Conference misery::feline_v1

3591.0. "Feline anxiety attacks?!" by IOSG::THOMPSONR (Nostalgia isn't what it used to be) Fri May 11 1990 07:08

I'm posting this note on behalf of my cousin, who chose Henri and Sophie for me.
She has two completely black cats, one long haired (Roly Poly) and the other
short haired (Pipsqueak) though they are sisters.

About a year ago she went on a long holiday, and arranged for a good friend to
live in her house and look after the cats.  Unfortunately she lives on a fairly
busy road, and one evening, Roly Poly went out to look for her coming home (as
usual), but she got run over.  My cousin's friend was beside herself with 
anguish and looked everywhere for Roly.  Eventually she found some posters up
on a lampost, saying that a black cat had been found, barely alive, on the side
of the road and that this person had taken it to the vet (so there ARE some
wonderful people in this world still!).  This samaritan that he couldn't believe
how people could have the heart to just drive past it, so he gently picked her
up and took her to the vet (even though he had no guarentee of finding the 
owner, but he said that she had obviously been well cared for and he knew that
'someone out there loved her').

Well when Roly returned from the vet, she had a terribly traumatic time, as 
Pipsqueak kept hissing at her (she smelt of the vet's surgery) and she felt
terribly insecure.  However, one day Pipsqueak decided that enough was enough,
and she took Roly in her arms and licked every inch of her body, from head to
tail.  When she had finished, it seemed that everything was back to normal again.

But about 6 months or so after that, when my cousin had to go away again, and she
arranged for another friend (Emma) to look after the cats in the house, 
when she came back she noticed that Roly appeared to have a bad 'cough' and a 
very strange-sounding purr.  Roly was taken to
the vets, where after a lot of time and trouble, they diagnosed 'fur balls' as 
being the cause, and told my cousin not to worry about it.

Time has passed since then and whenever my cousin went away, a good friend, 
Chris came to the house to look after the cats.  Roly was fine.  However, on her
last holiday, Emma looked after the cats again, and, since she's been back, 
Roly's cough has returned, much stronger than before, and she is constantly
panting, except when being cuddled by my cousin.

Another trip to the vets has revealed that Roly is, in fact, suffering from a
nervous breakdown since the accident.  She seems to associate being left in the
house with a stranger, with the car accident.  Since she knows Chris very well
she didn't worry, but whenever someone that she didn't know looked after them it
appears that she gets these 'anxiety attacks'.  She is going to see a 'cat
analyst' in London (I didn't know there was such a thing).

Has anyone ever come across this before?  More importantly, is it curable? 

[Ruth]

    I am surprised th ecough is still continuing even though your
    cousin has apparently been back for awhile? The vet is absolutely sure
    that this time there is not something else wrong?  Just because Roly
    has had a nervous problem in teh past doesn't mean she still has just
    that now.
    
    Yes, I have seen this.  When I had just one cat and went on vacation
    with a good-cat-loving-friend stopping by to feed him, my cat had a
    sore
    throat when I came home.  The vet said he wasn't sick, that he
    must have cried a lot when he was by himself.  Now I have three
    cats and they keep each other company when I'm not there.
    
    Maybe a temporary tranquilizer would help Roly.  Maybe Chris
    could do all the cat sitting instead of Emma.
    

    I spoke to my cousin last night and she says that Roly is now much
    better.  Looks like Chris will be doing the babysitting as you
    suggested!  I wonder how long this will affect Roly - maybe for the
    rest of her life?
    
    [Ruth]