My Mum's cat has divorced her and she is devastated:( (long sorry)

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

Mum has a cross eyed neurotic boy called Tig. He used to be one of a pair, but his sister (who he was vile to) was run over and he has been alone with Mum for a couple of years. He has always been very nervous ..he was a rescued abused kitten.. and very possessive of her..hated us visiting, wouldn't let anyone touch him except mum who he adored.

Mum recently had to rescue another cat.. a poor little 18 month old Bruno who was dying by inches from neglect.. he had severely septic ears (had to have part amputated) and many other problems and Mum asked the horrible owners if she could take him on when she couldn't stand to see him in pain. Bruno had never been allowed in a house, so Mum started by making a home for him in her shed and gradually tempting him in until she could get him to the vets.. this has taken about 4 months and now his ears are healing and he is affectionate, neutered, and finally looking like a cat.

He has NOT taken over the house.. he still prefers outside most of the time. Tig didn;t like him but ignored him, but started to be distant towards my Mum. 3 weeks ago Mum had to take neurotic Tig to the vet for some treatment and it seemd to trigger a personality change in Tig.

He won't come near her.. won't purr, comes in reluctantly for food then dashes off (he previously spent the day on her lap) and has totally rejected her.

My Mum is devastated She feels that it's a combo of taking on Bruno (which she HAD to) and taking Tig to the vets when he is so scared of them and it has somehow caused him a breakdown. She is spending a lot of the day in tears trying to tempt him in.

Is there anything she can do? She has looked into rehoming Bruno but no where will take him as he is still needing treatment and she doesn't want to have to do that because he is finally having some love in his little furry life.
She feels so guilty that it has caused such trauma for Tig who she adores.

I have tried to comfort her..she did the right thing saving Bruno's life and cats are cats..they make their own decisions, but wondered if anyone else has had a cat reject them then recover??

Always gave in first, I'm afraid, if there's been a cat on cat dispute. Your poor Mum.

I think she could try feliway? Not sure about this, but I would ask the vet. Your mum sounds very lovely and kind!

How old is Tig? (Sorry if you've mentioned it but I couldn't see it in your post.)

not another cat but when i took on wander my dog from a cyprus rescue my cats who had grown up with a dog in the house decided that behaving like ferals was the thing to do, for about a week they wouldnt come in the house and sat there in a line waiting to be fed on the patio outside ,one by one they did come back in and now get on great with the dog, the chances are he will come back round again hes probably just having a major sulk it might be worth trying the feliway

I'm not sure exactly how old he is but I think about 7 or 8, as she moved 5 years ago and I think he had been with her for a couple of years by then.

My mum is the ultimate cat lover.. think veggie who cooks fresh meat for the cats, doesn't go to bed until they are safely in (normally) and lives her life putting their needs first. She has rescued and loved SO many dear pussies over the years and has never had this problem before. She feeds half the neigbourhood and Tig coped with this just fine. His rejection is very sudden and I can't overstate how upset she is ..I swear she was less upset when my Dad ( arsehole) left us!!!

I think..tho I haven't said it as such.. that Tig unfortunately was always a damaged personality with the feline mental health problems, as he has never been a normal cat. I would offer to take Bruno myself to see if it helped but I have two cats of my own who would NOT be kind to another so it's not possible.

I just feel really helpless and sad because she hasn't done anything wrong and Tig was her fur soulmate :(

How awful for your lovely sounding Mum. I second the suggestion that Feliway might help to diffuse the situation.

Zylkene is very calming too, it works quite quickly in my highly strung cat.

You can get it off amazon.

I'd be tempted to keep Tig in to make friends again, but that's just me.

I'd be tempted to give it a bit longer with some Feliway, maybe some Zylkene and lots of treats and TLC.

Myself, I'm just a little wary of these situations having come across them with mature or 'getting on' Siamese boys, all of whom, having decided they don't like a situation, take a 'death before dishonour' approach and there's really little advantage in arguing the point with them. But that's just me and the situations I've had to deal with in my own household. Your Mom's Tig may come round.

Does he have his own 'special place' where only he can go?

(PS - talking about Siamese boys, Fluffy, one of the rescues has a Siamese/Bengal male cross in. That's a combination I wouldn't like to meet on a dark night!)

Actually, maybe he's a 'she'. So big and powerful, I think I made too snap a judgement.

If you can take Tig to the vet, I would. Cats are great at hiding illnesses but a big behaviour change like that would suggest something is amiss.

I love your mum for loving those cats by the way!

Whoever crossed a Siamese with a bengal needs a damned good talking too.

I think the coming cold weather will help, no self respecting puss will stay out in a frost when he has a warm bed to lie on.