can cats have separation anxiety disorder? and what are you supposed to do to fix it?

[Khadra]

He is the cutest cat in the world, but he is driving me nuts! He won't leave me alone. He has always been overly clingy but in the past few weeks it seems to be getting even worse. If I don't take him to bed with me he stands at my door for 20 minutes jumping and clawing the door and meowing his head off. In the morning he sits right in fronts of my door so I can't open it without picking him up to get him out of the way. When I let him sleep with me, he always sleeps on my head. When I go to the bathroom he follows me in, or if I don't let him in he jumps on the outside of the door and meows his head off. He sits on the edge of the bathtub when I have a bath and when I shower. He jumps up on my lap when I'm trying to eat dinner. He tries to sit on the keyboard when I'm on the computer. He follows me all around the house and I keep tripping on him and it's annoying the heck out of me! I also feel bad because my other cats aren't getting as much attention as they deserve because he is stealing it all. I don't want to hurt him by ignoring him, but what am I supposed to do?

[~CourageousSurvivor~]

My cats used to do this off and on all the time. I don't know what it is caused from for sure but it could be that they feel they want more attention. The thing about cats is they are very stubborn and are very set in their ways so if they think they aren't getting enough attention they will bug the heck out of you until they get tired of the attention you put on them. Is there a reason that his behavior could have gotten like this? Are you away more then usual? If so the best thing I can suggest is let it run its course(thats what I would do with my cats) he should get over it eventually.

As for feeling like you aren't paying enough attention to your other cat's maybe you could try to lavish a little more attention on them just to make up for it? It doesn't have to be an excessive amount but when you pass by them on your way to your room or something maybe you could stop and take a few minutes to pet/talk with them(thats what I would do).

I hope this was helpful.

~Jenna~

[Khadra]

Thankyou for your input! I'm glad to know someone else has experienced this and that it will likely pass with time. I've never experienced such a clingy cat before. I don't think I've been away more than usual but maybe I started petting him less without realizing it, so I'll make more of an effort to pay attention to him.