Hello, I am writing this post to talk out this situation and also hear from other people that have rehomed their cats, or adopted rehomed cats, and it was a positive experience. I understand rehoming is frowned upon. I'm not looking for hate.
I adopted my cat when I was single, a bachelor, with a lot of free time and very few responsibilities. She is not a cuddly cat; she requires at least 2 hours of play a day. I didn't mind doing that and she is my little buddy (or, more accurately, child).
Fast forward eight years. She has been with me through multiple moves, across the country, etc etc. I am married and I have two young children. We live in a small house by necessity. My responsibilities have greatly increased, and my work continues to take more and more time. My wife did not grow up with pets, and while she's nice to the cat, she's not interested in playing with her. We don't have space for cat trees and lots of cat paraphernalia anymore. My kids are too young to understand how to play with the cat, and the cat is clearly scared of them. She now spends the bulk of her time outside, and only comes in at night when everyone is in bed.
I stay up late (until 11p-12a) every night to play with her, but she's still meowing long after I go to bed and frequently throughout the week. It's clear that I am just not giving her enough attention and play, but I am maxed out.
I got her on prozac for some time, but she lost all of her personality, and just slinked around and slept. She lost interest in playing and was completely zoned out. I felt terrible that I was substituting adequate care with drugs.
So, that leads me here. I've been bawling for the last couple of days as I've been strongly considering rehoming her. I feel a commitment and a caretaker's burden, that I should be the one that cares for her, no matter what.
She is 8-9yo, tons of energy, perfectly healthy. While that's a good reason to keep her, it's also what drives me to think -- certainly there must be a better situation for this cat that is very adoptable and has the back half of her life to live in peace. And my guilt or expectations I am putting on myself are actually selfish. Perhaps I owe it to my pet that I've given thousands of dollars and hours to -- to recognize that I cannot give her the best life for her. And there are other animal lovers that can.
She is 8-9yo, tons of energy, perfectly healthy. While that's a good reason to keep her, it's also what drives me to think -- certainly there must be a better situation for this cat that is very adoptable and has the back half of her life to live in peace. And my guilt or expectations I am putting on myself are actually selfish. Perhaps I owe it to my pet that I've given thousands of dollars and hours to -- to recognize that I cannot give her the best life for her anymore. And there are other animal lovers that can.
I didn't adopt her and ever see this coming. I just want to hear any positive stories of cats moving on and finding a better situation.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/papnwf/rehoming_my_cat/
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