[googley]

Hi everyone.
Chloe, (my female 8/9 month domestic short hair cat that I have owned for about 4 months,) has become extremely skittish lately. She wont come up to me. and even when i am sitting on my couch where she used to be fine with me moving around when she was on the couch, will now leap down as soon as I move the least little bit. I want to help her with her anxiety in general and also make her comfortable with me picking her up. I am going away for christmas and will have to take her to boarding so I want that to be as little stress as possible. This is a somewhat abrupt change which is why it worries me, but has been getting worse over the last few weeks. The only change I can think of that happened was I was really sick over Thanksgiving and pretty much spent 4 days in bed. The thing is that during that time she would come snuggle with me and was fine with me picking her up. But then it seems after that (though it might have been before that and I didn't notice) she has been jumping at the least little movement by me and any time I reach towards her (even if I'm not reaching for her.) She also seems to go on "high alert" any time there is a noise outside of my apartment (besides just the noise of cars driving by) and will like become hypervigilant to noises. I can't believe that this state is fun for her to be in and I want to make sure that her interactions with me are comfortable and I can do what i need to do at the minimum like clip nails and pick her up. She used to be the dominant one in the relationship with her brother (from the same litter) but she also seems to have lost that position and now they are more equal. It would have been in the past if I had had a cat treat in my hand she would have been hesitant but then would have come up and taken it from my hand (as long as it wasn't right after clipping her nails) but now she wouldn't even do that tonight with me sitting still and laying on the floor.

I want to be able to make her comfortable again in my home and not have to scare her to do simple things. I love my cats and these are my first two as pets (had dogs as a kid) Any advice on how to help my anxious cat would be great.
Thanks.
Googley

Edit to add: one other thing that i have noticed is that lately she will play with the tinyist scrap of paper and pounce on it like it is the enemy. I don't know what is relevant and what isn't so I just gave you everything I have noticed. Also I haven't changed anything in regards to feeding schedule or temperature of my apartment (though outside it has gotten a lot colder) or way that I play with them. Though I have been really busy for work so less play in the evening and more on the weekends.

[HealingNSuffering]

Cats take anxiety meds to Medications for Cat Behavior Problems: Aggression, Anxiety, and More wish you the best of luck sorting this problem out.

[googley]

I'm hoping not to have to go that route. I don't want her to be on meds for the rest of her life.

[lizardlady]

Googley, could she have reached puberty? I'm wondering because of her age. Some cats' personalities change when they hit puberty. Maybe she's in heat?

I agree with you about not wanting to medicate her because of a behavior change. Maybe it's time for a trip to the vet to have her checked out though? Behavior changes in cats can mean there is something physical going on. I once took one of my cats to the vet because he had gone from being a lover to Mr. Grumpy. I couldn't find anything wrong with him, but knew the new behavior was not normal for him. Thankfully I had a good vet at the time who took me seriously when I told him what was going on. He examined my little man who turned out to have a raging infection. The vet said if he was that sick he'd be grumpy too! Cats are very good at hiding being ill. In the wild it's a survival trait.

[googley]

okay, i will take her to the vet to get checked out. i don't want something to be wrong that i'm missing. i'll call for an appointment for next week as i'm working tomorrow and friday. What might change w/ puberty? she is neutered/spayed (can't remember which one is which) so i don't know if that would change anything.

[lizardlady]

Forget what I said about puberty. I made the faulty assumption she was not spayed. The fact she's spayed makes puberty moot.

Have there been any changes at your house? Mine can freak out over something as simple as rearranging the furniture. Have you changed her food? Litter? Anything?

[googley]

no changes in food or litter. I have been working more i think so i haven't been around as much and more tired when i am home. Tonight she has been sitting with me for like an hour and falling asleep it seems like she is calmer. but that was a couple hours after i got home, and lately ii haven't been home that many hours before i go to bed. I have a pile of laundry on my floor that usually isn't there. But now i moved a little too much and she leaped down as quick as a flash.

[Citrine]

Im wondering if while you were ill did you have a nightmare and were shouting or kicking out in your sleep? perhaps you hit her accidentally then? Or scare her by shouting in your sleep? Or perhaps something has happened to her hearing?