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- Feb 22, 2019
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Hi everyone. I wanted to post tonight and see if anyone else has had these things with their cat. (I’m going to take my boy to the vet in the morning because I’m thinking it’s anxiety or pain, but also want to make sure he’s not sick.)
Anyway, George is four years old, and when I got him in Nov of 2015 I already had a grown male cat named Tom. Tom was NOT happy with my bringing George home, but I hoped to get them to be okay together. Well, after doing all of the stuff you’re supposed to do to introduce cats to one another, they never were okay. Tom used to scare George with hissing and jumping on him and poor little George was bewildered. I kept them apart as much as I could with separate food, litter boxes, water etc and played with them separately in separate rooms.
Well Tom passed away in Oct 2017 and George was SO happy. He seemed content and confident which was wonderful to see. But in January 2018 my father came to live with me (I’m his caregiver) and things were stressful especially because Dad wanted his cat here. They had a hard time at first and George was scared of her, so I kept them separated for awhile. Eventually I let them come out at the same time, and things weren’t as bad as they were with Tom, but Dads cat (Pita) wanted to play a lot. She’s very active and George isn’t plus she’s wild when she plays, and I think it was overwhelming for him at first.
Well, eventually I felt like things were pretty good with them; they sleep in my bed near each other, they play together a couple of times a day, and in general George seemed to have gotten adjusted to her being here. I’m not sure when I noticed this stuff, maybe a month or two ago, but George has been following me constantly, crying (seems like for food), wanting to play but then walking off and not wanting to, hiding in the back room when anyone comes over, hissing at anyone other than me and family, jumps at loud noises, wants to be picked up but then flies out of my arms, licks himself between the legs (not sure if it’s his private area or his butt), and just seems very needy but unsatisfied no matter what I do for him.
This has been a year of a lot of changes which may be upsetting him more. My Dad has his leg amputated last November so things are much different than last year as far as my caregiving duties. He now has a hospital bed in the living room, and there isn’t room for George and I to play in there so we have to play in my room which isn’t very big. Plus since Dad came home in March, there are people here all of the time like nurses, pt, his buddies, family, and aides that are here every day. Poor George. Oddly enough though, despite all of this going on, I didn’t notice these behaviors changing until a month or two ago, so maybe the stress of everything has built up and is finally getting to him.... sigh.
Btw just to add this...earlier this year George had pain in his back and got meds for that. They did xrays and stuff but didn’t find a cause, so the vet and I think that he and Pita played too roughly and he may have somehow landed on something that hurt his back. I do give him the meds as needed, but I wonder tonight if the pain issue could be causing some of this.
Anyway, I hope to find out what’s going on with my little guy tomorrow if I can get him in. Until then, I wanted to post here and see if anyone else has had similar things going on with their cats.
Tbh I’m feeling a little guilty about him having to endure all of these changes, especially having to cope with Tom then Pita. I never had kids but lord I feel like I do now as much as I worry about him!
Thanks for reading this long post-I think I needed to get that out!
Tracy
Anyway, George is four years old, and when I got him in Nov of 2015 I already had a grown male cat named Tom. Tom was NOT happy with my bringing George home, but I hoped to get them to be okay together. Well, after doing all of the stuff you’re supposed to do to introduce cats to one another, they never were okay. Tom used to scare George with hissing and jumping on him and poor little George was bewildered. I kept them apart as much as I could with separate food, litter boxes, water etc and played with them separately in separate rooms.
Well Tom passed away in Oct 2017 and George was SO happy. He seemed content and confident which was wonderful to see. But in January 2018 my father came to live with me (I’m his caregiver) and things were stressful especially because Dad wanted his cat here. They had a hard time at first and George was scared of her, so I kept them separated for awhile. Eventually I let them come out at the same time, and things weren’t as bad as they were with Tom, but Dads cat (Pita) wanted to play a lot. She’s very active and George isn’t plus she’s wild when she plays, and I think it was overwhelming for him at first.
Well, eventually I felt like things were pretty good with them; they sleep in my bed near each other, they play together a couple of times a day, and in general George seemed to have gotten adjusted to her being here. I’m not sure when I noticed this stuff, maybe a month or two ago, but George has been following me constantly, crying (seems like for food), wanting to play but then walking off and not wanting to, hiding in the back room when anyone comes over, hissing at anyone other than me and family, jumps at loud noises, wants to be picked up but then flies out of my arms, licks himself between the legs (not sure if it’s his private area or his butt), and just seems very needy but unsatisfied no matter what I do for him.
This has been a year of a lot of changes which may be upsetting him more. My Dad has his leg amputated last November so things are much different than last year as far as my caregiving duties. He now has a hospital bed in the living room, and there isn’t room for George and I to play in there so we have to play in my room which isn’t very big. Plus since Dad came home in March, there are people here all of the time like nurses, pt, his buddies, family, and aides that are here every day. Poor George. Oddly enough though, despite all of this going on, I didn’t notice these behaviors changing until a month or two ago, so maybe the stress of everything has built up and is finally getting to him.... sigh.
Btw just to add this...earlier this year George had pain in his back and got meds for that. They did xrays and stuff but didn’t find a cause, so the vet and I think that he and Pita played too roughly and he may have somehow landed on something that hurt his back. I do give him the meds as needed, but I wonder tonight if the pain issue could be causing some of this.
Anyway, I hope to find out what’s going on with my little guy tomorrow if I can get him in. Until then, I wanted to post here and see if anyone else has had similar things going on with their cats.
Tbh I’m feeling a little guilty about him having to endure all of these changes, especially having to cope with Tom then Pita. I never had kids but lord I feel like I do now as much as I worry about him!
Thanks for reading this long post-I think I needed to get that out!
Tracy
