Please bear with me on this long post. Just wanting to make sure we do things right.

We adopted this cutie on the 2nd of this month. He’s 5 and neutered. His family had to take him to the pound on the 31st of July because they had to move suddenly. He had a female spayed cat staying with him. He was an indoor / outdoor cat but we’re keeping him indoors due to our leash laws and dangerous wildlife. He’s a big lovey… the second we met him and brought him home, he was confident, walking around with his tail up, rubbing on everything, slow blinking and sitting in our laps. He’s also already familiar with our cat-loving senior dog… it only took a few leashed interactions and they’re used to each other. 

He is set up in our bathroom as it’s the only extra room that’s quiet and neutral. It’s medium sized and he has all of his necessities in there. He loves sleeping in the towel cabinet. BUT he has major separation anxiety. We had him in there so he could have a quiet space and to keep him safe until he and our dog were okay together. We also put him in there when we leave the house. He was fine the first day and a half but now when we put him in there he cries and tries to get at the door handle for about 30 minutes or more until he gives up and goes to sleep in the towel cabinet. It makes me feel terrible.

We’ve had him out more and more, yesterday most of the day and today he’s been out all day so far. But when he’s not snuggling on the couch or in our laps / on the cat trees, he wanders and gets into our closet spaces. We live in a very old house with no doors to the closet areas, they’re just big shelf recesses in the wall. He gets up high and knocks things down. Sometimes a ton of stuff. During the day we redirect him to a cat tree or the couch on his cuddle spot so he knows where he can chill and observe. But at night… I have anxiety at him just wandering around and knocking things down, which he eventually does. So last night I put him back into the bathroom at 4am so I could finally get some sleep. 

He IS getting better each day, I’m sure he’s just getting his bearings. We did have two other cats before, both from the time they were young until they were 13 and 17. The first died in November and the older one died of renal failure a month ago after 6 months of treatment. It’s been about a decade since we’ve dealt with a young cat. We love him dearly, I just am not sure where the boundaries should be as far as putting him in the bathroom at this point. I know it’s only been a few days but he’s really well behaved when he’s out until he gets antsy and wants outdoors or starts looking around and getting into things and knocking stuff down. 

Anyway.. I would love some advice or insights. I know this sounds like normal cat behavior, but I need sleep and peace at night while he settles. 



New cat getting into things at night