Is my 6 year old cat depressed…?

[Teaandsleep]

Hi all,

I’m worried about my 6 year old female cat.
She had another family when she was a kitten, was lost and turned up 45 miles away here and has been a stray for 2 years until I took her in at the end of 2019.

She is a lovely friendly cat, but was aggressive/defensive around her food, she has calmed down A LOT over the years, she would growl at my other cats and would wolf anything down, as quick as possible. She is a bit more fussy now and will turn her nose up and walk away from food she doesn’t like.

She put on a bit of weight and she is a bit chunky now, I’m worried that she just wants to sleep all the time. She sleeps all night in my bedroom, will get up for breakfast and potter about for an hour and a bit, then sleep from 9-4pm. She’ll get up at 4pm when I get in from work for dinner, and mooches around in the evening for literally a few hours before heading to bed with me again all night.

She never really wants to go outside, she doesn’t stand up for very long either, she is always sitting or laying around.

I’ve had cats all my life 25+ years and just feel her behaviour seems like she’s depressed…feel like making a vet appointment for that is silly though…

Any advice welcome

It is what cats do! Our (female) cat has the same routine as yours, only punctuated with a taste of butter (as a treat) mid morning when I butter my toast, and 5 dreamies at bedtime.

Cats sleep an average of 15 hours a day, sometimes up to 20 out of 24 (my old boy sleeps about 21). Is your cat still eating alright?

Meh, mine are woken up by me getting up at whatever time. THey have breakfast, play a bit together then go to bed about an hour later. They saunter down for a snack & fuss a couple of times lasting a total of maybe 30 mins.

If I'm at work, they do wake up when I come home, otherwise usually about 6pm. More fuss, another snack then bed until supper at 8.30pm. Back to bed for an hour or so until my bed time, then 30 mins activity

Probably total 18-20 hours a day asleep.

Until Covid hit and I had to start working from home I was under the impression that my cats slept in the morning before I left for work and then in the evening when I came from home, I believed that they played, and tired themselves out, during the day. But then when I was at home 24/7 I realised that they sleep all day and all evening with the odd time awake spent eating, nipping out in the garden and wanting strokes.

she doesn’t stand up for very long either, she is always sitting or laying around.

I'm sorry I'm laughing at the idea of a cat just standing around all the time 🤣

They're lazy creatures of comfort and (unless induling in The Zoomies) don't like to expend energy unnecessarily!

6 is also the age most cats begin to mature, calm down, get more cuddly and generally lazier.

Plus. They do tend to be more active/out more often when the weather is good.

She's not depressed, she sounds content!

Oh I missed the bit that said you'd had cats all your life. There's no harm in having her checked over as you might be picking up in subtleties we're not, it's just from your post she sounds fine.

This is my cats routine too.

Sounds perfectly normal. All my three sleep for probably 18-20 hours a day.

Four year old cat at our house, pretty much identical pattern. Except for the 3/4 hours head awake, he quite likes to chase his toys or shout at us