Has anyone else seen this in a cat before?

[PaulaSB12]

6 years ago I adopted 1 black queen kitten, a black and white (and totally neurotic) tom cat and the tabby queen who is their mother. Queenie the mother got on ok with Tippy her daughter and was a grump to her son but lived together ok. About 3 years ago she had to have three teeth removed when she got back from the vets she remembered me, my mother and our dog BUT the other two cats where now strangers to her. Its taken the following 3 years to reintergrate her with the others and finally its worked, they are happy again BUT how did she remember us but not her ofspring?

 

[Mahonri]

Cat memory and dental anesthetic - who knew?!?!?!?!

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

It's probably not "remembering"; it's probably that cats don't understand the passage of time the way we do. They don't understand "a couple of days." When mom cat disappeared, kid cats said "Ding dong, the witch is dead" and set about to make their new little kingdom and relationship and pecking order. Mom cat comes back, considerably weakened by the injury and the anesthesia, and finds a wall of hostility where she used to be in charge. What you've seen is years of her fighting to get her place back.

When we showed Danes, where the boys often have issues with each other once grown, it was considered common practice to reintroduce the boys to each other as though they were strangers if one had been gone for a show weekend and the other ones hadn't. You'd need to have them "meet" again over a baby gate and heavily supervised. Even the two or three days of the weekend could lead the home pack to set up a new regime and if you just dumped the absent boy back in the yard there'd be a massive fight.

 

[BorderKelpie]

Do you know what anesthetic they used? I had a cat have strange issues after being sedated with Ketaset (ketamine).
Just wondering if that could be what your cat is experiencing. Boomer never 'recovered' as far as some of the deficit he acquired from the anesthetic. (I KNEW that's what he was using for brains! Never should have had him neutered!) lol

 

[welsummerchicks]

I think it happens a lot. They don't think like us. When they come back home, it's a whole new ballgame.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Don't know what type they used but after 3 years they get on ok (well she is still a bit of a bully to my tom but so is his sister)

 

[theoldchick]

One must remember how our feline superiors evolved. You don't see our barely domestic feline masters hunting in a group to bring down prey unless a mother is teaching her young. Don't often see mature cats mingle unless food or sex is involved. Occasionally pair bonds do form, and some cats are great actors when they want to impress their human subordinates just to prove how silly we actually are.

Your cat came home from surgery exhausted and in pain. Her post op pain was significant and she recognized her source of food and protection-you. Also, cats are very sensitive to odor. In their mind, humans stink. Ever pet a cat and have it immediately groom that area? Ever have your feline dictator groom you? Surgery kitty came home smelling not only of human but also the vet! The horror! She could have been attacked! The queen was dethroned until she was feeling better and able to assert her lordliness over her furred subjects. You, as her subject, performed your duties superbly. She was pleased and graced you with her company as you covertly provided her with the security she needed. After all, she did lose three teeth, and must have smelled hideous to her former subjects as her gums healed. Not to mention she lost three weapons.

Well done human subject. You are an excellent cat owner. Now bow down and pass the catnip.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Cats can be nasty-minded little bigots; but I think theoldchick nailed it. She went away, the others started a new thing, and when she came back it was like the first time she had ever been there.

When our P-kitty was alive something happened between him and one of the female cats, and he became so freaked he stopped eating. He would not come downstairs to use the litter box, and was completely changed in personality. When we went on vacation we decided to board the bully girl, and let the other two cat stay at home. P-kitty had a week or more to re-establish himself in the house and when Katie came back she was the new cat. The dynamic had been restored and the problem never occurred again.

 

[kcsunshine]

Quote:
Oh Lord - you need to meet my daughter. She thinks all her cats are kings, queens, lords and makes up stories about them. And she's over 40!

 

[sourland]

Theoldchick writes like a "cat whisperer." And yes they are Kings, Queens, Lords and higher. If you doubt this, you have never been owned by a cat. Raisin lived to be 19. K.C. lived to be 17. Between them they owned this house for 36 years. Now it is ours.