Will my cat ever be the same?

Question

He's 2 years old, has never been outside before, used to be the sweetest cat that would stalk me around the house and always want attention. He depended on me a lot since he was abused as a kitten and so I took him as my own. He was always an indoor cat and would be scared of outside.

However few days ago he got out from the open window as he managed to push the screen out so that's how he got out. I heard the sound around 10-11 pm and just thought he was getting into stuff and went back to bed. When I woke up the screen was popped off in the corner so I looked everywhere my cat could have hidden and he was nowhere to be found. For that reason I began to look outside - at that moment, he could have been outside for 13 hours the most. I then tried to look at shelters online to see if anything came up for my cat and sure enough, SCRAPS had him so I tried to rush there and found him!

He was scared and dirty, I was the only one he let to be touched so that's how both me and the SCRAPS helpers knew he was mine. Everything seemed correct, he was missing at night and was turned in that day, the cat was 2 years old, it even had the same bent tip of the tail as my cat.

So I got him home but he's been different since, it's now the second day and he's still highly aggressive towards me. I haven't been able to take off the collar with paper tag that SCRAPS put on him with the date he was found. He hisses any time he gets too close to me or I try to sit somewhat close to him without actually trying to touch him. I've given him a treat and got to the point that he would try to come up to my fingers to get a treat as well but then he just snaps back into that state that his eyes change and attacks me again.

I don't know if he'll ever be the same that he used to be, is there any chance that he'll be back to normal?

Answer 1

First of all you should be the first person to know whether he is your cat or not. I mean, it's been two years, am I correct? There must be something about him which makes you know it's him and I don't mean the looks, I mean his usual personality when he's not around you, it can't be that he used to be with you all the time.

Second of all, yes, there's a 90 percent chance he'll go back to normal. He only needs to feel secure for time being. Don't try to get him closer to you, he'll only see you trying to decieve him. It's because he was abused before and now captured by scary humans who MIGHT have tried distracting him by showing him a treat and then captured him. Your cat may still be suffering from all the stress he felt for the night and day he just experienced. Have patience and act like you usually do with him, call him words you used to call him the way you used to and, if possible, tease him (just a little) the way you used to tease him so he could feel home again. Pretend nothing happened even if he hisses or whatever.

A good idea would be to not look afraid or feel disappointed in response to his hissing. Cats can feel your senses. Just either PLAY with him, or tease him pretending you don't know he's mad and say words you tell him when you feel loving. I'd suggest you really feel loving him at the moment. He'll form an emotional bond with you back again. When you show him everything is like it used to be slowly he'll fully return to your old cat.