Separation Anxiety in Cats

amelia12

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Hey everyone! We have a kitten who is now about 7 months old. We do not know her exact age but when we found her the vet thinks she was around 4 weeks old. Since then my husband and I have been the only ones taking care of her. She lives inside and we have another cat (3 years old) and a small dog. She sleeps with us at night and wants to be close when she's not playing during the day. She even sits at the shower door and waits for us to get out. Our problem is when she's left alone.

She cries constantly and does not stop. She's so loud that you can hear her outside and you can't get much done when your inside. We try not to leave her alone but it happens every so often. The only way we can curb her crying is to make sure the dog is with her. I could just be reading too far into this and she may just be vocal but it's sad when it happens. I feel bad leaving sometimes because I know she's just going to cry. Has anyone experienced this and what can we do to fix the problem?
 

Ms. Freya

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Our Freya was very anxious when left alone. She's sit in the windows and howl if we were outside. If we went away she was attached for hours after we got home. Feliway diffusers helped a bit, but honestly the only way we eventually resolved it was to get a second cat to keep her company.

Have you tried getting her a stuffed animal? I know my parents curbed an anxious cat by getting him a stuffed cat to hang out with.

I'm sure others have run into this, though. I'm  sure some of them will be along soon with more ideas.
 
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amelia12

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Thank you! I never thought about a stuffed animal but that might work. We thought she would get attached to our other cat. Anna (3 year old cat) is pretty mellow and they play great together. When she starts to get anxious though she looks for either one of us or the dog to cuddle.
 

cinqchats

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Our Freya was very anxious when left alone. She's sit in the windows and howl if we were outside. If we went away she was attached for hours after we got home. Feliway diffusers helped a bit, but honestly the only way we eventually resolved it was to get a second cat to keep her company.

Have you tried getting her a stuffed animal? I know my parents curbed an anxious cat by getting him a stuffed cat to hang out with.

I'm sure others have run into this, though. I'm  sure some of them will be along soon with more ideas.
Oh that's a good idea. Maybe sleep with the stuffed animal so it smells like you?
 

losna

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Sinbad gets separation anxiety, although it's much much better now than it used to be. We give him things that smell like us. When we're going out for longer than usual, hubby and I will wrap him up in our bathrobes. I put mine on his favorite bed, we deposit him on top of it, then hubby drops his bathrobe on top of Sinbad and wraps him up. That works so nicely, he cuddles right in and is always still there napping happily when we return.
 
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