MAJOR mood change in my cat after she came home.

**Mutwa** · 08-14-2011, 08:53 AM

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** · 08-14-2011, 07:09 PM

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** · 08-14-2011, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by Mutwa

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** · 08-15-2011, 04:36 AM

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** · 08-15-2011, 11:24 AM

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.

**krazyaboutkatz** · 08-15-2011, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

**tokolosh** · 08-15-2011, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by 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

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.