I think this feeling all started when I lost my 17 year old girl last year and it's been ramping up a lot this year. So I had 3 cats last year and now I have two boys. One is almost 17 and one is almost 6. The girl used to float between everyone so it brought everyone together. It's been over a year since she has been gone and we've all accepted her passing.
Now, I'm fortunate that I've been employed through this whole covid thing and with an office job, I've never really worked from home but maybe a month when it first hit. So this isn't a case that I was home for a year and just went back. I'm gone 9-10 hours a day like any normal office job continuoulsy.
I live in a 2 story house. The older boy always stays upstairs. The younger boy always stays downstairs. They may wonder around up/down once or twice a day for 5 minutes but that is it. (I have cameras and watch them from work). It's frustrating that they never found to be close friends in each other. They would play occasionally but it's rare these days. No violence between them and no territory problems, etc.
The reason I write this is I feel guilty that I am a bad cat dad. They both ask for my attention at home at night but I have to split it between them since they won't hang out together in the same area. On top of work, I try to have a life too but sometimes don't go out much because I feel guilty leaving them.
Am I over-reacting? I try to tell myself, "hey, at least they are not in a cage somewhere and are very loved here". They have all the food, clean litter boxes, toys scattered around, a 2 story house to roam all to themselves with plenty of windows and soft things to sleep on. Vet care whenever they need it... etc.
I've even thought about maybe having a cat sitter come by once a day to hang with them but feel it would be a waste of money since the younger one is scared of others (will hide) and my older boy sleeps mostly. So that seems silly to do.
Getting another cat is not an option. My older boy has IDB and takes a lot of care and focus and his situation has been bad this week.
I feel guilty in all this that I'm boring them and not giving them a good life... any advice to ease these thoughts?
Now, I'm fortunate that I've been employed through this whole covid thing and with an office job, I've never really worked from home but maybe a month when it first hit. So this isn't a case that I was home for a year and just went back. I'm gone 9-10 hours a day like any normal office job continuoulsy.
I live in a 2 story house. The older boy always stays upstairs. The younger boy always stays downstairs. They may wonder around up/down once or twice a day for 5 minutes but that is it. (I have cameras and watch them from work). It's frustrating that they never found to be close friends in each other. They would play occasionally but it's rare these days. No violence between them and no territory problems, etc.
The reason I write this is I feel guilty that I am a bad cat dad. They both ask for my attention at home at night but I have to split it between them since they won't hang out together in the same area. On top of work, I try to have a life too but sometimes don't go out much because I feel guilty leaving them.
Am I over-reacting? I try to tell myself, "hey, at least they are not in a cage somewhere and are very loved here". They have all the food, clean litter boxes, toys scattered around, a 2 story house to roam all to themselves with plenty of windows and soft things to sleep on. Vet care whenever they need it... etc.
I've even thought about maybe having a cat sitter come by once a day to hang with them but feel it would be a waste of money since the younger one is scared of others (will hide) and my older boy sleeps mostly. So that seems silly to do.
Getting another cat is not an option. My older boy has IDB and takes a lot of care and focus and his situation has been bad this week.
I feel guilty in all this that I'm boring them and not giving them a good life... any advice to ease these thoughts?
