About an hour ago I was watching tv on the couch in the living room when I heard a strange scratching sound from the kitchen. Not sure if I heard it right I muted the tv and heard a now louder thrashing sound and then a crash, so I got up to go see what the cat was knocking over. Just as I stood up my cat (a ~3 year old spayed female my girlfriend and I have had since she was a kitten from the shelter) came racing in with a plastic bag tangled around her hind legs. I'd left it on the counter and she loves plastic bags, so she must have crawled into it, gotten tangled, and fallen off the counter.
She raced behind the couch and I tried to reach in and get it off her but she kept thrashing. After a few seconds we managed to get it off, but now she's traumatized. She was frightened enough to urinate a little as she was running in and then again behind the couch.
A bit of background: usually Beanie (the cat) lives at my girlfriend's apartment but she's away this week so I have Beanie at my place. She had gotten used to it, but it's still a relatively strange place and she's not used to my girlfriend not being around, too.
Immediately after the bag came off I tried to see if she was ok but she hissed and screamed at me, something she's never once done. I backed away but whenever I go near her, or even look at her she starts to kind of growl and if I step closer she hisses and starts to shriek. Whenever I'm in her sight she stares at me with a fearful/hateful kind of look. She seems physically fine - she eventually came out from behind the couch and (from a distance) I watched her walk a little around on the couch. I tried putting some catnip on her scratching box and playing with a toy she loves but she just hissed at me.
She always seems to love me as one of the two constants in her life, so to see her like this is really upsetting and awful. It's only been an hour and a half or so and I'm currently staying away from her, but if this continues I don't know what I'll do.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to handle this situation I'd be extremely grateful. I know about the flight/fight instinct she has, so I'm not that surprised by the reaction, but I thought since it was me it would go away quickly and I'm shocked by the intensity of it.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
JWP
She raced behind the couch and I tried to reach in and get it off her but she kept thrashing. After a few seconds we managed to get it off, but now she's traumatized. She was frightened enough to urinate a little as she was running in and then again behind the couch.
A bit of background: usually Beanie (the cat) lives at my girlfriend's apartment but she's away this week so I have Beanie at my place. She had gotten used to it, but it's still a relatively strange place and she's not used to my girlfriend not being around, too.
Immediately after the bag came off I tried to see if she was ok but she hissed and screamed at me, something she's never once done. I backed away but whenever I go near her, or even look at her she starts to kind of growl and if I step closer she hisses and starts to shriek. Whenever I'm in her sight she stares at me with a fearful/hateful kind of look. She seems physically fine - she eventually came out from behind the couch and (from a distance) I watched her walk a little around on the couch. I tried putting some catnip on her scratching box and playing with a toy she loves but she just hissed at me.
She always seems to love me as one of the two constants in her life, so to see her like this is really upsetting and awful. It's only been an hour and a half or so and I'm currently staying away from her, but if this continues I don't know what I'll do.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to handle this situation I'd be extremely grateful. I know about the flight/fight instinct she has, so I'm not that surprised by the reaction, but I thought since it was me it would go away quickly and I'm shocked by the intensity of it.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
JWP