Phoebe is an 8 year old Himalayan. Over a month ago now she started getting scabs and sores around her neck area. This also happened last year for the first time – apparently a seasonal allergy. They weren’t too bad this year, until one day a few weeks ago she came tearing in the bedroom and jumped on the bed to show us a quarter-sized bleeding sore on the back of her neck, and a tuft of hair/skin still hanging (apparently self-inflicted). We cleaned it up with some peroxide and decided she would need to get to the vet. The vet prescribed Prednisolone (steroid) for the sores and an antibiotic to stave off infection. Well prior to the bleeding incident Phoebe started hiding under our bed and being very anti-social. Normally she is super friendly and loveable and would sit with us, sleep with us and greet guests all the time. But she just went in to hiding in early January, and just has not been right ever since. Usually hiding under the bed, but if we lock her out of the bedroom she’ll find a corner or behind a plant, or the dryer, etc. She doesn't go out of her way to eat or drink, but if we put food in front of her she'll chow down and drink quite a bit. For a week she stopped using the litter box, which concerned us especially. So we took her to the vet again. They checked her out and she was in reportedly good health. They gave her fluids to try to induce peeing, but that didn’t happen. A few days later we took her back for blood work because she still didn’t use the litter box. They gave her more fluids and did the blood work with expedited results. That night we got the results – no problems. Their conclusion was that it was a behavioral problem of some sorts. Well finally we captured her from under the bed and locked her in the laundry room with the food and litter box. She hid behind the dryer for hours. We eventually opened the door and for some reason she decided to FINALLY use the litter box on the way out, then back under the bed.
Well this behavior has gone on for weeks now. It’s inexplicable to us. She’ll just sit under the bed all day and all night. Every time we look at her she seems wide awake. She’s been using the litter box on occasion now, at least, and sometimes eating and drinking. But when she leaves the bed she tears through the house running as fast as she can, usually only in the middle of the night. What's also strange is if we can capture her and bring her to the couch, she'll peacefully sit on our laps all night. As soon as we leave her alone though, she RUNS under the bed, all day, all night, no food, water or litter box. I think her hygiene has fallen to the wayside as well. She stinks!
Her scabs and sores healed some after the meds, but some are still present, albeit not that bad. Since the hiding started when the sores came about, my thought is she feels vulnerable and is hiding out until she is all healed (although she didn’t really do this last year). She runs to the litter box and runs back maybe so she cannot be ambushed. She doesn’t eat much because her food is out in the open, where she is vulnerable. She sits peacefully on our laps when we’re on the couch maybe because she feels we can protect her.
So I’m wondering if anyone has any thoughts on Phoebe’s state of distress. Has anyone ever experienced this sudden odd change in behavior in a cat? Does anyone have any experience with cat psychology? Any Cat Whisperers out there? I’ve heard they make kitty Prozac. Could this be an option?
Hope someone can help. She's become a very depressing cat. Thanks in advance.
