Kitten Suddenly Afraid

[Oscar&Copper]

My 5 month old kitten had a major behaviour change today. He was fine this morning before I went to work, his normal rambunctious crazy self. When I got home... totally different cat. He's slinking around the house, looking around corners and under things like something is going to attack him. He's very cautious, tail between his legs. He won't even go into his favourite window over the couch or even near the couch area when I walked there with him in my arms his fur all went up on end. He plays a little bit with us but won't play with my younger kitten, Oscar, at all, normally they're rolling around and wrestling and playing tag. He's not afraid of Oscar though (right now both their heads are in the water bowl together), just not interested in playing. He's skittish, when Oscar jumps or we move suddenly he becomes afraid. He's scared of everything! I took him upstairs and he explored slowly like he'd never been there before. Obviously something scared the daylights out of him today, although for the life of me I can't figure out what. I don't know what to do for him. I'm letting him stay up high so he can survey the land so to speak but in 4 hours there's been no improvement. He is eating normally, which is good, but the water fountain is in the "no go" area so I put a dish down in the "safe zone". I think this post is all scattered, I'm sorry. I'm just at a loss at what to do. I'm afraid it will affect his relationship with Oscar when they've just bonded.

 

[Kieka]

My guess would be something he saw outside scared him.

I have a very skittish little one. When she has a scare like it sounds like yours had it can take her a week to get fully back normal. It might be beneficial to get a petcamera and aim it out the window for a few days so you can maybe see what triggered him. While it may just be a one time thing (some stupid kid saw and purposefully scared him) it could be something reoccuring and that could lead to long term problems.

 

[susanm9006]

He will likely get over it quickly. When a kitten acts like this my first thought though, is that they did something that hurt them, they fell off something, knocked something on themselves or temporarily got stuck. So check him over good to make sure he has no sore spots or injuries and look to see if there is anything out of place. I wouldn't worry about his relationship with your other cat. OScar probably won't even notice what is going on.

 

[Oscar&Copper]

Thanks. I did check him over, my first thought was maybe he chewed an electrical wire and shocked himself. But there's no evidence of that or any other injury/trauma thank goodness.

I think I just needed to hear that he won't be scared forever. I feel so bad for him and wish he could talk to me.

 

[elliesvictim]

Yeah, I wouldn't overthink this. Maybe something outside scared him, maybe you have rats or possums (lots of people do) or maybe she like my girl who had a nightmare jumped in the air and hid from me for a whole day.
I wouldn't worry about it, cats are wierd, they do wierd stuff.

 

[dustydiamond1]

How is Copper doing?

 

[Oscar&Copper]

How is Copper doing?

Thanks for asking. He just finally today is back to his normal crazy self. Every day was a little better. I slowly got him into the "scary area" by throwing treats and playing closer and closer with his favourite toy and holding him snug in my arms and walking through the space. He spent a lot of time up high on windows and furniture surveying the land. We just let him become comfortable in his own time. He now eats on his cat tree instead of on the floor, and their hard food is up on an old coffee table, which is fine by me. I put a bird feeder outside his favourite window (that he was avoiding) to give him and his brother something fun to watch.

In other words my kittens are spoiled rotten