Thread: Holiday Blues

Hello, I would really appreciate any advice on how to help solve the following situation:

At the beginning of June I left to go on a business trip abroad, followed by a vacation with my husband. My husband took care of our love on his own for a week until he came to join me for the holiday, at which point he took her to a lovely cattery she had stayed at before and seemed very happy at. She has stayed at two different catteries since we got her 1 1/2 years ago, and always seemed totally unfazed by the experience and happy upon returning. After 2 weeks my husband returned (I had to stay on for another week, again for business reasons), but because of the opening hours of the cattery which did not coincide with my husband's return flight we had to enlist the help of a good friend to collect her from the cattery and take her home. He came back on the same day though, so she was on her own only for a few hours, and seemed fine.

I have now come back home after being away for about 4 1/2 weeks in total. However, she seems more agressive than ususal, hitting out at the slightest provocation. I realise it may all have been very confusing/distressing for her (add to that I am her 'person', she is not really as close to my husband), but now I wonder how we can make her feel at ease and comfortable in our home again, and prevent further agressive outbursts. My husband has so far borne the brunt of her random attacks, but it is very out of character for her to want to hit out - previously her playfighting rarely resulted in harm. No further trips are planned for this year (fortunately), but my job does take me away from home for periods of time (ususally 1-2 weeks), and even though usually my husband is there to take care of her when I'm not, I worry about causing further distress to her. Has anyone been in a similar situation and would like to share some advice? Especially about how we can make her feel safe and discourage her agressive beahviour.