cat is really fearful

by Angela
(Atlanta)

I am cat sitting/dog sitting. I have a male cat of my own (about a 1 1/2 years old) and we have not had any other animals since we got our cat. My sister left the country (for 3 weeks) and I am watching her dog and cat. The dog is very small (about the size of our cat) and is female. She has stayed with us at our house (with our cat) in the past before and after about 30 minutes the cat and dog have been fine together. They have even slept right next to each other. Now that the dog has returened with the cat he lives with (she is female and about 13 years old - and they are all fixed - even my cat) my cat is acting so crazy. He is hiding in a corner and hissing/growling and roaring if you even approach him. He has never peed/pooed in the house (outside of the litter box) but now he will soil himslef wherever he is sitting. He will act as if he will attack you as soon as you approach him but once you pick him up, he will only stay wrapped up in a ball with his tail curled and a stiff as a board (but curled). He has stayed this way for over 24 hours and keeps peeing and pooing on himslef. I'm not sure why he is so afraid and I don't know what to do. I have tried keeping them in separate rooms but that won't even work. Any advice?

Reply
For some reason something as terrified your cat and he is blaming this fear on the other animals around. The fear cause may have had nothing to do with them such a loud noise of sudden shock , all your cat knows that is he is afraid and wants to hide away.

It sounds like your cat needs a few days completely on his own. A sort of time out to allow himself to calm down and relax again.

Then try and introduce the animals back to him supervised and either on a lead or in a carrier at first to reduce the fear.

You could also try some calming sprays or medication which may help temporarily until your cat relaxes. please see this page for more on this here

scared-cat.html

If after all of this he is still not himself than I would say that a trip to your vets is necessary t make sure there are no other possible underlying causes.

Hope he is better soon

kate

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