I have a house full of kitties and have never had this issue until recently. I have a 2 yo cat, Keaton, who is basically a baby. He came to our house at a little under 2 weeks old, eyes not even fully opened, having lost his mom cat and spent a day outside alone with his littermates until someone found them under a shed after hearing them mewing for hours and realizing they hadn't seen a mom cat. The person who found them had purchased kitten formula and was bottle feeding them but didn't have time to do so nor the money to buy the formula any longer so we brought the kittens to us to care for. Keaton was the littlest one, and when we got him was doing poorly.
We took care of them and he bonded a lot with me. One of the kittens passed at 5 weeks and we found a home for the other one once they were 10 wks old, but decided to keep Keaton. He is a very very attached cat, tries to nurse on blankets still at times, did not want to wean from the bottle when he was a kitten, sleeps on my pillow and is always near me.
He had never had problems being around storms until a few months ago. I do daycare in my home and a parent was leaving. Keaton was by the front door and as I opened the door for a parent to leave, thunder boomed and lightening flashed at the same time. Keaton disappeared. We searched the house looking for him and couldn't find him, so I worried he had gotten outside. He has never been outside so I was very concerned. I searched and couldn't find him. Finally we look again inside and he was in the bottom of the pantry cowering in the corner...in a puddle of pee, like he had peed himself.
Next time it stormed, he his in the litter box closet, in a litter box, on a fresh puddle of pee. I think he gets scared and pees because he is scared! he doesn't pee everytime but when he gets really scared, he sometimes does!
Other times it has stormed or even gotten really rainy/windy, he will hide wherever he can that is dark and away from windows. he is also now terrified of doors. He won't go near doors at all, and meows/cries if he is being held and gets walked near a door. Two days ago we had a small, 10 minute thunderstorm and he tried to jump into a box to hide. I got him and set him on my lap and put a blanket over him and petted him to try and calm him down.
What is weird to me is that during storms when he hides or is sitting in my lap...he just stares. He won't close his eyes, look around, follow movement, he just sits incredibly tense, hunched over and has his eyes open just staring into the air.
Does anyone else have a cat that does this? Or any ideas to try and help him stay calm? His heart races during storms when he is sitting tense and staring and it worries me!
We took care of them and he bonded a lot with me. One of the kittens passed at 5 weeks and we found a home for the other one once they were 10 wks old, but decided to keep Keaton. He is a very very attached cat, tries to nurse on blankets still at times, did not want to wean from the bottle when he was a kitten, sleeps on my pillow and is always near me.
He had never had problems being around storms until a few months ago. I do daycare in my home and a parent was leaving. Keaton was by the front door and as I opened the door for a parent to leave, thunder boomed and lightening flashed at the same time. Keaton disappeared. We searched the house looking for him and couldn't find him, so I worried he had gotten outside. He has never been outside so I was very concerned. I searched and couldn't find him. Finally we look again inside and he was in the bottom of the pantry cowering in the corner...in a puddle of pee, like he had peed himself.
Next time it stormed, he his in the litter box closet, in a litter box, on a fresh puddle of pee. I think he gets scared and pees because he is scared! he doesn't pee everytime but when he gets really scared, he sometimes does!
Other times it has stormed or even gotten really rainy/windy, he will hide wherever he can that is dark and away from windows. he is also now terrified of doors. He won't go near doors at all, and meows/cries if he is being held and gets walked near a door. Two days ago we had a small, 10 minute thunderstorm and he tried to jump into a box to hide. I got him and set him on my lap and put a blanket over him and petted him to try and calm him down.
What is weird to me is that during storms when he hides or is sitting in my lap...he just stares. He won't close his eyes, look around, follow movement, he just sits incredibly tense, hunched over and has his eyes open just staring into the air.
Does anyone else have a cat that does this? Or any ideas to try and help him stay calm? His heart races during storms when he is sitting tense and staring and it worries me!
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