[catman1975]

Wondering if anybody else feels more drawn to animals than people with their bipolar. I have 5 cats now and I love them all and they have been here for me through all of my depression, cancer, divorce, everything that has been slowly destroying my soul from the inside out.

Most recently I was volunteering at a local shelter and had a cat violently attack me when I tried to clean its litter box. I'm glad it happened to me and not one of the other volunteers or paid employees. When I looked into her eyes I did not see a bad cat, just one that was very afraid.

I put her in a carrier to bring her home and looked up the phone number of the girl who had surrendered her in the shelter records. I called her on my way home to try and find out what went wrong, and found she was moving to an apartment that didn't allow pets so decided to surrender her. Unfortunately she was attacked by a dog when younger leaving her with a case of PTSD that made the sounds and smells of the animal shelter a living nightmare for her.

She's at home with me now, and I've still not been able to integrate her with the other cats, but she has a large room with her own cat tree, screened windows, food, water and litter box and gets play time every day. You know the shelter would have killed her if she attacked anybody else.

Is it weird that I feel a special bond with damaged animals like this? I can identify with her fear, I know what it's like to be so afraid of something that it affects your whole way of life. When she lashes out I know she's not being a b**ch she is just terrified. I get her. And I feel like she gets me too. When I'm feeling down she just cuddles me to no end. She loves people, just can't deal with other animals. Even kittens send her into full blown psychosis.

Anybody else feel more connected to their pets than what some might see as normal? These cats are my family and they will never be put back in a shelter unless I die and can't do anything about it. But I would hope that my other rescue friends would jump in and find new homes for them if there became a need for that.

Maybe the point I should be making here is that I have 5 cats that are my best friends, but basically no human friends except a few long distance ones. Is this because I'm bipolar? Am I becoming one of those creepy cat people everybody snickers about behind their back???

[Yoda]

I prefer the company of animals to most humans. I feel I can trust animals more than I can trust people. I don't know if my bipolar is a factor, I thought perhaps it was the ptsd.

[buzz bee]

I honest dont think bipolar has anything to do with it. I know a lot of people that are animal lovers. I think what you do, it awesome.

I have two cats and three dogs (one being a Great Dane puppy). I love them to death.

[LastQuestion]

Enjoying the company of domestic animals is not due to bipolar in itself. It can certainly be an influence in how we interact socially, and so it can predispose us to certain forms of interpersonal interaction, but what that form is depends more upon the environment one has been influenced by then it does their personal capabilities or deficits.

I would, however, fully agree that bipolar enables a greater awareness of how others view the world. One who has bipolar is presented with multiple realities wherein one essentially becomes, for the duration of an episode or while experiencing a heightened emotional state, a different person.

While normal people with normal perception exist in realities of singular perspective individuals with bipolar experience a world of plurality. When in a state of depression one is presented with a place of most terrible events. During states of extreme anxiety it is a pit of snakes. The reality one perceives is not immutable nor objective and is not simply abstractly understood to be so but actively demonstrated.

For normal people the cat caused them harm, it was not the conditions the cat is faced with which triggered it's response. To normal people crazy people do inexplicable things because they are crazy, it is not because stressful conditions triggered a physiological response. Understanding perception is not relevant to their reality but for us, people with bipolar, it is an aspect of objective reality we are informed of and forced to confront.

We know what others so often deny as we do not have the luxury, the affordance, to act otherwise. This distances us from them in ways it is difficult to comprehend. We live in different worlds, as if we are but visitors from a foreign land - we are alone as we stand in a room full of people. It is an innate awareness sometimes not fully realized, as in this instance here.

[catman1975]

Received a call today about more cats in need. 95 year old guy was feeding ferals for 15 years now he died, house is being sold and cats not wanted Have to stop them from trapping and bringing to the shelter. In the program we started last year, we can trap them, spay them, and find them a new outdoor home where somebody will continue feeding them and allow access to shelter.

I cry about stuff like this. I suppose if I still had my meds maybe I wouldn't cry as much. But it's sad to see the terrible things that happen to animals esp. that can be avoided.

[vjdragonfly]

I am no expert and have no knowledge of the ratio of which ppl are more attached to animals. I do believe mental disorders can play a roll in which we feel the need to attach to our pets but some don't. I don't believe it is a bipolar thing but for some of us it can be therapeutic. Our house is a small zoo . . . lol. My husband has his dogs and I have my reptiles which I am addicted to. I also have a bleeding heart for the suffering ones and if I had the means I would be a rescue. So for you, maybe bipolar plays something in it, but I think being an animal lover is seeded in your soul.

[Standup2me]

Originally Posted by vjdragonfly

I am no expert and have no knowledge of the ratio of which ppl are more attached to animals. I do believe mental disorders can play a roll in which we feel the need to attach to our pets but some don't. I don't believe it is a bipolar thing but for some of us it can be therapeutic. Our house is a small zoo . . . lol. My husband has his dogs and I have my reptiles which I am addicted to. I also have a bleeding heart for the suffering ones and if I had the means I would be a rescue. So for you, maybe bipolar plays something in it, but I think being an animal lover is seeded in your soul.

I think, also, that it can be a trust issue.
My dog and cats can be trusted with all of my secrets, no matter how ugly they are

I agree with "being an animal lover is seeded in your soul". It seems to be a part of who we are, not something that we have to strive to do

[~Christina]

My Pound pup is one of my best friends .. he can sense before I do often that I am headed for trouble mood wise.

Animals are just drawn to me.. They are much wiser than many people think.

[BipolaRNurse]

I'm another person who connects well with animals. My dog won't even let me out of her sight when I'm headed for a mood episode.....she senses it before I do. And my cats just give me lots of extra affection when they feel I need it.

[loophole]

I connect well too.. I have almost an identical thread started probably a page or 2 over

[SilentTrice]

I definitely connect with my dog more than I do humans. My dog can sense my mood changes and will try to cuddle with me when I'm feeling down. I don't know if it has to do with being bipolar but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[weirdone]

Cats are more quiet than humans, sometimes i myself do not like to be around people, music etc... and other times do not mind others at all i.e. going to clubs etc... and other times can listen to the radio and other times not. Really, the only people i really want in my life is my children and one man as he meets my needs and other times i will insult him and tell him to go away too. Then he annoys me because he will not go away, then he laughs at me because i do call him and he will just say, later you will call if i don't. i think he enjoys it. i call him stupid because he finds me funny. The worst thing is that he does yap too much. That is most of the time, i think he knows when it annoys me and when it doesn't and does the opposite because when i do call him up, which is rarely as he does most of the calling he will hardly speak at all and use the excuse that i complain about his talking too much.

But, anyhow.... my two cats never disappoint as they are there when I want to cuddle or pat them or if i am in the mood to ignore people i have no problem with them just sitting on my foot stool close to me or at the end of the sofa or where ever they choose.

So, yeah i find it totally understandable to like animals more than people. That is why i only keep the one person in my life other than my kids. Cats on the other hand, i would not mind more, but do not wish to be known as the cat lady.