Have a made the wrong choice?
Hello everyone. I’m reaching out because I’ve been majorly struggling for the past few days and feel like I’ve made a huge mistake.
A few days ago, I adopted two 11-month-old bonded male cats, and I’m overwhelmed by a deep sense of regret and stress.
For months, I was so excited to get pets. I’ve lived alone for six years and recently moved into a family-owned apartment, so I bought all the stuff and even more and got everything ready. Since I struggle with my mental health and I've always had a problem living with people, I thought that maybe having cats to come home to would be comforting. Instead, my routine has been completely upended.
They have an overwhelming amount of energy that I can’t seem to drain, no matter how much I play with them. Every morning I wake up to broken or missing items. I also close my bedroom door at night to get some space, but one of them scratches and meows at the door for hours. When I try letting them in, they go wild under the bed and climb the headboard and curtains. Between the lack of sleep, complaints from my downstairs neighbors about the jumping, and discovering a potential cat allergy, I am at a breaking point.
I’ve seriously thought about returning them, but the social implications are heavy. The rescuer works closely with my company and knows my coworkers. Because my family, friends, and colleagues all know I adopted them, I feel immense pressure and fear of judgment if I admit it’s not working out, so I seriously don't know what to do.
I know this situation is a fault on my side and I want what is best for these boys, but I also have to be honest about my own limits. The constant feeling of stress and not having an out is eating me alive. Any feedback would be appreciated, how to either cope with this or get my routine back of track would be nice.