Very clingy rescue cat

[SinkOrGin]

Hello,

We rescued an adult cat (female) about a month ago. She took a couple of weeks to gain some confidence around the house (and the children) but is very sweet. I am a bit worried as she needs to be with me ALL the time. She follows me from room to room all day and sleeps right next to me at night. She cries until I sit and cuddle her, then cries again when I stop. She is head butting me as I type this!

All of this is very sweet but I don't know whether to give her the attention she wants and hope its just a phase, or to carry on as I normally would as long term I can't be spending hours a day sitting cuddling her!!

Any thoughts?

[RandomMess]

Give her time? One of ours is very demanding but we now have a mutually agreeable routine!

[Sheldonswhiteboard]

Hopefully just a phase. We adopted a sweet little girl about 18mths ago and she was very clingy to me in the first few weeks, following around, constantly wanting to sit on my lap, sleep on bed, crying. She did calm down. She is still definitely a lap cat but realises that she is safe and loved.

[Lizzylou]

I could have written this a few days ago, we adopted an 18mth old female cat 4 weeks ago and she was the same. Constant mewing, needing constant fuss.
She has just, past 2 days, started going outside. When it isn't too cold/wet/hailing/windy , and it has definitely eased. She seems a bit more settled and relaxed.

[cozietoesie]

Seniorboy is like this - and all my other Siamese have been like it. It's usually sorted because if I'm busy (or tell him to go away) he knows he can go to my bed and cuddle up there in a safe place which smells of me etc.

Do you leave your bedroom door open so that she can go in there when you're not in bed? Or does she have a safe, warm place of her own that she can escape to?

There might, of course, come a point soon where you simply carry on with your normal business. Once she's fully confident that she's a member of the family, she'll accept that and go away to have a snooze. You know her best to decide when that moment comes.

[SinkOrGin]

Thanks everyone - we'll continue being sympathetic and hope its just a phase!

[cozietoesie]

A month isn't long when you've had to change you life and your family completely. (Do you know her history?) I know that when my mother died and Seniorboy came to this house, he hid for - maybe 6 weeks? We only knew he was still alive because the tray was being used at night and bits of ham used to disappear from the kitchen. We're still not sure where he was hanging out although it's a fairly roomy old place so there are lots of possibilities.

(He's now bonded to me but being older, he'll spend a lot of time warm in his bed.)

[dunmopin]

Have you got a soft garment that smells of you, like a T shirt you sleep in? Letting the cat have this to sit on when you can't be holding her might reassure her?