I know it’s a controversial topic and it’s something I’ve been thinking hard about. But I would like some advice or outside opinions.
To preface, I’ve had cats before(indoor and outdoor) so it’s not like I jumped into being a cat parent without research. I also currently have a mini Aussie who just turned 3. So Ik the responsibilities of being a pet parent. Ik all animals are different, I’ve just never had a cat that’s acted like this.
My sister and I both live together. We had lightly discussed adopting a cat or another dog when we first moved in together. Well this past winter a friend of hers had rescued a kitty from the cold and was keeping her in her bathroom. She unfortunately could not keep her and made a post if anyone could take her in. My sister brought it up to me and we discussed what adopting her would in-tale. So we brought her home, bought everything we would need for her, and got her vaccinated. Due to the snow storm that followed, we were forced to stay home for about a week. The kitty warmed up to us and our home pretty quickly and she was able to receive unlimited attention the whole week. Now I slowly tried to introduce her to my dog. (Letting her sniff his toys/bedding, closed door interactions etc) She definitely was not a fan and would hiss at anything that had his scent. My sister’s friend had told us the kitty got along great with her smaller dog. So I simply thought maybe she just needed more time to adjust to him. Well it has been about 5 months and she till hates him. My dog is super friendly (he doesn’t have a single mean bone in his body) and was always gentle when trying to interact with her. It has now gotten to the point where if she is standing in his way he will hide behind me or run away from her. We try to limit their interactions as much as possible to avoid stress for either of them. But sometimes they do end up in the same room and the kitty will hiss and scratch at him even when he is simply playing by himself. Due to this when we feed them they have to be in separate rooms, just so they each have their own space.
Another thing I will mention, I love plants and have grown quite a collection. Ik some of my plants aren’t good for cats so I keep them up high to where she can’t reach them. But when I’m cleaning around the house or doing something and leave her unsupervised she finds a way to get to the plants. So when I know I can’t be watching her, I put her in the laundry room. You wouldn’t think this would be a problem. But it is because she will yell bloody murder if she gets put up. You’d think someone was trying to hurt her. We also leave her in there at night with her water and litter box. Again because I don’t want her to get the plants that aren’t good for her. We thought she would get over being alone overnight but every night it’s the same situation. We put her up and for the first hour it’s just screaming. If she hears someone get up for anything it starts up again. Some nights we resort to putting her in the garage because of the constant screaming. Which Ik sounds bad but she gets plenty of enrichment through the day and lots of cuddles before bed. I genuinely don’t know what to do about her screaming. We’ve come to the conclusion she just wants our undivided attention at all times. If we are sitting in the living room she will sit with you and be calm. But if she decides she wants to go to another room and we don’t go with her she starts screaming.
These are our only reasons we’ve considered rehoming her, which makes me feel terrible even thinking about it. Because I can deal with the screaming some nights, it’s just the fact that my dog is now scared of her. And ik it causes them both stress to be around each other.
What should I do?