Hi all -
We are the proud parents of 4 cats. We have had our cats for about 15 years, and that is the age of our oldest.
The cat that I am curious about today is about 10 years old. He is a neutered male, and was a street kitten before being lured into our friends apartment with food. He was clearly abused in some way since he is very skittish and does NOT like men at all.
He has always been somewhat affectionate to me, but not strongly so. He would tolerate my pets when I could sneak up on him and not scare him away. He has bonded very strongly with another of our cats, and the two of them are frequently found curled up together, mutually grooming.
We moved residences about 10 months ago. Since that time, he has had potty issues, which we are dealing with. We believe that he is in pain - we took him to the vet, and discovered he has a fused vertebra from arthritis.
The biggest change, which I find so striking, has been his levels of affection towards me. He will come out of the back when I am sitting at the table, and rub my legs. If I am laying on the bed, he jumps up (actually, he climbs paw over paw since jumping hurts him too much) and demands attention. This has only started in the last 2 months or so.
It is getting a little out of hand (although I am very honored!) and is really making me worried that something is wrong with him. (One of our other cats was ill, but we weren't aware of it - she was in renal failure, and the only outward symptom was that she was hiding a lot and being very affectionate. She eventually died.)
Does anyone have any idea why he has gone from pretty indifferent to being a love bug?? Should I be more concerned about his health? Or is this just something I should be grateful for???
Thanks for your help and advice!
We are the proud parents of 4 cats. We have had our cats for about 15 years, and that is the age of our oldest.
The cat that I am curious about today is about 10 years old. He is a neutered male, and was a street kitten before being lured into our friends apartment with food. He was clearly abused in some way since he is very skittish and does NOT like men at all.
He has always been somewhat affectionate to me, but not strongly so. He would tolerate my pets when I could sneak up on him and not scare him away. He has bonded very strongly with another of our cats, and the two of them are frequently found curled up together, mutually grooming.
We moved residences about 10 months ago. Since that time, he has had potty issues, which we are dealing with. We believe that he is in pain - we took him to the vet, and discovered he has a fused vertebra from arthritis.
The biggest change, which I find so striking, has been his levels of affection towards me. He will come out of the back when I am sitting at the table, and rub my legs. If I am laying on the bed, he jumps up (actually, he climbs paw over paw since jumping hurts him too much) and demands attention. This has only started in the last 2 months or so.
It is getting a little out of hand (although I am very honored!) and is really making me worried that something is wrong with him. (One of our other cats was ill, but we weren't aware of it - she was in renal failure, and the only outward symptom was that she was hiding a lot and being very affectionate. She eventually died.)
Does anyone have any idea why he has gone from pretty indifferent to being a love bug?? Should I be more concerned about his health? Or is this just something I should be grateful for???
Thanks for your help and advice!