Overnight Extreme Fear Of Bed

[FeebysOwner]

I agree with @susanm9006, you can't force him by picking him up and putting him on the bed - actually that helps to re-enforce his fear rather than letting him get over it. Since he is not using the walkway you created, I would suggest removing it - so that things are back to where they were. He is going into the room when you are home, so that in itself is a good thing. So, that says he does want to be with you, as he only avoided the room entirely while you were gone, correct?

Now, he will just have to work it out on his own to get over the bed thing. Since it is only the head of the bed - how about something to do with the pillows, or the headboard? Strange noise (to him) coming from an alarm clock or a lamp?

As far as Prozac, it is way to early to decide to do something so drastic. After all, his behavior, if I understand correctly, only has to do with your room - and more so now with your bed. You can try calming products on him, such as Bach Rescue Remedy which are drops you can rub into a cat's ear. You might have try more than one type, as not all of them work on all cats. But, if you chose to try this, I would only do it at night when you are trying to get him to be in your room with you. Maybe, you could try it when you are working from home too.

If you don't want your housemates placing his food bowl elsewhere in the house while you are gone, tell them to leave it where you designate it to be. He has been going in there to eat, and so there is no reason to place it anywhere else.

 

[River1225]

Update:
Alright I’ve been doing nothing. His fear of the floor and head of the bed hadn’t demished at all, but he has developed his own little path around the room. First he jumps to the desk, then to the desk chair, jumps all the way to the end of the bed, then jumps onto the litter box, and then jumps all the way over to the food. Whenever I’m siting at the desk he hesitates and slow cautious walks over to the food. This takes almost ten minutes. I’ve just watched and tried talking to him.
I just bought him a bunch of new toys, he was playing with a ball on the bed, he carried all the there from his ‘walkway.’ But when it fell on the floor I eventually had to get up and get it back for him.

Also, my housemates weren’t moving his feeding spot, that different room is where my other cat Hazel stays. He often eats her food in there. And she comes in here a lot too. But they chose to forgo feeding him in here as well, because they’re lazy.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I wish we had found 'the magic bullet' answer to Prior's issue. But, I think not forcing him and just supporting him overall will still eventually yield the results you are looking for. Other members may still come along with some more ideas - so, maybe someone will still pinpoint something that might be behind this - you never know!!

I still have my fingers crossed that over time this behavior will disappear and Prior will go back to behaving more normally in your room. Or, something will eventually ring a bell with you and you will find out what is behind this.

But, regardless, please keep giving us updates!!

 

[River1225]

Thanks Yeah, I’ll just leave him be for a while, see if he makes any progress on his own. He’s at least coming in here by himself some.

I’ll let you guys know if anything changes. Or doesn’t change after a month or so goes by, I guess. Fingers crossed.

 

[River1225]

Update:
Prior seems to be doing a little better, he still kind of hates the floor, but he’s actually walking on it now. The vet had recommended I give him some wet food with his regular dry stuff occasionally, way back when I had him checked for a UTI. I finally found one that he likes. He hesitates when he gets near the door, but decides he likes the food enough that he actually walks in here. Last night he ran in to get it, like he used to. He’s always been enthusiastic about food, so it’s great seeing him excited like that again. All day I’ve been stuck home with some kind of flu virus, and he pushed past his fear and slowly inched his way to the front of the bed so he could sleep on the pillow next to me. It was so sweet. He’s there now too. He hasn’t been with me all day, but he spent a lot of time with me anyway.
I got one of his favorite cushions from the kitchen (the ones that I used to try and build him a walkway) and put it on the end of the bed. Even though he’d been pretty alright there, I think he really turned it into a kind of safe spot. It looks like he’s really made a little bit of progress being left to his own devices.
Thanks for all the help you guys, really. I guess I was kind of jumping the gun with the cat mom panic. I’ve had so much bad in my life the past several years. I was so afraid to get attached to him the first few weeks after we adopted him and his sister. But then I realized that, despite my hesitation, I love him so so much. I want him to be healthy and happy. I can’t stand the idea of anything bad happening to him. He seems to be doing better.
I’ll keep you guys updated on his little emotional journey!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Good news! Keeping my fingers crossed that we will hear from you soon that things are going even better!!

 

[River1225]

Okay, so, update, Prior was doing really well. He seemed to have almost completely gotten over the fear, but about a week ago it came back briefly, then he seemed kind of alright again. I’ve still just been letting him be.
But just now, as in about 20 minutes ago, he was happy as can be. I was carrying him to our room, he was cuddling with me and purring in my arms. Now I’m covered in blood from the panicked scratches, and he doesn’t look hurt but I think he may have broken the smoke detector when he hit the ceiling, he then landed on the ground, flailed into a wall, then bounced again to a different wall, then knocked a bunch of stuff over. He’s sitting on the end of the bed now, tail twitchy and a bit stiff, but he seems alright.
This time I don’t even know what set him off, we were still in the hallway, and his sister was chilling on the bed already when we were walking over. He was fine and then the next second he wasn’t. No warning at all. I think I’m going to call the vet in the morning. I don’t really know what to do. He seemed like he was getting better, and now it’s worse than before. I’m worried something is seriously wrong with him. It doesn’t seem like it’s related to the bed or the floor anymore.
I live near a really hardcore animal hospital in the city, but I go to a really ‘small town’ kind of vet. I work all week, but I’ll update after I’ve talked to her.

 

[Kflowers]

I'm so sorry, guys. This must be terrible for you and espically for poor Prior.

 

[River1225]

Thanks, it’s been really stressful. This much stress can’t be good for him. I just talk to the vet this morning, she seems a little concerned, said it wasn’t normal for him to be this crazy anxious. We talk for a while about anything that could be causing it, and she said she thought it could be intense nightmares. But she’s doing a blood test and a urinalysis. She thinks he should go on kitty Prozac to see if that’ll help him, but we’re going to wait for the tests to come back. I’m leaving for Russia on Tuesday. So she’s worried he’s going to be extra anxious without me around, but my housemates won’t be able to give him a pill, he doesn’t let them near him. But I’ll post his text results when I get them.

 

[FeebysOwner]

The timing - what with your upcoming trip - is pretty crummy for you and Prior. I just think the vet needs to do a bit more research before automatically putting him on Prozac. Has it ever been discussed that he might have experienced some sort of mild seizure in that room at first, which made him afraid of that room - and maybe he has since then had a couple more?

Ask your vet if seizures are a possibility and if there is a way to test for specifc types. And ask if Prozac would help with mild seizures. If so, you might ask the vet about how you could have the Prozac compounded differently - perhaps in a crushable tablet that is flavored? I have even heard of being compounded in a transdermal gel, which may be easier to use with Prior.

I hope you are not gone too long and that Prior at least gets a long with one of your roommates well enough that they could be his 'surrogate' mother while you are absent?

 

[River1225]

I can ask about seizures, but I’ve been observing him pretty closely these past few weeks, and I haven’t seen anything like that. But I do work away from home often as well. I talked to the vet for a long time and she said she thought it was mental. The vet I saw when I got his urine tested was someone else, they weren’t available this week so I saw a colleague of hers. Both of them have recommended the Prozac now. I think trialing it could be worth a shot. He’s just so anxious all the time. Poor thing.
He won’t let anyone touch him, honestly I hadn’t really noticed that much before. I just liked that he loved being with me so much instead of them. When he was a baby cat I spent ages sitting on the floor in the bathroom with him, trying to get him to like me. But he won’t give anyone else a chance. The trip is pretty bad timing, but I know I have just as much separation anxiety as he does. I’m going to have my housemates watch him closely and give me updates while I’m gone. Then I’ll talk to the vet again and start the Prozac when I get back in two weeks. I don’t think I’ll have trouble giving him a pill, though we did discuss multiple options. But the cat I had before Prior, had a plethora of health problems. I’ve gotten really good at giving shots, pills, fluids, etc.
Maybe they’ll find something in his blood and will be able to fix it. They took urine too. I half jokingly said that I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have a brain tumour or something. But she said he just seemed like a really stressed kitty. I’ll have the test results back on Monday. I don’t know if I should hope it’s clear or hope they find something on the chance that they can just explain and then fix it.