Kalista, Our Cat, Finds It Unacceptable for Me to Go to Work (Cute Cat Story)

Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,

As the Canadian winter gets colder and colder, it’s feeling a lot less desirable to leave the house each day for work. Although it’s getting extremely cold, the cold isn’t the only reason why this pet parent doesn’t want to leave the house. As mentioned, especially in the past few weeks, Kalista has been bonding more and more with me. This morning she could hardly leave me alone.

I woke up without either of the cats in bed this morning, something that’s fairly uncommon as Beau tends to come to sleep with me after his first meal of the day.  As soon as I started shuffling in bed, I could hear Kalista quietly meowing letting me know she was on her way to the bedroom.

Kalista is becoming a lot more vocal, especially as of late. Since we adopted her she was much more vocal than Beau has ever been, but especially in recent weeks, if you call Kalista she’ll respond to you 80% of the time and whenever she walks into a room she announces her arrival. I think it’s because as soon as we hear her we react and pet her immediately.

As soon as Kalista got into our bedroom, she jumped up in my lap and pushed herself into me begging to be pet. (And if you’ve seen videos of Kalista begging for attention, you’ll know that she’s fairly over the top with begging. I’d suggest you follow our Instagram account if you want to see video updates of our little ones during the day, just because the videos tend to be too short to upload to YouTube.) I pet Kalista lightly then started focussing on answering some of my e-mails from the bed, but Kalista wouldn’t have it. She walked into my chest and started to push her face onto my face letting out little chirps to let me know that she wasn’t done being pet. So I continued to pet her.

Kalista has an extremely loud purr that resonates in her whole body. She’s got the stereotypical cat purr and lets out some adorable noises that make her sound like a lion. I used to think Walker purred loud, but I think Kalista takes home the cake. She also doesn’t let up. Whenever she’s around you she’s purring. She’s scenting you any second she gets and she’s marking you as her territory.

After about 30-minutes of taking it easy in bed, I decided that was too much time wasted and began getting ready for my day. I started to try to get up, but every time I did Kalista would wake up and put her paw on me as if to say “no, not yet.” If I shifted too much she would reach at my face and push her paw down a bit harder sticking out some nails. Every time I tried to move Kalista so she could still sleep on the bed, just not on me, she would use her nails to grasp onto the blanket and wouldn’t let go. Super attached kitty, eh?

I finally got Kalista off of me, and she refused to leave me alone, walking by my feet the whole time. Even when I closed the washroom door to have some privacy, Kalista reached her tiny arms under the door (which isn’t uncommon for her to do.) Kalista began to cry, making me want to hurry up with my shower and get back to cuddling her, but I thought to go through my routine at the regular speed to make sure she doesn’t learn that begging all the time will get her attention immediately. (Any of you have any cats who beg for attention frequently? Do you do the same with them? Do you find it helps?)

We did something similar with Beau when we first adopted him since he had fairly severe separation anxiety. Beau’s anxiety would often flare his Pica and we would come home to bedsheets, tissue paper, clothes, and other soft materials half eaten all over the house. Knowing that Kalista is a fairly scaredy cat, I want her to understand that we’re there for her when she needs, but she also has to be a big girl who doesn’t “fully rely” on us all of the time… if that makes sense.

Kalista continued following me throughout the morning. When I was making coffee when I was making breakfast when I was sitting at my computer. Each time I’d try to get up from my office chair, Kalista would try to jump right back up onto my lap, even if it meant her sliding off my legs slowly.

When it was time to leave the house altogether, Kalista marched up to the door and stood in front of it as if to say “no, you can’t go.” Which is always a losing battle for her. Unfortunately, there’s no way to stop either of her dads from going to work, unless they are sick, but it doesn’t mean that she won’t be rewarded with lots of cuddles when they get home.

That being said, I’m still really happy to see how comfortable Kalista is becoming with us. I’m just a tad bit nervous that she’s going to become overly attached which may work against us. I do still spend quite a bit of time at home (dependant on the week and the work schedule), but I’m doing even more research on cats who are overly attached. I don’t want to give her unnecessary anxiety, although I shouldn’t be too, too worried since Beau is basically her best friend. She’s always surrounded by someone who loves her, right?

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.