Screaming Cat Freak-Out
So Tink was out on the deck today, sniffing around around in the leaves, and she finds this one spot she got really curious about. Lots of up-close sniffing, whiskers a-twitching, the tail going and everything. There’s been a fat squirrel raiding the birdfeeders, and I think that’s who she smelled — but unfortunately, Zeugma came up right beside her just when she was sniffing this odd scent, and startled her terribly, so much so that Tink hissed at Zeugma and bolted inside. Zeugma, apparently thinking it was a game, gave chase, and before I could follow, there arose from the living room an absolutely unholy commotion: not just yowling or growling or spitting, but screams like I’ve never heard cats make, like as loud as people screams. The screams were still going on when I got in there, Tink with her ears flat back against her head and her tail all bottle-brushy, and Zeugma — having realized that it wasn’t a game — spitting back with the Halloween-cat arch and bristle. They tore off into another couple circuits around the apartment until I was able to scoop up Zeugma and close her in the bedroom. Tink was hiding under the kitchen table, and she started screaming at me — really, it was scary how loud she got — as soon as I came in the room, so I backed off, and she dashed behind the dryer, where she hid all afternoon, growling when I got too close.
I felt horrible to have her so scared of me. When I was young, there were times when I was that terrified of my dad.
Tink usually eats around six, so I waited until six thirty or so to rattle some food into her dish. After some coaxing, she came out and took a couple bites, and calmed down enough to let me carry her into the bathroom with the food: I thought with a small, dark, enclosed space she’d feel a little more secure and protected. She seemed OK, until I went to get her litter box, and when I brought it in she shrank back from me, screaming, ears back flat, into the tub, and — this is the part that upsets me most, because it tells me how scared she was — voided her bladder. I got out of there as quickly as I could and closed the door.
So Tink’s in the bathroom, making the occasional growl or caterwaul, and Zeugma’s in the bedroom, mewling about how lonely she is. I let her out of the bedroom briefly, but she started to pass by the bathroom door and Tink screamed from behind the door and Zeugma’s tail puffed up and she fled for the living room.
A couple hours later, Tink started asking to be let out of the bathroom, and high-tailed it for my office when I opened the door. Still, she’s hissed at me each time I’ve come into the room, although having me nearby and non-threatening seems to embolden her enough to come up and ask for a belly rub after a while. She’s pretty clearly still freaked out, though. And Zeugma is lonely and confused and begging for attention.
They’re about a year and a half old now, and the only time anything even close to this has happened was when I brought them home from the vet after they’d had shots and they were nasty to one another for a couple days. But never this bad: Tink’s never, ever screamed like that. So I’m worried. And wondering how I’ll tell students tomorrow, “Well, I don’t have all your papers graded because my cats were going psycho.”
October 11th, 2004 at 10:46 pm
Woah Mike, cats are always fun but at rare times they do freak out. I’m fortunate enough to never having any of my cats wail at me like that, but I do remember reading a thread about one such case a while ago. Usually if you leave them alone and provide them with food and water, the problem goes away in a day or two. So don’t worry about it too much, cats have bad days too.
Oh, how are they with bathing?
October 12th, 2004 at 1:01 am
Well, far as bathing goes, they smell just fine, and they’re inside cats, so there’s not much opportunity for them to roll in stinky stuff: I haven’t had to bathe them yet.
I think the biggest part of the problem, aside from the squirrel-scent, is that Zeugma got in a good claws-out swipe at Tink, and gave her a scratch on the flank. They’ve both given me worse when playing, but I think Tink was pretty startled.
Still, Tink’s finally decided that I’m OK and she wants to be my friend again. The only problem is that being my friend means she gets to lie down on the grade book.
October 12th, 2004 at 6:55 am
Poor cat. Is she back to accepting your other cat, or are you having to keep them apart? Watch how they interact for a few days.
October 12th, 2004 at 4:13 pm
Oh man! How traumatizing. When B separated from the AF, we returned to Little Rock with our two cats, and stayed with his parents for three months while we house-shopping. His parents, although never abusive, hated the cats, and the second cat never recovered from the experience; forever timid and skittish afterwards.
Hope she’s better soon and they reconcile.
October 12th, 2004 at 6:21 pm
Poor Tink. And, of course, Zeugma has no idea what she did wrong. Hope everyone settles down and peace is restored.
October 13th, 2004 at 5:01 am
Not yet, I’m afraid. Last night, there was a brittle and tentative peace between the two of them, and even a couple nose-kisses and butt-sniffs, until I tried to move the litter boxes back to their original places. Zeugma got underfoot while I was carrying one and made me overstep and stumble and put my foot down too loudly, which startled her and made her hiss, which made Tink scream, and then they chased one another around again all a-bristle and spitting until I put them in separate rooms.
I’m hugely frustrated with them: with Tink for being such a neurotic freak, and with Zeugma for being so gleefully willing to escalate.
I can’t believe I’m wasting so much of my time with trying to cool them down. God, I’m whipped.
October 13th, 2004 at 6:25 am
Put a few drops of Bach’s Rescue Remedy in their water and see if that doesn’t help calm them down. They’ll gradually sort things out, so it’s really a question of calming them down a bit so that they break out of that chain reaction.
October 13th, 2004 at 2:26 pm
Don’t beat yourself up over your compassion for your pets, man. Hope Joanna’s recommendation works. You may have to live with them being catasses to each other for a while.
October 14th, 2004 at 11:50 am
have you seen this? it’s one of the ten funniest things i’ve ever seen in my life — though my sense of humor tends to lean in the “it’s a mad mad mad mad mad world” direction.
http://www.StupidVideos.com/?VideoID=837
nine posts about cats gone wild. three posts about poor derrida. i think this says something terrible about the state of society today.
October 14th, 2004 at 3:05 pm
Aww, the poor cat.
Re the state of society and cats versus Derrida: I think you’re absolutely right that it says something terrible: namely, our academic system has a despicable anti-cat bias in that there is not a single feline department head or full professor in the entire American higher education system. Cat tenure now!
October 14th, 2004 at 3:36 pm
haha! “poor cat” — i KNEW you were gonna say that! that cat is SO adopted, man — this movie’s been around the world, like, eight times. i just hope if i’m ever reincarnated as a stray cat, i remember that film’s valuable lesson: if you want to get the kind of publicity that will find you a happy home, viciously attack the first male Package you see.
October 14th, 2004 at 4:18 pm
and that’s ALSO good advice for getting tenure!
October 14th, 2004 at 8:25 pm
Regarding Derrida vs. cats: we have three cats, all with claws. We KNOW about deconstruction. We have chairs that call to question all of our assumptions about aesthetics and fabric sturdiness.
Regarding cats and tenure: first they need a union. Then a contract. Otherwise, this will happen: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/May/30/style/stories/01style.htm
If that cat had tenure, he’d stay all day long, that’s what I think.
October 14th, 2004 at 8:35 pm
oops, just reread the article. The cat is student, not a teacher. But I wonder why he is allowed to be left behind, huh?
October 15th, 2004 at 8:51 am
hmm – i’ve been talking a lot with a friend of mine lately about the unreconstituted pathology of the typical elementary school playground. i think this cat’s enrollment in school is going to lead, inevitably, to his enrollment in pet psychotherapy later in life. (or maybe regular pet psychic readings?)
apropos of nothing: i bought this poster on e-bay some time ago in a fit of nostalgia and now i have no idea what the hell to do with it.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0077305/posters
e-bay: clearly evil.
October 15th, 2004 at 8:53 am
oops. that last post was me. i forgot to id myself. not that many of you know me anyway.
October 10th, 2005 at 7:09 pm
I found this page on google… my cat is freaking out like that right now! And I have no idea why! Today is October 10, 2005… this story was written on October 11, 2004. Maybe it has something to do with the time of year? Ever since I brought my cat out to play in the leaves (which he was rolling around in and such) he’s gone crazy sniffing everything and hissing when you try to get close! He used to be so cuddly all the time. I hope this behavior stops soon
July 10th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
And almost three years later, here I am with the same problem. I have to thank you, your post is the best description of what I’m going through, and I know your cats get along again, so I just have to have patience. It’s only been sixteen hours. Best Girl wasn’t even this bad when we first brought Woogie home three years ago. Now I’m impatient, and sad, and wondering what happened, for crying out loud? This too shall pass.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
They haven’t done it in a long while, but it’s always been Tink rather than Zeugma who does the screaming, so there’s certainly a dispositional aspect to it, bekka. Keep ‘em separated for a few days and they’ll forget about it.
August 5th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I wonder what there smelling to make em that freaked out…. I wonder if we could see what they were smelling if we would be that freaked out?