Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I have two cats, both sisters, 3 yrs old, both spayed, one is active, skinny and bitchy to everyone but me and my husband, and the other is fat, loud and an attention grabber.

Just recently, as in the past 2 months, we started to let them wander outside, because we moved into a nicer neighborhood. We usually round them up at night and bring them back inside, they go to bed with us happy.

Tonight we acidentally left them out a little bit after dark and that's where things get odd.

Ralph, the skinny one, tonight is hissing like mad at her sister and isn't liking to be petted for too long. She'll grumble and growl if we pick her up but we can't find any bites, scratches or anything physically wrong with her, no indications of a fight or skuffle.

Cinders, the fat one, is normal behaviour, except she is keeping away from Ralph. Could Ralph have gotten into a fight and just not be injured but spooked? They have had their rabies shots, but could that have failed? She's not going psycho, when we approach her, alone, she rolls onto her back, exposing her belly, or flumping, as we call it, and wanting to be pet.

What's up? I appreciate any help or advice you can give. Thanks!

Almost forgot to add:

We just put flea collars on them today, could that be bugging Ralph and not Cincers? They've had normal collars on, although Ralph tends to break out of it. Also, we took both collars off Ralph but she's still behaving strangely. We haven't taken the flea collar off of Cinders yet though. She's currently hiding under the bed and unreachable, poor thing!

Thanks!

Personally I don't use flea collars except in my vaccum cleaner. Talk to your vet about a spot on treatment. I use frontline, and I know a lot of people who use advantage.
Ralphie might be responding to the smell and not liking it.
Good luck let us know what happens.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

I personally don't understand how anyone can put a flea collar on their cat. Are you aware of how easily they can strangle themselves with them? It has happened, and more than once. If you are concerned about fleas please use Frontline or Advantage spot-on treatment, those are the only save products for cats. Please do not use flea powder either as cats lick that stuff off themselves - poisoning is quite common.

As for Ralph's behaviour, it might have to do with the collar, maybe she got hooked somewhere with it and got scared and is spooked? Or she has an allergic reaction to the ingredients? I would suggest to keep the collars off and see if she calms down/goes back to her normal behaviour. If so, keep the collars off in future, who knows what trouble she had with them.

If she's still acting weird tomorrow or in a couple of days, or even shows other symptoms - not eating, vomiting, lethargic or anything - take her to your vet asap.

She could also have eaten something outside?

I would advice not to let your cats out, certainly not at the moment since you are not quite sure what's wrong with her.

In general, you are putting your cats in danger when you let them out. You have no control whatsoever over what happens to them outside (dogs, traffic, poisonous plants, nasty neighbours etc etc). I have lost four cats to the outdoor dangers, I know what I'm talking about. For my remaining two I am now building a (very large) enclosure in the garden, but no free roaming anymore.

Good luck! Let us know how it's going.

Tilda

First off, I have to agree, get rid of the flea collars and get something from the vet. Most of the over the counter things are ineffective and often unsafe.

Letting cats outside is also not a good idea..there are so many dangers, even in a good neighborhood or the country. Outside cats have a much shorter life span then indoor cats.

As to the behavior, it could be many things. Having been near another cat, having gotten into something oderous that you can't smell but to a cats nose is blatant, or something just plain scary.
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PHTessie