My cat is about 3 years old and all of a sudden she started acting weird. I came home and she acted scared. My kitty is very affectionate and loves to be with me. She always comes running when I walk in the door but today she didn't. She sat at the bottom of the stairs and just stared at the top for hours straight. Our house doesn't have any paranormal activity in it so that can't be an option. This is the very first time that she has been doing this. She runs low to the ground and with her tail in between her legs and she growls anytime I come near her. She got into our basement the other day so I don't know if that has anything to do with it but that was quite a while ago. This is very worrying to me because she is such a lovey cat and never likes to leave my side.

~ Thanks

Did you or someone mistreat her? Another possibility is you may have a scent on you that disturbs her. Are there any chemicals she might have ingested in the basement? She could also exhibit the behavior you describe, submissive/threatened/scared, if she is injured or ill and feeling vulnerable. I had a cat once that liked to go out and fight the neighborhood cats. He was always grumpy and anti-social for a couple days after getting into a scrap. Let her be for awhile if she is still eating normally and otherwise active and see if her mood improves.

Something scared her, and looking up the steps is a clue. Could something have made a sudden, loud noise that frightened her? Check upstairs to see if anything fell over. Are your neighbors having work done on their roof or upper floors that may have caused sudden, loud noises? Could she have seen something scary like a rat? For now just leave her alone until she gets over the scare. She'll come to you when she's back to normal.

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Originally Posted by Scleros

Did you or someone mistreat her? Another possibility is you may have a scent on you that disturbs her. Are there any chemicals she might have ingested in the basement? She could also exhibit the behavior you describe, submissive/threatened/scared, if she is injured or ill and feeling vulnerable. I had a cat once that liked to go out and fight the neighborhood cats. He was always grumpy and anti-social for a couple days after getting into a scrap. Let her be for awhile if she is still eating normally and otherwise active and see if her mood improves.

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Nobody in my family mistreats her. She's like our family member and would never try to hurt her on purpose. And we don't let our cats go outside at all.