(Untitled)

Nov 30, 2009 09:24

OK, no mom news (hopefully on Wed., I'll have some), so I'm gonna ask you about my cats and see if anyone can figure this the heck out ( Read more... )

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Comments 10

plantmom November 30 2009, 14:44:20 UTC
Firstly, I don't think it's just the 15 minutes outside. I think it's the entire sequence of events, from Tuesday on. Cats don't like change, and change in the pattern of our behavior freaks them out. It took something more dramatic (your accidentally leaving the door up, etc.) for you to notice it, but I bet something was brewing already.
Don't know why the change in dominance, though. Hope things settle down for you and them, and they work out their stuff. By the way, one thing that often does something like this in our house is a change in the weather, the likes of which you don't have down there. If for some reason the house gets really cold (10-day power outage, us accidentally leaving the heat off after a particularly warm day), the cats become feral, I swear. They run around like lunatics with little or no notice of what or whom they are running over. It's hilarious unless you're trying to sleep.

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bluesilverkdg November 30 2009, 15:00:22 UTC
Well, I know that they were very agitated with me being gone so much. Almost the entire week, I'd be out the door at 6-7 in the morning and not return until 10 or 11 at night. One day (Wed, I think it was), I actually let the food bowl go completely dry. I also had to switch cat litter temporarily, because I'd run out of their usual kind and didn't think to get them more for a few days. (They normally use the pine stuff, and they had to go back to the old clay kind...not sure what they thought of that, but it was a switch for about 2-3 days.) And I'm sure they could probably sense a change in me. I was crying a lot, very stressed, very tense and while I tried to pay them as much attention as possible when I was home, that wasn't much ( ... )

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aceofkittens November 30 2009, 17:57:22 UTC
Your cats are definitely picking up on your emotional state and your stress. One thing you could do is give them a "timeout." Just separate the boys and don't reintroduce them until you are in the room and a bit calmer than you are now. Easier said than done, right? I'm sorry this is happening to you all at once.

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nothinganything November 30 2009, 18:48:52 UTC
I'm totally updated on the mom thing now, by the way.

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theldara November 30 2009, 19:22:07 UTC
This is normal, don't sweat it. I've seen it dozens of times, esp when I lived in the city, worked 12 hour shifts, and other people let my cats out occasionally. They'll calm down in a week or two.

Trim their claws again and scrub them both down with a damp towel (get any funky smells off), then let them figure it out. Don't put them in the garage any for the next few weeks. Since they worked so well previously, they should get the picture before too long.

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solfox November 30 2009, 21:54:20 UTC
Any number of things could cause the issue, and you've described a lot of stressors on the cats. Try to get things as close to "normal" as you're able, and buy some Feliway diffusers. Hopefully the combo will soothe ruffled hackles and get things back to the way they were.

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