Is my cat abused?

[AB00]

Long story short: my cat love all humans, she fears no one, she is tough toward other cats, start with hissing and attacking them (only smacking not using claws) but comes around eventually. the point is she never met a human she didn't trust within 2 minutes and lay at their feet

for a few days we have to suffer a house worker that we always thought that was abusive towards an elderly relative, no proof, she is to stay with us for a few days before she can finalize her departure. to clarify, the house worker used to work for us years ago, left last year, and came back to gather her remaining things before heading home, the cat never met her before.



since that person got here, my cat is:

more subdued in general but not by much, she always sleep for 18 hours maybe, doesn't purr as she usually do, once she was eating and heard that person walking towards us, she stopped and hid while keeping watch at her direction, and finally today she went absolutely ballistic and ripped my cloths -literally- trying to escape, i was carrying her and came face to face with house worker, my cat went nuts, never seen her like this, and then slept in my bed with her tail tucked between her legs.



i am sending the cat within an hour to stay at my sister's until the house is clear again, she is sleeping next to me right now, do you think she was abused?

i don't see any limping, blood, lumps or anything, she is walking and running fine

 

[Caspers Human]

We can't comment on whether this new person is abusive or whether she has done anything bad to your cat. Being miles away and having no concrete information, there is no way of knowing for sure. On that, I can only say go with your gut feelings and keep your eyes open in case of problems.

However from the perspective of your cat's behavior, there are just some people and some cats that are like oil and water. They just don't mix well.

Some cats don't like having new people in their territory. Your house is your cat's territory and this new human is an interloper. There's plenty of opportunity for acrimony, right there. Furthermore, some people don't know how to act around cats. Maybe it's not the human's fault. They might not have been brought up around cats. Some people from different cultures don't like cats because, in some customs, cats might be considered "dirty" or "evil."

I don't like the thought of it but, sadly, some people are just cat haters.

All this could be happening, simply, because you've got a new human in the house who doesn't get along with cats, for one of many possible reasons.

I think your solution is a good one... Send the cat on a three-day vacation. Assuming that she will be comfortable at your sister's house, a little vacation might do her some good.

As to the new person being "bad" in some way, it doesn't pay to go down that rabbit hole. You might be right but it's not worth worrying about. In three days time, that person will be gone and, hopefully, out of your life for good.

Just sit tight and ride out the storm. When it all blows over, you'll be back to sailing on calm seas again.

 

[ArtNJ]

It could be something as simple as the worker having a smelly dog. No way of telling. But I tend to think at least 5-10x people come here wondering about abuse for every actual instance of abuse. Because cats behave weirdly for a lot of different reasons. As noted above though, no reason not to be careful around this person and keep your cat away.

 

[arr]

I have three cats who are fine with strangers. They are fine with my parents, with workers, visitors. Except my nieces. Every time my nieces come to visit, one of the cats hides the whole time and we even have to feed her in her hiding spot. I know they haven’t abused her. She just doesn’t like them for some reason. Maybe their smell, their voices, their mannerisms. I would guess most of the time this behavior is not caused by abuse.

 

[Kat0121]

My Sophie is far more social with strangers than Lilith is. Sophie will check pretty much anyone out. I had an AC repairman come by once. He needed to come in and check the vents to see if it was working properly after the repair was done. She stood by him and chatted at him while he worked. He thought she was adorable. Lilith avoided him like he was on fire.

I wouldn't necessarily say abuse but if this person will only be around a few days I say keep the cat away from them until they leave. Does this person HAVE to stay with you?

 

[bear]

Could it be that your cat is picking up your hesitance with this individual and therefore showing caution too.