- Joined
- Nov 21, 2018
- Messages
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- Purraise
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Hi everyone, obviously I am new here. I'm hoping that someone can offer me some reassurance and advice. I apologize in advance for the length of this post.
I adopted a kitty yesterday, a sweet 7 year old little girl named Emmie.
A little background. Before Emmie I only have ever had one other kitty in my life. My sweet Callie, who I had from 3 months old until she passed away at 17 years old in 2015. I have taken a long time to grieve and contemplate whether I wanted to adopt again. I finally felt I was ready, especially when I saw the post about Emmie. She had been in the shelter for the last 11 months. She belonged to an elderly lady who had to go to a nursing home and had to surrender her. No one was adopting her because she needs to be an only kitty as she does not like other cats.
When I went to meet her yesterday she was very friendly but stressed from being in a small room with other cats who kept meowing at her. I decided she was the one and brought her home. I live alone, my apartment is quiet and peaceful, and I don't have any other pets or children.
When we got home, I let her out of her carrier and put out food, water, toys, and a litterbox. I spoke softly to her and let her explore on her own terms and am not trying to force interactions. Every hour or so I would go look for her and just say hello and few words about being a sweet girl. She spent most of the day in my bedroom on the edge of my bed, followed by coming out to take a walk round the apartment and see what was going on and then returning to my bedroom. When I went to bed last night she left the bedroom and spent the night in the living room. I'm not sure if she slept or not. She has eaten, and she is drinking very well. She peed at least once and had a poo also. I think these are all good things and good signs?
The trouble comes with her interactions with me (and I 100% admit that I am currently an anxious basket case who has spent since yesterday crying off and on; I had to take a sedative yesterday). I feel like she hates me and like I made a mistake and should take her back. And I feel terrible and guilt ridden at the thought. I'm not THAT type of person. I am having a lot of fears as to whether I will be able to love her like I did Callie, fears about what if something happens and she gets sick, what if she never likes me and is miserable here.
I assume this is transferring through to when I do talk to her because she ran up to me last night and gave me a face to face head butt and then followed that with slapping me with her paw and walking away.
I did pick her up once to put her on the floor after she got on the stove counter. It made her mad and she turned around and and batted at me.
This morning before I left for work I put the window shade up for her so she can enjoy looking out the window and she tried to grab my arm and bite me and hissed.
Am I just freaking out and I need to take some deep breaths? I keep trying to tell myself that a relationship isn't build in one day. I just feel overwhelmed with responsibility and anxiety.
I adopted a kitty yesterday, a sweet 7 year old little girl named Emmie.
A little background. Before Emmie I only have ever had one other kitty in my life. My sweet Callie, who I had from 3 months old until she passed away at 17 years old in 2015. I have taken a long time to grieve and contemplate whether I wanted to adopt again. I finally felt I was ready, especially when I saw the post about Emmie. She had been in the shelter for the last 11 months. She belonged to an elderly lady who had to go to a nursing home and had to surrender her. No one was adopting her because she needs to be an only kitty as she does not like other cats.
When I went to meet her yesterday she was very friendly but stressed from being in a small room with other cats who kept meowing at her. I decided she was the one and brought her home. I live alone, my apartment is quiet and peaceful, and I don't have any other pets or children.
When we got home, I let her out of her carrier and put out food, water, toys, and a litterbox. I spoke softly to her and let her explore on her own terms and am not trying to force interactions. Every hour or so I would go look for her and just say hello and few words about being a sweet girl. She spent most of the day in my bedroom on the edge of my bed, followed by coming out to take a walk round the apartment and see what was going on and then returning to my bedroom. When I went to bed last night she left the bedroom and spent the night in the living room. I'm not sure if she slept or not. She has eaten, and she is drinking very well. She peed at least once and had a poo also. I think these are all good things and good signs?
The trouble comes with her interactions with me (and I 100% admit that I am currently an anxious basket case who has spent since yesterday crying off and on; I had to take a sedative yesterday). I feel like she hates me and like I made a mistake and should take her back. And I feel terrible and guilt ridden at the thought. I'm not THAT type of person. I am having a lot of fears as to whether I will be able to love her like I did Callie, fears about what if something happens and she gets sick, what if she never likes me and is miserable here.
I assume this is transferring through to when I do talk to her because she ran up to me last night and gave me a face to face head butt and then followed that with slapping me with her paw and walking away.
I did pick her up once to put her on the floor after she got on the stove counter. It made her mad and she turned around and and batted at me.
This morning before I left for work I put the window shade up for her so she can enjoy looking out the window and she tried to grab my arm and bite me and hissed.
Am I just freaking out and I need to take some deep breaths? I keep trying to tell myself that a relationship isn't build in one day. I just feel overwhelmed with responsibility and anxiety.
Welcome to TCS! I am glad that you found us here and that you found a helpful thread. 
