Strange behaviour of Cat ...

Van, the blue eyed cross Siamese boy who has been with us for 11 years is acting very strange. He is an indoor/outdoor cat. The past five days he won't come home until breakfast when he eats, goes to the litter box, goes back out and stays out all night. We tried not letting him out straight away and he screams non stop and scratches the front and back doors ... so we give in. Is it this intense heat we are having (give or take 40c, unusual for here)) It appears he is staying in the orchard. I am thinking/hoping he will return to normal when we cool off somewhat/ Any thoughts?

For those who don't know, he really has nowhere to go ...

 

Could a new rival have appeared and he’s defending his territory? Maybe put up a small webcam to see what’s going on?

 

Thank you for your thoughts. Thought about that. We have The Squeak who has been visiting regularly since January of last year. He is not allowed in the house. They have had two big spats, both when Van was in his tree house and The Squeal tried to join him and that was last year. We have CTV in four places but cannot cover all the property. We rarely see another cat here.

 

I see he doesn’t wear a collar, but could you squeeze him into soemething like this, short term?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D4MPG...=osi&th=1&psc=1&ascsubtag=ecSEPjb70sjmcm5caip

 

We really don't care where he has been (we are miles from anywhere). Jim did look up a GPS thingy. I am hoping it is just this intense heat we don't normally have, which should back off tomorrow.

 

We hardly see our pair at all in this heat @Victoria. They have a catflap but prefer the annex door and come for breakfast around dawn and dinner late evening but are hiding in cool shede the rest of the day. If we see them about they like a stroke and even a brushing but don't want a cuddle.

 

@JWK We are down to 34,5c now and plan to go sit out about 6,30 and I hope we can coach him out, We are positive he is somewhere in the orange orchards as they are irrigated and cool under ... but where amongst the thousands. No, he has never hunted ... I have to flake cooked chicken for him as he has a cleft palate!

 

Our cat disappears for most of the night and day but the cat flap rattles about 12.15 when it is feeding time then at 6pm for a snack.

 

Is he/she an outside cat? Van is an indoor/outdoor boy and has been for 11 years We normally do not have temps of 40c. I feel like running away but stay indoors in a/c.

 

Good news. He came in around 11pm. ate dinner, went in the box then came in the bedroom and sat on my dresser ... then jumped into bed and plopped onto my chest and neck purring. Hurray, back to normality ... for now. The heatwave seems to have broken... so let's hope Van's adventures have ceased.

Thanks for listening all and I will keep you updated.

 

What a night. We had not seen Van all day and he didn't come home for dinner. He arrived home at 1.15am, ate dinner then shouted and scratched at the doors. He got on me in the bed for about five minutes then off he was onto my dresser, Jim's tall boy, back and forth shouting. We both had had enough so let him back out at 5am. I went to sit outside as it was coolish and breezy, so called him a couple of times ... and here he came right to me then jumped onto my lap! First time in six/seven days. I am not holding my breath but hope this is the start back to normality.

Our temperature has dropped some ten degrees since last week/the weekend.

 

@shiney Beautiful babies. Their size comparison is like Van and Munch. As you have had some high temperatures there of late, could it be that plus the fact they are not normally outside? Is any harvesting going on in the fields? Is your pollen count high?

Strangely I was just reading about Calicos yesterday. In Japan, Maneki-neko figures depict calico cats, bringing good luck. Japanese sailors often kept a calico as their ship's cat to protect against misfortune at sea. But you probably know that. Of course we had Cal and Candy and she was a Calico ...

 

Glad yours is home again @Victoria. It is 30ish here now and we keep our shutters down on ventillation setting so the inside is a bit cooler and our two are now sleeping indoors by day but up and about at night.

Our visitor comes by at about 10pm and now sits patiently out the back waiting for a bowl of food. It eats a whole tin plus whatever my pair have not emptied from their own bowls then sneaks inside at about 5am to snaffle any more wet food or biscuits. It's looking a bit healthier and cleaner than when it first came visiting a couple of months ago but still wary.

@shiney our female is very slim and never gets bigger than 4.5kg with her winter weight so her sides look skinny in summer. Cosmos never gets below 6kg, even in summer, as he's a chunkier build and less active. Having some water available will help them in this hot spell.