I adopted a stray cat who was a little wild, and needed a lot of attention or she would whine and cry all the time. When she's outside she's very quiet and keeps to herself. However, when she comes inside she wants to be the center of attention, running around the place, stopping and staring intently at people, whining, clawing the furniture wanting you to play with her, and now has turned to yawning to get attention. I do pay attention to her but she wants it almost all the time which is impossible. She tends to shake her head (like she's got water on it) when I walk up or yawns, and this has turned into the hilarious (though concerning) action of her yawning and then shaking her head at the same time, causing her tongue to flap about. If I'm walking up and I see her yawning, I stop until she's done, then continue and she'll shake her head.
However, in the morning when I wake up, no matter what I'm doing, as long as I'm not moving much (snoozing, reading the news, typing on my laptop), she'll just start yawning excessively, like 3 or 4 times a minute, and her jaw now makes clicking noises. I think she's yawned so much she's hurt something in her jaw. I started giving her attention at certain times when she first yawns and it kind of went away, but I can't do this all the time (she really is a princess and people have said this) and it is bothering me a lot. I've decided to just let her out when she starts yawning too much even though it's against the rules at our apartment complex which means I can't put her collar so they'll just think she's a stray (they don't remember who has what cat and they don't care to look it up until there's a problem). She tends to run away from everything outside so she's not a problem but I really don't want her to be outside most of the time.
I feel like the problem is not the yawning but the princess-like behavior wanting attention all the time and wanting to be basically treated like a little kid wanting to play. I don't understand why she wants such a high level of energy or attention when she's inside. When I first adopted her she was just wild and nothing but a lot of attention and play got her to calm down. Is there some way to get her to just calm down and stop expecting so much attention?
However, in the morning when I wake up, no matter what I'm doing, as long as I'm not moving much (snoozing, reading the news, typing on my laptop), she'll just start yawning excessively, like 3 or 4 times a minute, and her jaw now makes clicking noises. I think she's yawned so much she's hurt something in her jaw. I started giving her attention at certain times when she first yawns and it kind of went away, but I can't do this all the time (she really is a princess and people have said this) and it is bothering me a lot. I've decided to just let her out when she starts yawning too much even though it's against the rules at our apartment complex which means I can't put her collar so they'll just think she's a stray (they don't remember who has what cat and they don't care to look it up until there's a problem). She tends to run away from everything outside so she's not a problem but I really don't want her to be outside most of the time.
I feel like the problem is not the yawning but the princess-like behavior wanting attention all the time and wanting to be basically treated like a little kid wanting to play. I don't understand why she wants such a high level of energy or attention when she's inside. When I first adopted her she was just wild and nothing but a lot of attention and play got her to calm down. Is there some way to get her to just calm down and stop expecting so much attention?
