My 6 year old neutered male cat has been.. well, "acting out" and I have no idea as to why or how I can help the situation. While he's not doing anything too terribly bad, the behavior is very unlike him. Normally, he's very well behaved, extremely affectionate and clingy, and usually listens very well when told "no", etc. I've had him since he was 6 months old, so the sudden change in attitude the last couple of months as very noticeable.
Lately, he's taken up to constant yowling if I don't let him be with me at all times. I work from home, and often have to lock him out of the room so I can get work done. He's simply not content with just being in the room with me or beside me, but wants to be cradled/held almost 24/7. The clinginess and wanting to be held is basically status quo, but he's become very pushy and demanding to where if he's not being coddled, he will knock things over, mess with the plugs at the back of my computer as I work, run amok yowling, and generally being a fuzzy pain in the butt. I call him the "bully o' love".
He's taken to knocking over hs water and food bowls, creating a mess in whatever location I put them in (thought maybe he wanted a change of food scenery, since he started pushing said bowls to various locations of the house). Must invest in some rubber bottomed, hard to tip bowls, I suppose.
I used to be able to let him sleep in the bed with me, for years in fact, as he loves to share a pillow and snuggle with me (he likes to be held something akin to a teddy bear, heh), but now, I can't get more than three hours sleep because he's bounding off my head, nibbling my hands, meowing in my ear, or purposefully sinking his claws slowly into my arms and legs to try to wake me. Not because he wants food, but because he just wants me awake to pay attention to him. When I try to get him to leave? He puts up a major fight and "sass talks" me before I end up just having to scoop him up and /make/ him leave, when in the past, all I'd have to do is clap my hands and tell him he needs to go.
He's even escaped the house a few times within the last month while I was bringing in groceries, when in the past, he's had no desire to know what was beyond the confines of the house whatsoever. This last time, this evening, was the first he actually left the porch when I tried to lure him back in. Took me an hour of wandering around my large, heavily foliated yard with a flash light shaking a bag of catnip, to get him close enough to scoop up and bring inside. I live in a densely populated area, with lots of traffic, ornery wildlife (raccoons, opossums, other cats, etc.) and he's really not one to be readily able to defend himself (he has all his claws, but.. he's a bit of a wimp, truth be told) and I fear for his safety if he ever gets too far from the house. He's NEVER been outside for longer than a minute or two, till now.
It was a slow progression, not a sudden change, and it seems as each day goes by, he's getting more... well, like a spoiled teenager. LOL Dunno how else to explain it. I play with him often, he has lots of toys and activities, the attention I give him hasn't dwindled, and his diet is basically the same as it always has been. Hell, I've even taken him to the vet to make sure there's not an underlying medical condition he's trying to somehow alert me to, had a full workup, and he's absolutely fine.
He is my first cat/pet, so I dunno if this is usual "I'm all grown up and I'll do what I wanna" behavior of a male cat or what.
Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.
P.S.
Could /me/ being stressed out be rubbing off on him, or him sensing it? I've been going through some personal stuff and we will be moving to a new house soon, and while I haven't started packing or changing our routine just yet, perhaps he has a sense that things are-a-changing? I dunno, it's the only thng I can think of.
Lately, he's taken up to constant yowling if I don't let him be with me at all times. I work from home, and often have to lock him out of the room so I can get work done. He's simply not content with just being in the room with me or beside me, but wants to be cradled/held almost 24/7. The clinginess and wanting to be held is basically status quo, but he's become very pushy and demanding to where if he's not being coddled, he will knock things over, mess with the plugs at the back of my computer as I work, run amok yowling, and generally being a fuzzy pain in the butt. I call him the "bully o' love".
He's taken to knocking over hs water and food bowls, creating a mess in whatever location I put them in (thought maybe he wanted a change of food scenery, since he started pushing said bowls to various locations of the house). Must invest in some rubber bottomed, hard to tip bowls, I suppose.
I used to be able to let him sleep in the bed with me, for years in fact, as he loves to share a pillow and snuggle with me (he likes to be held something akin to a teddy bear, heh), but now, I can't get more than three hours sleep because he's bounding off my head, nibbling my hands, meowing in my ear, or purposefully sinking his claws slowly into my arms and legs to try to wake me. Not because he wants food, but because he just wants me awake to pay attention to him. When I try to get him to leave? He puts up a major fight and "sass talks" me before I end up just having to scoop him up and /make/ him leave, when in the past, all I'd have to do is clap my hands and tell him he needs to go.
He's even escaped the house a few times within the last month while I was bringing in groceries, when in the past, he's had no desire to know what was beyond the confines of the house whatsoever. This last time, this evening, was the first he actually left the porch when I tried to lure him back in. Took me an hour of wandering around my large, heavily foliated yard with a flash light shaking a bag of catnip, to get him close enough to scoop up and bring inside. I live in a densely populated area, with lots of traffic, ornery wildlife (raccoons, opossums, other cats, etc.) and he's really not one to be readily able to defend himself (he has all his claws, but.. he's a bit of a wimp, truth be told) and I fear for his safety if he ever gets too far from the house. He's NEVER been outside for longer than a minute or two, till now.
It was a slow progression, not a sudden change, and it seems as each day goes by, he's getting more... well, like a spoiled teenager. LOL Dunno how else to explain it. I play with him often, he has lots of toys and activities, the attention I give him hasn't dwindled, and his diet is basically the same as it always has been. Hell, I've even taken him to the vet to make sure there's not an underlying medical condition he's trying to somehow alert me to, had a full workup, and he's absolutely fine.
He is my first cat/pet, so I dunno if this is usual "I'm all grown up and I'll do what I wanna" behavior of a male cat or what.
Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.
P.S.
Could /me/ being stressed out be rubbing off on him, or him sensing it? I've been going through some personal stuff and we will be moving to a new house soon, and while I haven't started packing or changing our routine just yet, perhaps he has a sense that things are-a-changing? I dunno, it's the only thng I can think of.
