All About Buttercup

Buttercup is mine and hubby's cat. We adopted her a half a month before we got married. She was a silly little thing. She was quiet and snuggly. I had a stuffed monkey that was long and skinny and she would drag it around with her, attacking it and tossing it around. Quite frequently, when we lived in Utah she would have asthma attacks. Since moving to Florida those attacks are few and far between.

For the longest time she avoided my siblings. They would pick her up and she hated to be picked up. But once they turned 12 or 13, she bombarded them with need. Her neediness and meowing has increased drastically since we moved to Florida. There was a span of about five to six months during my pregnancy where she pretty much avoided me. She would come up for me to pet her, but she wouldn't sit or sleep on me. She used to sleep on my legs all night. It wasn't until my belly ballooned outward that she'd curl up on my lap again.

After our son was born the neediness returned and the meowing intensified. She would stare at him with this look that seemed to say "what is this thing and when will it leave my bed." Whenever our son would cry, she'd bolt. As my son's needs have grown due to his medical issues, I've found I'm less patient with Buttercup's neediness and incessant meowing. When the day is done and my son is asleep, I just want time to myself and not be harrassed by a cat. Now she's acting out. She's hissed at my son when he cried one night. She's scratched him while I was in the shower. Yesterday she threw up on our bed then threw up on the carpet next to the couch on the spot where I rest my feet.

Now when she meows at me and follows me around, all the while meowing, I want even less to do with her. Saying all this makes me sound like a terrible person, but I need some time in the day where I don't have to cater to anyone or anything. All my strength and all my efforts go to Liam. I don't have enough to pour on Buttercup. Right now I feel like I can't deal with her and her neediness. I don't know what to do...