My cat seems to want attention constantly

Hello,

I've had my cat for 10 years - she's a black domestic. Over the past few years I have noticed she almost constantly meows, or follows me around for attention.
Now that I live on my own, it's much more noticeable.
When I didn't live on my own - we had other cats around. At first it was fine and after a year or two she no longer got along with them. She was still quite the meower even them.
When she meows I try to ignore her (it's a whiney meow) and she could be in any room in my apartment doing so. She constantly is following me around meowing as she walks and wanting attention. During the night, she often wakes me up and steps on my head/hair. I have tried blowing lightly in her face, picking her up and moving her to the end of my bed, feeding her (she has dry food throughout the day and wet food in the morning), and sometimes give her a little pet to make her lay down with me, but doesn't mean she'll stop meowing (or raising her butt constantly). Even when I do these things, she comes begging for more. When she is being a good kitty, I then try and give her attention which then makes her want more all the time.
She's an indoor cat (although for a few weeks lived on the farm). She got outside for 2 weeks, but hasn't been outside sense. I know she's rather curious but I don't feel comfortable with her going outside.

Any suggestions? I just want her to be happy!

Also, with the kitty litter box. I noticed she pees right by the entrance of the box/ some how gets it to where the lid and bottom of the box snap together. It has resulted in pee on the floor. Anyway to avoid this?

I apologize for the lengthy letter, but I do really appreciate your help. Thank you!


Reply
Hi
My first question is , is she spayed? I ask this because even a 10 year old cat can still display signs of being in heat and it would explain her behaviour. Please see this page for more on this
cat-in-heat.html

However if she is spayed then I would say that it is probably just a learned behavior, a sort of habit.

Some cats are much more vocal than others and I have known cats that seem to make a sound all day long when your are near. But if yours is also following you about then it could be boredom, a cat needs a lot of stimulus to keep it happy. Please see this page for more on this
indoor cats


Some cats can also become overly attached to their owners too which is known as separation anxiety, more on this here
https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-social-behavior.html

I have given you a range of possibilities to try and cover the most common issues for your cats behaviour. Of course at 10 years old it may be worth having her checked by a vet if she hasn’t been for sometime as there may be an underlying issue , perhaps hormonal.

I hope I have been able to give you some ideas as to what the issue could be.

All the best kate

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