Courage has got to be the strangest kitten I have ever met. He is still stuffing things so far into his mouth, he gags.  Think snake trying to swallow a mouse and that is what Courage looks like when he is picking up a toy to carry around with him.  He will even use his front paws to try to stuff things further into his mouth. The only toys we let him have are a stuffed toy sock and some soft rattle balls.  I bought “Dad” a new coat for his birthday and now Courage acts like he has never seen “Dad” before in his life. Once Terry takes the coat off, he recognizes him again. The coat itself isn’t the problem because Courage will lay on it if he can.  Also, Courage doesn’t recognize Terry when he (Terry) is outside, even if we all walk out the door together.  Courage wears a harness and leash and is 100% supervised when going outdoors.  He has no problem recognizing me, even if I am wearing Terry’s new coat and sneak outside without Courage seeing me leave.  AND today, Courage is acting like it is his first day on Earth.  We have a fan sitting on a crate in the corner where Courage’s litterbox is. The crate has been sitting there since the day we brought Courage home. Not a thing has changed in that corner but Courage is acting all spooked of the fan. I moved the fan away from the corner (I made sure that when I moved the fan, I did not move the fan in a way that would make Courage think the fan was going towards him) and that only made it worst. What is his problem?  He did the same thing earlier with his sock toy.  He dropped his sock toy in the middle of the hallway, went to get a drink of water, then when he started to walk down the hallway, he acted like he had never seen that thing before in his lifetime and batted it hard & fast like he does whenever he sees something (or thinks he sees something) he has never seen before.  He also will stand at the patio door in the back and growl like a dog if someone parks a car on the road, any car, even if it is a car that he sees everyday.  We had some new neighbors move into the apartment across the hall from us. Last weekend, they got drunk and started yelling and screaming at each other, would run out of their apartment and fight in the hallway, bounce off our patio door, etc. We ended up having to call the cops on them and things have been quiet since.  I think they think they are giving us the silent treatment because they glare at us whenever they walk by us, as if that is suppose to hurt our feelings or something. Do you think that experience with them still has Courage all uptight? It happened six days ago and, like I said, everything has been quiet since then. They avoid us and we avoid them.

Neko, your kitty is definately a few sandwiches shy of a picnic!

I do think your neighbors may have triggered some repressed kitty memories of the bad times Before he found you. Did he start acting extra-schitzy after their blow-out? Or was it the arrival of the new coat? What kind of coat, btw? Is it leather or suede? Or a puffy Michelein-man style? Hard to believe he’d go bonkers over a plain old(new!) jean jacket. At first I thought that maybe the coat reminded him of bad experiences from Before, but you said he still recognizes you in the coat, just not your other half. Does he have problems around men? I’ve seen other adopted animals get scared off a whole gender from the awful treatment they had at their hands Before. I had a friend whose cat would run from anyone who wasn’t female, and my in-laws’ dog much prefers men. Maybe he had problems with men who wore that kind of coat?

And about the whole neighbor thing… as soon as they started screaming and fighting outside in the hall and bouncing off YOUR door and patio, it became your business and you had no choice but to call in for reinforcements. Let them glare, who cares? I’d just avoid them as much as possible and give them a wide berth, you don’t want to be caught up in any of their crazy mess.

Your vet still hasn’t come up with anything for Courage’s stuffing problem? Did Dr Gaspar ever say anything about it? I’d be worried all the time. And be doing lot’s of extra OTT kitty-proofing. At least he still has some toys you can let him play with that should be reasonably safe… until he learns that whole unhinging of the jaw technique from the neighborhood garter snakes. : P

Speaking of toys, was it you who asked me about the Santa Pants (kitty crinkle tunnel)? I found them in Big Lots again this past week! Apparently not part of the post-holiday clearance, they’re still 10 bucks. I took pictures if anyone wants to see what they looked like so they can do some better searching in their local stores or online.