And After Confinement?

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tobyo

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Ugh. Hoping this is just a temporary setback......the change that we think has freaked him out? The Christmas tree???? Man this cat is SO sensitive!!!!

We got our annual Christmas tree Saturday. and since it's the middle of the night, well, almost time to go to work yay!!! back to my thought.....since it's the middle of the night I can't ask hubby but what I remember is that Frankie freaked out a little bit about the "new thing in his life": the tree. Pretty sure hubby spent some time consoling Frankie at some point after the tree was placed in the living room.

So, Saturday night I also gave Frankie a tiny bit more food since he was sitting in front of the door of his "studio apartment" giving me those sad eyes. I thought that might have been what made him awaken at 3:00, poop in his box and race around the house, the same thing he did the day we confined him. Well tonight it was a bit worse. Same time as Saturday night: 3 a.m. yawn..........

This time I tossed him out of my room and shut the door and that was enough to cause him to have an accident. He is very sensitive to my moods and reactions and he probably thought I was mad at him for racing into my bedroom. I was a little bit but mostly I just wanted to get back to sleep, which did not happen :(

I heard him open the door to my daughter's room so I got up and eventually he went into the kitchen and peed in his box and I gave him a treat. Okay, maybe we can all relax now that both me and my daughter were awakened. I guess not because Frankie pooped on my lazy boy and immediately afterwards came flying into my daughter's room all freaked out. I know this pattern from before confinement and sure enough, I found his accident. It was my daughter that said it's got to be the tree that is freaking him out and I think she's right. It's the only new thing since this new behavior began Saturday night. At some point he also growled and my daughter thinks it was right before he pooped in the lazy boy. We haven't heard him growl since that first night of confinement.

So I went downstairs and I sat in his "studio apartment" (basement bathroom where he was confined for three weeks, in case there is someone new reading this) and consoled him for several minutes.

I guess this is what my vet friend calls a setback. Sigh......

here's a photo I took of him hanging out in the living room window yesterday:

Frankie living room window.jpg
 
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tobyo

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and then he threw up. I wonder if drinking the Christmas tree water upset his stomach? I guess we'll see what happens tonight.......
 

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Hi. If he is so freaked out by the tree, you think he drank water from the bottom? More like, perhaps, he threw up because he freaked out. What a kitty, what a kitty! Just - as you already know - keep an eye on him.
 
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tobyo

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Hi. If he is so freaked out by the tree, you think he drank water from the bottom? More like, perhaps, he threw up because he freaked out. What a kitty, what a kitty! Just - as you already know - keep an eye on him.
yes, I saw/heard him drinking the water. our previous cats did that too.

yea, hard to say why he threw up. he didn't throw up the last time he freaked out so it makes me wonder. heavy sigh. Frankie, Frankie, Frankie.

he also nearly missed lunch? now that is a first! we had to go find him at lunch time. He NEVER misses a feeding! so yea, maybe still freaked out. goodness...
 

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Just can't understand if he is so freaked out by the tree why he would go near it...
Apparently, he just doesn't like the change in general - but, the actual tree being there is not enough to stop him from getting near it enough so that he can drink the water. So, while it could be the tree's appearance and change to the room in general, it is apparently not the tree in terms of fear of it????
 
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tobyo

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Just can't understand if he is so freaked out by the tree why he would go near it...
Apparently, he just doesn't like the change in general - but, the actual tree being there is not enough to stop him from getting near it enough so that he can drink the water. So, while it could be the tree's appearance and change to the room in general, it is apparently not the tree in terms of fear of it????
good points those. unless there's something medical (again) going on? hard to say....he got sap on his forehead and really didn't like that. so I got a dab of peanut butter and tried to rub it in to remove the sap. you can probably guess how well that went :biggrin: BUT, I don't see much sap there any more so maybe he got the rest of it off by himself. and maybe he'll stay away from the tree now? actually, he has not gone near it at all today, just Saturday evening and most of the day yesterday.
 

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He may or may not go near the tree again - there is no way to gauge that on ANY cat, yours included!! Lol. Maybe the sap upset his stomach? I don't know about that, but I do know there have been some posts about getting sap out of cat hair (haha, so you are NOT the only one). Do a search on this site for that, and maybe you find something better than peanut butter - way out of my experience!!!
 
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tobyo

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Peanut butter usually works for me. We have a cabin in northern Minnesota and we're always getting sap on this, that or the other thing. There might be a special soap for it but I've always used peanut butter. Might be the oil in it that does the trick?

Anyway, no middle of the night racing through the house last night so maybe he's over this last "freak-out". I've never had such a sensitive cat!!!!
 

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One of my co-workers had to take his tree down last weekend because his dog became so skittish. They couldn't figure it out for a while, but the dog started shaking and slinking around the rooms of the house, avoiding the room with the tree. He finally put two and two together and realized that might be the problem.
They took it down, and it took a couple days for him to settle down, but the dog is back to being normal.
Have you tried putting some Rescue Remedy on his ears during this time? While I don't decorate for Christmas (too much work for no one else to enjoy), one of my kitties has had issues after I had to put his brother down. He would keep me up at night, crying, and sometimes, he would just pace and whatnot. RR works like an absolute charm for him. I wonder if it would help Frankie in this situation.
 
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tobyo

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Frankie fix, please!?!?!?
You are so kind to ask!! He's doing great! pretty sure he was freaked out by the tree but now it's his best friend? He lays under it and sleeps on the tree skirt a lot of the time! He is back to normal, or his normal. He still asks hubby to join him in his studio apartment for some spooning time. He is definitely a cat that likes his routines! I'll post a couple of photos tomorrow from work, which is easier than from home. He joined me for lunch today and nodded off in the chair next to me that was by the window. the light was perfect and he looks so cool!!
 
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tobyo

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One of my co-workers had to take his tree down last weekend because his dog became so skittish. They couldn't figure it out for a while, but the dog started shaking and slinking around the rooms of the house, avoiding the room with the tree. He finally put two and two together and realized that might be the problem.
They took it down, and it took a couple days for him to settle down, but the dog is back to being normal.
Have you tried putting some Rescue Remedy on his ears during this time? While I don't decorate for Christmas (too much work for no one else to enjoy), one of my kitties has had issues after I had to put his brother down. He would keep me up at night, crying, and sometimes, he would just pace and whatnot. RR works like an absolute charm for him. I wonder if it would help Frankie in this situation.
it was only the first couple of days with the "new thing in the room" Christmas tree. now he just loves it. drinks the water and naps underneath it. He is the most unusual cat I've ever had!!
 

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Thanks for the update! He looks very relaxed in the new pics!! Love to hear about Frankie and very happy things are going well. All cats are 'unusual' in their own way - ask any member on this site!! But, they are all unusual, mostly in a delightful way!
 
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tobyo

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Oh yea, I've had enough cats to know that each is unusual. I think the difference with Frankie is that we adopted him at 3.5 years old whereas we had always gotten kittens before. Well, Eddie was 7 months old but he was so docile that the move to our house was seamless. But agreed, they are unusual in a delightful way.

the most recent photos were of him resting on a chair next to me while I ate lunch. and he dozed off. he's so darn cute!! He decided to sleep with me last night instead of staying under the tree. Maybe it's lost its "coolness"? I don't mind. Kind of like my furball with me all night :hugs:
 

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That would be cool if he's decided to go back to sleeping with you!

If Frankie is anything like my cat all 'toys' lose their coolness - and, pretty quickly I might add. At least Frankie didn't think the tree was so cool that he tried to climb it!!
 
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Frankie doesn't seem too interested in many of the toys around the house. I got him one that you put food in and showed him how the food comes out: no interest. I got a few scratching type things for him: zero interest in those too! He does play with some of the catnip-type toys occasionally and we've gotten him to play with us using those toys on a stick that make the cat chase after them. He has no interest in anything on the tree either. Our first two cats, Bert and Ernie, were the only ones to climb the tree. Fritz loved to take the bows off the packages and play with them all around the house. But Frankie, so far, has no interest in any of the low hanging ornaments or the wrapped gifts under the tree.

oh yea, he did sleep with me again last night! Whee!! That's my boy :)
 
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