I Have to Rehome My Cat

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amarshall0919

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We have an outside camera. She hasn’t came back around since she went outside. I miss her. I want her back in here. I know we can’t keep her because of how unpredictable she is, and I always have to think of our daughter’s safety first, but Smoothie is a part of the family and it’s like I willingly put her outside.

One of my friends who is going to school to be a vet talked to me and made me feel a little better. She told me that I’ve been trying for almost a year, and in that moment, there was nothing else I could do besides have someone open the door to let her outside. She believes that Smoothie wasn’t going to stop, especially since she was waiting and hissing at me threw the door for 2 hours.

I just miss my kitty. I can’t believe this happened.
 

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amarshall0919

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I feel like I’m being annoying, but I only have a handful of people to talk to this about. I’ve tried looking on the internet for similar stories like mine, and I can’t find any. I wish she had calmed down, and let me put her back in the room. She would still be in our apartment if she had went back in the room. I had no blankets or anything to be able to stop her from attacking me if I tried to throw her in the office. Maybe I should’ve just accepted the pain and got attacked by her until I could get her back in. She would have tore me up like she has before and like how she attacked my husband, but at least she would still be here and I would be able to somehow get her to the vet. I think my emotions are talking. I’ve had cats all my life. None of them have ever done this. I know she most likely has a medical disorder that causes her to fly off the handle. Now she’s outside, missing, and up to God knows what. Getting her outside was literally the only way I could get out of that room. I’m having so many regrets. What if she didn’t go crazy, and just had a lapse in judgement? Now she’s probably wondering where she is at, where her family is, and why she’s in a new environment. I hate this.
 

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Have you been able to go out looking for her? Would grandfather consider coming to look? I know you are up to your eyeballs busy, but the outcome is already decided if somebody else finds her first.

Have you thought about talking to Jackson Galaxy? His consultation isn't free, I assume. If you don't utilize a specialist of some sort I feel like you're just spinning your wheels with this.

There must be quite a few other cats similar to this, otherwise the ASPCA wouldn't have an article devoted to the subject.

PS nope, not annoying.
 
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Hello, I am sorry this is happening to you. You can drive yourself crazy with all of the "what ifs". Your Smoothie has been a part of your family and we all understand that this is so very, very hard. This did happen to me, so I can tell you for sure it does happen. It is quite awful but it does happen. As you said, you've had cats all of your life, so you know what is outside of the realm of "normal". As sad as it is, something is definitely amiss with Smoothie. I don't think it was just a lapse in her judgement since this has been going on for a year. You have done far more for this kitty than most people would have. I am so sorry you are experiencing this heartache.

It happens with dogs, too. I worked for a veterinarian many years ago, and I remember having to assist him putting down what appeared to be a normal, healthy Doberman. But the dog had turned on the family and attacked their young daughter. It was incredibly sad. Thankfully the child healed well. It was a result of too much inbreeding. I don't think that was the case with Smoothie, but it happens to all different animals.

I might get some push back on this, but I think a lot of folks misuse or overuse the word "feral". I think a lot of folks conflate stray cats with feral cats. Stray cats aren't necessarily wild. Feral cats tend to be wild, and cannot be tamed. When I was a vet tech, the Humane Society would trap genuinely feral cats and have them put down. It upset me greatly the first time. Especially since I knew these Humane Society people and they were so kind and would go to great lengths to save any animal. However, after working with the Humane Society and the vet, I can tell you honestly the cats they brought in could not be handled safely.

I think my Snickles was born into a feral colony, and somehow got separated. Perhaps the same is true of your Smoothie. I think as Snickles aged, her feral instincts became stronger. I also think it is telling that both you and myself had adopted kittens from the outdoors that were very, very young and had no mother. I'm assuming Smoothie wasn't with her mother when you adopted her. You and I both also became pregnant at some point before the cats turned. It may just be one of those weird situations that we will never have a concrete answer to.

I do hope that you can still have a happy ending with your Smoothie, but it may not be meant to be. Whatever happens, please, please, please do not beat yourself up over this. You did and are doing the very best you could.
 

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Have you tried looking under your porch and in any crawlspaces you might have? In the evening use your phone to shine a light into these places to look for eye glowing. Often indoor cats will be close to the house and hunkered down too scared to leave.

I'm so sorry about your cat she looks alot like Indy. Indy is the cat in my avatar
 

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Hello, I am sorry this is happening to you. You can drive yourself crazy with all of the "what ifs". Your Smoothie has been a part of your family and we all understand that this is so very, very hard. This did happen to me, so I can tell you for sure it does happen. It is quite awful but it does happen. As you said, you've had cats all of your life, so you know what is outside of the realm of "normal". As sad as it is, something is definitely amiss with Smoothie. I don't think it was just a lapse in her judgement since this has been going on for a year. You have done far more for this kitty than most people would have. I am so sorry you are experiencing this heartache.

It happens with dogs, too. I worked for a veterinarian many years ago, and I remember having to assist him putting down what appeared to be a normal, healthy Doberman. But the dog had turned on the family and attacked their young daughter. It was incredibly sad. Thankfully the child healed well. It was a result of too much inbreeding. I don't think that was the case with Smoothie, but it happens to all different animals.

I might get some push back on this, but I think a lot of folks misuse or overuse the word "feral". I think a lot of folks conflate stray cats with feral cats. Stray cats aren't necessarily wild. Feral cats tend to be wild, and cannot be tamed. When I was a vet tech, the Humane Society would trap genuinely feral cats and have them put down. It upset me greatly the first time. Especially since I knew these Humane Society people and they were so kind and would go to great lengths to save any animal. However, after working with the Humane Society and the vet, I can tell you honestly the cats they brought in could not be handled safely.

I think my Snickles was born into a feral colony, and somehow got separated. Perhaps the same is true of your Smoothie. I think as Snickles aged, her feral instincts became stronger. I also think it is telling that both you and myself had adopted kittens from the outdoors that were very, very young and had no mother. I'm assuming Smoothie wasn't with her mother when you adopted her. You and I both also became pregnant at some point before the cats turned. It may just be one of those weird situations that we will never have a concrete answer to.

I do hope that you can still have a happy ending with your Smoothie, but it may not be meant to be. Whatever happens, please, please, please do not beat yourself up over this. You did and are doing the very best you could.
I think op said this cat was a bottle baby they found at 3 weeks old. They hand raised it. I do believe just like people some cats can have mental health issues. This may be the case here as the cat is showing almost bipolar symptoms.
 

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Holding your ground until you subdued Smoothie would not have been a good idea. A vicious cat attack amounts to much more than taking one for the team. You did everything that you could to give Smoothie a good life, including trying to work with the aggression.

My cats have been and currently are all former ferals. I only deal with strays and ferals; my avatar was born to a feral mother under a neighbor's house. She is now an annoying lap cat, indoor only, but her TNRed sister is outside, still entirely unfriendly and wary of me despite the fact that I have been her food source for all of her life. Mom was killed early on by a coyote. Jackson Galaxy says that there are no semi-ferals, and I agree with that. For some reason, possibly genetic, some have the ability to accept human companionship and others never will. What I am getting to here is that I find it so odd that Smoothie attacks as she does (absolutely believe you) because the instinct of any feral is to run and hide. Outright attacks are not high on the list of feral strategies which is why some are so hard to trap for TNR. They never meow or make noise for the same reason; they are trained from birth that they are potential prey. Something is strange, they take off. I am not sure that I think it is her feral roots that are causing this.

While none of us can diagnose Smoothie, to me, this sound medical. Central nervous system disorders, of which feline hyperesthesia disorder is probably one (although not what Smoothie has), can cause outright aggression. While inbreeding should theoretically not happen in cats who live out of doors, it is not impossible if an insolated colony continues to mate. I think that the greatest part of this sad issue is out of your hands. You did nothing wrong, although it is very painful for you to have had to live through all of this, and now to have lost Smoothie.
 
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Have you been able to go out looking for her? Would grandfather consider coming to look? I know you are up to your eyeballs busy, but the outcome is already decided if somebody else finds her first.

Have you thought about talking to Jackson Galaxy? His consultation isn't free, I assume. If you don't utilize a specialist of some sort I feel like you're just spinning your wheels with this.

There must be quite a few other cats similar to this, otherwise the ASPCA wouldn't have an article devoted to the subject.

PS nope, not annoying.
We will be going and looking for her as soon as my husband gets off work. I have been outside trying to see where she’s at, but she’s no where to be found. I think I am spinning my wheels. In a way, it gives me comfort trying to talk about all the possibilities.
 
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amarshall0919

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Have you tried looking under your porch and in any crawlspaces you might have? In the evening use your phone to shine a light into these places to look for eye glowing. Often indoor cats will be close to the house and hunkered down too scared to leave.

I'm so sorry about your cat she looks alot like Indy. Indy is the cat in my avatar
We live in an apartment building so no porch or crawl spaces! I do wonder if she is hiding though. It’s like she’s disappeared into thin air. It’s upsetting.
 
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amarshall0919

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Holding your ground until you subdued Smoothie would not have been a good idea. A vicious cat attack amounts to much more than taking one for the team. You did everything that you could to give Smoothie a good life, including trying to work with the aggression.

My cats have been and currently are all former ferals. I only deal with strays and ferals; my avatar was born to a feral mother under a neighbor's house. She is now an annoying lap cat, indoor only, but her TNRed sister is outside, still entirely unfriendly and wary of me despite the fact that I have been her food source for all of her life. Mom was killed early on by a coyote. Jackson Galaxy says that there are no semi-ferals, and I agree with that. For some reason, possibly genetic, some have the ability to accept human companionship and others never will. What I am getting to here is that I find it so odd that Smoothie attacks as she does (absolutely believe you) because the instinct of any feral is to run and hide. Outright attacks are not high on the list of feral strategies which is why some are so hard to trap for TNR. They never meow or make noise for the same reason; they are trained from birth that they are potential prey. Something is strange, they take off. I am not sure that I think it is her feral roots that are causing this.

While none of us can diagnose Smoothie, to me, this sound medical. Central nervous system disorders, of which feline hyperesthesia disorder is probably one (although not what Smoothie has), can cause outright aggression. While inbreeding should theoretically not happen in cats who live out of doors, it is not impossible if an insolated colony continues to mate. I think that the greatest part of this sad issue is out of your hands. You did nothing wrong, although it is very painful for you to have had to live through all of this, and now to have lost Smoothie.
Thank you. It definitely wouldn’t have worked out if I had tried to subdue her and got viciously attacked. Smoothie bit my husband at least 2 times, and she bit him so hard he has bruises. This was brutal. He did nothing to provoke her. This is exactly how it happened last year in July. Without any warning, she brutally attacked our other cat, then slashed my foot. I will be attaching pictures of the scratches and bites that she put on my husband. I agree, it almost seems unbelievable for a lovable cat to have such sudden aggression for absolutely no reason. I think she does have a mental health issue. I wonder if being outside will help her. When she was spayed, it took about three months, but she did go back to her normal self.I don’t know what would’ve caused her to attack again, and we may never know.

I really did try to make it work with her. I made sure to always give her treats, play with her, and give her pets. I know she enjoyed being with me. Like I said earlier, you would just have to look at her and she would start purring. She napped with me everytime while I was pregnant. She constantly made biscuits on my baby bump. She loved sitting on the toilet waiting for me to get out of the shower. She waited at the window for us to come back home, and if I went outside, she ran upstairs to watch me until I came back. Many times we would find her standing on her tippy toes looking out the living room window at us when we pulled up. She always loved gnawing on my engagement ring, and enjoyed skipping 5 steps at a time when she ran down the stairs. She has two different personalities. One so kind and caring. The one where she would groom Midnight constantly, and lay beside him to sleep. Then there was the other. The one where she acted like she hated everything. This attack though was the first time she really was mad. When she attacked my husband, I actually thought at first that she and Midnight were fighting. She was roaring and squalling like when you hear cats fighting. That was just against my husband. When she lunged at me, that’s how she was howling on the other side of the door. She wanted me.
 
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These are the bites and scratches. They look truly awful.
 

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Oh, ow, you guys, gracious sakes!!

This may be the case here as the cat is showing almost bipolar symptoms.
She has two different personalities.
I was having the same thought over the progression of your posts, --without anthropomorphism here, but still.

I dunno, since fionasmom fionasmom is thinking medical.

Anyway, what you were saying earlier, when you looked on the internet is that you weren't finding articles about cats who were so very sweet and charming when they're on the calmer side of their behavior?
 
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Oh, ow, you guys, gracious sakes!!



I was having the same thought over the progression of your posts, --without anthropomorphism here, but still.

I dunno, since fionasmom fionasmom is thinking medical.

Anyway, what you were saying earlier, when you looked on the internet is that you weren't finding articles about cats who were so very sweet and charming when they're on the calmer side of their behavior?
I couldn’t find other stories where a cat was very sweet but also attacked viciously without a reason. All of the ones I found were either redirected aggression or the cat was hurt.
 
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Went looking for Smoothie. She is no where to be found. She can’t be that far in a day unless someone picked her up.
 

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I'm assuming you've checked with the shelter(s) just in case? I'm guessing she could be holed up somewhere. I copied this below from a Cat Site article, there may be something that is useful;

When your cat is lost outside your home
If Kitty is outside and not responding to your calls, Try the sound of a can opener, the treat bag and the scent of warmed tuna. Kitty may be in a panic and too stressed to move. Does Kitty like to hide under things or climb high inside the house? That’s a clue to where to look outside. Kitty may be under a bush, behind the firewood or on a tree limb.
Place some of Kitty's special things outside near the back door. Items such as her bed, a worn sweaty or slept-in t-shirt with your scent, and even the indoor litter box. The scent may be very comforting to Kitty and may draw her out of hiding. Consider sprinkling trails of used cat litter leading to your house from various directions. If there is snow on the ground even cats with outdoor access get confused as the usual smells are covered, so something that smells of home could guide them back again.

Recruit neighborhood kids to help. A scout troop might be able to earn a badge for pitching in to find Kitty. Stress how important it is to look everywhere, to stay safe and to not scare Kitty when she’s found. Most cats don’t go far when they first venture out so your yard and the neighbors’ yards would be the place to concentrate the search.
If there are no results, ask the kids to go door to door. Someone may have seen Kitty and realizing she’s got a home, taken her into their house or to the vet to be scanned for a microchip. Make sure to repeat visits to houses where no one was home the first time.
Signs, particularly with Kitty’s photo on them, are effective. Everyone likes to help and the neighbors will watch for her. Put your cell phone number on the sign so you can respond instantly to any sightings. Don't leave it all to the neighbors though. Go out there and set an example by actively and visibly searching for your cat.
Notify vets and groomers in the area. Non-cat people may take Kitty there to see if anyone recognizes her. If you have pet insurance, many offer lost pet help in the form of Lost Cat templates for posters, email notification of vets within a five or ten-mile radius (some people stop at a vet’s office near their work, not home) and more.
If the city has a pound, check there, in person. Animals are usually only held for a few days so time is of the essence. The Humane Society or APA, rescue groups and pet supply stores are also good places to leave information about Kitty’s absence. Photos help as what you notice most about Kitty may not be the same as what someone else would see.
 
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This is her second night outside by herself. I’m extremely worried for her. I know I shouldn’t do the what-ifs, but it is so hard not to. My mind is facing a million miles a minute. Everywhere I look I am reminded of her.

My husband and I had a talk tonight about what we were going to do if she did show back up. We didn’t come to a conclusion because we both want different things. Logically, I know that she can no longer be our cat because of how aggressive she can suddenly turn. Even if we got her on medication, it may take awhile for it to fully work or get the right dosage, and we have absolutely no one that will watch her for us while that goes on. It’s sad but true. I have never felt more alone. I did not even get to say good-bye to her. She wouldn’t let me. She wanted to tear me apart.

I want to move away now. I want to forget this all happened, honestly. Sometimes I question why these things happen, and I don’t understand it at all. It’s not fair. I’m writing this in hopes of anyone else goes through this same thing, they can find my post and hopefully find some comfort. She is gone and it feels like I am mourning her. I searched the house up and down, crying, until I found a whisker of hers. I am engulfed in grief. I’m already dealing with postpartum emotions, finally started to feel normal again, and then life threw this curveball at me. I am scared of seeing her again, yet all I want is to see her. I wish I was in a dream.
 

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How is your other kitty? Is he, and your husband, ok, or is he (the cat) missing her?
 
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How is your other kitty? Is he, and your husband, ok, or is he (the cat) missing her?
Midnight seems fine. They haven’t been in the same with each other since July 2021. However, they would play through the door almost everyday or at least once a week. He seems on edge, like he’s wondering where she is. Wondering if she’s going to pop out and attack him.

My husband is missing her, but he deals with stuff better by not really talking about it. He loved her just as much as me. As far as his scratches go, he didn’t go to the doctor today but is for sure going tomorrow.
 
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I am in my feelings tonight. I do hope she’s okay since she hasn’t been outside since she was 2 months old. The last picture I took of her was through the door crack. She did not look like herself. Something about how she was holding herself. The look in her eyes. She let me pet her, but she was obviously on edge. That wasn’t her. Maybe I should’ve left her alone, and shouldn’t have tried to get the car keys. Who knows.

*Edited to add: I was looking at that door crack picture, and it actually scares me. The look in her eyes does not look like my cat. When I see that picture, I’m instantly filled with bad vibes. Did something really snap in my poor Smoothie???
 

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Absolutely no sign of Smoothie. It’s like she’s vanished. Even though I know we can’t keep her I would at least like to find her to know she’s okay again. If I had been able to keep her in the house I would have. Everything in this apartment reminds me of her.
 
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