Personality change after spaying

Question
Hi Ali,

You may not have an answer for us, but I figured it was worth a try. We rescued a 3 wk old kitten from a storm drain nearly two years ago. Severely malnourished, water in her lungs, hypothermic... I didn't think she would live through the first night, but she did. I suspect it was the 24-7 attention from her rescuers, but she instantly became the MOST affectionate cat we have ever had. (Almost to the point of being annoying.) Her favorite place in the house was on someone's lap or chest. If anyone new came in, she would run to see them and get some attention.

Then we had her spayed at 8 months. Within days she disappeared, spending her time under a bed, in the pantry closet, the window sill in the spare bedroom. Any attempts to cuddle her or play and she tolerates it for a few seconds and then makes it VERY clear she has no interest in interacting. A year later and I would say if it were not for the food & water that disappears and the literbox that needs cleaning, we no longer had a cat in the house.  

We have taken her to more than one vet with no answers. We specialize in holistic health and have tried every flower, homeopathic and herbal remedy we know. We have tested hair, blood and urine, with nothing sigficantly out of balance, only slightly low estrogen on one out of several tests.

I have never heard of a cat changing so significantly.
Have you?  Is there some option to get our freindly outgoing cat back, even just a little?  We really miss her.

Thanks much,
Bridget

Answer
Bridget,

I had a cat whose personality changed significantly after being spayed. She ended up having feline leukemia and hemolytic anemia... Wondering if you've tested this baby for feline leukemia and FIV... Illness might explain this... If not I'm at a bit of a loss and wondering if something may have happened to her while she was at the clinic being spayed... You may want to try a pheremone based calming collar for her to see if this is anxiety based, but since you've tried different homeopathic remedies that probably cover this I'm not sure how effective this will be... It's worth a try though. I would also consider having a behaviourist in to assess this kitty and possibly come up with a holistic action plan that would help bring her back out of her shell and hopefully help her be the happy, carefree and loving kitty she was before she was spayed. This is a bit of a different situation so please keep me posted on your efforts, I'd be interested to know what if anything works for this baby girl.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me again at any time - I'm more than willing to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali