Seperation Anxiety??

[Hound dog]

I know dogs can have seperation anxiety...........But a cat???

Bruce is the sweetest cat I've ever met. (outside of Willie) He's the stray we took in for easy child because he wouldn't leave her porch where he kept pitifully meowing to get in. lol

Bruce has only left my lap since the moment we agreed to keep him when I've forced him to. He seems to care less that, while I don't mind cats, I'm not a big cat person. He decided I was HIS person the moment easy child brought him into the house.

by the way he's making typing difficult because he is sitting on my lap while I'm posting.

The problem is that if I leave the house Bruce is in a panic. He jumps at the door and meows horribly, pitifully. If I'm just going outside I can calm him down by talking to him thru the window. Eventually. But the moment I come back inside, he's right there waiting to be loved. When I go to bed at night he makes me feel guilty. He tries to "catch" me, while mewing like a baby. I can't take him upstairs with me cuz he wouldn't be able to get to the litter box. I keep the stair door closed to keep the dogs downstairs.

Lil Bruce is the perfect cat. I just hate to see him so anxiety ridden at the thought of me "leaving" him. Any ideas?

 

[mrscatinthehat]

Hmmm I know that our cats sit at our back window and watch for us to drive back home. Not quite the extreme as your Bruce has but I think they feel it too. I wouldn't have a clue what to do about it though.

beth

 

[flutterbee]

I found this:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2174&aid=2372

 

[Hound dog]

Thanks Heather.

Well I guess Bruce will never get to sleep upstairs. lol I already leave the tv on when I leave because of the dogs. And Bruce doesn't really go for toys. But he does have Molly and Betsy here with him. And he does play with them, though.

Travis bought him a scratching post with a spring ball on top that holds catnip. Bruce hasn't touched it once. I got him one of those soft "box" beds with a dangling ball inside when I noticed he likes to crawl into boxes. Bruce looked at me like I lost my mind.

So both of those are in the yard sale this weekend.

Attempting to pry Bruce off of me is not easy. But I'll give it a shot. lol

 

[Calgon_Take_Me_Away]

Here's a few suggestions BEFORE putting your items in the garage sale!

1) Have you taken Bruce's paws and "made him" scratch the post? This helped with my cats of past.

2) Do you have a tee shirt that you don't mind "losing" to the cat? Just wear it for a few hours to get your scent on it and leave it in the cat bed.

I had a cat that I adopted from the humane society at 8 weeks ~ I was volunteering there and fell in love with him the first day he jumped on my shoulder when I was cleaning his cage. He jumped on my shoulders from that day on and slept on my head at night. He died of feline leukemia at 7 yrs old.

Good Luck with- Bruce!

 

[SRL]

You can medicate for anxiety similar to dogs:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1310&articleid=2372

 

[flutterbee]

Put catnip on the toys he won't play with. He'll play with 'em alright.

 

[GoingNorth]

Actually, the "catnip receptor" is a dominant gene and only about 70% of "mutt" cats respond to catnip.

Purebred cats are more likely to be catnip responsive because breeders have unwittingly selected for the gene.

I raised Maine Coons for many years and had a houseful of large, hairy, catnip junkies...

Once the last of the senior MCs passed on; I took in a little rescue Siamese mutt. He has no use for catnip at all.

 

[flutterbee]

I've had 'mutt' cats all my life. I've only had one that didn't care about catnip.

 

[Hound dog]

Heather

Bruce doesn't even pay attention to the cat nip. Again he looks at me like I've lost it.

Putting his paws on the scratch post didn't work either. We've tried many many times. And putting something of mine in the box also didn't work. Seems Bruce prefers a basket of clean laundry to his very own bed. *sigh*

 

[flutterbee]

I tell you what...I'll bring Abbey over and she can teach him how to be a proper cat.

I can't even keep the catnip in the drawer anymore since Hydro has figured out how to get into the closed drawer. I have to take everything out of that drawer now and vacuum out all the loose catnip.

 

[Hound dog]

Nichole brought home catnip for Shadow and Willie once. boyfriend's mom grows the stuff. Shadow loved it. Willie sniffed it and walked away.

But Nichole had to get rid of it. It was getting Shadow in trouble. No matter where she hid it, Shadow kept finding it. lol

If you brought Abbey over Bruce would not even be social to her. I think Nichole has pegged his problem. Bruce doesn't know he's a cat. He thinks he's a baby. lol