Worry

I'm worried about my cat... It's going to sound odd, but bear with me for just a few moments why I explain my cat's nature and then why I'm worried.

Lucky was found abandoned on a busy highway in the neighboring town. She was old enough to walk, but her eyes weren't open yet. A lady saw her stumbling around and thought she was a mouse at first, but realized she was a cat and rescued her. The lady fed her with an eye dropper and took care of her until she was about six weeks old. Since she was already separated from her mom, the lady didn't feel bad putting her up for adoption so early. Matt saw a newspaper article and adopted her right away. I say adopted, but really it was just going to pick her up as the lady said that she could go for free to any good home.

She has a lot of problems... I think it is because she was separated from her mother way too early. I think she doesn't really know how to be a cat. She is very anti-social and very aggressive. She does not like to be petted much at all... and only on her terms when she does want to be petted. She hates people and barely likes me, but she does like Matt. She normally sleeps on the chairs in the living room or on top of the chifferobe. Those are her favorite places.

This is where it's going to sound weird, but I'm worried because after nine years of her being anti-social and aggressive, she is acting (sort of) like a normal cat. She's a strictly indoor cat and has only ventured outside under supervision in the backyard a handful of times. On Saturday night she went outside with Matt, ran off, and was gone for 8 hours. Now she's sleeping in places she normally doesn't like in the bathtub, inside our clothes hamper, with us, on the back of the chairs directly behind us, on us while we're on the couch, inside my clean clothes basket (annoying), on top of our hanging clothes (she somehow gets up on the sides of the hangers in our closet and sits on top of the clothes)... She's also very needy and wants to be touching someone all the time which is very unlike her... She seems to be eating normally and I haven't seen her acting like she has a UTI. She used to have those a lot in our old house, so I know what to look for... Oh she's also shedding a lot more than normal...

Any ideas if something is wrong with her?

The consensus on my Facebook page is that she missed us while she was gone. I'm hoping that's all that it was, but she is acting incredibly weird for her and it's starting to bother me. The most reasonable answer I've gotten on Facebook is from my mom's friend who has been in the pet grooming business for probably 30 years. Here's her comment:

It was more [than] likely she was frightened and stressed out being outside with so many [unfamiliar] sounds and objects. The shedding is called blowing coat and is caused from being scared or stressed. Nothing to worry about.

I'm hoping that's the case. Oh the joys of being a pet owner!