Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 10/7/2008

Question
We have 2 @ 3 year olds, brother & sister. Until now everything has been just lovely. They have 24hr access in and out and usually sleep in my room at night.
But on Saturday, our female, Izzy did not come home for food and bed as usual.
She came in on Sunday morning and into my room for a fuss but I noticed a big chunk of fur missing from her neck. The moment I saw it and tried to look, she ran away and out again. Now she is behaving very skittish, she will not come in when we are home. She still scratches our fence and patrols our garden but she is sleeping rough and not eating properly.
I am encouraged that she has not left her territory but sad that she will not come into the house when we are there. She even waits until she hears the front door close before rushing in the catflap for a day's sleeping.  I miss her so much as she was always wanting to play and have a fuss.
Do you think the attack is causing her caution and she is afraid that we may hurt her further ? Do you think there is a chance that she may come home again once she is healed?  
She was injured only 4 days ago so I want to resolve this if I can before it become the norm.
Thanks for any advice you can give me how I can reassure her that all is well and she need not be afraid.

Answer
Hi
your cat could be suffering from what is known as trauma aggression/fear. She is associating the fight she had with humans even though it had nothing to do with them, its a sort of transference.

If I were you i really would try and catch her and get her to the vets in case the wound on her neck gets infected that could be why she is not eating properly as she feels unwell. You may have to be sneaky about this, like waiting till she thinks you've gone out and comes in and then nip round and block the cat flap.

Then once she is treated you will have to keep her confined to one room of your house for about a week so that she can get used to the home situation again and only has to cope with a small space. During this time you will have to try and regain her confidence by sitting with her but not attempting to touch her, let her come to you see my webpage about bonding http://www.our-happy-cat.com/new-cat.html

Don't worry it sounds like your cat has had a bit of a fright this is not unusual and will normally subside with a little TLC. And please don't worry about letting your cat out again in the future, we all go through troubles that we can't let spoil our life.

best wishes Kate
http://www.our-happy-cat.com