I hope this won't be too long an introduction, but in 3 months we (my foster and I) have had 4 visits to vets and I am no nearer coming to a decision on what this young cat requires than when I took her (Meghan) into my home at the end of last year. In just over 3 months, her behaviour has changed from noisy and affectionate (according to the woman who found her), to friendly and quiet, to indifferent, to "normal cat behaviour" and now back to restless, affectionate and noisy (meowing day and night).
Her history, as far as one can believe what the finder of the stray cat described, is as follows: Meghan had been roaming the streets for at least 20 months, she was always hungry and grateful for food, followed people about, sat in the middle of the road, ignoring the traffic and cried non-stop. The woman who eventually brought Meghan to us was prevented from keeping her as her own cat wouldn't let her near the house.
I first met Meghan, with her finder at the vet's. Meghan has a dreadful squint, has quite a severe heart deformity and was estimated to be at most 3 or 4 years old. Her fur had been partly eaten away (probably by fleas) but there was nothing acute requiring immediate medical treatment. I brought her home and housed her in her own room (cellar, with window and heating) away from my own 3 cats. She settled down quietly, I treated her for fleas and worms, she was no longer always hungry but, whereas she had been super-friendly, she slowly became almost indifferent to any attention. She was however always cleaning herself and the fur on her back legs was also disappearing. The woman who had found her came to visit and was astounded how quiet she was, lying peacefully on the cat tree.
I felt she was unhappy so left her door open and within a few days she was running around with my own 3 female cats. There was some hissing at night but no fights. Occassionally she would have her afternoon nap in the cellar but she was quite happy to lie on the sofa or in the middle of the living room floor. She was still not particularly interested in me or my family, moving discretely away if we sat too close to her.
As I was worried about her getting out of the house (she was so inquisitive) we had another visit to the vet to get her chipped. This second vet, confirmed the heart diagnosis, checked again for fleas as she obviously didn't believe that at least that problem had been solved. Finding no traces of parasites, she suggested that Meghan was nervous and would probably be happier without other cats around. I knew it would not be easy finding someone to take on such a young cat with health problems but I thought this was probably the only solution.
I then had an emergency visit to another vet as, what I thought was a small scratch on Meghan's throat, had developed into a rather large hole. After once more searching for the non-existent fleas, after looking at this wound and the bare patches in her fur (alopecia), he said quite plainly, this cat is unhappy she must go to another home where she will be on her own. He gave me 20 days supply of hormone tablets (Megestoral) and I was expected to return again when she had finished the treatment.
By this time Meghan had been with me for 2 months, long enough so that I could risk letting her go outside. I let her out on a fine sunny February day and she had a marvellous time. She even responded to her name when I called her. Unfortunately, after being fed she was off again and didn't want to come indoors until 4 am. Since then, she would only go outside at night. The weather got colder, wetter and more windy so that she was now coming home before midnight. I could not get her to change this habit: during the day she slept and as soon as it started to get dark she would climb the walls, scratch the furniture, act as if she wanted to use my bed as a litter box until I let her out! Where on earth do cats learn these tricks? But at least she was friendly and content.
So 2 weeks ago I went back to the vet. The alopecia was not so apparent. The vet believed that if she can go outside when she wants to, the problem will probably solve itself. This time she was given a heart ultrasound and ECG. The diagnosis was not good but she does not require medication yet (no loss in blood pressure). In six months she will need to be reassessed. I asked about spaying/neutering, but having shaved even more fur from the unfortunate Meghan, I was told that there is a scar so it has already been done. I then took her home fairly optimistic that she would continue to settle down.
The weather has got worse. She has not been outside recently, she cries loudly, puts her nose out of the door and comes scuttling back. And now for the third day running, she's meowing day and night. She is nervous, excellent at doing vertical take-offs from our laps, follows me around everywhere wanting to be picked up. At night she jumps on us, gives us head bumps, gets under the bed clothes but will not settle. During the day she comes with me into the cellar which is now home for 2 of last year's kittens who were found together with their owner who had died during the cold weather. (Originally there were 4 kittens, but - success! - 2 were rehomed a week ago.) She finds the kittens interesting to watch and is quiet while I tend to them. Occassionally one of the kittens gets excited and makes her tail fat and bushy, and there maybe some slight hissing. But it's quite harmless.
And now at last my question which concerns her rather eratic behavior: her present nervousness, loudness and restlessness at night is quite nervewracking. She is, however, the only cat in my household who is not frightened of the vacuum cleaner. She has started to play with cat toys and tabletennis balls, but they no longer keep her attention for long.
I did wonder if this meowing and nervousness could be due to a bad or insufficient spaying? Maybe she isn't spayed but has other congenital deficiencies so that she never really goes "on heat" just gets nervously affectionate. Her behaviour is so extraordinary. At the moment she is climbing over my laptop and meowing, jumping off the table and meowing, lying on the floor and meowing...... when will she finally fall asleep?
Sorry, that this is so long. If she didn't have a heart problem, I would pay for an OP just to make sure that she is spayed so that at least that uncertainty has been removed. I can't believe that she is influenced solely by the weather, and not wanting to go out.
Here is the poor cat. I no longer notice her unfortunate squint, which she was probably born with. As I have 2 other black cats, it does at least help to keep them apart.
Her history, as far as one can believe what the finder of the stray cat described, is as follows: Meghan had been roaming the streets for at least 20 months, she was always hungry and grateful for food, followed people about, sat in the middle of the road, ignoring the traffic and cried non-stop. The woman who eventually brought Meghan to us was prevented from keeping her as her own cat wouldn't let her near the house.
I first met Meghan, with her finder at the vet's. Meghan has a dreadful squint, has quite a severe heart deformity and was estimated to be at most 3 or 4 years old. Her fur had been partly eaten away (probably by fleas) but there was nothing acute requiring immediate medical treatment. I brought her home and housed her in her own room (cellar, with window and heating) away from my own 3 cats. She settled down quietly, I treated her for fleas and worms, she was no longer always hungry but, whereas she had been super-friendly, she slowly became almost indifferent to any attention. She was however always cleaning herself and the fur on her back legs was also disappearing. The woman who had found her came to visit and was astounded how quiet she was, lying peacefully on the cat tree.
I felt she was unhappy so left her door open and within a few days she was running around with my own 3 female cats. There was some hissing at night but no fights. Occassionally she would have her afternoon nap in the cellar but she was quite happy to lie on the sofa or in the middle of the living room floor. She was still not particularly interested in me or my family, moving discretely away if we sat too close to her.
As I was worried about her getting out of the house (she was so inquisitive) we had another visit to the vet to get her chipped. This second vet, confirmed the heart diagnosis, checked again for fleas as she obviously didn't believe that at least that problem had been solved. Finding no traces of parasites, she suggested that Meghan was nervous and would probably be happier without other cats around. I knew it would not be easy finding someone to take on such a young cat with health problems but I thought this was probably the only solution.
I then had an emergency visit to another vet as, what I thought was a small scratch on Meghan's throat, had developed into a rather large hole. After once more searching for the non-existent fleas, after looking at this wound and the bare patches in her fur (alopecia), he said quite plainly, this cat is unhappy she must go to another home where she will be on her own. He gave me 20 days supply of hormone tablets (Megestoral) and I was expected to return again when she had finished the treatment.
By this time Meghan had been with me for 2 months, long enough so that I could risk letting her go outside. I let her out on a fine sunny February day and she had a marvellous time. She even responded to her name when I called her. Unfortunately, after being fed she was off again and didn't want to come indoors until 4 am. Since then, she would only go outside at night. The weather got colder, wetter and more windy so that she was now coming home before midnight. I could not get her to change this habit: during the day she slept and as soon as it started to get dark she would climb the walls, scratch the furniture, act as if she wanted to use my bed as a litter box until I let her out! Where on earth do cats learn these tricks? But at least she was friendly and content.
So 2 weeks ago I went back to the vet. The alopecia was not so apparent. The vet believed that if she can go outside when she wants to, the problem will probably solve itself. This time she was given a heart ultrasound and ECG. The diagnosis was not good but she does not require medication yet (no loss in blood pressure). In six months she will need to be reassessed. I asked about spaying/neutering, but having shaved even more fur from the unfortunate Meghan, I was told that there is a scar so it has already been done. I then took her home fairly optimistic that she would continue to settle down.
The weather has got worse. She has not been outside recently, she cries loudly, puts her nose out of the door and comes scuttling back. And now for the third day running, she's meowing day and night. She is nervous, excellent at doing vertical take-offs from our laps, follows me around everywhere wanting to be picked up. At night she jumps on us, gives us head bumps, gets under the bed clothes but will not settle. During the day she comes with me into the cellar which is now home for 2 of last year's kittens who were found together with their owner who had died during the cold weather. (Originally there were 4 kittens, but - success! - 2 were rehomed a week ago.) She finds the kittens interesting to watch and is quiet while I tend to them. Occassionally one of the kittens gets excited and makes her tail fat and bushy, and there maybe some slight hissing. But it's quite harmless.
And now at last my question which concerns her rather eratic behavior: her present nervousness, loudness and restlessness at night is quite nervewracking. She is, however, the only cat in my household who is not frightened of the vacuum cleaner. She has started to play with cat toys and tabletennis balls, but they no longer keep her attention for long.
I did wonder if this meowing and nervousness could be due to a bad or insufficient spaying? Maybe she isn't spayed but has other congenital deficiencies so that she never really goes "on heat" just gets nervously affectionate. Her behaviour is so extraordinary. At the moment she is climbing over my laptop and meowing, jumping off the table and meowing, lying on the floor and meowing...... when will she finally fall asleep?
Sorry, that this is so long. If she didn't have a heart problem, I would pay for an OP just to make sure that she is spayed so that at least that uncertainty has been removed. I can't believe that she is influenced solely by the weather, and not wanting to go out.
Here is the poor cat. I no longer notice her unfortunate squint, which she was probably born with. As I have 2 other black cats, it does at least help to keep them apart.