Although it can initially be fun to have a cat that is obsessed with you and follows you everywhere, it quickly starts to become problematic as your cat inevitably starts to have stress and anxiety issues when you have to leave the house.
Due to these problems, we see a large number of people reaching out and asking what do to with a cat that is obsessed with them.
As we see so many people reaching out with their cats having problems with separation anxiety amongst other things, we have decided to publish this dedicated article.
Although a cat being obsessed with its owner is less common that the same situation occurring with a dog, cats tend to have a higher risk of separation anxiety and elevated stress levels while separated from you than a dog.
This is why we have decided to publish this article with the goal of being able to help as many of our readers as possible who has a cat that is obsessed with them.
Although the process can be long and problematic, there are a number of methods that you are able to use to your advantage to discourage this type of behavior in your cat.
Can Cats Be Obsessed With Their Owners?
Cats can be obsessed with their owners with behavior including following you around, wanting to sit on your lap constantly, and loud meowing if you have to leave the house.
This can lead to destructive behavior in your cat when left alone while also elevating the stress and anxiety levels in your cat too.
We know that most people think of cats as independent animals that prefer to do their own thing and this is why it can be so difficult to understand that some cats are extremely social, especially younger cats.
Depending on the bond that the form with their owner, this can result in obsessive behavior that can progressively get worse if you don’t take steps to manage it.
For example, there have been reports of obsessive cats attacking other people in the house hold due to being jealous of their owner spending time with them instead of the cat.
This can create a number of problems with your relationships with people and can present a potential risk to small children.
Why Is My Cat Obsessed With Me?
The most common reason that cats become obsessed with their owners is due to seeing you as their protector against other pets in the home that may be bullying them.
If your cat is naturally stressed or anxious on a regular basis and then you stoke your cat to relieve these issues then your cat may see you as a way to prevent these problems from manifesting resulting in obsessive behavior too.
If you have an indoor cat that is still young then your cat may just form a strong bond with you that results in obsessive behavior but this will usually start to fade as your cat gets older.
Some people start to let their cat out of the house as it gets older too allowing it to become more independent and this can also break the obsessive behaviors of the cat.
Although many people think that a cat will become obsessed with their owner due to food infatuation, this is rarely the case. Cats tend not to be motivated by food as much as dogs and other popular pets with food rarely being linked to the obsessive behavior in cats.
What Does It Mean When Your Cat Follows You Everywhere?
It may seem like your cat is being obsessive if it follows you around but there can be other causes of this behavior.
External stress and anxiety is often a common reason your cat will follow you around as well as extreme loneliness in smaller apartments can also cause your cat to follow you.
Cats are usually solitary animals rather than pack animals like dogs so they have no pack instinct in them. This is why a pet dog may follow their owner around at times but not be obsessed with them as the dog is simply following its pack instinct to not be alone.
Some cats may follow you around the home to try and tell you something such as letting you know that they want to be fed or that they want to be let out of the house.
In some rarer situations, it could also be due to health issues in your cat but there will almost always be other symptoms displayed if this is the cause of your cat following you.
How To Stop Your Cat From Being Obsessed With You!
There are two trains of through when it comes to stopping your cat from being obsessed with you. The first is to dedicate a time slot to playing with your cat for around thirty minutes so it feels loved and will often go off and do its own thing after that.
The second is to use something like a water sprayer to spray your cat when it displays obsessive behavior.
If your cat is still young then dedicating a slot of your time each day to play with your cat can be enough to prevent your cat from following you around and being jealous of your interaction with other members of your home.
In older cats, this tends not to work as well as they have build up the habit of making you the focus of their world.
This is why some people will have to resort to spraying their cat with a water sprayer to discourage the obsessive behavior.
We have seen countless people online say that this is cruel but it is a much better option than your cat starting to become aggressively protective over you and attacking another member of your home, especially a young child.
Do All Obsessed Cats Become Jealous And Aggressive?
Not all cats that are obsessed with their owners will become jealous of you interacting with other members of your home and display signs of aggression.
Unfortunately though, it can be more common than people think and a cat that is not usually aggressive can end up becoming aggressive to other members of your home if it is obsessed with you.
A common mistake that we see time and time again with cat owners whose cats are obsessed with them is that they will wait until their cat has reached the stage of being aggressive to other people before they try to deal with the obsessive behavior.
Once your cat has reached this stage of obsession, it can become very difficult to discourage it and some cats may end up having to be put to sleep as they may keep attacking other people or pets in your home.
We understand that people like the initial feeling of their cat being obsessed with them but there are negative consequences to this behavior.
If you do encourage the obsessive behavior in the early days then this can start to cement it in your cat’s character too making it even harder to train out of your cat.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over why your cat is obsessed with you as well as how to discourage the behaviour to an end. This behaviour is considerably easier to discourage in a younger cat or in older cats who have recently started to display obsessive behaviour with you. The longer you let this behaviour continue, the harder it will become to stop it though as the habit sets in and your cat gets used to obsessive behaviour being tolerated.
