We got a calico kitty from a shelter in March; she's about five and we spayed her when we got her. Initially, she was very ill for a few weeks and had to spend some time at the vet. It was, along with the moving into a new home and whatnot, a pretty tough time for her. It also seems like she has been either mistreated or just not handled very much when she was younger, because she doesn't like to be held at all. So that's the background.

She has become leaps and bounds more comfortable here since we brought her home, but she's still quite erratic at times. She gets in these crazy moods where she will just follow us around meowing incessantly. When we figured that she doesn't want food, water, treats, etc, it seemed that she wants attention, but she still seems uncomfortable when we lay down and pet her. She always moves a foot or two away and then re-situates herself, only to immediately look over and wonder why we stopped petting her. We usually just end up scooting all around the floor after her just to calm her down. It's like she can't just relax and accept the doting.

Also, while she does drink water out of her bowl at times, she really likes to drink from the bathroom sink. Sometimes she just sits on it and waits until we run it for her, instead of drinking her completely fresh and cold bowl water.

Another odd thing she does is just get terribly hyper. She runs around the apartment knocking herself into things and meowing like a wild banshee. My boyfriend (a little more worry-prone than I am) always gets very concerned when he does this. I don't know if this is normal cat behavior, but it is seriously like she's possessed. Maybe something to do with her childhood - we'll never know.

So lately, I've been wondering if she maybe needs some extra love from another cat. She may have lived with others previously, but she was horribly unfriendly to the one cat we introduced her to. Maybe just because he was unfamiliar? We were thinking it might be a good idea to get a male kitten and slowly introduce them to each other. But then I look at her sometimes and get so worried that that would make her feel less loved by us. It seems like she hasn't had enough affection in her life, and I only want to introduce a friend for her if it will make her happier and more comfortable.

Does this seem like something cats do when they are lonely? Or maybe she just needs more time with us? Or she just seems like a sort of nutty feline and that's ok? I just worry about her so much because of how fragile she is, and how terribly sick she was at first.

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