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Member
Member Since Oct 2020
Location: Earth
Posts: 30
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#1
Hi all
About halfway through Covid lockdown I decided to get 2 kittens, despite having no experience with pets. I fell completely in love with them, and have experienced so much just by learning to bond with them. What I observed is that if one of them does not return home on schedule, my response is to go into panic. To the point that the anxiety makes it hard for me to concentrate on anything else. I feel compelled to go round the neighborhood to try and find them. One of my neighbors implied I'm over-reacting, and that this is what cats do. In her experience they come back. This morning when one of them did not turn up for breakfast, again I went into "worst-case-scenario". A few minutes later, a thought came to me: I wonder if this is a replay of childhood separation anxiety? (My mother was emotionally absent, and I was sent to stay with family for a few months when I started school. I struggle with healthy connecting in relationships) Do any of you experience this? |
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Breaking Dawn, Yaowen
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Grand Magnate
Member Since Jan 2020
Location: USA
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#2
I have experiencing something like that too. Thanks for posting this. It helps me feel less alone with my difficulty.
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Breaking Dawn
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Eejya
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Legendary Wise Elder
Member Since Oct 2004
Location: Kentucky, USA
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#3
My dogs & cats are my family. I react the same to them being missing/not showing up at home as I would my child. It is a "NORMAL" reaction to anyone/pet that you have a close attachment with.
I own a small farm in the country & didn't realize that one of my dogs was blind & also had doggie dementia till she wandered off. I jumped in my truck & went looking for her. Found her wandering around a neighbors farm yard about 1/4 mile away after midnight. My pets are my family __________________ Leo's favorite place was in the passenger seat of my truck. We went everywhere together like this. Leo my soulmate will live in my heart FOREVER Nov 1, 2002 - Dec 16, 2018 |
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Breaking Dawn
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Eejya, pachyderm
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Legendary
Member Since Jun 2007
Location: Washington DC metro area
Posts: 15,865
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#4
__________________ Now if thou would'st When all have given him o'er From death to life Thou might'st him yet recover -- Michael Drayton 1562 - 1631 |
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Breaking Dawn, eskielover
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eskielover
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Poohbah
Member Since Sep 2016
Location: USA
Posts: 1,463
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#5
My cats are very happy to be indoors and I don't have to worry about them.. My cats are my kids and if something g were to happen I couldn't take it. Will your cats stay indoors??
__________________ True happiness comes not when we get rid of all our problems, but when we change our relationship to them, when we see our problems as a potential source of awakening, opportunities to practice patience and learn.~Richard Carlson |
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Breaking Dawn
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Posts: n/a
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#6
I worry when I lose sight of my two outside. I shake a bag of dreamies if Willow decides she doesnt feel like coming back inside when i call her name, that brings both of them running, particularly if the dreamies happen to be cheese flavour
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Breaking Dawn
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pachyderm
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Member
Member Since Oct 2020
Location: Earth
Posts: 30
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#7
Hi @Deejay14
They both spend a bit of time indoors, but the thing is that I see how much they enjoy being outside too, and I can't bring myself to deprive them of that. |
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Breaking Dawn
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pachyderm
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Member
Member Since Mar 2022
Location: In the west
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#8
Cats love you back, so of course you worry about them.
I grew up with indoor/outdoor cats and struggled with worrying about them. I keep my cat indoors now, partly because of that and partly because we live in a busier location that wouldn't be real safe. It also helps that my current boy is a big coward and can't handle being outside for very long. We take him outside for supervised time and he's usually ready to come in after a few minutes. It's kind of like human kids that you have to figure out what's probably safe for them and let them have the time that they enjoy. It's hard! |
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