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As I recall you adopted her as a tiny baby and she was in a parking lot on her way to the kill shelter, wasn't she? Maybe something happened in the parking lot - a loud noise, or squeals or tire sounds and it has just gotten fixed in her little mind and in a way she's kind of handicapped due to it. Kind of like kitty PTSD - you know, we never actually know what those little guys go through and they remember smells and sometimes it alters their little brains just enough that they are never just quite "right". But, they do remember things, and people, and things that have scared or hurt them previously.
Yes she's the parking-lot kitty but she was about 4 months old when I got her. I have no idea what she endured before that day. She's been traveling with us ever since but instead of getting better about traveling, she's slowing getting worse.
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My friend adopted a a little kitty guy who survived being thrown from a moving car window - he hit the pavement hard. She saw it and stopped her car - blocked traffic and picked him up on a Friday evening during rush hour. He was dazed and injured badly - and she immediately took him to the animal ER. They saved him - and she adopted him...but he started chewing and pulling at his skin on his shoulders for no reason. Could not make him stop - he wore an e-collar and could eventually easily slip out of it. She found him in a pool of blood one morning - with his shoulder once again ripped open to the bone - and he was nearly dead from blood loss. She ended up having him PTS - it was too pitiful and he would just keep mutilating himself. His vet thought that there was some brain damage or something from his kittenhood that he just could not overcome.
What a shame. They do have meds for things like that today. It's amazing the amount of different medications for the conditions our pets suffer from. However if it was brain damage.....
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Callie may have experienced something before you two ever met - and it may have something to do with a vehicle. Maybe she was hit or nearly was, or whatever - you'll just never know. All you can really do now is try and reassure her and soothe her as much as possible and make it as stress-free as you can. I have not had good success with Feliway products - some folks have though. I would not medicate her unless I absolutely had to. She is important and somehow, some way you will find a way around this. I'm just not sure yet what it will be.
I agree. Medication is the last option. She really suffers in the new (used) RV. I hate to see her in that state of almost a frenzy to get out. It's like a panic-attack of some kind. And that brings up the fear she may somehow get out the door with one of us, run off and be gone forever. Almost every Resort and CG we've been too has cats that escaped from RVs and were never reunited with their owners.
Here's hoping they do! Otherwise you may find yourself facing a very unpleasant set of options.
There has to be an answer to this problem. I've read about cats like this but the owners found them homes. Finding an adult cat a home where I live is almost impossible. And there is no guarantee it would be a "good" home. People dump cats and dogs in shelters for the flimsiest reasons - or just move off and leave them to fend for themselves.
She would ride in the tow-van with us, in a good size cage w/water and litterpan with 2 of the other cats. She would be miserable and cry on and off but couldn't get to us. As soon as we stopped and brought her and the others into the TT she was fine. That was when we had the travel-trailer.
Then we got the old Class-C which she adapted to quickly so was left loose with the others. She would lay on the dashboard, sometimes sit in my lap. DH wanted a Class-A motorhome so we replaced the C with an A. It's this latest RV she is having all the problems with.
That's a good question? Perhaps something in the way an odor or smell is setting her off. I spent most of my working life in the RV industry (mostly manufacturing), so I'm quite familiar with their construction. One thing that used to be a huge issue was formaldehyde fumes coming from the paneling in walls and cabinets. To most people it was not noticeable unless the RV was closed up on a hot day, but there were people who were sensitive to it even with windows open or the ac on.
They RV and MH industries are getting away from Formaldehyde. I am deathly allergic if Formaldehyde and chlorine. I will have something like an asthma attack. Horrible and frightening. I can't stay more than a few minutes in some Home Depots and Lowe's stores. This RV is 15 yrs old and I have not reacted even when it's closed up with the A/C on. Or hot and humid with the windows open. I cannot swim in pools with chlorine, only salt water pools. We're thinking it may be something else like some vibration or sound we cannot hear. But the other 3 cats are not bothered.
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Some reactions were quite severe. In the past 2 decades manufacturers have been using better /different types of paneling that have helped, but the problem never went away completely. I was never affected by it much, but as recently as 2013 I recall my eyes watering and a runny nose from working a few hot rv's that were built after 2000.
Wow! If you reacted like that I would have had an asthma-like attack, became dizzy and disoriented and I would be unable to open my burning running eyes.
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Not saying this is Callie's problem, just pointing out that there may be something in your newer rv affecting her that wasn't in your old one. If she fine riding in your old one, but not the newer one, then it makes me wonder.
Wishing you the best of luck finding a solution.
We are sometimes gone for as long as 4 months in the winter. It's unaffordable for all but the wealthy. And how happy would she be in a cage for all that time?
I have a solution but I can't say it. Ok. Leave the cat at home with a giant bag of cat food, littler box and a 5 gallon dog water bottle setup. This is no way for the cat to live, it is a living hell for all concerned
You can't leave cats alone for weeks or months at a time.
I really don't know but before spending money on something that doesn't work I'd like to hear from people who tried it.
The Richmond, VA SPCA uses them on new in-takes.
Call them.
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Almost every Resort and CG we've been too has cats that escaped from RVs and were never reunited with their owners.
