Vet told me that my cat is lonely. I can't adopt a 2nd cat. Should I return him to his fosterer? He meows all the time

(also posted on /r/catadvice)

I adopted my cat around 2.5 months ago. He's around 2 years old. He's a domestic shorthair mix. Some background: he was previously abandoned, was taken in by a fosterer and stayed at her place with several other cats for 4 months. During this time, he became very bonded to 1 particular cat called Charlie.

My cat is very sweet, intelligent and gentle, but he won't stop meowing. In the beginning I thought he just anxious and needed time to adjust. Right now he's eating, sleeping, using the letterbox well and has no behavioural issues otherwise-- but he meows around 60% of the time he's not eating/sleeping/playing and becomes very anxious when I ignore him for long stretches (for eg during work calls. He cries louder and louder.) As you can imagine it's been quite disruptive and stressful. The lockdown hasn't been completely eased where I've lived so I'm still working from home. I also live in a studio apartment so there are no doors to separate us. There have been many interrupted work calls and long sleepless nights.

Here are some things I've done:

Only interact with him when he's calm, ignore him when he's meowing

Clicker training to reward him when he's calm

At least 45 minutes of high intensity play every day to drain him of energy. I do the catch hunt kill feed groom sleep routine at night.

Lots of attention when he's calm

Built a catio on the balcony and installed an indoor cat tower

The meowing went down from 80% of the time to 60% of the time with these changes. Last week I brought him to the vet to rule out any medical issues. She did a health check up and said that the issue seems to be behavioural and not medical, and that he's lonely and probably used to getting more attention than I can give.

I'm at my wits end. As it is, I'm already at home all the time. Sometimes he meows and I don't know what he wants- for example he will meow outside in the catio, or in the toilet, even though I'm not those areas. The longest I've observed him meowing is 2 hours non-stop (I had a deadline I was rushing.) I texted his fosterer and she asked me if I wanted to adopt Charlie to keep my cat company-- but two cats is not financially possible for me right now and I don't want to be irresponsible.

I also feel bad for my cat. Before I adopted him, his fosterer said that he never meowed. I feel like all his stress has also affected my bond with my cat-- lately he's started hissing at me. Should I return him to his fosterer? I don't think he's suited for a single cat household and I'm worried that he will get sick from stress (me too. I'm also stressed out.) Is it possible that he will just get used to things with time?

submitted by /u/hottea_11
[link] [comments]

from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/hli428/vet_told_me_that_my_cat_is_lonely_i_cant_adopt_a/