Cats and Trauma

A while back mom borrowed a post from my friends Ryker'z Boyz about Cats and Trauma.  The post asks if cats can experience trauma the way humans do.  In fact, they do!  In the very excellent book, "Animals Make Us Human," Temple Grandin states that cats can exhibit high levels of OCD-like behavior triggered by anxiety and fear. This stems in part from the fact that cats tend to be very set in their ways, much more so than dogs, and don't always adapt well to new circumstances. They can go from calm to terrified in seconds -- she says it's because cats have very small frontal lobes, the part of the brain which functions as the "brakes" for emotions.

Thanks to Ryker'z Boyz for sharing this information! To read the entire post with comments please click here to visit Ryker'z Boyz.

Last night was a reminder that cats do experience trauma and need time to heal too.  About 1:30am mom and I woke to sirens in our apartment complex.  It was a fire truck, ems and police.  They all stopped at a building a few buildings down from us.  We had a perfect view because of our old building no longer standing.  It was quite an eery sight seeing the fire truck, ambulance and police cars all in front of what used to be our building.  I didn't like hearing the sirens.  I kept meowing and running back and forth between the living room window and bedroom window.  It would be an hour or so before I calmed down and finally joined mom back in bed.  Mom didn't mind the meowing.  I think she was worried about me more than annoyed by the meowing.  :(

I am resting comfortably tonight.  Today marks 8 months since the fire.   I am doing well but would really prefer to not hear any more sirens, k?