My Cat & My Attic

[RobVila]

Okay so i wonder if anybody has any insight. i'll try to make it short and sweet.

My cat is obsessed with my attic, if im unable to find her in the house and she's not responding to calls, or shaking the food, i can open the attic door and she will come bolting out of wherever she is hiding / sleeping. Every once in a while i'll let her go up there but i'm afraid she will get stuck or hurt, and one time she got sick after being up there.

When i do let her up there (or let her outside for that matter, which I no longer do) she INSTANTLY becomes territorial, she can be halfway up the steps and will turn around and hiss at me. And when i go up to bring her down, its like she doesn't recognize me and is hissing at me. When she comes back down its like everything is normal again. Today i let her up there (and my other cat as well, and she is perfectly normal) and she was hissing at me, growling, whining - and she actually ran and stuck herself in a really tight spot where she was hissing and whining, i was scared she was stuck and couldn't get out. She eventually brought herself down and was perfectly normal again.

Any idea what would make her this way? She's an indoor cat so i like letting her up there so she can have some extra area to explore but she get's a little toooooo crazy lol.

 

[Kflowers]

If there is insulation up there you probably shouldn't let them play in it.

Now to your question. It's possible she caught a mouse up there once, or almost caught a squirrel (you would probably have heard that, grown squirrels are an even fight for cats and they fight back. You'd have seen a little damage on your cat.) Perhaps there are interesting bugs up there. Snakes are more likely in basements. You might look around with a flashlight and see if there is anything living up there. Sometimes cats look where they once found something. Like the dogs who always check where they once found a sandwich during a walk.

My best mouser was terrified of outdoors. The mice came to him.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Create other hiding spots for her and block off her access to the attic. It's not safe up there and who knows what she could into that might harm her, as you said. Hiding spots can be as simple as the corner of a partially unused closet that the door can be left cracked open. It can be a cat tree with cubby holes for hiding, a cardboard box, a cat den. You can entice her into those areas by placing towels/blankets in them with her scent.

 

[RobVila]

Hi. Create other hiding spots for her and block off her access to the attic. It's not safe up there and who knows what she could into that might harm her, as you said. Hiding spots can be as simple as the corner of a partially unused closet that the door can be left cracked open. It can be a cat tree with cubby holes for hiding, a cardboard box, a cat den. You can entice her into those areas by placing towels/blankets in them with her scent.

yeah i'm more just curious as to what makes her so wild and aggressive towards me when she's up there, its literally like she doesn't recognize me. my other cat went up there with us and didn't act that way. But this was definitely the last time i'm going to let her go up there.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Very curious that your other cat doesn't act that way - more reason to think that she has just found a hiding spot that she doesn't want to be denied access to. In addition to creating other hiding spots, you might want add some cat attractant spray (Alyssum, cat thyme, heather, lemongrass, rosemary and Valerian root, even honeysuckle) to those areas as well. Something that will draw her to them, and make her think she has found a new, super hiding spot - especially if it particularly secluded.

You can use towel for the spray, and that way if one doesn't work, take it out wash it, and try another spray.

 

[Kflowers]

Do not be discouraged if she doesn't immediately like your new hiding spots for her. Several weeks ago I made cardboard snug houses for SG. Two days ago she did the meatloaf position and stared in the door of one for 15 minutes. Progress.

The herbs FeebysOwner suggested may speed things up. The Valerian root should calm her. If you use it and she gets wired, get rid of it.

 

[Hellenww]

She knows you don't want her up there and will likely bring her back down. Telling you off and acting like she doesn't know you will give her more time in the magical forbidden realm. This is her out in the wild.

 

[RobVila]

She knows you don't want her up there and will likely bring her back down. Telling you off and acting like she doesn't know you will give her more time in the magical forbidden realm. This is her out in the wild.

lol this makes a lot of sense.