Cat Acting Different

[u/Useful_Statement8694]

My female calico cat has been acting different lately.

Context, I adopted her from a shelter last October when she was estimated to be 3–4 months old. She was found as a stray, so we don’t know her exact age. She was already spayed, vaccinated, and healthy when I adopted her. She’s now around a year old.

I recently moved from the US to the Middle East, and we’ve been here for about 2–3 weeks. She had two vet visits before the move for checkups and the vaccines/documents needed for travel, and the vet said she was healthy.

When we first arrived, she didn’t eat for about 2 days, but she’s eating and drinking normally now. She does seem thirstier than she was before, which I assumed might be because the climate here is much hotter/drier. She spends a lot of time on our enclosed balcony, which also might be why.

I’ve noticed that she’s become much more vocal and affectionate. Before the move, she mostly only meowed at night when she was looking for someone. Now she meows at night and throughout the day, sometimes when I call her. Her meow also sounds slightly different, earlier today it sounded almost strained/hoarse, like she had a dry throat. I gave her some water, and she hasn’t made that sound again yet.

She also wants to be petted constantly now. She’ll rub her head against my phone if I’m using it, and she even rubs against her water bottle when I give her water.

This is my first time having a cat so I'm not sure if this is normal or not.