Use this thread to discuss anything related to cats that doesn't otherwise fit the subreddit! Also feel free to ask questions that you believe are too short for a standalone post.

I mean I like animals so I treat them well but I'm also a quiet thinking person so I value being by myself when I can. Why? Why do both of them want to always sit on me? If I learn forward so they can't get on my lap they literally climb on my shoulders. I don't do anything special and I just don't get it.

My father cut off all of my cat’s whiskers because he was drunk and I’m so devastated.

This is my cat. We adopted her from one of my moms client’s this March. Her name is Jingle Bell and when we got her, she is overweight and already has walking problems.

I dont know what to do in my situation. Does anyone know what I should do now? Below is a picture of her currently and the length of her whiskers before.

https://imgur.com/a/bqTaN89

Bit of a sad question, my cat i adopted at 16 weeks old shes now 1 year and 9 months old, shes pretty bonded to me she spends alot of time in my room somedays she just follows me around, she always comes and cuddles with me when i go to bed, so id guess shes pretty well bonded with me. Im wondering how long it will take her to get used to a new family, im losing my income and im afraid i wont be able to take care of her anymore which breaks my heart but its probably whats best for her.

Edit: I should clarify that she wouldnt go to a shelter, i have friends and family that have offered help and said they can take care of her, i mainly wanted to know how hard it will be for her to adapt to a new home and if theres anything i could do to help this transition for her get smoother.

I also didnt want to go into details about my situation because this is a cat reddit, i appreciate all of the replies, getting food from shelters would help for abit but in the long run im not to sure whats going to happen with my life and rather be 100% sure shes safe with a new family.

Also not from the US but i do think local shelters would be willing to help out.

And also when i decided to get this cat everything was alot different then it is now, i regret getting her and i wish she'd gone to another family instead.

Im seeing mixed opinions, and I’m worried I might be stressing her out unintentionally. She almost never initiates the chase (it’s always me), but she doesn’t hiss when I catch her.

After I chase her I will often hide behind furniture and around corners to signal to her it’s her turn to get me. She will usually pounce at me after a bit of hiding, but other times she just ignores my invitation and carries on about her business. Sometimes during these chases she will hide under the bed but come out a couple minutes after like nothing happened (like she won’t be avoiding me).

Also slightly unrelated, but whenever I walk through the lounge room throughout the day, if she sees me about to walk by the curtains or her car tunnel, she will often hide behind the curtains or in her cat tunnel to surprise attack me.

Is this a sign that the chases are ok to continue, or should I only let her initiate from now on?

Or am I just overthinking like crazy right now???

My 6-year-old girl has become really fussy about her litter over the last 6 months, and I'm running out of ideas.

She'll use a fresh box once, maybe twice at most, and after that she poos directly outside it, right next to the box. I've always scooped after every single use, so it's not like the box is ever dirty, but once it's been used she seems to stop accepting it.

This is new for her. I used to go about 3 weeks between deep cleans. Now I'm deep cleaning every day or two just to keep her using it.

What I've tried so far:

• Multiple litter boxes (at 3 now)
• Different litters: World's Best Cat Litter (unscented) and wood pellets
• Cleaning the boxes with plain soap only, and separately with enzyme cleaner
• A vet visit, which ruled out any physical or medical issues

The only environmental change I can think of is that I'm home a lot more now since I lost my job. Could that be affecting her? I genuinely have no clue what else it could be.

I'm getting stressed about it. I'm going through a huge amount of litter, and after the layoff it's becoming a real financial strain.

Has anyone dealt with this? What else could I try to get her back to using the box normally? Any ideas are appreciated, especially cheaper ones.

I am planning my honeymoon at the moment for around 10 days. My husband and I have never both been away from our cat for longer than maybe 5 days since we got her. She is SO anxious, so we won’t board her because she absolutely hates any form of change, and previously when we’ve been away we have hired a cat sitter (the same everytime) to visit with her twice a day whilst we are away & we have a pet cam.

I’m just feeling so guilty about leaving my best friend for 10 days. I worry about it damaging the trust we’ve built. She is my whole world but also I know my honeymoon is a one in a lifetime trip so I don’t want to cut it short because of my anxiety.

i recently got a new 11 week old kitten about 3 days ago, and i feel so anxious and overwhelmed. i love her so much and i absolutely do not regret getting her, however i have extreme anxiety over her getting hurt or ill and its to the point if i have to pop out of the house for 2h or even just leave her alone while i cook or do something, i start getting extremely anxious something will happen because i do not have eyes on her. i do think the hypervigilance and anxiety is possibly the after effect of losing my last girl very suddenly and out of the blue, on top of the general anxiety of having a kitten and how cheeky they can be. growing up i've had cats around me my entire life, including kittens, but i've personally never owned such a young kitten before, my last kitty came into my life at around 8-9 months old from the streets so she was a lot bigger and more 'robust' than my current baby so i never really had these worries with her.

the kitten is adapting very well, we had her health check yesterday and was given a clean bill of health (vets did said she has mild conjunctivitus but that this is completely normal in kittens and to just gently wash her eyes and it will resolve), she has had no issues eating or drinking or using the litterbox, and it basically a perfectly healthy 11 week kitten, i was hoping this would calm my anxiety a bit but it's not really helped.

each day she gets more confident and cheekier and i've had to kitten proof/block off places i didn't think she could even reach, which i think is also contributing to my anxiety a little bit as i worry about her falling and hurting herself, or knocking stuff over and hurting herself that way. I have heard people use the term 'kitten blues' to describe anxiety over a new kitten but whenever i try to find articles from other people going through similar anxiety they usually say they regret getting the kitten or resent it, which is not something i feel at all so idk

has anyone gone through a similar anxiety, and did it just get better with time or was there anything that you did that helped with the anxiety? i just want to pour all my love into my girl without constantly woeeying about what-ifs😭

Hello, it's me again, I posted a week ago about suddenly losing my cat Alfie. We talked to a vet and she said that from the symptoms it seemed he had a stroke.

How do you deal with grief? One moment I feel fine but then something happens that reminds me of him and I feel sad. Sometimes the floor creaks and I think he is walking around or I go into a room and I expect him to be there. One day was really sunny, I walked into the kitchen and was hoping to see him sleeping on the table. He really loved sleeping on the table when it was sunny. I can't wash a blanket because he used to sleep on it and it still has his fur on it.

Hello,
I got a new cat (1yo female) about 3 months ago. I already had another cat (6yo male) since he was a kitten. The new cat had lived with other cats before in a foster home. My other cat (6yo male) had been around cats for the first few years of his life and never had any issues.
We have very slowly adjust our new cat. She has a home base/safe room that has everything she needs.
When we have the cats interact it is still a lot of hissing.
I was hoping to get some tips about how to make this process smoother. They both have their own bowls and spaces to be separate from eachother too!
Thanks!

My cat was recently diagnosed with asthma and even before I tried so many litters but a lot would be dusty despite saying it was dust free. So I’m trying to see if any of you have recommendations

Hi, I adopted 2 kittens in July, they are now 7 months old and I’m just wondering at what point did everyone feel comfortable enough to let the cats roam the house whilst they are home alone?

They are both indoor cats, and when I go to work/ go out I close most of the doors - only giving them access to their own bedroom, stairs and hallways.

I try to change the toys they are left with everyday and I have a camera to watch them on, they do sleep most of the day but I still feel bad that they cant sleep on the sofa, look out the living room window etc.

But I am just worried about them knocking the TV over, turning the stove on etc as they are still playful kittens.

Should I wait until they are older to let them roam, or is the space I give them when I’m not home enough?

Thanks :)

i got an new kitten, she is around 70 days long and its around 2 days that i have her, the thing is she didn't eat nearly anything in this 2 days, only around 2 bites of her pate

she tried to eat her litter for few times but i stopped her (atleast i think), also she won't stop meowing when she is alone in somewhere

so i don't know if it's all normal or not

My cat has these phases, where she can be few weeks constantly craving my attention, coming to my lap, startinh to purr just when I approach her, headbutting all the time etc.

Then she has phases when she just mostly likes to sleep in her own places and she doesn't really like being pet etc. If I approach her during these phases she will just look annoyed, go away, vs. when she's in the "friendly cycle" she'll excitedly run towards me whenever I approach her. For example now she's been over a week in this mood where she just wants to watch me from further away, maybe comes few times a day by my side for a while, but even then is often not very pleased if I pet her or something.

I can't seem to think any outside reason that would cause these phases, I think my treatment towards her is exactly the same, aswell as the amount of food she's getting, play time etc. I'm guessing it's normal that cats just like humans are in different moods, but I'm just wondering if it's normal that she's so extreme in these behaviours. It's sometimes just hard to understand her if my company, pets etc suddenly seems to annoy her when it was for few weeks the biggest thing she craved. (I obviously leave her alone when she behaves like this and don't force any interaction, petting etc).

I have three cats, but one of them (15 month old black cat) keeps attacking my girl (calico British longhair 3.5 years old). She’s very particular and comes from a background of being bullies so she gets very vocal during play, but the black one keeps almost stalking her before pouncing. She’ll scream and hiss and growl and try to run away, and he’ll come out with a mouthful of her fur and give chase.

I do what I can do stop him, but they’re so fast. When he gets in one of these moods I always put him in ”time out” in a seperate room to give my girl a break.

I love them both so much and I just want him to stop being so aggressive towards her, even if he’s trying to play. She doesn’t do anything to antagonise him or fight back, she just wants to get away.

I also have a red kitten who loves playing with his big bro but even then he will sometimes cry out because the 15 month old will be too aggressive.

I do provide as much stimulation and play as I can and they have lots of toys and a catio and I play with them multiple times every day, but still he acts this way towards my girl. She doesn’t seem to hide after he stops or show any signs of distress, just goes about her usual ways once he is out of the room.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to provide context. The girl has been with me for almost a year (adoption from unhappy previous home, so I hate to see her be treated like this), and the black cat for about 6 months (also rehomed).

I recently got a kitten and from what I can tell her and her sister dog are getting along great! If the dog is drinking out of her water bowl kitty goes right up and joins her. Follows her everywhere around the house and is constantly trying to cuddle with her if she’s lying down. My question though has to do with playing. The kitten will stalk the dog and then after the dog looks start running to get the dog to chase her. They seem to love this game. My biggest concern though is that the dog is 45 pounds and kitty is obviously significantly smaller. She has her spots she can hide but is there anything I should do or are they okay to continue playing like this? The dog try’s to be soft but because she’s so large I’m nervous that in the chase she might stomp on her accidentally.

i'm moving to china for a year to teach english, and i need to figure out what to do with my cat. i'm not rehoming him i just didn’t know what to flair this as. that part isn't negotiable, so please don't suggest it. what i need are actual options or advice

the situation:

he is an outdoor cat that only comes inside to eat sleep and cuddle. this is not my fault, yes i am aware it can damage the environment and his risk of dying is like a trillion times higher. you can take the cat out of the street but you can't take the street out of the cat. he does all his business outside and gets aggressive if he's kept in. right now he lives at my grandma's house, and her caretaker lets him in and out whenever he wants. caring for him is basically just filling his auto feeder and water fountain every week, cleaning it every month and giving him his monthly revolution+ dose

the constraints:

- he can't fly. he has panic attacks in the car and doesn't react well to sedatives. i can barely do the 15+ hour flight so im not subjecting him to that. also he would be miserable living in a city
- he can't live at either of my sisters places. ones in condo with an hoa that doesn’t allow unsupervised pets outside and the other is quite allergic and lives in a city
- the only friend who could take him has a cat that's insanely terrified of him. my cat seemed to like him though

the problem:

some of my family don't like the setup at my grandma's and went behind my back to tell my dad the cat has to go. i found out secondhand, nobody said it to me directly so im just waiting it out until they do

so, do i try to figure out the situation with the friends cat? if so how? are there long-term fosters people actually trust? an arrangement i'm not thinking of?

if you've left an outdoor cat behind for an extended period and it worked out, how did you do it????

So I have three cats. My youngest, Cricket, (a little under two years we think) is super active and a bit crazy. She needs a lot of attention and enrichment, otherwise she destroys things or fights with the other two cats.
My middle cat, Goose, (about 5.5 years old) is super playful when she wants to be. She is like a dog that is ball crazy. When she’s playing with a toy or hair tie, she sort of loses her shit 😅 but the two don’t really play together.

My problem: I keep buying interactive toys to keep them occupied while I’m working or just randomly throughout the day, mainly to help with cricket being bored, and Goose ends up breaking them in less than 24 hours. She just plays too hard and destroys whatever it is. I have gone through many electric chase type toys, automatic rolling balls, and the laser pointers that turn on intermittently. All are broken.
I am looking for recommendations on toys / enrichment for the cats that Goose is less likely to be able to destroy.

Thank you!

For context I have an 11 year old cat with my boyfriend. We feed her 3 times a day, morning, mid day and evening. She has an automatic dry food feeder which provides her morning/mid day portions. She has no problem with dry food, always eats her portion no problem. In the evening, around 9pm, we give her wet food to help with her digestion and hydration since she has a history of constipation.

For the last 3-4 months she has started BEGGING for her wet food. Like an hour in advance every night. From 8 to 9 it is CONSTANT. She'll just sit there and moan, and LOUDLY.

At first we thought she was just really hungry so we tried leaving a bit of additionnal dry food but she doesn't want anything to do with it. She wants her wet food and will not stop begging until she gets it.

We've tried ignoring her, waiting for her to shut up to give her the food, to stop rewarding this behavior, but I swear to God she will not stop. We can wait 1-2-3 hours, doesn't matter. She'll just wait there and moan. Once again we still leave a bit of dry food which she could eat if she wanted to. She doesn't.

We don't know what to do and it's driving me and my boyfriend crazy. He says we should stop the wet food for a while but i don't want her to go back to being constipated or cause liver issues ( which she is prone to). We also can't keep ignoring her for hours as we have to go to bed at some point. We just don't know what to do.

EDIT : Saw a bit of confusion and wanted to provide some additional details.

First, our cat is overweight and is on a vet approved diet. I can assure you her caloric intake and nutrients are being monitored very carefully.

"Maybe she's just hungry, why make her wait"

When she first started doing this it was also our assumption. She started meowing so we fed her earlier. The next day she started meowing even earlier. So we fed her earlier. The next day even earlier, rince and repeat.

What she learned is that begging = what I want. By responding every time she begs, we reinforce this behavior. We space out her meals and calories throughout the day specifically to make sure she doesn't go hungry during the night.When I said we could wait 1-2-3 hours it was simply an example to show that the usual ' just wait it out' advice we've heard many times didn't work for us. Not a thing we do every night. We now simply feed her at the usual 9pm regardless and let her be dramatic.

I can assure you she is very well fed with love and care, she's a very vocal cat who really loves wet food.

So, I have a 2 year old male shorthair cat, and he meows almost all day long, no matter what. I keep him in the upstairs section of the house because my mom has a huge dog who doesnt really get along with cats. He is in my room when nobody is home and when I sleep.
But he meows constantly. He wakes me up at like 5-6 am to be let out of my room, and then he walks around meowing all morning, no matter how much attention I give him. He only really stops meowing when he eats. Its driving me insane.
He did not always do this. My ex used to live here and he had another cat, Sushi, but when we split he moved out and of course took his cat with him. Pierre lived with this Sushi for a year and a handful of months. I think he is lonely without Sushi, but I am really not in a place where I can adopt another cat right now.
I try to play with Pierre before work, he has a cat tree and a few toys he can play with independently, and access to multiple windows, and my parents and brother also visit him throu the day when I am not home just to give him some attention, but nothing seems to really be helping the problem. I really love Pierre, he is my first cat and I really don’t want to rehome him. Is there anything else I can do to make him stop meowing all day?

Ciao a tutti, ho adottato un gattino di 5 mesi, e lo amo follemente, sto dando a lui tutte le mie attenzioni, anche se vivo da solo e lavoro mi sveglio prima del previsto per stare con lui e quando torno a casa lui è il primo pensiero.
Lo nutro bene, la lettiera è sempre perfetta, lui mi apprezza, dorme accanto alle mie gambe e riposa sul poggia schiena del divano quando guardo la tv o gioco.
Quando lo chiamo viene spesso da me, accetta le mie carezze ma non è mai salito sulle mie gambe e sul mio petto.
Inoltre è salito per un istante sulla gamba del mio amico che viene a trovarmi la sera per giocare ai videogiochi,e quando è uscito di casa ha miagolato alla porta. Non ha mai fatto questo con me
Il gattino è con me da 2 settimane, credo che potremo rendere il nostro rapporto ancora più intenso, riuscirò a tenerlo ancora più vicino a me, 2 settimane suppongo che sia ancora un periodo troppo breve?
Gioco con lui con la canna e le piume, o con la pallina, e sembra che sia bello per lui. Inoltre ho ricevuto qualche morso d’amore in 2 o 3 occasioni, e in mia presenza sembra rilassarsi.
Pensare che potrà mai salire su di me ?
Grazie

Hello! I’m 27f and I live with my partner 27M. We moved in together 5 months ago into a decently sized rental flat on the ground floor. We’ve both grown up with cats so have had a bit of exposure. We also both work full time but mostly remotely. We aren’t technically allowed to get a pet in the flat so my question so we’d more looking into getting a cat a bit later in the future when we decide to move or buy. I’d love to adopt one now and be a bit naughty but my partner is not interested in the prospect yet lol.

I was wondering if anyone had some ideas on when’s the best time to adopt a cat? What makes you ready to give a cat a home? Thanks!

I’ve had my cat Toulouse for 6 years now. My roommate and I just moved into a new apartment and she’s got a cat as well. I bought a tall baby gate to separate them and it’s not going well at all. My cat is extremely stressed and the first night he peed in the middle of my bed while I was sleeping. I also got him a self cleaning litter (it’s the naekasa brand) I had it in the hallway (it’s been unplugged to not freak him out) that was between my bathroom/room and after the accident I moved it to the bathroom and moved all of his stuff in there for the time being. The next night he popped in the shower. I had a new clumping litter in there and maybe thought he wanted his old litter so I added a bunch of his previous litter to see if that would help. I also added some cat nip around to help entice him. I came in the bathroom and the bath mats were all messed up as well. He just seems so stressed with the new cat that’s sitting at the gate he won’t even come outside. He’s been to the vet and has no issues with bathroom problems and he’s never had this issue with me before. Do yall have any advice for litter problems/ new move/ acclimating cats? He’s been on his own for the last 4 years with no other cats. I also saw on other posts to put soiled litter in the new box so I took some of the poop and put it in the naekasa? Idk what to do I need help!!!

My cat is 1.5 years old, and his PICA tendencies are seeming to get increasingly worse. I am a grad student and my partner and I just broke up, so I am living alone in an apartment with my cat and his sister. He used to eat string and yarn if it was left out, and I learned to diligently put it away. In the past few weeks, however, he has been eating rubber of all types (spatulas etc), he ate steel wool, and even a bite of a protein bar. I try to hide anything I think he might eat, but at this point I feel like he will just find new things he likes to eat. Last week I spent $500 at the ER vet getting X-rays, and I am constantly so anxious about a blockage.

I'm just looking for advice about how to live with this. I play with him as much as I can, and I've tried taking him outside for more enrichment but after many tries, he is very uninterested in that. He is a black cat and I got him and his sister as tiny babies. He's never stopped making biscuits on me in the middle of the night, and I think he was bottle-fed. He is very vocal and clingy. He loves cat TV and I taught him how to high-five me. I love him more than anything and am really struggling with worrying so much about him, especially in the midst of a big breakup. My vet has not been very helpful, just telling me to put things away, so I am open to hearing anything that might help. Also, is pet insurance a good idea? Seems like this wouldn't be covered since it is a preexisting condition.

Thank you.