Only when I am home

fran scutt

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I am starting to have a major problem with one of my cats (Pops). He is an indoor long hair domestic cat roughly five years old. He has always had a thing about chewing objects ie paper on the floor, cat toys etc. It has never been that bad until a few weeks ago. My boyfriend and I recently moved in together. He and I have started to notice that Pops will be fine all day when my bf is there but as soon as I get home, he starts being destructive and very vocal. he has never been the vocal type before. He is more then spoiled. Has more then enough toys. Always has food and water and is fed prompting at 730am and 730pm. I make sure to give both my cats love and affection each and every day. I play with them. give them cat nip. Could this behavior be associated with my bf and I living together? Is my furbaby mad because there is another male in the house? Does anyone have any idea what I can do to combat this behavior?!?!
 

p3 and the king

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Cats just do not like change and the older the cat, the more they don't like it.  It will take him some time to get used to it and accept it, so try not to be too hard on him or push him too much, it could have the opposite affect.  Maybe encourage boyfriend to do some positive association bonding with him?  Have your boyfriend "treat" him for every good interaction between the two of them.  This could help it come along faster. 
 

alofty

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I watched a video a while ago talking about cat's natural spikes in energy and I tried to find it for you but can't right now. Basically, your cat gets excited when you get home. He has a natural spike in energy and is just expressing that. I don't think this is a bad thing for the health of your cat necessarily.

If you want to avoid this, maybe have your bf play with him about 20 mins before you get home to tire him out a little bit. Or plan to play with him when you get home to let loose some of his energy. It could be that this behavior is just heightened because of the stress of a change and that it will fade away. If you do play with him when you get home, be sure not to do as soon as you get home. Do some other things first just to show him that his vocalizing and destructiveness does not get him a reward like playing. You don't want to reward that behavior.

My cat also gets really excitable when my bf gets home from work, even if I've been here all day with him. 

I'm not sure how destructive he is, but as long as he is not endangering himself or eating really odd things or being compulsive it's just something behaviorally that you need to address. If he compulsively eats things that are not food or anything like that then he should see a vet.
 
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