Severe Separation Anxiety

Penny's mommy

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My cat, Macy, is 11 months old, fixed, female, indoor only. She is super sweet and generally very well behaved, but she is very needy and has severe separation anxiety. If I'm downstairs and she's upstairs (we have a Macy-proof baby gate) or vice versa she screams like someone is hurting her until I let her come with me. We have this gate for safety reasons since we have people in and out of the house often, and we have 3 dogs who need to be contained. It's gotten to the point that I can't run downstairs to get water real quick without her screaming/crying. Or I can't use the bathroom without her crying if she's not with me. She gets mad when I go to work and freaks out in excitement when I come home. The thing is, I live with my family and this all happens with them around. Having them helps because she likes to be with them and they can keep her entertained, but ultimately it's me she wants to be with 24/7. She is very jealous of my fiance and screams and cries and paces when we go out or if she's in another room. When we marry, we'll move into our own place, just me, him, and Macy. We'll both work, how will she deal with this being completely alone? Its already really bad and she has my mom to console her and play with her when I leave for work. I want to work on this before we move onto the next step and she's alone. It would also be really bad if she was vocalizing this much in an apartment... Especially while we're gone.
 
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Penny's mommy

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I will definitely try that, thank you!
 

susanm9006

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I don’t know that it is separation anxiety as much as it is that she has learned that making a fuss and vocalizing gets her the attention she craves. I also suspect that she is just normally a vocal cat who has a lot to say about everything especially to her favorite person. So first, if she is eating, playing and using the litter box I would be less anxious about her emotional state. You can diminish the vocal behavior somewhat by ignoring it but a vocal cat will always be louder and more vocal that other cats.

If you are concerned about how she acts while you are away, try setting a video cam out.
 

Azazel

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I don’t think this separation anxiety. Most of what you describe, such as being excited when you get home and following you to the bathroom, are completely normal. My cats also talk to me by meowing when I’m in the other room.

How often do you play with her and how do you play?
 

danteshuman

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My cat has seperation anxiety that I’m trying to work on with him.

First you can not reward the screaming.

Next I would talk to her when you go down real quick. If the marriage is a long way off, I would try taking her down with me in a harness on a long leash. I think a lot of it is just being forbidden, you know how much kitties like exploring.

With Jackie when I return with the mail I reward him with a couple of treats. He still cries but he stopped rushing the doors. Honestly I just take him with me whenever I can.

Lastly I would suggest getting her a kitten with the same temperament so she has a buddy set up to move with her & keep her company. You can look up videos about how to help a kitty with separation anxiety but hopefully it will not be needed. Worst case scenario if needed you can medicated her but I would try everything first.

I like the idea of keeping her busy. I would set up a bird watching window perch/cat tree with bird feeders in view of the window at your current and future home. I would hide the treats and rotate interactive toys to. If she is busy hunting she is not screaming.

:goodluck:
 

SirenSong

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This doesn't sound like separation anxiety to me either. Both my cats follow me to the bathroom and get mad if I lock them out or if they're in a room other than the one I'm in. It sounds more like you have been rewarding the screaming by giving her what she wants. She's learned that the louder she screams, the sooner a human will appear!

I know it's really annoying to listen to but you know she's just "crying wolf". There's nothing wrong. If you ignore her, she will eventually learn that screaming doesn't get her anything but a sore throat ... Definitely offer lots of things for her to do ... toys, hidden treats, etc but stop pandering to her and tell your family to stop pandering to her as well. She's needs to learn that screaming is not how she gets attention. She's not anxious ... she's spoiled ... like mine ... LOL Mine sometimes meow for me even if they're not locked in another room, but if I'm just out of eyesight, god forbid ... I do my best to never give my cats attention while they're screaming. I wait for them to be quiet, THEN I go to them. That way, they learn that quietly asking for attention is how they get attention ... not screaming.

Good luck!
 
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