Overnight behavior change and paranoia

Question
Our 1 and a 1/2 year Siamese & tabby mix has been off his game for a week now.  He is normally affectionate and gregarious.  Normally he roams the house and enjoys very regular eating, sleeping and people time patterns.  He was a whole new cat suddenly.  He is scared to enter bedrooms, he is spooked by his reflection in the mirror and by a painting of a tiger on the wall.  He is still eating but not much dry, since he won't go in the bedroom.  He hides in the closet or sleeps in the open.  He is on guard 24/7. He was exposed to a star gazer lily.  We could not see that any part was eaten.  He was seen eating a house plant as well.  The fact that he is eating, sleeping and alert is good, but we think his senses are altered in some way.

Answer
Lauren,

Sudden behavior changes may be due to a health issue or that your cat may have seen a strange cat outside.

I would be suspicious of the house plants and get your kitty to your vet to see if he has gotten into something he should not have.

Plants from the Lily family are highly toxic to cats and may account for some of this.

You also may want to reference this list of house plants poisonous to cats:

http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/poison-control/Plants?plant_toxicity=toxic-to-cats


The other possibility is that your cat saw a strange cat outside and went into fight/flight/fright mode which has many of the same symptoms.  When this happens, putting your cat in a room with no windows to the outside for a couple of hours usually does the trick, and the cat's behavior returns to normal.

First off I would see the vet with cuttings from the house plants your cat may have gotten into.

Please let me know what you find out.

Best regards... Norm.