I need to stop being angry at bad behaviors - Lemmy.World

I’m having a borderline emotional breakdown at the realization that I’m slowly starting to hate my cat. He’s such a good boy most of the time. For years he’s done the occasional poop on the linoleum by his litter box out of protest, but lately he’s gotten so much worse. Sometimes I’ll close the door to my office while I’m working, and instead of getting my attention and asking to be let out like he used to, he’ll just immediately go on the carpet right behind me. Today I found myself yelling and chasing him around the house as a response. I know that wasn’t the right response. It adds to his trauma, makes him scared of me, and makes me feel like a bad cat parent. I’m so awful. We have another cat and they dont really get along, but it’s happening more frequently recently even though weve had the new onr for over a year. There’s other behaviors like crying at night and waking us up. He’s an old man and I know that’s part of it too, but I don’t want all my freshest memories of my little baby to be ones where I’m angry. I don’t want that to be how I remember him when his time comes.