Dealing with an overly attached cat?

[all swedes are racist]

Bringing another cat in without any prior connection is like forcing two complete strangers to be roommates, without any option of moving out. Maybe they'll just click and be total besties... or, as is the case with so many human cohabitants, not.

[Tammy]

that's one of the main reasons I haven't gotten another cat. My cat is really pretty awesome. He doesn't tear up the furniture. He jumps on the counters, but he's only broken like two things in almost two years. He has no behavioral problems at all and is quite loving. I worry that if I brought another cat into the mix, I could get one with behavioral problems that would rub off on my awesome cat, so I never do.

[dog-days]

There was a good BBC programme on cat behaviour last year. It basically reckoned, through monitoring the movements of household pets via cameras and motion trackers, that cats only like each other when they're related. Otherwise it's cold war all the way.

Never lived with more than one cat myself. But my parents' experience bore out the idea. They found themselves living with an upstairs cat and a downstairs cat. The downstairs cat used to lie in wait for the upstairs cat and box his ears when he tried to reach the ground floor.

[Dunhallym]

Cats can definitely hear and recognize specific footsteps from far away. When I was young, I used the cat as a mom sensor. House apartments in Paris are often built in 2 parts with one building on the street and one on the yard. We lived in the second one but the moment my mom opened the door from the street and stepped in the yard, the cat knew it and went to the door. When she did I knew it was time to put down my book and pretend to be doing some homework :p

So yeah, don't worry your cat probably hears you from far away and doesn't bother for the neighbours.

[Raja]

This thread is making me want to get a cat. It's weird.

[deleted01]

My cats are related, and at best they tolerate each other. Nala likes to sleep upstairs, in or just outside my room, and Kiara likes to sleep in the dining room where I work during the day. They have little fights sometimes, but nothing serious. They mostly ignore each other.

[Fez]

This thread is making me want to get a cat. It's weird.

Cats are great, albeit more expensive than you think. Other than this one thing (and it sounds like its probably not as big an issue as it seemed), mine is just so much fun and no trouble. If the animal shelter's records are remotely accurate, he's about 13 months old, so I think his personality is probably mostly locked into place at this point (hopefully his size is, he's almost 10 pounds and is still very lean). He jumps around, but is careful of my stuff; he ignores the scratching post, but only scratches a couple old rugs from Target that I have laying around, never furniture; he doesn't try waking me up; he always uses the litterbox; and he mostly only meows when I'm in the kitchen already and its roughly time for him to get food.

He is only affectionate on his terms. If I come over to him, at best he tolerates it for a minute or two. But he wants to spend so much time with me as is, that I'm fine with that.

[DireWolfSpirit]

OP if you have windows buy or build a cat tower or ramp that enables your cat to access and perch near them.

Indoor cats love to bird/bat watch.

They find some pretty silly things to be stimulating. Drape a blanket over chairs or a large box and for kitty its now a fascinating tunnel to explore.

[DreamSongs]

Fez, you just got kitty? Right now, kitty is bonding. Once he realizes that you always come back, he will chill out. If he were becoming destructive while you are gone, that would be worrisome.

Adopted pets take time. He's just getting used to you and your routine. I've had Wendy for 5 years now and she still comes and waits by the door for a few minutes after I leave. When I don't come back, she does her dog stuff and end ups sleeping on my bed or my recliner until I do come home.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

It has been several years, and my cat is still very attached to me and does this too. When he hears me wake up in the morning, he waits outside the bedroom door for me...sits above me on the back of the couch, eats when I am eating (although he will eat when I am not around) and this is the one the kills the guys....he won't go to anyone else when I am not home. Soon as I come home, he runs to daddy and sits on his lap (or rubs on him for pets or whatever)

I always thought it was because he was a rescue, hadn't been socialized with people, and I was the one who would pick him up and hold & pet him till he purred, then let him go. Took about a week for him to come to me voluntarily.

[scotcat]

Like all things, it'll just take time.

As time goes by your cat will begin to understand that while you leave the home, you will come back to it. A routine will set in & everything should settle down. In the meantime, try making your apartment as cat-friendly as you can - the more comfortable kitty is in his surroundings the more relaxed he should be with your departures.

It could just be that he's hearing the familiar sound of your footsteps and is waiting at the door for you to come in.

[Fez]

Okay, so I have resolution to the initial concern, but the underlying issue remains for me.

Yesterday, I had to be out from around 9am-11pm, which is about double the amount of time I've ever left him alone since getting him 4 weeks ago. When I got back, I opened the door too quickly for him and saw him racing to get into laying down position by the door. And I saw that most of the food I left him had been eaten. So that's that.

And when I got back, he was very glad to see me, aggressively following me around while I settled into the apartment. We played, I fed him some wet food, and when I went to sleep he curled up next to me on the bed. Seemed fine. Cue 5am or thereabouts, and he's tearing around the apartment like no tomorrow. That's something he does, all cats do I think, so that's fine. Except he was also jumping on and off my bed, waking me up, which is not something he's done before; and being very vocal, whereas he's usually pretty silent except when I'm in the kitchen being too slow to get his food out. Cut to, three hours later, and he's alternating between ignoring me and coming up to me to meow insistently.

I know there's no telling with cats, but I'm near certain he's doing it to get back at me.

He's going to be such fun when I need to leave him alone overnight, or longer, some time.

[DemiNymph]

If you have left him alone for a longer time, then it is expected that he slept longer during that time you were away. Hence, excess energy that woke you up at 5am. For you, you don't have enough sleep. For him, he slept too much. So your schedules and timing collide for that day.

[Kelli Fury]

He is a nocturnal animal, he will not understand that you are not

[peterbound]

I know there's no telling with cats, but I'm near certain he's doing it to get back at me.

This is the scariest thing i've read all day.

[Fez]

He is a nocturnal animal, he will not understand that you are not

Well, more crepuscular than nocturnal. And 5am is not dawn yet, not this time of year at this latitude. But yes, he's not on the same sleep schedule as me. Still, up to early this morning he's always been good about not waking me up and not being vocal; which makes me think its connected to my absence.

[Raja]

Cats are great, albeit more expensive than you think. Other than this one thing (and it sounds like its probably not as big an issue as it seemed), mine is just so much fun and no trouble.

I won't be getting one anytime soon, mostly because I'll be moving around too much and still have a couple of housemates, but I'm more open to the idea than I was. I've always had a dog, and still do at home. She's old now, and I can't envision myself getting another dog. So maybe a cat. The way they move still creeps me out a bit though.

[deleted01]

Hijacking this thread for cat advice:

My cat has a cut on his front paw - well, it's on the side really, where his "thumb" claw is. He won't let me look at it properly, but at a glance it looks like a thin gash. He's limping a fair bit, and does go outside, so I'm worried about him having to run or climb. I'm also worried about infection, but because I can't see it properly, I can't tell how bad it is.

I'm not sure whether to take him to the vets tomorrow. I first noticed it this morning, and all day he's been coming to fetch me, trying to lead me upstairs (he sleeps in my room, and likes me to be there). He won't let the paw be touched, and is wont to bite if you piss him off too much.

Any advice would be appreciated. I may end up caving and calling the vet tomorrow anyway, even if they will just tell me that he has a scratch and to keep an eye on it.

[Lily Valley]

Drac, hold him down and have a GOOD LOOK and clean the wound. He may have torn or lost a claw. You need to see it. That way you can call the vet and hopefully your vet will call you back to tell you whether to observe or bring him in.

I had two cats once. One developed a GINORMOUS abscess on his ass.

Cleaning the abscess was NO FUN. The worst part is holding them down. The second worst part is having the abscess explode on your face...with your mouth open.

At least I figured out which one started all the fights and which one was just trying to run away.

[Tears of Lys]

Drac, hold him down and have a GOOD LOOK and clean the wound. He may have torn or lost a claw. You need to see it. That way you can call the vet and hopefully your vet will call you back to tell you whether to observe or bring him in.

I had two cats once. One developed a GINORMOUS abscess on his ass.

Cleaning the abscess was NO FUN. The worst part is holding them down. The second worst part is having the abscess explode on your face...with your mouth open.

At least I figured out which one started all the fights and which one was just trying to run away.

Heh. A girlfriend of mine had horses. One time one of the horses backed into a fence and got a nail poke in her arse and it got infected. Instead of calling the vet, she took care of it herself, which involved squeezing out what looked like a quart of pus, then, with long gloves on, inserted her ARM into the horse's rectum for God only knows what reason. There was shit and pus all over the freakin' place.

I decided right then and there I didn't want a pony.