What Is Going On?

[tabbysia]

I'm still up at 3:00 in the morning typing this because my cat has been driving me crazy. She is sleeping right now, but ever since I brought her home from her check-up at the vet yesterday (at about 12:00 pm), she has been behaving very strangely. She has been frequently meowing very loudly and pacing like she is restless. I wasn't worried during the first few hours, because I assumed that it was just stress. She usually gets very stressed out and worked up at the vet. However, she usually calms down when she gets home. She has never been this stressed out for such a long period of time. Her pattern since yesterday afternoon has been to either sit still or pace while meowing very loudly off and on for twenty to thirty minutes, then sleep for a couple of hours (or sometimes less), wake up and repeat. She also has eaten very little since I brought her home.

The vet did routine bloodwork yesterday as part of her check-up and seemed very pleased with it. She said everything looked normal--great in fact. So, I am puzzled as to what could be going on. I took a normally behaving cat to the vet yesterday and returned home with a seemingly crazy one. I will call the vet clinic when they open, and see what they have to say about it, but with her bloodwork being normal, I am not sure what they can do.

As far as the "she is sleeping right now" part goes--never mind. She just woke up and is doing it again. Anybody have any thoughts?

She will be nine years old in a few weeks and is technically a senior, so I thought of dementia, but it is strange how this all came on so suddenly.

 

[rubysmama]

I just did a quick Google search on "cat stressed after vet visit" and got lots of hits. So it's not an uncommon occurrence.

Calling your vet for advice, seems like a good plan. Hopefully they'll have helpful advice. Possibly Feliway or calming treats.

I won't post all the hits Google found, but here is one TCS thread similar to your situation.

Cat is very angry after vet visit--been 2 days?

Fingers crossed your cat is back to normal soon.

Here's the TCS articles on stress too, in case they are helpful:
Is Your Cat Stressed Out?
Potential Stressors In Cats - The Ultimate Checklist (vet visit is # one on the list)
Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats

 

[di and bob]

As she gets older, just like us it takes more and more time to adjust to changes. It has not even been 24 hours, so is not unusual for a cat to be stressed for this long, especially one that went through the traumatic ordeal of taking blood. (Traumatic for her anyway) Her world has been turned upside down and she feels very unsettled and afraid it is going to happen again. Cats live in the present. So she feels that this is happening now and can't process that it is over and won't happen again right now. Just give her lots of attention and cuddles, lots of food taht she likes and try to take her mind off of what happened. She'll come around, it will just take longer. They have natural 'calming' treats on Amazon that would help, I give half the dose before vet visits for my cat that had heart problems. Be calm and give it time, she'll come around, she's been through a rough time for her and just needs the reassurance of familiar surroundings and you.

 

[susanm9006]

Sometimes after the vet a cat needs to check out all of their surroundings to make sure everything is there and hasn’t changed. I take this meowing to mean “this is my window, this is my bed, this is where I afternoon nap etc, etc, etc”. As cats get older they get much much more attached to these places and routines and more upset when they are taken away from them. She will calm down on her own but to help your ears, try a calming product or even some catnip to see if it helps.