Hello,
My question (or more urgent advice sought!) is about my Siamese cat's behaviour.
As a bit of background information, I moved my 2 x cats from Dubai (where I was working) to Europe for work. My job is in the UK and as my cats hadn't had the full '6 months wait' for the rabies test (they had 3 months to go before being let into the UK), I asked my brother and his family living in Holland to take care of them.
They made the journey very well and arrived happy and calm, as we had previously moved from Singapore to Dubai where I was living previously, so they are well-accustomed to travel. The problem seemed to begin with my brothers' children (three young boys), as they were a little over-eager with the Siamese especially (fighting over her, wanting to carry her and the younger boy I imagine could have been a bit rough - not while I was there though!). My other cat is more shy, so he tended to hide when the boys were around, whereas my Siamese is (or was, I should say) so sociable and would never want to be far away from people. I left feeling a bit worried but knowing that if my only other option was quarantine (the rest of my family live in the UK also) then this at least was much better.
However, now that I've been able to collect them and bring them into the UK it has been such a horrible shock. I felt as though I was collecting two totally different cats. I was prepared for it taking a little while to establish a bond with them again, but I really can't express how different they are. The male cat would hide constantly under the bed, only coming out at night and was terrified of people or any noise, whilst the Siamese is now just so angry and violent, avoiding people and nothing like her former self. In the 4 weeks we've been here, the male cat has become much, much better and is now almost back to his normal sweet and loving self, but I'm so very worried about my Siamese. The only word to describe her is 'angry'. She's lashing out at the male cat a lot - hissing and striking him for no reason, although this does seem to be after I've picked him up/been showing him attention. She also seems very angry with me and is not in the least bit as sociable or affectionate. She is now also petrified of children. I'm so heart-broken at the change in her personality and I just don't know what to do. I've been trying to show her a lot of love and attention, but it's hard as she really doesn't want to be around me or people in general now. She used to be such a sweet and happy cat, and she would just love being with people.
I've asked my brother if anything happened, and although he said no I did get the impression that his kids were 'over-loving' my Siamese in the sense that they didn't give her any peace and - I believe - may have been a bit rough with her. This is a sensitive topic though,as I think many parents would take offence at the notion that they were allowing their kids to misbehave too much.
Any advice would really help, as I just don't know what to do.
Thank you so much.
