This was longer than I thought it would be, there's a TLDR at the bottom, but I needed to vent and could use some advice/perspective.
I adopted my first cat ever three days ago from a shelter, she turns two in January, and the second she saw me, she ran up to me and instantly went to sleep in my lap. I have been doing research on adoption for literal years and had been looking at another cat in the shelter at the time, but how could you resist a cat that seems to pick you? Even when I was asking questions and finalizing the papers at the shelter, the employees kept telling me that I seemed incredibly well-prepared to take her home and that they wished everyone who adopted was like me.
She's super well behaved so far–it took her about an hour to get past hiding on the first day, only scratches on her cardboard post, uses her litter box, and is super cuddly. I have her confined to one room at the moment (she has everything she'd ever need from posts to toys to window perches to food) and I'm the only one home right now (currently live with my parents who are on vacation for another week) so every time I leave her for the night or leave the house, I feel incredibly guilty.
Even though she's so well behaved, and despite all of the research I've done, I just still feel overwhelmed and unsure about my decision. I work multiple jobs and my hours are fairly random, so I feel guilty when I leave her alone and hear her crying. I'm fairly allergic (I've gotten allergy shots every week for four years but still get rashes when she licks/bites me with the occasional stuffed nose and red eyes), but I panic when I think about opening the house up to her permanently and her getting dander everywhere. I just let her out of her room this morning for an hour so I could clean the hair and litter that was scattered on the floor and furniture without the vacuum scaring her, and she undid the cleaning I did in less than five minutes. I don't know if it will be better when there's three people in the house rather than just myself, but I feel like I don't have a minute to myself, and when I do, I feel incredibly guilty about not spending it with her.
Even right now, as I'm typing this, she's taking a nap on my lap, purring, and beckoning for chin rubs, but I know the second I leave the room she'll start crying and I'll be on the verge of tears too. Everyone I know that has a pet has been telling me that I've been doing everything right so far, but the anxiety is real and there's this voice in my head that keeps telling me to bring her back to the shelter, and another voice that's telling me not to because I'll regret it in the second I do. I want to be the best cat owner possible while still maintaining my old life, but maybe what I'm expecting is a little unrealistic.
How much longer should I expect to feel this way? Should I be feeling this way at all? I've gotten so little done for myself at home over the past few days (cleaning, cooking, working, sleeping, etc) because I feel like I'm constantly worrying about her, but every time I even think about surrendering her because of the pressure I'm feeling, I feel like I'd be failing her. I know if I did surrender her, she'd get adopted quickly because she really is a great and friendly cat, but she's already invested in a new routine and I don't want to stress her out with more change. I don't really know why I made this post, but I needed to ask someone for perspective. At the very least, I think I'm going to wait at least two weeks to make any decision, but if anyone has any suggestions, advice, or words of encouragement, I'd really love to hear from you.
TLDR: I have a well behaved twenty-one month old cat that is causing me a ton of anxiety and worry because, as clichéd as it sounds, I think I care too much about her and it's affecting my mental state and the amount I get done around the house. I spend as much time as I can with her but won't be able to every day and it fills me with guilt even though she has everything she would ever need in her room. The post-adoption anxiety is real and I could use some advice.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/d7u4xy/postadoption_anxiety_please_help/
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