Conference misery::feline

    My rule of thumb is, when in doubt call the vet, and if the vet feels
    it's necessary to see Spike, take him in.  He could have gotten very
    chilled.  Something could be brewing, and an early visit could detect a
    problem before it's too hard to treat.
    
    Good luck,
    Steffi 

    Hi Sarah....
    
    It wouldn't hurt to call the vet just to make sure nothing is wrong..
    but I doubt very much that being out in the cold for that short time
    would have anything to do with how he is acting.  Many stray cats
    survive this very cold weather and they spend their life in the cold.
    
    My guess would be...that something scared the heck out of him outside..
    or he just has cabin fever and is acting weird.  All my cats have spent
    99% of the time in...and they are going crazy.  I'm seeing behaviour
    I have never seen before. (removing wallpaper...scratching at my wood
    doors even though they always used the cat tree...fighting more with
    each other..etc.  They are driving me crazy!!) 
    
    Sandy

    Thanks for the responses.  I called his vet this morning, and she
    pretty much agreed with Sandy.  Spike is usually an outdoor-indoor cat,
    so a short time in the cold shouldn't have bothered him physically. 
    She also suggested he might have been frightened (my neighbor has a BIG
    German Shepard - sweetheart of a dog, but he does like to chase small
    animals for fun).  I'm keeping a close eye on him, though.  For some
    reason he looks, I don't know how to describe it, a bit rumpled and
    confused.  If he's still acting oddly by tomorrow, in he goes for a
    check-up.   Keep your fingers crossed, and if anything else comes to
    mind, please add it here.  He's such a big old sweetie, I'd hate to
    think something is REALLY wrong with him... : (
    Sarah

    Was Spike a stray at any time?  My girls, who both suffered
    straydom, had a hard time and although it's been year they both
    are very nervous when I have let them out lately (and that's not usual).  
    They don't leave the door step unless one of us is out with them 
    (and the door step is as open and cold as the rest of the yard) and 
    then as soon as we go back to the door the cats race ahead to make 
    sure we don't go in without them. 
    
    Staring at the wall:  as cats see heat and cold (red for heat and green 
    for cold I believe), my theory is that they see eddys of heat making a 
    pattern in the air.  Sometimes Tigger will stare at the heat coming
    from of my hair dryer, even after I have turned it off, and it drives me
    crazy when they stare in the corner every time the heating kicks in.

    hmmmm...straydom!!!  Many of my former strays are acting just
    like that!!  In the summer they rush out the door...and now they
    peak outside and look at me as if to say "I'm not going out there
    alone".   Barkley is the one I noticed this most with...he will
    only step on the porch if I do first and I do know Barkley spent
    3 years as an outdoor stray in my neighborhood.
    
    Maybe the cold brings back those awful memories ...
    
    

    
    Could the kitty have gotten into a small amount of antifreeze?
    

    Aside from the cabin fever, Spike may have been chased by your
    neighbors dog.  Perhaps it was "too close a call" for his liking 
    and is a little displaced from this.  Cats are territorial too and
    if this dog has scared him off of his own, well.
    
    Spike doesn't sound too worse for the wear, but keep an eye 
    on him.
    Good luck,
    Karen

    Sarah,
    
         How old is Spike?  Our Bigfoot is 15 years old, and he has days
    when he's a bit confused.  For him, it might be a touch of senility.
    
    					- Andrea

    I had a cat, Cricket, that was afraid of everything, but did go
    outside.  I let her out one winter night and couldn't find her to come
    in.  I knew something was wrong because it had started to snow and she
    never wanted to get her feet wet.  Finally I went to bed and in the
    middle of the night I heard meowing at the back door.  When I opened
    the door she came rushing past me, into the bedroom and under the bed. 
    Whe was absolutely filthy and she was one who never allowed a speck of
    dirt to linger on her coat.  She absolutely refused to go out again for
    about a week or so.  
    
    I figure, from the looks of her, something/someone must have trapped
    her somewhere and she had the daylights scared out of her.  Maybe that's
    what happened to Spike.
    
    Good luck, and I hope all goes well.
    
    Marilyn

    I have no idea how old Spike is.  He was the neighborhood stray for a
    couple of years before he decided he was going to live with me.  The
    vet had trouble estimating his age, but figures it's somewhere between 7
    and 10 years old.  I'm beginning to wonder if part of it was the dog.
    With all the snow we have, he may be been chased by Bear, but his
    usual "slip under the fence" spot would now be covered by snow.  Poor
    thing was propbably in a panic trying to figure out how to get to
    safety (our yard is completely fenced, so Bear would not have been able
    to get in). But he still had that "dazed and confused" look about him
    this morning.  Maybe I'm imagining it.  I've looked for other signs of
    trouble; litter box problems, appetite problems. But so far he's doing
    a good job filling the litter box and emptying his food bowl : ) My
    other cat Brutus doesn't seem to notice anything odd about Spike, and
    the dogs aren't giving him an unusually wide berth (I tend to use my
    other pets as barometers for each other.  They sense an illness or
    injury long before I find it!).  The dogs especially can sense if one
    of the cats is in a bad mood (keeps them from losing an eye to a set
    of sharp claws!!) Thanks again for all the support and advice.  I'm 
    going to give him a good going-over tonight, and watch him carefully.  
    Maybe it's nothing, maybe he's just punishing me for allowing him to go 
    outside.  He's probably laughing like heck: "Hey Brutus! Watch Mom get 
    all worried and stupid when I just stare at the corner over there! 
    And watch this - I'm going to walk into the den, look at the wall
    again, and walk right out. Look at her, look at her!  She's so dumb...". 
    Sarah

    
    Farnham is very upset with all the snow. He was fed up when we left for
    Italy and installed a relative with 2 huge dogs to housesit when we
    were away, but the huge snowdrifts have depressed him terribly..
    
    However, we have bigger worries. I am seeing something non catlike with
    Farnham. He squeaks rather than meows and with his gray-white coloring
    is starting to remind me of a mouse. I am seriously wondering if he
    could be part mouse. 
    
    But then he has sheeplike tendencies too...
    

>    outside.  He's probably laughing like heck: "Hey Brutus! Watch Mom get 
>    all worried and stupid when I just stare at the corner over there! 
>    And watch this - I'm going to walk into the den, look at the wall
>    again, and walk right out. Look at her, look at her!  She's so dumb...". 
 
   Sarah, my cat does this all the time.

	He's a 4-year old stray I've had for 3.5 years.

	He walks across the carpet towards the settee, and halfway there he 
	stops, one paw still in mid air (mid walk). He'll stare at the wall, for
	about 2 minutes, then continue to the settee and lay down.

	Or he'll just walk towards a wall, sit down and stare at it.

	It may be a bit worring if your's hasn't done it before, but Yoda is
	quite happy, healthy...............and daft as lights!

	Heather

    Rosie does it too - sits with her nose almost touching the wall-paper
    and just stares dreamily at it. It's often followed by a period of
    intense activity, either running madly up and down the stairs or
    pouncing on my other cat Jimmy when he's asleep (she loves to tease
    him).
    
    Another trick she has is to look at a point just past me as though she
    can see someone behind me. Very unnerving sometimes. She also pounces
    as though there's a spider there, but I can see nothing.
       

    Well, Spike seems to be back to his old self.  I have no idea what
    gives, but he seems to have a good grip on reality now. No more
    confusion, no more staring.  Goofy cat...He woke me up 3 times last
    night - once to eat, and twice to dislodged a hair-ball.  Now THAT'S
    the cat I'm used to having around the house : (  
    Sarah

    
    Well, my 4 year old calico cat, Callie hasn't been home for almost
    2 days now.  I live in N.H. and it's been really cold.  I thought
    that she was in the house sleeping yesterday (sometimes she likes
    to sleep underneath my son's crib) and my husband asked me this morning
    if the cat came in yet.  She is a calico cat but mostly white.  I'm
    afraid that she may have blended in with the snowbanks and someone
    may have hit her and not have realized it.  If it's really cold
    outside, she doesn't stay out too long and that's why I assumed my
    husband let her in and she was upstairs snoozing away.  With this
    cold weather I don't think she could have survived.  My 2 year old
    is going to be looking for her when he gets home (we didn't have
    power all day yesterday and into the p.m. so he wasn't home to 
    chase the kitty around).  I guess at this point I'll have to keep
    my fingers crossed and look for her outside.  I hope she's o.k...
    
    -Chris

    Chris...
    
    I hope your kitty is sitting waiting for you when you get home.
    I find it truly amazing how my strays learn to survive in this
    cold weather...somehow they manage.
    
    I have even set up my shed as a kitty shelter with hay/blankets/boxes
    etc...but I find nobody sleeps there at night.  My guess is they
    must have a warmer spot to go to or they would take advantage of
    the shed.
    
    Keep us posted....
    
    Sandy

    
    Well, I went home last nite and there was no kitty.  I kept looking
    out the window and leaving the outside lights on.  My husband would
    call her and he searched the yard.  I knew that if she didn't come
    home last nite that she'd probably freeze to death.  By 8:00pm, I
    gave up hope.  Then my husband said that he had something for me
    and it was Callie!  Her white fur was black with oil or grease.
    I have a feeling she was inside the engine of a car to keep warm
    and got all dirty.  Good thing they didn't start the car.  My
    husband said he heard this faint "meow" and looked out the door
    and there was Callie.  He opened the door and she jumped on him
    and was all over him.  She was shaking like a leaf.  To her
    dismay, we had to give her a bath but she was sleeping like a
    baby this morning!  
    
    Phew!  
    Chris :)

	Great news!

	You know, sometimes I wonder if they do it deliberatley for all the 
	extra fuss and special treats they get!

	I wouldn't put anything past a moggie!

	It's wonderful news.

	Heather

Chris,

I'm so glad to hear Callie came home and is fine...I love a happy ending!

Hugs,
Laura