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- Jul 10, 2018
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Apologies in advance, this will be a long story/post.
I live in a house with 5 family members - me and my wife, my brother-in-law, his wife and son.. My wife and I do not have any children so we decided to get a cat - Charlie, whom we got from a friend of a friend.
We've had Charlie since he was a little under two-months old. Now he's about 11 months old. Since i'm a freelancer, I'm mostly at home. And my wife works long hours. I'm the one who feeds him wet lunches and dinners. Groom him. Mind him.
Charlie was like my boy - I love him to bits. When he was 7 months old we got him a companion, Leia - who was just a month younger than him. It took us a long time to get this extremely shy girl to come out of her shell but we did eventually. But even with the new addition, i gave extra attention to charlie - i guess I was being a favoritism father.
But as months go by and as my work got me working till 3am, slowly i've noticed that Charlie prefers hanging around with my brother-in-law. Sleeping on his bed, watching Netflix with him. Waiting on him. It made me jealous at first but I paid no thought to it - i just made sure to give him more attention.
Recently Charlie fell ill so we took him to the vet - I was making sure to check on him regularly, pet him and give him his meds. During this period he'd be finding cool corner spots to lie on and sleep. And then yesterday, as he was slowly getting better, I approached him to check on him. I stroked him on his sides where he was lying down. He used his hind leg and pushed my hand away, walked off towards where my brother-in-law was sitting with his tail up..
I have to admit it felt heartbreaking. I went to my bathroom, thinking about the times i fed him, cared for him, played with him - since he was a little kitten. Then naturally the waterworks rolled. I talked with it with my wife - she tries to assure me that it's a phase, but i know she's stumped too.
Was it because I had a 4 month job that require me to come home late everyday? Is it because we keep our two cats in our room when we sleep? But even if we do, both our cats make time to kiss my wife. Or maybe I smother him too much? Pick him up too much? Tell him "No" too many times?
I'm still feeding them, getting them good food no matter how finicky eaters both have become. It just feels harder now knowing that Charlie sees me as just another person in the house, whose room contains kibbles, rather than his favorite person. I know I'm being petty - that i should love him no matter what. It's just heartbreaking for me.
Just asking for advice to get through this.
I live in a house with 5 family members - me and my wife, my brother-in-law, his wife and son.. My wife and I do not have any children so we decided to get a cat - Charlie, whom we got from a friend of a friend.
We've had Charlie since he was a little under two-months old. Now he's about 11 months old. Since i'm a freelancer, I'm mostly at home. And my wife works long hours. I'm the one who feeds him wet lunches and dinners. Groom him. Mind him.
Charlie was like my boy - I love him to bits. When he was 7 months old we got him a companion, Leia - who was just a month younger than him. It took us a long time to get this extremely shy girl to come out of her shell but we did eventually. But even with the new addition, i gave extra attention to charlie - i guess I was being a favoritism father.
But as months go by and as my work got me working till 3am, slowly i've noticed that Charlie prefers hanging around with my brother-in-law. Sleeping on his bed, watching Netflix with him. Waiting on him. It made me jealous at first but I paid no thought to it - i just made sure to give him more attention.
Recently Charlie fell ill so we took him to the vet - I was making sure to check on him regularly, pet him and give him his meds. During this period he'd be finding cool corner spots to lie on and sleep. And then yesterday, as he was slowly getting better, I approached him to check on him. I stroked him on his sides where he was lying down. He used his hind leg and pushed my hand away, walked off towards where my brother-in-law was sitting with his tail up..
I have to admit it felt heartbreaking. I went to my bathroom, thinking about the times i fed him, cared for him, played with him - since he was a little kitten. Then naturally the waterworks rolled. I talked with it with my wife - she tries to assure me that it's a phase, but i know she's stumped too.
Was it because I had a 4 month job that require me to come home late everyday? Is it because we keep our two cats in our room when we sleep? But even if we do, both our cats make time to kiss my wife. Or maybe I smother him too much? Pick him up too much? Tell him "No" too many times?
I'm still feeding them, getting them good food no matter how finicky eaters both have become. It just feels harder now knowing that Charlie sees me as just another person in the house, whose room contains kibbles, rather than his favorite person. I know I'm being petty - that i should love him no matter what. It's just heartbreaking for me.
Just asking for advice to get through this.