Depression Hurts

This past weekend I took Bailey (the cat) home to meet my family in New Jersey. I was nervous because a) my dad has claimed (and I say claimed because it turned out to not be true and I suspect now I’ve been lied to my entire life) to be allergic to cats, and b) because Bailey does whatever he wants whenever he wants to. I knew that my mom would absolutely love him, but was scared that my dad would either be livid that Bails decided to ruin some piece of furniture in the house, or be in anaphylactic shock. Both being serious problems. However after the tumultuous cab and train ride in his kitty carrier, in which I seriously think my cat lost one of his nine lives, he took quite nicely to his new surroundings. He adored having tons of space to explore and run around, and ate up all of the attention from his new family members. Sadly though, as I kept gently reminding him the entire weekend, we do not live there...

Unfortunately, he didn’t really understand that. And now I fully think he’s depressed. Since we’ve been back he just lays around and looks like a sad clown. Could my cat have depression?? What are the symptoms of kitty depression? Is there kitty web MD?

According to Google, causes of cat depression involve major changes to their routine:

• Death or introduction of a new family member or animal
• Moving
• Changes in food or litter
  

Symptoms of cat depression include:

• Eating very little (no problem there)
• Sleeping more than usual
• Loss of interest in playing
• Excessive vocalizing (no problem there)
  

OMG my cat is that little depressed white blob in the Zoloft commercials. He doesn’t feel like himself. He’s lost interest in the things he loves. Shit, I think I have kitty hypochondria!...