cat being skittish

Question
The last two days my cat, three year old tabby, appears afraid to come out of one room into the others. Yesterday it was necessary for me to take him to his litter box so that he could go the bathroom. He appears to be afraid of heights now, and he has never been before. He's not playful, nor interested in eating. I even tried catnip to lure him out into the other rooms. Before he went into every room and was very playful. He doesn't come to the door when I come home and he has done this since he first adopted me two years ago. I am concerned. He will be seeing his vet Saturday for his booster shots. Should I bring this up to the vet?

John

Answer
John,

This kitty needs to see a vet immediately, such a drastic change in behavior is a pretty good indication that your cat is very sick. Cats are quite stoic and can endure a lot of discomfort, usually by the time they start exhibiting behavioral changes they're much sicker than they look. I don't think that this cat should wait til Saturday to see the vet and if he's still sick I'd highly suggest not vaccinating him until he's better. There's actually plenty of good research that suggests we over vaccinate our cats and it's causing serious health problems like auto immune diseases, renal failure and certain types of cancers. According to newer research cats vaccinated properly once during their lifetime may not require any further vaccines. There is a test to determine whether or not your cat actually needs to be vaccinated for anything, but it's a bit pricey. The test is about checking the levels of immunity in blood, and your vet can do this fairly easily. If your cat is proven to be immune to the stuff normally vaccinated against he doesn't need any further vaccines unless his level of immunity changes at some point. If your cat does require vaccines I'd suggest taking the time to look into cycling the vaccines which means that your cat won't necessarily get vaccinated every year and he'll received one vaccinate each time he gets his shots done.