Question:
One of our cats, Little Tiger, is 16, a neutered male Oriental. Beautiful ginger and copper and pumpkin coat. I call him Pumpkin as a nickname. Up to recently he has been doing great, and recently got a clean bill of health from the veterinarian. And all shots updated. Normally he is mostly an indoor cat and has a cat door and uses it to go outside for a few minutes to go pee. For years he slept and ate upstairs. Then a few weeks ago he started sleeping downstairs and seemed terrified of going upstairs. Finally I realized what the problem likely is, when I discovered another cat that was coming around and fighting, during the December mating season. I figure he is an un-neutered male, who seems young and aggressive. I am guessing that this cat came inside the house and terrorized Little Tiger upstairs while he was sleeping. So now Little Tiger comes upstairs just to eat, and then races back downstairs, even though the other cat hasn't been anywhere around for weeks -- at least not in the house. The trouble is that Little Tiger never wants to spend any time with me anymore upstairs. I don't want to start sleeping on the couch to give him time and attention because I find it very cold and uncomfortable there. But Little Tiger seems to be demanding that I stay downstairs with him. Also, I feel so lonely and miss him upstairs, because he used to curl up with me all his life until these last few weeks. Someone gave me a cat homeopathic remedy to try, designed for cats who are overwhelmed and spraying. It's not quite the right formulation (because he isn't spraying) but it does seem to be helping him feel more relaxed. I give it to him when he really starts crying, which he tends to do now when I come home after being out for several hours. Also, lately when I feed him, I try to keep him company and try to pet him to encourage him to realize that there isn't any other cat around. And I talk to him about it. But he still insists on running downstairs within a minute or two and seems terrified of being upstairs. So is there anything I can do to help that I am not already doing? I feel just awful that my cat is so unhappy. And I miss him so much, and when I am busy and needing to be out for the day, he hardly has any contact with me and so he winds up spending most of his time alone and I can tell that he isn't very happy. One glimmer of hope is that each day he seems to be making a little bit of progress. For example, tonight he went into the room with the cat door. And he meows upstairs to me, so at least we have a conversation. But I would love to accelerate the process. I wouldn't mind blocking the cat door until this whole thing blows over and/or spring weather, but I worry about Little Tiger not being able to get out of the house in the event of a fire. Any ideas?

Answer:
You said you haven't closed off the cat door. Is it possible that other cats are coming in while you out of the house? Cats will be aggressive and fight outside of mating time also. Seems like you might have to close off the cat door. If you want to check to see if other cats are using the door, sprinkle a little flour in front of it outside so their prints will show up. Then you'll know if that is the problem.

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I agree. IMO, the best thing to do is close the cat door. No cat would feel safe with intruders.

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I agree to close the cat door. If you are really worried about a fire the cat door probably wouldn't help anyway because cats will hide if they are scared (as you are figuring out :( ). Then just work with him to build back his confidence. I had a cat that was terrified of our dog when we adopted her but I just kept picking her up and bringing her into the room with us. Each time she got a little braver and now they get along great.

Answer:
Thank you to everyone who replied. Today seemed like a turning point. I spent all day inside and that seems to have helped. Also, I am quite certain this aggressive cat has not come into the house for weeks. The flour is a good idea, so as soon as it stops raining, I'll try it. I have been reminding the cat that this is his territory and that he can feel safe. He seems to finally be believing it, although he still only comes upstairs mainly to eat, but tonight he ate slowly and then spent a bit of time grooming before going back downstairs when I did. But what about the cat door? Wouldn't going out reassure him that the other cat is indeed outside and not coming into our house anymore? Or maybe the advantages of being trapped inside will outweigh the advantages of freedom, with the risk of predators coming inside -- but the other cat coming in was the first time a terrorizing cat has come into our place for years, as far as I can tell -- and I base this on the fact that Little Tiger's current stress is something I have never seen before these last few weeks, and also on the fact that I have been around the house a lot lately and haven't seen any sign of this cat around. Also, my cat is settling down, which wouldn't likely be happening if the other cat were still coming inside. My question now is: Won't Little Tiger feel frustrated at not being able to come and go freely as he has all these years if I close off the cat door? I wouldn't want to do anything that might add to his stress. Ideas?

Answer:
My cats,especially my Tabby get totally stressed just SEEING another cat outside through the window and if a strange cat managed to get inside,I would have plenty of evidence of a cat-fight in the house,hair,blood etc..but maybe your Tiger just went in to hiding?
Plus,if you were sleeping the fighting screams they make would have woken you up,there is really nothing worse..
Are you sure it was a cat coming in through the cat-door and not a raccoon or something else??
Anyway,I am glad he's doing better

Answer:
It may be only a matter of time until the outside cat comes back. Once they know they can get in, they will. You may have other cats using the cat door too, except your cat doesn't mind them. We had to take out our door as I would come home from work and find other cats in the house sleeping on chairs, etc. Our cat objected to some of them coming in but he didn't mind some of them. Your cat may appreciate you taking out the door if that is the problem. He feels safe and secure with you and if he realizes the door isn't there anymore then he will feel more secure. Cats are pretty smart and he will figure out, if he can't go out the other cat can't come in. Our cat used to go outside, had an incident and now stays in. It didn't take long for him to get used to the idea. Good luck and lots of patience.

Answer:
Although I don't know how expensive they are, I know they have cat doors with a sensor on them, that is activated by a sensor that the cat wears on his collar. This way, the door opens for your cat, but not for any other animals. This may be helpful for you, as your cat would still be able to go in and out. Also, your cat probably still smells the other cat upstairs, even though you have cleaned, etc., since then, as cats have an extremely good sense of smell. You may want to try to take your cat upstairs and stay with him in a room with the door shut so he can't run away, and hold your cat, pet him, etc., so that he begins to realize again that upstairs is not a dangerous place. You may want to do this daily, for a little bit longer each day, so that your cat learns that upstairs is a good place, where you give him affection, and that there is no longer anything to fear there. The cat flap with sensor may be something that you want to try also.

Answer:
Some very interesting suggestions, indeed! Although I suppose it could have been a raccoon or some other predatorl, the only other animal I have seen come in through the cat door besides Tiger is the cat that I witnessed coming into the house through the cat door, and on another occasion, when I saw him fighting with Tiger in the living room, and both events happened a few weeks ago. And I haven't seen him since. I think whatever happened to scare my cat upstairs occurred when I wasn't at home, and I suspect that the aggressive cat caught Tiger off guard and might have frightened him enough to make him leave the house. But I blocked the cat door with a small empty box a couple of days ago, and it is still there, so obviously there has been no coming or going by any cats, because they would have had to knock it down to get in or out. So maybe Tiger CAN handle not going out unless supervised, which is fine with me. And I have been spending time with him upstairs every day, and each day he does seem to feel more and more confident about increasing his time upstairs. The cat sensor-type door was a good suggestion, so I might look into that later if Tiger seems to be going stir crazy down the road if I block off the current door. Thank you everyone for caring about him. I tell Little Tiger about all the people who want to help him.
In fact, he is sitting next to me at my desk now as I write!

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