Last bout of aggression with Tux was on March 12th. So its been 5 days now, and I’m really happy about him feeling better, I hope.
There are a few things I can attribute this to, and any of them can be contributing factors to his change back to himself, or closer anyway.
The Neighbor. My Neighbor had a few Bengal cats that were really great cats. Vocal cats, but great cats. They would sit out on the deck and talk loudly amongst themselves. I believe that there might have been some odor that Tux was catching as well. He’s been completely moved out since Last Saturday, March 12th. Timing could or couldn’t be a coincidence.
Prozac is also a variable that could have helped put him back on an even kill. He was prescribed Prozac almost a month ago to the day, February 16th 2.5 mg.
When all of Tux’s blood work came back normal, we thought that the next course of action would be to find out if he may or may not be in pain, either from arthritis, injury, or something else physical. She tried 5 does, one week of a product called Metacam. Now his last does was Sunday March 13th, and we don’t have anymore, and he still seems to be feeling fine, it could still be the pain meds working their deal, but I’m suspecting not since he’s been 5 days without them. I’ll give this a few days just to make sure.
Finally, my energy around him, I’ve been working on. While he was pissy and hissing at me all the time, I was pretty much walking on pins and needles around him, trying my best to just avoid the confrontation. If you’ve ever heard a cat screaming outside, thats what it was like here when he was in his mood. Very un-nerving, and I’m sure the neighbors thought I was trying to kill him. I did everything I could to avoid him. Looking back, my reaction to his hissing, was no doubt only increasing his tension, and the vicious circle continued. I made it a point to again, assert my territory all along while making sure he knew he was welcome. I increased interactive time with some new toys I bought, and this was helpful.
A couple of other things, I added to the mix was the pheromone diffusers. If you get a diffuser that INCLUDES the Feliway pheromones, those mimic a cats own calming scents. They are a little expensive, but I have noticed that Tux will tend to gravitate and lay near them, so there is something to it. They are on the pricy side however. Along with those, I made sure all the windows had comfortable places to lay so he could look out, changed his food and water bowls to stainless steel, and just tried to make it as comfortable for him / and me as I could. Sounds strange, but I’ve been playing alot more music. I try to have it playing as much as possible. It definitely calms me down a bit, and Im sure it would have to do the same for Tux.
To conclude, many of these “remedies” seemed to happen at the same time, so pinpointing any particular one seems futile. If his good behavior continues, I imagine I’ll not figure it out, which is moot, as long as he’s feeling good, and is happy. The only constant factor right now is the meds and being minus a neighbor with some bengal cats. Either or both of those could be a relief for him.
My stress however, of finishing this Graduate Degree, and seemingly endless money problems recently gets him “tuned up”. He’s always been on the exact same wavelength as me. If my energy changes, I dont even have to speak, and you can see him go on edge.
This is certainly not the end as it’s only been 5 days. But if anyone is having the same problems out of their cat, I hope this helps. Let me know how you are doing. I’ll keep you up to date on Tux as well
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