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Question about new behaviour of cat towards Tiga


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Hi everyone. It's been a while since I've been on here. Things have been super busy with work and travelling to Newfoundland for the holidays. We took Tiga with us to Newfoundland to see my family and then to my SO's family in New Brunswick. Tiga was an excellent little traveller. It was his first really long road trip. After we got back, my roommates cat started acting really strangely towards Tiga. They have always gotten along really well, playing all the time. Since we've been back, he will make these really loud moaning meows then a load screeching meow and then lunge at Tiga. Tiga will yelp and run away. It's gotten to the point that Tiga is scared out of his wits of Riley. The cat has also started making the noises at me and my SO but hasn't lunged at us. About a month or two ago, Riley had gotten into a fight outside and got an infection from a wound. He was on anitbiotics for it and it got better, but now he's acting like this. Our roommate took him to the vet this morning and I haven't talked to him since, so I'm not sure what they said, but the cat has attacked Tiga again since he got back from the vet. Any ideas of what's going on here? First I thought it was because Tiga was away and he now thought it was his territory even though Tiga has lived here much longer. But Tiga was away last year for 2 weeks with my SO and the cat was fine when Tiga got back. So I'm baffled and getting concerned about this new relationship they have.

 

We also got some really sad news about Tiga's best friend Rowan (a rottie). She is the sweetest, gentlest dog that I know and we love her very much. She hasn't been feeling well and the top of her head was sore. They took her to the vet and they told them they thought it might be sinuses. They did blood work and nothing showed up. She hasn't been getting better so they took her back in. They did a head x-ray and she has a tumor in her sinus cavity and it is slowly wearing away the bone between her 2 sinus cavities. The diagnosis is not good and they said she only has a couple of months left. There is a surgery that can be done, but it costs about $5000 and they don't have the money to do it and don't have enough time to get the money together. I wish I had the money for them. :rolleyes: We're all very sad right now. Please send good thoughts to Rowan. They have her on prednisone to shrink the tumor and they have pain killers if she needs them. So far she is doing well with the prednisone and has been eating a lot better. It seems to be relieving her. I am so heart broken right now.

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Goodness, I have no idea about the cat. How old is the cat? I'm curious what the vet says, sometimes a change in behavior like that could be linked to medical. I know my supervisor has two cats... one had an extremely bad reaction to some vaccines years ago. It's thrown the cat off the deep end a little bit... half the time he gets along great with his buddy cat, the other half the time he can't seem to recognize him and will attack him and freak out. :rolleyes: It's very sad.

 

I'm so sad to hear about Rowan. Sounds very familiar to my family's story. It's just so heartbreaking to know there's nothing you can do.

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I thought that it was something medical as well. That's why we brought it to the owners attention. The cat is about 3 years old. We were thinking rabies because the cat was showing some of those signs and where he had gotten wounded recently and he wasn't up to date on his shots. Well I finally talked to my roommate last night, and turns out that the cat is depressed and frustrated. He is an outdoor cat and it got really cold here earlier then usual and we have a ton more snow then we usually do at this time of year. The vet updated him on his shots and told my roommate to go and get some more toys for the cat. I think it's mainly because he can't go outside and his owner is gone for over 12 hours a day. So in the meantime, Tiga won't really go near him anymore which is a shame, but hopefully this will pass.

 

There are pictures of Rowan and Tiga in the gallery if you want to take a look. I'll be taking lots more pictures and spending lots of time with her.

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Ahh yeah, that sounds about right. Displaced aggression and frustration. I had to deal with that with my cat for a little while, it was no fun. (For a different reason, though.) Certainly sounds like a cat who needs activities and play time to release his frustrations.

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What would freak me out about the cat's behavior is that it was following a fight outside...Is there a possibility it could have come into contact with rabies? Unfortunately there is only one way to test for that. But, I would do my best to separate Tiga and the cat until you know whats up...

 

Also, perhaps the fight was with a dog, and not another cat. That would explain the cat's change of heart...

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That's the first thing that I thought too actually. I called the vet to ask if that was a possiblity but they told me that even if he'd had 1 rabies shot in his life then the likelihood of it being that are pretty slim but to bring the cat in anyway. She said there was no need to seperate them. That was my initial concern. But he was seen by the vet and that's not it. I thought it may have been that he was attacked by a dog and that may be what it is but I guess we will probably never know. He's a little better today. He even rubbed up against Tiga and let Tiga sniff him withough attacking. I'm not working right now, so I'll be keeping a close eye on his behavior.

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