I adopted a 4-6 year old cat almost a week ago, and I know that’s not much time but I’m not sure if its going to work out. I’ve always loved animals, and was considering getting a cat for quite a while before I finally went to the shelter to get one. I thought out my options and asked a bunch of questions to find the best fit for my household, but I’m not sure I made the right choice. I feel really terrible about it and I don’t want to be that person, but I’m having some issues.
The first issue is that I got an older cat so I didn’t have to deal with energy of a kitten, but this cat is the most energetic one I’ve ever seen. I play with him with a laser pointer and other toys throughout the day to try and tire him out, but he’s just off the walls crazy at night. At the same time he meows practically all night long while he’s running around like a speed racer. I’m not sure I can handle this amount of energy or the meowing especially because its effecting my sleep. On top of that he’s started pooping and peeing on the floor at night. He has stuff to do throughout the day, so I don’t know why he’s so crazy at night or why he stopped using his litter box. Am I not giving him enough attention?
My biggest problem though, is the relationship between my dog and the cat. Winter is a 5 year old yellow lab with a medical condition that means she has to be medication constantly or else she has seizures. Even with the medicine she can still have seizures if she’s stressed enough or triggered in some other way. My whole world is pretty much this dog, and she’s scared of the cat. Whenever the cat comes into the room she gets all tense and on guard, she hates when the cat gets near us, she runs away if the cat gets within two feet of her, she checks every room she before she goes in for the cat, and she refuses to go upstairs when the cat is up there. I didn’t think she would have a problem with the cat because she’s usually very friendly and good with other animals even cats. I thought she might like having a companion, even if it was a cat and not a dog, but that’s not turning out to be true at all. I think the problem is that the cat made a bad first impression on her and now she thinks he’s dangerous. I’m worried about what the stress of this will do to her. They’ve been getting along a little better since the beginning, but the dog still does not like the cat.
Because of how rocky these first few days have been my anxiety has skyrocketed and I'm exhausted. Everyone in my family is getting pretty fed up with the cat as well. Honestly, all I wanted was a mellow older cat to keep us all company. I feel especially bad because the shelter told me the cat was already returned once after only five days, and I don’t want to do that to him again. I’m definitely going to give it some more time, but I really don’t know what to do, so I would appreciate some advice.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/iyyqia/advice_not_sure_what_to_do_about_new_cat/
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