected event. Help them understand too by talking to them, often.

One Week After Trauma

Last week I mentioned about my cat being traumatized because of a burglary in our home last Saturday night. I thought it would be useful to provide an update on her status one week after the event to emphasise that just one event can upset a cat in a big way.

She used to love going upstairs to lie on my desk at the window or on the landing at the top of the stairs where she could get the cross-breeze coming from both sides of the house. Now she is very hesitant to go upstairs at all, particularly at night, and if she does, she is back down very quickly.

She will sit near the bottom of the stairs just looking up as if she’s maybe not sure if to go up or if there might be someone up there who doesn’t belong. Yesterday I went upstairs while she was napping and she woke up and heard me upstairs so she hid round the corner and was just peeping around a piece of furniture to see who was coming down the stairs.

And yes, she did pee outside the litterbox - a very typical indication of something not right in a cat’s world. Thankfully, that only happened once. I have now had several chats with her, explaining what happened and trying to reassure her that there is no one else in the house, and that we are all safe. I think that has helped a lot. There are still, of course, different smells in the house as, not only was there a burglar, but also four police officers who came to investigate afterwards.

It has been an interesting week, that’s for sure but I do think she is settling down - slowly.