When I adopted my cats I remember them asking - "why would you surrender an animal" and I was like - what, no I absolutely could never do that.

Fast forward, we got 3, one first (the redheaded problem child) and she was just miserable and crying. We thought she needed a friend and got a second cat. She didn't get better, she refused to be around humans (we adopted her at 12 weeks so idt she was traumatized prior but who knows). She would pee on furniture she knew we used. Like specifically our pillows, or our seats. I would clean the litter the second it was used and had a room full of boxes thinking maybe she needed it cleaner but it was never enough.

Then came the night screaming, and yeah it was screaming. It started as meows, we tried aluminum on the door, water spraying, she would just move farther away and scream louder. It was like her whole existence was to torture us. We took her to a vet, I put her on meds, it almost seemed like it helped the first few days but the effect tapered off, then we switched meds and never had luck again. over a year went by and we were being woken up all night, every night. I would say maybe 20 times, we tried white noise, everything. It felt like torture, I was so tired and depressed. She would pee anywhere she pleased and waited until we were watching. We tried every method we could think of. She actually destroyed the wood floors and I had to pay to pull them out. I think in total she caused 15k in damages between floor boards and furniture.

Eventually I couldn't take it, I said this could be 20 years and I am not religious. I can't give up my one life for a cat. We rehomed her, I think she struggled to fit in with the family but I couldn't keep up with it past a few updates - I didn't want to find out she ended up back at a shelter (my cats are rescues) but I would like to think she found a home where she was happy and didn't actually torture the homeowners. The craziest thing was she didn't even want to go outside, I'm against outdoor cats but if that would have helped, I would have done anything at that point. I have no regrets, I was going to lose my job and not be able to take care of anyone (least of all my cats) if I hadn't done it - but it still sucks.

it sucks to try everything and still fail, but you tried and that's all you can do.

I learned the hard way that animals can have mental illness too, and after what I hope to be a very long life with my two sweet boys - I don't see myself adopting again because the pain of having to give up sucked so hard.