I am a HUGE animal lover, especially my sweet boy George. I adopted him from a shelter 5 years ago after a really messy break up and he has been my ever loyal, loving, constant companion since. He is a strictly indoor cat but has a cat tent
http://www.amazon.com/ABO-Gear-Happy-Habitat-Indoor/dp/B002KWHE1E, it is awesome. He LOVES being outside and he is safe in the tent, love this product. I had him outside yesterday while I was weeding the garden. He meowed to let me know that he was ready to go in for his supper, I unzipped the door (as I have a million times before) and he darted! I totally panicked and grabbed for him, got him, he screamed and got loose again so I grabbed him again and he screamed again and hissed at me...NEVER has that ever happened before. I brought him in and he hid out from me. Ate dinner normally, hid out after and then I saw him try to jump into his perch and he cried..I freaked out and brought him to the Emergency Vet, I love him so much and needed to make sure that I hadn't injured him. He does not do well in the car, barfed on his blanket in his kennel and then we had to wait 1.5 hours for the vet. The vet did a thorough check, did not think he needed pain meds or xrays and $116.00 later we headed for home. The only discharge instruction was to keep him from jumping for a few days. I slept on the floor with him and he cuddled next to me as usual, ate as usual and now he's been hiding from me since. Two vets have assured me that this is a normal stress reaction and that he will come around in a few days. They said that it's a reaction to being faced by a "predator" (that being me chasing and grabbing him) and that he's stressed from the car ride, puking, vet, etc, me grabbing him. I feel terrible, awful, distressed. I have been crying, etc. I can't explain to him, because he's a cat, that I had to do it so he wouldn't run away or get hit by a car. All that he knows is that this person that he loves and trusts hurt and scared him. I am feeling a little heartbroken....my poor sweet George.
I completely understand how you feel. My cat, Blackberry, is an indoor girl, but when my fiance moved in with me, he brought his outdoor cat, Riley, with him. Riley is still an outdoor cat, and almost every day we find rabbit or bird entrails in our yard and I just feel so AWFUL that he does that, but we decided we can't just make him an indoor cat after seven years... lucky for me my Blackberry is too afraid of the outdoors to do much more than sit on the back porch. I would panic of she wandered!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your guy will calm down and forget all about the episode before long. Give him lots of pets! :)
I hope so, I'm totally bummed out.
ReplyDeletePlease don't be hard on yourself! I think a lot of cat owners have probably had a moment when they've unintentionally bumped or frightened their cat - I accidentally trod on my cat when he brushed past once, and I think overcompensating freaked him out as much as anything! I know from experience you feel awful about it but it's the five years of love you've given him that's important. He will forget about it soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. I hope that it will just take a few days...this stinks!
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