Need advice, help, opinions, ANYTHING!!!!

[rg_girlca]

I don't know what has happened to Nugget, but something has obviously terrified him. I have noticed for the past few days that he was very skittish.
He seemed to stay in or near my room. If he did venture up to the back end of the house, toward the kitchen area, he would slink and be very, very cautious. He generally was scared. When I would go to pet him he would duck his head like he didn't want to be touched and he is like that with my son and hubby also. Today my hubby picked him up and brought him into the kitchen and you could see how scared he was. When my hubby sat in the chair, Nugget just bolted from his arms, ran up into my room, straight under my bed and has been there since. When I knelt down on the floor and reached to pet him, he pulled his head back and started to smell my fingers. So I just stroked his paws and he started to purr.
He also hasn't been playing with Poppy or Willy like he was either.
I hate seeing him like this and it breaks my heart that he is avoiding my petting him. He is eating, drinking and using his litter box okay and seems well apart from him being scared. I thought maybe one of the cats did something to him, but he isn't avoiding any them when they are near him. In fact he still headbumps them and does his little brrp, brrps to them.
Is there anything that you can think of that will help him overcome whatever it is that scared him?? Should I just leave him be or what??
I would just love to know what happened for him to be like this.

Anything you can give me would very much be appreciated.

[K & L]

Maybe there's something wrong medically and should have him checked by a vet? If he's in some kind of pain this may have him frightened? Once you get the clean bill of health, then I would be watching to see if he is being bullied by one of the others. Has he ever had problems with UTI's?

[Laura's Babies]

Gee whiz, POOR baby! It sounds like something REALLY scared the daylights out of him... Have you look around the house for something that may have fallen on him? I have no advice except to keep things quiet for awhile and keep reassuring him that everything is alright now... Everything scares Chester, especially sudden loud noises.

[jazzcat]

If you don't think another cat scared him do you think any chance that Buddy might have? I know that Disney who had never done anything to a cat got testy when she was so sick near the end. I'm not trying to pin anything on poor Buddy, just trying to help you figure it out.

[jenluckenbach]

Well, something real or imaginary (maybe a memory) is bothering him. There is not a whole lot you can do except keep things as normal as possible. If it continues or worsens you might concider a vet visit to rule out pain of some sort.

[catmandu]

It may have been a Friend visting who scared him.
I showed my Porch off to my Brother and SIL, and the Cats were scared for two days.
Maybe something feel and scared him.
A little Cat Nip will relax him, and Nugget and Karina Angels will visit and calm Nugget down.

[rg_girlca]

Thank you for your replies.

I don't think that he was bullied by any of the others as he is still socialable with them all when they are in the room with him and no, he hasn't had any UTI's. Nothing seems to be different in the living room or kitchen. There is no indication that anything has fallen. When Buddy is in the room, Nugget rubs against him, so he isn't afraid of him and none of my friends or my sons friends have been in the house since about 2 weeks ago and I noticed that Nugget was acting this way on Thursday. The beginning of the week he was fine being in the kitchen and living room.
He came out from under the bed when my other son Mark and his girlfriend Kim, dropped by and he was rubbing up against their legs and when Kim got his string on a stick, he was playing with it like he always does.
He seems to just stay in my room, or just in front of my room in the hallway.
He seems even leery to go into my sons room which is just across from my room. He also seems to keep smelling the air. I don't know if that means anything or not.
I am going to observe him very closely for the next few days and see what he does. If he doesn't improve, then I will bring him to the vets, to make sure that it isn't anything medical.

Thank you all again and I will keep you updated on the situation.

[Jods]

is he an indoor cat??? My moms cat is like this when a stray hangs about our house he can smell them and seems to think they can get in. He watches them out the window and when they go around the house he runs! He muct think they got in or something. He is an indoor cat also. Good Luck!

[K & L]

Another thought, when some of ours started having teeth problems they would act kind of weird at times. We didn't connect this at first, but we believe that when one of their teeth started hurting they'd run and hide cause they didn't understand what was causing the pain. Just some thoughts here since it came on so sudden. Good luck!

[rg_girlca]

Jods, Nugget is an indoor cat but there have been some strays that come up on the widow sill and Nugget seems to just greet them with his little brrp brrps that he does. He isn't bothered by them at all where as the others will hiss or growl.

Lisa, I never thought of his teeth with him being close to 10 months old. But you never know. It doesn't seem to affect him eating his dry food in any way if that is the case. I remember my RB Katie had problems eating when her teeth were bothering her.

I just finished playing with him in the hallway by the living room with his string on a stick. I slowly backed a few feet into the kitchen, dragging the string and Nugget stepped near the entrance but that was it. It is very clear that he is avoiding the kitchen area for some reason and I noticed that any sudden noise, no matter how small it may be, makes him very nervous.

This has really boggled my mind and like I said before, I really hate seeing him like this.

Thank you again for your replies.

[Grace]

It is very clear that he is avoiding the kitchen area for some reason and I noticed that any sudden noise, no matter how small it may be, makes him very nervous.

Do you have a gas stove? I wondered if you did, and it had a leak, and he smelled it?

Did something in the kitchen get broken recently - maybe he did it, and is afraid of being punished?

[rg_girlca]

Nope, no gas stove and nothing has been broken either.

It's been just a little over half an hour and he is still laying in the hallway by the living room. So that's a start.

[jazzcat]

This really won't help but since you said he avoids the kitchen it got me thinking about Ripley. He used to run and hide for a little while when ever I would get a new trash bag out to put in the trash can. He still runs but he no longer hides. He also does that whenever we get ice from the ice maker, get out pots and pans or unload the dishwasher. He cries from the noise. Maybe Nugget is an extra sensitive boy like ole Rip.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Maybe an old bad memory has resurfaced and he just needs to work through it again, and remember that he can trust you and your family again. I would just give him some time and don't force anything on him. I think he will eventually come around again.

Poor baby.

[Lizzie]

I went through something very similar with my Ted several years ago when he was about 8 years old. He very suddenly became afraid of the master bathroom and wouldn't even like going into the bedroom. He'd come in to see me but all the time his head would be switching back to the bathroom doorway and he'd be very edgy. I checked the room for changes, there were none. His health was perfect at that time. There had been no changes in the household, the routines, no visitors, no new cleaning smells.

I managed to trick him, by playing with him, into going into the area of the bedroom that was close to the bathroom and found out that his terror, and it was absolute terror, was focused on a plastic laundry basket that sat on the floor. To this day, I don't know why he became terrified of that thing. It had been in the same location for all his 8 years, and I never put stuff like clothes in which I'd gardened or done a lot of cleaning in because I'd take those straight downstairs to the laundry room - so it couldn't have been strange smells.

I brought the basket out of the room and he bolted and hid for hours, and then wouldn't come into the bedroom for several days. This went on for a couple of months until one day I scooped him up and took him into the bathroom with me. I sat on the seat of the loo and talked to him while he huddled up beside it on the floor. It took a long time but eventually he came out and moved towards the basket, sniffing constantly and his whole body on red alert. Then he got right up to it, walked around it and sniffed it thoroughly. Suddenly, his body language changed completely. His ears came back up and his tail came out from between his legs. He'd discovered that it wasn't a threat to him after all and he was fine with it from then on.

It never made any sense to me but it was very real to Ted.