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Default Mar 07, 2022 at 09:44 AM
  #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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Default Mar 07, 2022 at 01:43 PM
  #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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Default Mar 07, 2022 at 03:56 PM
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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

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Default Mar 09, 2022 at 11:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eskielover View Post
My pets are my family
And you are theirs.

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Default Mar 09, 2022 at 10:02 PM
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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??

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Default Mar 10, 2022 at 05:16 AM
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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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Default Mar 10, 2022 at 05:46 AM
  #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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Default Mar 16, 2022 at 01:12 PM
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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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