First time cat owner - Is my cat happy?
Hi there,
Sorry in advance if this post is a little ramble-y, my head is all over the place.
For context, I've only ever had dogs. A little over a month ago I had to put my best friend down (17 year old dog). So after that it was just me and my 4 year old dog. Two weeks after the older dog passed away, a stray cat started following me home. I gave it some cheese that I had in my grocery bag (I now know that cheese isn't good for them, my bad). Later that night I went back out and bought actual cat food, the cat approached me again so I gave it the cat food.
The cat started just appearing whenever I would walk by the spot I first fed it, and eventually followed me all the way to my unit, so I started buying cat food to feed it. I guess I'm still grieving the loss of my dog, but I now have space to care for another living thing, and my old buddy probably would have wanted me to be kind to the cat.
Anyway, after a week of feeding the cat my partner and I ended up taking it to the vet. The cat had no microchip. We scheduled another vet visit to give it the good ol flea and worm treatment as well as a microchip. She was stressed out and peed in the cat carrier, so we cleaned her up at the vet. Other than that, the vet said it was one of the nicest cats they had ever met (no biting, hissing, scratching). The downside is that they couldn't measure the cats' heartbeat because it wouldn't stop purring.The vet said she's probably around 1 years old, but needs to gain 1.5kg in order to be desexed.
So we took the cat home and had to decide whether we would keep it. I kept the cat in the bathroom separated from my dog for about a week, fed them on opposite sides of the door, and finally introduced them. On the first day they met, the cat would hiss if my dog got too close, only if she had her back against the wall (I get it, she felt cornered) and my dog would back off. After a couple of days they now get along great - she doesn't hiss at him anymore, even when in a corner. She walks up to my dog and rubs up on him, lets him sniff her, etc etc. They even sleep in the same bed together.
When it comes to me, she follows me from room to room, hops into my lap when I'm at the computer desk, and curls up next to me when I go to bed. She purrs when she's gets pats. The only concerning thing is she's given me one or two bites, she starts licking me and then bites my palm or finger and then lets go. Other than that there's no issues I can think of. She doesn't mind being picked up or held. She flops onto her stomach and lets me give her belly rubs.
Last night she saw me exit through the front door and has now started meowing at the front door. Now I feel guilty because I feel like I've robbed her of her freedom. She doesn't play with toys - feather wand, the ball spinny tower, cat tower, springy pipe cleaner thing. If she's not following me around she's meowing to be let outside.
I'm against her being an indoor/outdoor cat because in my country a lot of our native wildlife are killed by cats (snakes, birds, lizards etc). Plus it would also give me anxiety worrying about whether she'll get hit by a car etc.
Is there anything I can do to make her happier at home? I feel pretty guilty keeping her cooped up in the house when she's used to roaming around.