nonamegame and junkdna, we are soul-mates. I have pretty much gone crazy over fear of my cats getting sick and dying. I was not low-income when I got my cats, but I am now, and some of them have been in my family for many, many years. I worry OBSESSIVELY about them. I love them so very much, but I cannot enjoy them because I have gone nuts worrying about them.

nonamegame, I don't believe you need to rehome your cat; I think that's a cruel thing to tell you to do. It is very hard to find a good home for a cat. When all is said and done, a rescued animal needs love more than anything else. That is my experience from owning many pets over the decades.

As for your anxiety, no it is not normal. Neither is mine. I work hard at practicing mindfulness, work with my breathing, try my best to trust some in the universe...that it will care for me and my cats. These tools help, but they take HARD work and are not magic. I am in a deep depression/anxiety because of my obsessive worry, the fear that I will not be able to properly care for my cats.

Bottom line is, I believe this type of obsessive anxiety has far more to do with ourselves than with our pets. I am terrified of how fast time passes, how fast life goes by, how illness and death steal loved ones away from me - and, eventually, me from them. Pets or people, it's all the same terror. The trick is how to cope.