Post-Adoption Anxiety/Depression

Hi Guys

I know Reddit probably isn’t the place to go to for this but I’ve seen people discuss this before and wanted to share my own experience to see if anyone can help, or even just relate.

So I just adopted the sweetest little cat in the world yesterday. She’s a rescue and is 9 months old, she was living with a wonderful foster home before I decided to adopt her. She’s incredibly affectionate, I mean INCREDIBLY affectionate. She truly is the sweetest. Couldn’t have gotten a better cat honestly.

But for some reason I can’t shake this feeling of anxiety and/or depression. I’m constantly wondering whether or not adopting her was the right thing to do, although I’ve spent months preparing for her adoption and contemplating the possible scenarios. Here are a few things stressing me out:

1. I’m a 20 year old university student and live alone in my small apartment. I’m someone who finds value in spending time alone sometimes, and as selfish as it may seem, I feel like this alone time may be taken away from me as the cat literally does not stop rubbing herself on me. My question here is: I’m assuming this is a territorial thing cats do to mark their scent, will she stop doing this?

2. I have a relatively active social life, obviously nothing too crazy bc of COVID, but I see my friends regularly for a couple of hours a day. I also regularly see my boyfriend who lives in another, albeit close, city. He usually comes to mine, but in instances where I prefer to go to his I worry. Since she’s an adult cat (almost), she’s pretty used to being independent. I also like to have some alone days at home sometimes just to chill and have some me-time. Again, as selfish as this may sound, it just feels like I’m sacrificing a lot of my lifestyle and routine to accommodate for her. I know that, realistically, this is not the case. I’ve read up on this and I know that the cat will adjust to my lifestyle but I can’t help but worry.

3. The rescuer let me know that she has to sleep with me, which I do not mind at all of course. Last night, though, was TOUGH. I went to sleep for about an hour before she started going up and down the stairs, rubbing her body against my head and nose every half an hour, I couldn’t get much sleep. I still want her to be able to sleep with me, but I have a bed for her that I put on my bed so she can sleep in. Is there a way for me to make sure she sleeps there? Or is there a way I can make sure she gets consistent sleep at night?

I know this all might come off extremely selfish, I’m so surprised at how I’m feeling now. I wanted nothing more than to adopt her, but since she arrived I’ve been hit with this wave of anxiety and bits of depression. She’s such a loving cat and deserves everything. I know that this is probably scarier for her than it is for me, but I just feel super weird and had to share in case anyone has any advice or can relate to this somehow.

Thanks in advance guys

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/n32qs9/postadoption_anxietydepression/