Our 7 year old cat, Snoop, has recently become very needy and am wondering if anyone has thoughts on what to do about it. Some background is necessary. We have had Snoop (male, neutered) and his brother Django (neutered) since they were about 16 weeks old. We have lived in the same neighborhood their entire lives, they are indoor/outdoor cats who come and go as they please thru a perpetually open window in our bedroom. Snoop, in particular, used to spend about 50% of his time outside and was relatively aloof with us. The two brothers actually didn't like each other very much for the past 3-4 years, fighting pretty viciously quite often. Two months ago, Django disappeared. We searched the whole area and posted flyers door to door for weeks but we ultimately surmised that he must have been killed by a bobcat or mtn lion (we had sightings of both in our neighborhood in January). Right when Django went missing, Snoop became very distressed and would sit at the door or window meowing and looking outside. When we would go looking for Django around the neighborhood, Snoop would follow and meow. And since then, Snoop has become extremely needy and very affectionate with us. He doesn't leave the house nearly as much and when he does he's always right near the house. One of us is home at least half the day most days so he gets plenty of time with us. At night, he sleeps right on top of us and is very needy and vocal in the morning. Not for anything in particular, just attention and petting in bed.
We have been giving him a lot of attention but we're now wondering if we're spoiling him and reinforcing bad behavior (and losing a good chunk of sleep in the process). Any thoughts on how we should best handle this? Is he lonely (didn't think cats got lonely for other cats)? Getting another kitten doesn't seem like a real solution b/c we suspect he wouldn't like sharing his house or his 'parents'.
Thanks for any advice.
tom
We have been giving him a lot of attention but we're now wondering if we're spoiling him and reinforcing bad behavior (and losing a good chunk of sleep in the process). Any thoughts on how we should best handle this? Is he lonely (didn't think cats got lonely for other cats)? Getting another kitten doesn't seem like a real solution b/c we suspect he wouldn't like sharing his house or his 'parents'.
Thanks for any advice.
tom