Hi all - looking for some help/suggestions for an issue I've been running into recently. Back in April, my 7 year old MN cat had his tail caught in a door. It was fixed promptly but he had to wear a cone for several weeks to allow the wound to heal. Following removal of the cone, he became obsessed with his tail and was grooming excessively all over his body. He also started having episodes of hyperactivity and hyperarousal where he would zoom around the house and chase his tail. I worked with a veterinary behaviorist to keep him on pain medications and introduce a lot of enrichment to his environment (interactive mouse feeders, multiple cat trees, Feliway spray/diffusers, window seats, cat grass, and Royal Canin Calm diet + zylkene additives). He no longer has any episodes of hyperactivity or chasing his tail, but does seem generally anxious and continues to overgroom (no baldness noted yet thankfully). I started a new job the first week of August and started my 2 cats on a routine of play time in the morning, leave out toys and interactive feeders during the day, and clicker training/more interactive feeders when I get home from work. Since starting this routine, my cats will beg every morning for play time. However, I find that my 7 year old gets very agitated and hyperaroused during play, and will meow excessively and hump a crinkle bag toy every time I leave the house (he has done this for years, but it is much worse now). For the past 1.5 weeks, he has also now stopped sleeping in bed with me and will meow constantly between the hours of 2-5 AM. He has always been a very calm, very chill cat and I can't help but feel like this play interaction is what is making things worse? But he begs for it every morning and I am concerned he will be very bored/even more stressed if I try to take it away. I have tried reaching out to my veterinary behaviorist but cannot seem to get a response. Any help or suggestions (or just reassurance that someone else has been through this!) would be so appreciated.
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Cat anxiety - induced by play?
- Thread starter clemencm
- Start Date
. Hmmm....there is a distinct possibility that outside night creatures may be causing his arousal. Depending on your area, the spring "crop" of kittens are maturing & coming into season; the same goes for skunks in our area. Coyotes might be coming around as well although they tend to circulate in a monthly pattern, hunting an area for only days or a week before continuing along their circuit. If you have a security camera outside, it may give clues.- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Perhaps... I do not have an outdoor camera but we do have a lot of stray cats in the area and my cat loves the window. I am just so perplexed because we have lived here for a couple of years with no issues until this injury. Now, it's like I can't get all the energy out of him. Before this injury, we rarely did interactive play because he was pretty lazy and content with minimal interaction. It's just so bizarre that now he needs so much interaction/attention. I can't help but feel like I've made him this way trying to provide more enrichment for him to keep his mind off his tail.
Have you tried comfort grooming and playing piano/harp music for him? I am thinking that he might have nerve pain from soft tissue injury which can be very challenging to discover and treat (even in humans). Have you tried gabapentin (aka Neurontin) yet ? it is used for nerve pain but also for calming.
