We have a M/F bonded pair, a small Polish and a Rex. They have their own room with an AC unit. Tonight, I was coming in to check on them (the AC was on but the door was open and there was a fan in the adjacent room, and somehow startled them pretty badly. They like to sit together on a cozy bed on top of a box with a ramp–the Rex jumped off into the x-pen, shaking it, and the Polish jumped halfway across the room into their litter box. They must not have heard me coming and it really surprised them.
The Polish was shaking and breathing hard, so I immediately went to pet her–she calmed down quickly and they both resumed hopping around. About 10 minutes later, my boyfriend got home and I told him what happened. He went in to check on them and the Polish was sitting in the cozy spot but she was breathing hard and kind of moving her head back and forth, kind of like shaking her head “no”. Since then, she has been acting a little strangely–hiding in a box that she normally doesn’t go in. She is hopping as normal and is letting us pet/touch her all over, but she usually BEGS to be touched and she has run away a few times during petting, she also LOVES pellets so we fed her some but she ran off in mid-treat. Normally she is scuffling to find every last one.
This just happened within the hour, but I’m worried.
Could she have hit her head or gotten injured in that big jump? She is not expressing discomfort when we are touching her all over, could she have hurt her head? How could we tell?
Thank you for any help or insight.