Just ten thousand reflections of my own sweet self

October 23, 2020 12:01 PM

Moved houses over a month ago, kitty was fine until last week when he started hissing at his reflection. What should we do?

Remy, who is 8-ish years old, is generally a very chill cat. We moved a month-and-change ago and he and the other animal members of our family did very well with it, once the shock was over. Until last week. He's now hissing at his reflection in every reflective surface he can see in the house. Windows, glass doors panels, the clear part of my husband's computer, the oven door. He was fine for over a month and now this. And, he never did this at the other house. I know Cats Are Weird but how can we help him? He used to love sitting next to the window that looks out over our backyard but now he avoids it. :(

Things I've seen suggested:
-Cover reflective surfaces (we'll do that but does it have to be forever?)
-Feliway (can do)

I'm hoping someone who has had this problem can advise me here. We're not mad at him, we just want him to be happy and stress free in his house.

posted by cooker girl to Pets & Animals (7 answers total)

Best answer: As you mention, I'd definitely try Feliway and see if that helps lower his anxiety or otherwise feel less on edge.
posted by ClaireBear at 12:16 PM on October 23, 2020

Best answer: Is it possible an outdoor cat is peeking in through a glass door or window? This sudden fear of reflections happened with my previous cat and it turned out that she was spooked by an interloper staring in at her. The anticipatory fear extended to all reflective surfaces. Dissuading the neighbor cat plus a short course of kitty Xanax did the trick.
posted by carmicha at 5:05 PM on October 23, 2020

Best answer: Cover what you can, and after kitty has adjusted to the new place (months) you can start removing it. But not all at once, remove it by making holes or strips in the covering, or removing it in stage from one side, etc.

I bet it's a combo effect of (apparent) strange cats in a strange place that has him freaked. Once the place feels comfortable he'll be less fight/flighty.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:39 PM on October 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yay for The English Beat!
posted by jen14221 at 8:35 PM on October 23, 2020

Best answer: When a new cat moves into a neighborhood, sometimes cats who are already there will start marking the entryways of the new cat's house, especially if that house didn't have a cat there before.

And then well-meaning but smell blind bipeds will track it into the house. So cleaning those entry ways and wiping the bottoms your shoes might have some beneficial effect.
posted by jamjam at 10:10 PM on October 23, 2020 [3 favorites]

get him to the vet for an exam, especially for his vision. he's getting old enough to have deteriorating sight anyway, but there may be something else going on that the vet can test for.
posted by megan_magnolia at 1:06 PM on October 25, 2020

Response by poster: Update: Remy stopped hissing at his reflection about 2 weeks after I posted this. We definitely smelled cat urine outside the front door. We sprayed some cat repellant around the yard and haven't smelled urine outside since.

Here he is in March, very thoughtfully helping me work.
posted by cooker girl at 11:19 AM on May 7, 2021 [2 favorites]