Anxiety Disorders?

I have a cat that I think has an anxiety disorder. I got him very young, and I was pregnant when i got him, so i expect an unusual attachment, but it seems like every time i sit down, or get on the floor to lpay with my daughter he is in my face. Now, dont get me wrong, im all for cuddling and loving, but this has gone beyond that.

For example, I am sitting here, on the couch, for about 30 minutes, checking my email, and browsing a couple forums, and he has jumped up, and tried to lay on the laptop no less than 10 times. I am not exagerating. Its not like i ignore them either. I give them exclusive attention every night for at LEAST an hour after my daughter goes to bed, not to mention, I am home all day during the day.

When i leave the house, it's horrible. We have a large bay window, that overlooks the entire neighborhood, but more importantly, he can see my parking spot. I know for a fact that he has sat for over 2 hours in that windows, waiting and meowing, while i was gone. We set up the digital baby monitor we got for my daughter, which does video and audio, and recorded what happened when we left. The other two cats tried to play, tried to sit with him, and tried to cuddle with him, and he swiped and hissed and growled at them. When we watched the video we were shocked. He never once left his post until I returned.

Another thing, is that in the middle of the night, I'll wake up to him trying to "nurse". I put nurse in quotes because he's not going for my breasts, but moles that i have on my body. I have 3 or 4 moles on my neck that could be the size of a cat nipple. He will kneed and lick and try to suck, and yes I know that sounds totally gross. It grosses me out too.

So the question is, what can I do to lessen his anxiety? I feel horrible that he feels this way. I have never abandonded him or anything like that. The most that I have ever left him, was for a week to go on vacation. I even called him and "talked" to him on the phone and told him I loved him while I was gone, because my mom told me he was very depressed and not eating very well. I would never abandon him, and love him dearly. I worry about him, because I am going back to school full time starting in March, and wont be home all day.

So is there any suggestions? What can i do to help him? I dont want him to think that I am going to leave him, because i never will.

Thanks a ton for reading.

-Jade

I think he's bored. Maybe getting him another cat to play with will help.

I think he already has 2 other play pals.

How old is he? He does seem to have an unusually strong attachment to you.
If he is still trying to suckle it may be that he was taken from his mum too young, but others on this forum will probably advice you better than i can.

When Jaz and Jasper where tiny kittens they used to suckle on each other, but they were only about 5 weeks old when they were found dumped in a box. They continued to do this until they were about 4 months old, then suddenly stopped.

I never tried to prevent it as it did not seem to be doing them any harm, in fact quiet the reverse they seemed to comfort each other.

However this seems to go a bit deeper as he does not appear to want to interact with your other cats.

I hope that you can 'cure' him, i look forward to reading what others have to say.

Yes, he does have two other playmates, that he gets along very with, and loves to play with, as long as I am home.

Let me give you some background on him. I got him, and he was about 6 weeks old. They dont really know how old he was, but the vet guessed between 4 and 6 weeks, because he was found, with his sister, on the side of the internerstate. They were in a brown paper bag, and were extremly malnorished. He was in the quarentine room of the animal shelter where I was a volunteer. I saw him, made my husband come into the shelter after work, and we desicded he was ours.

I hope that helps.

-Jade

It really seems like he has an anxiety disorder. Hopefully someone with experience with this can offer some input to your problem.
It's a real shame that he won't interact with his feline friends when you're gone, because that would help.
I'm glad you're so committed to the litle guy!

Sorry I missed the part about the other 2 cats trying to play with him. It does sound like he does this because you got him so young when he should of still been with his mother. I know this was not your fault. This is something I think you should talk to your vet about. I dont realy like to medicate cats for anxiety but I am not sure how else you can help him. The only other thing is if he still young under 2years he might still grow out of this. He also could be threatened by the other 2 cats for some reason.