I had a dream last night about an orange tabby cat who I…

Good evening. It sounds like you have attempted to research some of the symbolism in the dream. I am curious as to what you have found to be helpful this far. I understand that, as a parent myself, it can cause anxiety if you found something suggestive of illness or bad luck, but we can try to look at possible interpretations.

An interpretation of a cat dream that I have always found to be positive was that a cat symbolizes "an independent spirit, feminine sexuality, creativity, and power." (resource: dreammoods.com) Now, the cat in your dream was attacking you, or someone close to you, but then the cat turned into your daughter. Maybe at this time you are seeing your daughter develop and find her sense of autonomy. Sometimes children can be quite the challenge and they do literally seem to attack the ideology that we are encouraging in them. They dont always want to listen to us as parents and they want to demonstrate their independence. This is not an easy stage for parents. Our children are attempting to find their own ways and they dont want to listen to the rules or boundaries that are set by their parents. You may be feeling guilty or bad for establishing certain rules, but remember that you are raising your child to be a healthy, autonomous adult, and not your friend. Even if your child is young right now and you arent sure how this applies, it could be related to fears about parenting and anticipatory anxiety that all parents deal with as their think about their babies growing up. Just remember your role and your ultimate goal in rearing her and dont fret about what you feel causes her to be angry or that even challenges her, focus on your long term preferred outcome and what you desire for her, from a parent's perspective.

Please let me know if you need further assistance. I would really like your feedback and I want to make sure that we are moving toward a perspective that is helpful for you.