Cat seems a bit bored / overly attached to me?

[Louri]

I live alone, with my 2 year old cat, who I’ve had since she was a kitten. It is a small two up two down house but she has full access to the outdoors. She has puzzle feeders, an enormous cat tree, a tunnel, a hidey house, indoor cat grass… honestly this is the most spoiled cat you could hope to meet!
Anyway, this cat of mine will quite often just sit on the landing and meow. I know she just wants me to come join her wherever she is, or to play with her. I do this when I can, but when I’m working from home I can’t drop everything to play. She can go outside to prowl the many gardens around where we live but I think she gets bored (they’re not that well planted, mostly just squares of lawn with sheds and play equipment, although there are plenty of birds and insects in our garden hedge). After 20 minutes outside she comes back wanting to play with me.

I don’t know if she’s overly attached to me or if there’s anything I can do about this really? Maybe she will just settle down as she gets older?

Ah she loves you. If you're wfh would you consider a second cat.

Oh, and there are other cats in the neighbourhood who come to visit sometimes, but she doesn’t really like them!

cross posted! I could, but she’s not that keen on other cats?

This sounds like mine. I have kids which helps (she follows my son around when he’s at home) but I just think it’s her personality? She’s a very vocal cat, and a deeply sociable, affectionate one. I feel like I won the rescue cat lottery!

What about a kitten. Would she enjoy going on walks with you to show you all her exciting news my cat used to love doing that after telling me all her news.

Thanks, I do feel very lucky to have a sociable cat who loves me ☺️

I might consider a kitten in another year or two if she doesn’t settle down, but I’m worried that as it’s only a small house and DCat perhaps already feels she doesn’t get enough of my attention, she might just hate having to share!

Can I ask for more info about the walks @MissMoneyFairy? I do go for walks sometimes but I’m not sure I’d want to encourage her to follow me and leave her territory in case she takes fright at something and gets lost.

You could harness train her.

Mines like this minus the miaowing
He will go outside but only to sit with me. Doesn't like other cats and would rather sit next to me all day and doze and look out the window

Girl cat has a strong sense of routine and any deviation from this results in yelling eg DH and I sit on the wrong chairs or aren't in the right room at the right time.

She also only goes out for short periods, her choice, but if you watch she is really busy sniffing and looking. Even 20 minutes of 'being a cat' makes a big difference to her mental health.

All I did was say do you want to go for a walk, then we'd both walk around the garden looking at stuff, cross the road up to the postbox, sniff about then just stand there looking around, she wouldn't go further than her known territory. She didn't use a harness, we didn't go far really. There are loads of videos of cats on adventures with their owners.

That’s really sweet! I’ll try it, thank you ☺️

Might be worth a try, I need to do more of that with mine
He will follow me then runs back ahead, but keeps looking back to check on me!

If the weather is good enough yo sit in, we'd sit on a waterproof blanket, with a plastic bag for life for her to sit in and a few dreamie, I think they just like to tell you all about their little lives and adventures

Aw bless her, my little girl is exactly the same. I end up feeling so guilty when I can’t just drop everything and sit with her or play! But then once I’ve finished all my jobs, she gets so much attention and fussing. The guilt is hard but we are lucky to have such loving babies!

Mine is the same. She yells from upstairs when I'm working at home as she wants me to go and lie down on the bed with her and cuddle her. Or comes down and pats at my knee as I work so I will look at her / give her catnip / do the laser / slowly chase her around the room. She will go in the garden but just for 10 minutes, sometimes a bit longer if I go with her. She is 7 so I don't think she will grow out of it.

I deal with it by giving her a roundaround with the laser in the morning. Then usually go in the garden with her for a bit. And then periodically during the day go upstairs (where she spends most of her time) and give her a cuddle and a fuss, so she doesn't feel forgotten.

Most evenings she has me 100% of the time available for cuddles so she's not hard done by for attention.

Just like OP's cat, she hates other cats. She is a rescue and previously lived with 3 other cats, including her brother, and wasn't bonded with any of them.