MAJOR mood change in my cat after she came home.

[Mutwa]

Hi guys im new to the site an looking for some advice because i cant seem to find any info relating to this any where. Basically my 2 year old, black short haired cat, (Tifa who we have had from being a kitten) used to be an inside kitty when she was younger but for the past year she has been staying out a lot of the time. of course she still get fed as regularly as usual and she rarely comes in the house even when we leave the door open. she has always been nice natured, although timid, if she learnt to trust you she was the nicest cat ever. Unfortunately she went missing for about 3-5 days and i got very worried, we put her favourite food out for her and went looking for ages but couldnt find her. until i was at my front door at night and she came running over the fence with 2 new collars on. she had obviously been taken,(possibly taken in) by someone else We have bought countless collars for her and she always finds a way to take them off, so for the past 2 weeks she hasnt had one on. she has always been a very slim cat no matter how much we feed her ( we always give her 3 pouches of good quality wet food a day and her dry food bowl and water bowl is always full.) We managed to get her inside but ever since then she has been aggresive to her son (Shere Khan) and toward me and my girlfriend whenever we pick her up or sit her on our laps she doesnt resist but she growls constantly and then that turns into a meow. we are very worried because she seem like she has changed drastically. (and YES it is definately the same cat.)

[Karen]

Get her to the vet - it sounds like she may be in pain for some reason, major mood change is often the only indicator you will get.

[Medusa]

Yes, take her to the vet for peace of mind and especially b/c she's an outdoor cat. There's no telling what she could pick up. Also, b/c she had collars on means someone has taken her in and she may be missing them. You shouldn't be angry about that. If my cat were outdoors and went missing, I'd be grateful if someone took her in. At least I'd know that she had been taken care of and fed. Let us know what the vet says.

[Mutwa]

thanks, i was considering taking her to the vets anyway My point being we thought she went missing but they had just taken her. I just think its strange how she has always ben fine outside then a family with 2 young girls have taken her in, (we know who took her in now, although we havent spoken to them.) and now she is either in pain or just really p*ss*d all the time. i just worry that they have done something to her while she was in their house.

[pomtzu]

thanks, i was considering taking her to the vets anyway My point being we thought she went missing but they had just taken her. I just think its strange how she has always ben fine outside then a family with 2 young girls have taken her in, (we know who took her in now, although we havent spoken to them.) and now she is either in pain or just really p*ss*d all the time. i just worry that they have done something to her while she was in their house.

In addition to taking her to the vet, you need to speak to the people who took her in and find out what happened. They probably thought she was a stray and were looking out for her, and if their thought was to mistreat her, I doubt they would have gone to the trouble of putting a collar on her. I'm not being cruel in this next statement, but perhaps she is acting strange toward you because she wants to go back to the other people. Just a thought..........

[moosmom]

Could be a little of both. Cats don't like change. I'd isolate her in a room, just for a couple of days and all the strange (at least to her their strange) scents that are around. It shouldn't take long since she was only gone a short time.

First order of business though, it a trip to the vet just to be on the safe side!!!

Glad she's back!!

[Mutwa]

The vet says she is fine, no obvious health problems but she was growling at him too and she didnt do that when we took her before. she has been home for a few days now and she has been inside all that time. earlier it seemed she was becoming her old self again when she rolled on her back to let me stroke her belly, then bit me! she has never bit me before only by accident when i have hand-fed her some chicken breast or something as a treat.
we spoke to the people who took her in but they deny taking her even though the daughter came up and said ' its our cat.' still quite worried and now i am really stuck as with what to do....

[DriftyAlison0]

Is she spayed? And also not to be rude, if you let your cat outside, you take a risk of her being missing and other people taking them in, Isolate her in a room for a few days and let this be a lesson on why we should have cats indoors and not outdoors.

[tokolosh]

Earlier it seemed she was becoming her old self again when she rolled on her back to let me stroke her belly, then bit me!

Must be really upsetting for you If the children at the other house are very young AND their parents have no ethics/insight about training them to treat cats gently, they might have given her a pretty rough time, and maybe she's partly still reacting to that? I know every single young kid I've ever seen with a cat will get so excited they simply maul the poor thing even when their intentions are 'good' - unless someone stops them and sets an absolute limit on how to behave. And not to get righteous about it, but I do remember being really shocked when my son was small at how few of his age-mates' parents seemed to care or even notice their kids were acting like bullies, if it was an animal getting bullied instead of a kid. It's like a blind spot in some parents' minds. Anyway, maybe your cat has a touch of PTSD, which does take time to work through. Don't get discouraged, I guess I'm suggesting.

It occurs to me too that not even counting whether she was mistreated while she was away, she's suddenly being kept indoors 24/7 again when you said she had gotten used to being outside. Not saying 'let her out', notice - I don't want to go there. Just thinking it would put ME in a real crappy mood, so maybe it's part of her 'problem' too.

[Mutwa]

in reply to both your comments:

DriftyAlison: yes she is spayed, she was done after she had her kittens.

Tokolosh: This is exactly what i am worried about, now i hate to admit i dont live in one of the nicest areas of england and most of the people around here lack certain morales. what you have described here is basially what i think has happened, children on this estate have even run in our house chasing Tifa before and were trying to chase her and pick her up when she was pregnant. we have told them and the parents multiple times and they couldnt care less. im basically scared to let her outside.

[Karen]

Just don't let her outside any more at all. She will get used to it, and will be better off in the long run.

[tokolosh]

in reply to both your comments:

DriftyAlison: yes she is spayed, she was done after she had her kittens.

Tokolosh: This is exactly what i am worried about, now i hate to admit i dont live in one of the nicest areas of england and most of the people around here lack certain morales. what you have described here is basially what i think has happened

Trust me, it has nothing to do with 'nice' Unless England is very different from Canada, which I doubt in this respect since they're both full of human beings. I lived/had my son in daycares and schools all over the socioeconomic map, not counting his travels for sport purposes. The nicely-raised kids in the super-expensive daycare that cost twice what I was paying in rent were no better educated on this than the 'rough' ones he got to know a year later at his elementary school in our inner city. If anything, my brief read on them was the bad ones were worse because their parents were more smug about their kids never doing anything wrong. Like Valiant says, most people are just lekker zef.

The main thing is, your vet knows she wasn't permanently hurt. Shaken and scared and probably righteously hacked off about it, but nothing damaged physically. It's just too bad this should happen to a cat who was already shy with people. But in time maybe she'll learn all over again that you guys aren't them, and you're safe.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Just don't let her outside any more at all. She will get used to it, and will be better off in the long run.

I agree. It may take her a while to get used to being an indoor only cat but she'll be much safer and will most likely live much longer too. If you must let her out then try putting her on a harness. Then maybe you can train her to walk with you and then she'll remain safe. Good luck.