Gohan has been very nervous lately - because of the snow?

[KarenKat]

Gohan has always been a finicky cat, he gets nervous about various things but lately he has been wandering around and is very vocal and seems higher strung than normal. He’s not hiding much, but he’s acting like he does when we cook something that sizzles (like blackening meat). He seeks out the tops of cat trees more than normal and is just shout-meowing around the house.

The only thing that has changed is we have had a big snowstorm the last four days. He was originally from Florida and went to the SF Bay Area, so snow is new to him. But this is maybe the 4th snowstorm since we moved (albeit the biggest and coldest so far) and he did not react similarly. Has anyone else had cats react negatively to snow before? We are giving him extra love, and he’s eating and using the litterbox as normal so I doubt it’s anything medical. Just wondering.

 

[ArtNJ]

My guess would be more the noises from wind and/or the house creaking. Or noisy/hissy heat, if you have that. I mean, anything is possible, but I've always found that cats are interested by swirling snow.

 

[susanm9006]

I don’t think snow would cause it but if the snow changes your routine in any way that could cause him to get nervous. Scary cats (like yours and mine) are continuously surveying their territory and checking on their people to see if everything seems safe which in their minds equates to exactly as it has been. They can pick up the smallest change in routine or little bit of stress and be unnerved.

 

[KarenKat]

We also thought about the fact we keep looking out the window and talking about it ... and he definitely is constantly surveying territory. I’ve also stayed home to work the past two days, but we often do that on weekends/fridays.

We have had the heat on pretty consistently and it’s fairly quiet. The house could be settling in a way is dumb humans don’t notice though. That’s a possibility.

 

[Etarre]

I read somewhere that cats are sensitive the kind of big changes in pressure that occur with big storms-- maybe that could be it?

 

[KarenKat]

Could be ... which is another reason why this storm bothered him more? He seems to be getting back to normal now and the storm has left. The world is still full of snow though ...