'I just miss my cat': Woman questions if it's pawssible to feel homesick for your feline friend, the online cat community answers with adorable examples

Author image for Ayala Sorotsky
Ayala Sorotsky • Writer and Editor
Feb 25, 2026 2:00 PM EST

Cat people are truly emotionally joined at the hip to their feline friends. 

We're not saying that being attached ot your cat is a bad thing - on the contrary. The emotional bond between cats and their humans is one of the strongest that can form between us and another species of animals. Cats are not just pets - they're our best friends, our house masters, our emeowtional support, our feline family that we will do anything for. The connection some people feel for the cats is so strong that some of them might wonder - is this how it should be? Is this what you're supposed to feel for a feline?

In some way, this is what one wholesome woman wondered - can you feel homesick, not for your home, but for your cat? Feeling the bond so strongly that what you miss most when you're away is your cat. Or, in other words - home is where your cat is.

Would any cat pawrent disagree? We think not. Our cats are our everything. And the online cat community that showed up after this one woman's question proved exactly that. Countless examples of the most adorable cat-human connections we given, and our hearts completely melted.

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  • 01
    Im not sure if this fits in this subreddit but i feel like this isn't very common.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10608998400
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 03
    For starters, I don't get truely homesick where I miss my house or bed or anything like that.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 04
    I just miss my cat. She feels like my child. Whenever I'm away from home, I can't help but ALWAYS think "is she okay?
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 05
    I hope she being fed well. Is she safe?" Ect ect. But in reality I know she's just a cat and is probably happily sleeping half the day with no thought in her head.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 06
    Cheezburger Image 10608999936
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 07
    My cat is named Chloe and I got her for my 10th birthday many years ago after i was in hospital almost the whole year for a terrible accident.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 08
    There's been times where she's gone exploring and it's ended up raining so she's lost her way home and has been lost for weeks.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 09
    One of the times this has happened, I found her 5 minutes away in a drain beside a busy road.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 10
    She was terrified and i had to stop all the cars in that area to get her safely.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 11
    On the walk home, it was so adorable and heartbreaking. She was almost completely bone, she was that fragile.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 12
    And she was hugging me and gripping on to me to tightly. She only let out 1 meow that walk home and it seriously sounded as if she said "MUM," i almost teared up because my baby was finally home safe.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 13
    I think about that moment all the time, and how i care about her so much.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 14
    Cheezburger Image 10609000192
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 15
    I love my cat. She always sleeps in my bed and follows me like a dog around the house.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 16
    If I'm in my room, so is she. If I'm in the living room, so if she.
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 17
    And if she's ready for bed, she'll sit at the corner of my bed staring at me through the doorway until i go to bed too (she once sat and did this for an hour and a half)
    via Actual_Struggle9512
  • 18
    CircusTV I hope you keep her indoor only after finding her by the drain.
    via CircusTV
  • 19
    OP Actual_Struggle 9512 I do! It was a few ago now when i lived with my family. My mother would always let her outside no matter how much i said it's my cat and it's dangerous. Now i just let her outside in my backyard, only if i can keep an eye on her
    via Actual_Struggle9512

  • Keeping indoor kitties indoors might sound obvious, but it’s actually one of the biggest life-saving decisions a human can make for their whiskered roommate.

    Indoor cats statistically live much longer - often 10-15 years or more - compared to outdoor cats, whose life expectancy can be only a few years due to risks like cars, predators, toxins, parasites, and diseases such as feline leukemia virus or FIV. The outside world may look like an exciting theme park of smells and fluttery things, but it’s also packed with hazards a housecat simply isn’t built to handle (at least not when all they're used to is the indoor comfort). Even the most street-smart kitty can’t outsmart traffic or avoid every contagious encounter.

    Staying indoors also protects wildlife: domestic cats are efficient hunters, and studies show free-roaming cats can significantly impact bird and small mammal populations.

    Luckily, indoor life doesn’t mean boring life. With toys, climbing spaces, window perches, and playtime, indoor cats can exercise their hunting instincts safely while still enjoying enrichment. Many vets and behaviorists agree that a stimulating indoor environment provides both physical safety and mental well-being.

    So when your cat stares dramatically out the window like a poet longing for the adventures of old, remember: you’re not denying them freedom - you’re granting them the superhero power of longevity, wrapped in a cozy, climate-controlled kingdom where the biggest danger is a vacuum cleaner.

  • 20
    HousePartyGo Nope, I had a cat who lived until she was 21 and I missed her all the time. I still miss her now 5 years after her passing. I have to quickly talk about her as I will cry. Animals are more than pets, they are part of the family. NOR
    via HousePartyGo
  • 21
    apaw1129 Nor but please keep her inside and safe. You're both lucky she's always made it back.
    via apaw1129
  • 22
    Username00555 Nope. I'll be at work missing my baby just watching videos of her in the bathroom on my phone lol
    via Username00555
  • 23
    Trustworthyracoon Bruh I miss my cats every time I'm away! I have joked that I wish I they had cellphones so I could call them. I feel you. Before my dog passed, onetime after being away a week, I cried on the drive home from the airport thinking about how much I missed her. I worried she might have thought I abandoned her!
    via Trustworthyracoon
  • 24
    CarpetNext6123 NOR. i cannot stand to be away from my two golden retrievers, so i know exactly how you feel. my girls are like my children to me, and i constantly worry about them when i'm away from them and feel lonely and sad without them. i check on them constantly with the nanny cam throughout the day if i'm out running errands to make sure they are okay. also just to see them because seeing their cute little faces puts me at ease.
    via CarpetNext6123
  • 25
    depressed_orphan I've had my kitten for two weeks and I already feel in incomparable bond with her. I can't imagine how I'll feel years in.
    via depressed_orphan
  • 26
    NOR Worriedlron3905 she really is your child → you could buy those cameras, not the baby ones, there're cheaper cameras haha i bought one and whenever i'm out and miss my babies or worry about them, i just click on the camera app and can even talk to them
    via Worriedlron3905
  • 27
    Equivalent-Duty-5646 NOR. My favourite part of each day is coming home to my two boys. Obsessed with those guys.
    via Equivalent-Duty-5646
  • 28
    Alive-Recording-3400 NOR, my baby lived to 17! I got him as an 8 week kitten when I was six years old from an animal hoarder who was being forced by the state to rehome some of her cats. If you're homesick for her, PLEASE keep her inside. I lost mine because my mom decided
    via Alive-Recording-3400
  • 29
    she was "sick of having a cat" (I didn't live at home due to other things like this that she pulled, I found out weeks later) and you bet your buns as soon as I got wind of that I dropped everything, left work in the middle of my shift and drove almost 5 hours to go get my din baby. He had been an indoor/outdoor cat all 17 years of his life, minus the about 2 years I had him in my own apartment for at that point.
    via Alive-Recording-3400
  • 30
    It didn't matter. Like your baby when you found her in the drain, he was skin and bones. He was naturally about a 14 pound cat, when I went and got him he weighed 7 and a half pounds. I ended up having to say goodbye about two weeks later. The starving he endured before I knew he was suffering was too much, and it caused kidney failure.
    via Alive-Recording-3400
  • 31
    Keep your baby inside, and you might be allowing her to live 20+ years like some of the other cat parents in this post. Chloe also looks almost exactly like my catto beans looked, she's an absolutely gorgeous little baby!!
    via Alive-Recording-3400
  • 32
    hahagato NOR. My cats are my babies. I miss them terribly when ever I'm away from them. And they DO miss us and they do struggle when we are away. My first baby wouldn't use the bathroom and hardly ate when I'd leave for the weekend. My current baby just got left alone for a night and was SO angry when we got back, he kept snapping at me and giving me attitude. I hate leaving them. We're their whole world. O
    via hahagato

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wholesome cat adorable pets heartwarming cat people cute cute cats cat parents Cats
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