Cat is terrified to go outdoors - UPDATE

This poor little thing has had a litany of tests over the years, she
definitely has allergies, she has had every treatement to rule out this and
that over the years - I don't remember most of them, a skin biopsy which
took a lump out of her lovely face which proved inconclusive- even took her
many many times to the Vet of the Year here in Ireland (very long drives
over several months). Kit has had the best of treatment but in the end all
vets agree the picking fur off her face is psychological. We could go
further with the allergy testing, but I refuse to put her through any more
probing for a result that will be at best 40% accurate. She will not
co-operate with any food allergy trials, preferring to starve than eat cat
food. This new behaviour now with what I presume is the result of a bee
sting, from the evidence, is only the latest to add to the catalogue.

Anyway, the news is better, kit now has been going out every night a bit
earlier, last night it was still bright when she went out ! 9pm, and now
comes back around midnight and lets me pet her to sleep on my bed. For the
last two days she has also worked up the courage for the morning shift, from
7:30 to 10am. Hubby does a stint of 'forced outdoors' work with her now
each day. The first day 1 minute, followed by 5 minutes same day, yesterday
he did18 minutes where we provide a barricade with a table and some cushions
to help her feel some protection. My husband also sits with her (her great
protector from dogs etc and her hero). She relaxed enough to take a sip of
milk and yesterday, he says she was about to fall asleep out there before I
called time. She is learning to walk, rather than run back into the house
when this little stint is over and amazingly not hide under the bed
afterwards other than the first minute first day. She has developed a
tendency to roll over much much more on a favourite mat or carpet if she
thinks there is any danger we will pick her up to take her out - very clever
! Knows we cannot resist petting her. Just a half an hour ago, after a
long sleep, she came downstairs by herself and looked for her food in the
normal spot before all this started (a first!)

And there are now 2 dead bees on my doorstep, something I have never seen
before, but I wonder if this was done by her, and could be a two-in-one i.e.
revenge on the bees combined with a gift for mum and dad who have taken care
of her so well for the last 10 days. I've had mice and birds as gifts
before but bees are new and seem to confirm the theory. Just hope it
isn't her as playing with bees is only likely to lead to further beestings !


Laura


"Alison" wrote in message
...
Hi Laura
,This is a very interesting case so to speak . It would be good if you
could get to see the behaviourist . They usually come to your house
but perhaps the one your vet recommended lives too far away.
What tests have your vet done? Sometimes "behaviour" problems can
have a medical cause.
Allergies can cause a cat to chew its fur.
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body...granuloma.html
Alison


--"LC" wrote in message
...
Thank you all so very much for your different ideas and thoughts.
Late last night kitty left the house after 6 days. under cover of
darkness......there were no flies buzzing around late at night and
as she
asked to go out for the umpteenth time, I decided to let her, sure
that she
would run back in after a few seconds.....but the little madam went
out
slowly at first, at 12:30am and did not return until 5:25 am, except
to come
back occasionally and say hello, accept a little tuna, but not to
come in.
We tried chasing her many times to come back in (a game where she
usually
eventually concedes) but she was happy enjoying a good time after
many days
of being cooped up and in the end we let her play, it was a warm
night and
we were just so relieved she went out and seemed happy and
comfortable with
it....little sexy catwalk parading up and down
confidently......simply
amazing ! Much better than the cowering, terrified little scrap of
fur she
was earlier. We took the decision then, as she had taken that
first huge
step, not to freak her out any further today by taking her to the
vet
(extremely traumatic experience for kitty). I saw the vet today
alone
without kit - the vet agreed to see me without her as she is very
well
acquainted with kitty, in fact Kitty represents her particular pet
subject,
its also hard to forget kit, she is so compelling and adorable.
Where
to begin ?

She thinks its highly likely that the leg is probably something
kitty did to
herself (as my husband has said also for a while) since kitty is
prone to
picking out her own fur, regularly taking out the third eyelid etc.
although
the fur removal has been mostly confined to the head area and
specifically
the eyes. Kit has been doing very well with this problem for the
last 12
months though, at least I thought she had. She thinks that it is
most
likely a bee sting or indeed with kit, it could be something she
dreamed
although considering the force of kit's reaction, she believes it is
a real
experience rather than an imaginary one. My concern, as was the
vets, is
how to calm her down sufficiently to allow her to begin to move on.
We had
the time to properly discuss kits full background as she was not
there
stressed, wanting to go home NOW, all strange problems related to
the fact
that she is hypersenstive, highly intelligent, highly strung, the
vet warned
me that she is highly manipulative etc etc. a whole lot of other
highlys and
to a great extent I have created a monster by pandering to her every
whim.
(Yes, we have built our lives around kitty - she is super-loved).
All of
these things I already knew and love kitty for. We had a long
discussion where we likened her to a person with Asperger's Syndrome
to try
to relate to make a human comparison and the vet said that this is a
case
where I cannot treat her as you would another cat. I needed to
encourage
her and not pander too much too any new demands, for example, only
feeding
her upstairs for the last 6 days as she refused to come downstairs
to
eat.....basically if I know she can come downstairs (she can) then
maintain
her normal routine as much as possible, this will help relax her as
she
loves routine - and she really does !! Kit has eaten much cream
and
chicken downstairs this evening - always susceptible to bribes, kit
understands the game, so long as she feels safe. Kit wanted to
go out
again this morning first thing (7:30am) skipped down to the door,
saw a
beautiful sunny day and her daughter (the cat next door) waiting on
the
doorstep to play with her, but this time she also saw a fly on the
doorstep.
This had the by now familiar reaction- she let out a simple whimper
that
says "I'm terrified" and retreated at fantastic speed upstairs to
hide under
a bed. This time when I looked under the bed she had not flopped
out
flat in depressed state, and back as far as possible, instead she
was
sitting up, only halfway back and still looking lucid and
bright-eyed and
interested. She hopped straight out for me with just talking to
her, and
went immediately to an upstairs window so the confidence is finally
building. All good signs. We have waited until 6pm to bring her
downstairs today, in the meantime I pampered her upstairs and let
her sleep
a lot....it took 3 times of collecting her and bringing her down to
get her
comfortable enough to stay downstairs and then she settled magically
back to
her favourite window complete with comfy cushion. Tonight she has
asked
to go out again, at 10:00pm when darkness hit, and she is still out
playing
right now. She refuses to come in to this moment - 00:45 and I
suspect I
am in for another long night. For now, I don't care, it is worth it
to see
that spark in her eyes and body language.

So, for now, she will have to be a night cat when the flies go to
sleep and
the buzzing stops. In winter there will not be so many flies around
and I
hope in time she conquers her fear. I am sure she will with
coaxing, love
and where necessary, bribery. Meantime, we will put her on
Prozac to
help her calm down (something which I was supposed to do some time
ago in
relation to previous behaviours I had not associated with this.) I
held
off before as I was afraid of her becoming addicted, side-effects,
how to
wean her off etc, but the vet told me it is slightly diff. for cats
in terms
of addiction, I will watch closely for any adverse reaction, and we
will
make it a short term affair, as in 8-10 weeks to see the effects and
reaction. The vet was not entirely hopeful she will overcome this
one
completely, due to the personality involved, but I remain confident
in my
little kit, she is amazing. I respect this vet a lot but I also
know
something of determination and willpower and kit's will to go out is
STRONG.
She will overcome. The vet also gave me the name of a cat
behaviour
specialist whom she says would be fascinated to meet with my kit and
try to
understand her and help her, so we may go there in the future, not
for now,
not until kit is more sure of herself when there are blue daylit
skies
about.

Thank you all so much for your responses.

Laura



c