Separation Anxiety @ MindSay

There are days and nights, times, when I can't leave the house. It's sometimes due to laziness or anxiety, but it's not just my own I have to contend with...

Mr.Snuggles pulls fits when I attempt to leave sometimes. I have to share with you, in photographs, just how cute and severe his anxiety separation from me can be!



It starts with Mr. Snuggles blocking the door and giving a disheartened howl.



If the howl doesn't get my attention, he soon puts his claws to use and begins to climb up my legs...

It's not as painful as it looks. His claws are sharp, but he manages to only catch my clothing, careful not to sink those needle toes into my flesh!



Yeah. A 14 pound cat climbing up my pants. Pretty soon I have to pick him up so he doesn't claw my tits to shreds!



He start to settle down once I pick him up, but he knows I might set him back down, so he grabs hold of my neck real tight.



He always wins me over, of course, but it's still a struggle to calm him down sometimes. Look at that triumphant look on his face! He lifts up his chin in defiance and ultra-cuteness.



So eventually I'm not in such a hurry to leave the house. If anyone wonders what keeps me home, you're looking at him right here! My kitty is so manipulative.

We went to see the ear specialist. While she is congested and producing mass quantities of snot, she does NOT have an ear infection. He did give me a prescription for an antibiotic though. I didn't fill it. I haven't decided if I will fill it or not. So I guess her swallowing and eating issues are just the general being sick or teething. She is drooling ALOT. And for the separation anxiety...I've got no solutions. Just to deal with it. Give her as much confidence as I can during the day, be with her, and at night, stay calm in spite of my frustration and get her back to sleep as quick as possible. What she wants is to be brought to our bed, but sometimes that doesn't help her anyway. And it certainly doesn't help me. So I'm not going to do that. I want a comfier chair in her room. And a lamp. So at bedtime I can do a little routine with her in her room, then sit in a chair by her bed and read a book until she's asleep or drowsy so she can adjust.

Clint brought up putting her in Hannah's room. I have mixed feelings about that. He does too. Hannah needs and deserves her own space. Learning that we will all come back in the morning and that she's not alone in the house is a life skill that I want her to have. I want her to appreciate her own space also. I think she needs more transition time in her room from reading in the bright light in Hannah's room to the almost complete dark in her room. And her crutch of drinking milk or water til she falls asleep only works if she's not full. So...

Thank goodness there's only 5 1/2 more days of school. Then I can sleep when they sleep, be with Clara more, and maybe she'll come out of this intense mama phase....