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.

my cat is finally becoming an indoor only cat !!!!! it’s taken a very long time and some unfortunate vet bills to get my mom to agree, but we did it.

my cat had 24/7 outside access and in the summer would spend most of his time outside. i am investing in a catio but it’ll take longer to get, so im looking for indoor ways to give him the exercise he’ll want/need since he’s used to travelling quite far. i’ve seen a lot of people have “cat wheels” but not sure if they’re actually useful?

i have the space for it, i actually have the perfect spot for it i just dont want to buy what is a pretty expensive thing just for him not to use it, though i do plan to have cats for the rest of my life so even if he doesn’t like it i suppose maybe a future cat will.

curious if people have a pro/con list, or if there are any major cons?

A few days ago I lost one of my cats. The day before he passed, the other boy who I always called his brother, was very wary of him, like he knew there was something wrong. He did see his brother after he passed briefly. Since then he frequently walks around calling out for his brother. He's also become exceedingly clingy. Luckily I'm retired so I'm home 22 hours a day or more. He was a cat that never really liked to have his head scratched for example. But he'd lay next to you to get his chest rubbed. Now he headbutts me, and whenever I walk is rubbing against my legs. Right now he's becoming much more of a velcro cat. He always sleeps where he can see me. Aggressively rubs his head against me when laying down by me.

His brother was just over two and a half, and he's a couple of months younger. So I'm wondering how long I should wait to get him a new friend? I personally like the new velcro cat behavior, but I'm sure it's out of fear and loneliness. Pretty sure he'll be happier in the future with a new partner in crime.

I'm sure others have had to deal with this. How long did you wait. How did the resident cat take to a new friend. I don't know when I'll personally be ready, but if it's better for him to do it sooner. I'm sure I'll work through it.

hi everyone, throw away because said family member uses Reddit.

for some context so I’m not seeming petty, a family member recently got a female kitten. I love these family members and we’ve grown up together and are super close. But they don’t have the best reputation with pets… they've had multiple pets in the past, ranging from another kitten, to bunnies and birds. Now you may be wondering so why am I worried? Because these pets don’t last long.

The family gets bored, get tired of looking after and cleaning up after it and end up giving the animals away to shelters or in the bunnies case, releasing it away from the house in the wild. They don’t try and find a loving home for the pets but give them to any shelter willing to take them and I can only hope from there they find loving homes.

I got my cat in December last year which triggered these family members to want to get one themselves. which fine fair enough. they asked me for advice and I gave them the honest truth, cats aren’t easy. they require a lot of attention, a lot of enrichment and play. I also told them they have to get their cat neutered as soon as possible for the obvious reasons. The issue I have is they are constantly taking my advice with a grain of salt. what I mean by this is I’ll tell one to do this and the other will tell me oh but that’s not necessary, when it absolutely is. I’m worried that they will get bored again and this poor kitten will end up homeless or in a shelter.

what can I do to help them realise that I want what’s best for the kitten? I can’t take her if anything happens because I have no space for another cat. please help.

Hello world's premier source of life advice! I have an 18 month old orange boy that I absolutely love and want to spend 20 more years with. I live alone in a condo, mostly work from home, am usually gone ~3-4 hours tops a day on weekdays and weekends are a mixed bag, sometimes I'm gone a full 8-10 hour day, sometimes home on the couch all day, and everything in between. I leave him home with a cat sitter that visits twice a day for weekend trips and board him once or twice a year when I travel for a week or more, which he has handled well the couple times he's done it so far. He definitely misses me when I'm gone for longer periods but from everything I can tell overall he's a happy healthy cat, not destructive or anything like that. He likes people when they come over to my place, but it did not go well the one time I tried having him stay with a friend (who he already knew from friend coming over to my place many times prior)

Now, the problem. My employer that hired me in the city I currently live in decided that my role can no longer be based here and I have a few months to decide if I'll relocate states to work out of a different office or else I'll lose my job. Simply put, the answer to that is no. I love where I live and have no desire to live anywhere else. I also love my income and the culture at my company and my preference is to find a new org to work for that isn't mandating all its employees centralize in one office in order to keep growing my career here and keep the stocks vesting. I believe I've found an exciting opportunity to do this, but the kicker is it's a role that requires two weeks of travel per month. That's no problem for me personally but it's a big problem with my cat. Boarding him for two weeks a month is not an option both financially and because I don't want him spending that much time in a cage and alone as my outside of work weekend life will not change if I take this job

If the offer materializes, I am 90% confident I'm going to take it. Which leaves me with a few options for what to do about my cat:

1. I keep him, I pay the cat sitter when I'm gone, I keep living my life, he has to spend way more of his life alone than he deserves but I don't lose my buddy and he gets to stay in the home he already knows

2. I try to find someone I know willing to let him live with them for an indefinite amount of time, a place he can get used to in time without subjecting him to constant back and forth, with the understanding that I'll take him back when I'm able to find a longer term career solution that doesn't require the travel. Which could be six months, could be six years, it's unknowable right now

3. I return him to the shelter I adopted him from (least appealing option) or try to re-home him properly, which I have zero idea how to do as this is my first cat and this was never contemplated when I adopted him. I'd have to make peace with never seeing him again but he'd eventually settle into a new life with new people to love him better than I'm able to given the circumstances

It sucks, I never expected to have to face a decision like this when I adopted him, but I'm going to make the best life and career decision for me when stuck in a situation I can't control and do my best to take care of him given he suffers the side effects of my decision; I'm not going to set myself back or go live somewhere I'll be miserable for the sake of a cat. So, what do y'all think? What's the best option for him if this situation materializes?

Hi, I have been struggling recently with my 3 cats (really 2 of them) waking me and boyfriend always around 4am-5am. It’s is clockwork every morning.
This morning at 4:30am Chaplin (a tuxedo cat) was meowing really loud right next to the bed. Another morning he came and sat on my legs and started making biscuits.

Another morning George (the oldest cat, 6) was continuously walking back and forth between my chest and over to my boyfriend’s side of the bed. Sometimes he will start licking his hair. (I am not making this up!!) he will lick my hair anytime I’m doing yoga or Pilates on my floor.

The youngest cat Luna will sleep right next to my legs on my heated blanket but she doesn’t wake me up (probably because she’s not walking on me).

I know I could just close the bedroom door and not let them in the bedroom but George can open the doors. They will scratch and meow at the door.

I do generally go downstairs and give them wet food 1 hr after waking up. Usually 6am-7am. They are probably waking me up because they want wet food.

Should I try giving them wet food at night instead of first thing in the morning? How can I get them to stop waking us up? Thank you
I leave out dry food for them all day, with refillable feeders.

I got two kittens, they're about 10 weeks old and their poop smells awful! When I'm off from work I scoop multiple times a day which prevents the smell from accumulating. But on days I work 12 hrs I come home to my apartment smelling like a fucking zoo and I'm getting tired of it. Its so fucking rank. Im taking them to the vet next week to get them checked out (I know they need to be dewormed, they're street kittens) but a lot of people say that kitten poops smell awful regardless. Im tired of my apartment smelling like death when I come home it really puts me in a bad mood. The poop looks normal color and consistency it just smells foul as fuck

I feed them instinct brand dry food(rabbit flavored) and wet food (venison)

My boyfriend and I adopted a 3-month-old kitten, and she’s the sweetest, most playful little girl. ❤️ She also sleeps a lot, which I know is normal for kittens.
However, I keep coming across advice recommending that kittens should ideally be adopted in pairs so they have a companion to play with and don’t get lonely.
The thing is, we honestly can’t afford a second kitten right now, and I don’t want to take on more responsibility than we can comfortably manage.
We both work from the office 2–3 days a week, So on an average she’s usually alone for around 4–6 hours. We try to play with her and give her as much attention as we can when we’re home.
For those of you who have raised a single kitten:
How has your experience been?
Do they get lonely or bored when left alone?
What do you do to keep them entertained and mentally stimulated?
Is having a second kitten absolutely necessary, or can a single kitten be happy and healthy with enough attention from their humans?
I understand the benefits of having two kittens, but I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have successfully raised just one.
Please share your experiences and advice. I want to make sure we’re giving our little girl the best life possible. ❤️

I have never owned cats before, only dogs. After about a year of contemplation, I fell in love with two kittens at my local animal shelter and adopted them (I read it is better to adopt kittens in pairs, especially if they will be alone for hours at a time.) We have had them for a little over a month now, they are roughly 4.5 months old and generally well-behaved. They seem to know to be gentle with their claws and teeth when interacting with people and they allow us to sleep throughout the night, which are two complaints I hear the most from cat/kitten owners.

My concern is now that they are comfortable in their new home with us, they are naturally growing more bold and curious. Recently I have been catching them up on our kitchen table, bathroom sinks, and other surfaces I would prefer to keep them off of. They also have been enjoying scratching the kitchen chairs even though they have 5 different scratching posts/toys around the house. I do pick and choose my battles with them as I know I can’t keep them off of everything, so I don’t normally do much except for attempting to redirect them. But as of yesterday, they discovered how to get on the kitchen counters (they cannot make the vertical jump up yet, but the placement of my kitchen table allows them to jump over onto them.) We have a glass top electric stove and I am terrified of them stepping on it and burning themselves while being up on the counters, not to mention them potentially eating something harmful to them and the hygiene factor of cats on the counters as well (yes, I know I can just clean the counters daily, and I will until I can keep them off) so I would prefer to try and nip this in the bud if possible.

I read that negative reinforcement and punishments do not tend to work very well on cats, however that is really the only way I know how to train an animal since I’ve only ever had dogs. I have resorted to using a spray bottle (ONLY if they continue scratching my furniture or getting on the counter after several redirection attempts) and a laser pointer (ONLY used as briefly as possible for redirection, not as a toy) but I worry this is not a healthy or maintainable method for them. I do not want them to be afraid and I want to encourage them to explore, but within limitations. They have a cat tree, tons of toys, they’re allowed on the living room furniture and our bed, they are allowed in every room of the house except for the laundry room, so they have plenty to check out. But of course, the kitchen is where the fascination is.

I am open to any and all advice for kitten training, I can read and research all I want from the internet but all cats have different personalities and respond to different things, so I would like to hear firsthand experiences as to what did or did not work well for your cat, so I can at least get started on some trial and error methods. Thanks! :)

Hello everyone. I’ve had a stray cat for about 4 years now. I’d like to get another stray but I need advice on how to approach this possibility.

i don’t know how my cat would react around another animal. He gets nervous but cats easily adapt to other cats.

My cat ran away this morning (10/20) around 8am. In short, we think when my gf left the front door cracked; our usually—content to be inside—cat decided to check outside without my gf noticing. Then when she came in and locked him out he got spooked by the neighbors landscaping guy and bolted to God knows where.

I’m really worried about him as he’s only been outside with us a handful of times which were under five minutes. I left his favorite blanket outside and a few unwashed garments of clothes. I also left a fried chicken drumstick in a trap in our back yard and we canvassed the neighborhood talking to neighbors and posting pictures around as well. I guess I’m looking for some reassurance, suggestions and pragmatic help from anyone who’s had this happen to them too.

He’s a friendly little dope who doesn’t know how to fight so I’m really afraid that was the last time that I’ll ever see him but I’m trying to stay positive.

Hello! I would like to get a cat in a soon future, a kitten specifically. I’m doing some research on the best ways to take care of a cat to make sure im capable of such a responsibility. And so litter is pretty important!

We dont have the biggest flat, so for us it would be amazing if our imaginary cat could go in an enclosed litter box, so a litter box in a cabinet. I’ve seen that a lot of cats actually hate it online, but every-time the cabinet is super small with no light in it whatsoever..

So, I’m here to ask you all if you tried it and how did it go?

*Edit: here is the type of enclosed I mean: Enclosed cabinet on Wayfair

Inside would be a stainless steel sifting litter, motion sensor lights, deodorizer, a little step on the outside to make it easier to get inside and a track collecting rug

Also! I intended to use paper pellets or tofu litter

Hi all,

Our beloved cat Toby has been through several years of eye problems, which manifested as idiopathic uveitis and glaucoma and got to the stage he had to have his right eye removed. Two years later, his left eye appears to have suffered the same fate, despite our significant vet bills and application of c. 4 different eye drops 2-3 times a day for the last 2 years.

He has therefore now got to the point where he has gone completely blind. We have been keeping him indoors since we noticed his vision had significantly deteriorated, having been a very active outdoor cat (we took him in when a neighbour abandoned him so it was all he knew when we took ownership of him).

While he has adjusted to being indoors, being a first time cat owner, I'm facing a couple of dilemmas:

1) He cries a lot in the early evenings. He will stop if I go and give him a fuss, but it seems to be increasingly frequent.

2) He was clearly trained once upon a time to use a litter tray, and uses the one we have very easily (albeit can't see what he's doing to cover his mess so ends up throwing litter everywhere!). However, we have a very small house and so the smell can be very intense when he's done some fresh business.

I am therefore looking for some advice from experienced cat owners to address the above two points. With regards to point 1, is the crying likely to stem from boredom, and if so what can we do to help give him enrichment when he is used to getting that from being outdoors? It's very difficult to play with him now since he can't see/chase down/hunt his toys in the same way, and we tried buying a noisy bird toy thinking it'll allow him to track/hunt it, but it ended up just scaring him when it went off. Additionally, are there any recommendations regarding giving him exercise? I've seen comments on here regarding the wheels but I'm hesitant about him being able to use it safely given he can't see...

On point 2, I've been looking at self cleaning litter trays, which clearly vary in price but more importantly seem to have a shocking number of reports of being faulty/endangering the cats. Does anyone have any positive recommendations based on lived experience of a reliable, reasonably priced self cleaning litter tray I could consider? We live in the UK so UK sellers preferred.

Sorry for the long message, would really appreciate any insights.

Thanks!

My 11-year-old cat needs to get to the vet. She has licked herself raw on her neck. It looks like it might be a hot spot, but I'm not sure.

It's a walk-in vet, so I can happily take her whenever I get her in the carrier. The problem is I have Parkinson's, so I'm wobbly on my feet, and I have not been able to get her into the carrier. She has taken to hiding somewhere in the basement. Haven't been able to find her until she comes out to eat.

I have someone who can help me on Saturday. Is there anything I can do for her in the meantime?

and sometimes a particular cat who seems to be a teenager or old kitten comes. Whenever she comes next to the others or to the food she just meows and meows. Whenever i hear her i go next to her and she always runs away. What might this mean?

Background: We have a 2 1/2 year old spayed female. She grew up with another cat but is now currently alone. She was given to us by a former roommate a month ago due to “territorial issues” with the other two cats she was living with. Her being given to us was very sudden, and fortunately we had family pitch in to give her stuff to start with (cat tree with scratching segments, litter box, toys, water fountain, wet/dry food, comb, harness and lead). She used to live with us before our roommate moved out, so she’s comfortable in the space. She eats wet food 4x a day with some kibble mixed in, free feed kibble at night, and around an hour of play spread through the day. Her attention span is absolute dogshit so keeping her entertained is an uphill battle.

Her big issue right now is that she doesn’t let us sleep for more than a few hours without screaming bloody murder and trying to kick down our door. She free feeds kibble at night, has toys that roll around and make noise, has windows, gets playtime before we sleep, and has multiple beds. We don’t let her sleep with us at night because if we’re not giving her attention, she will attempt to break our blinds, knock shit over, bite our feet, and scream (she does this in the daytime). We also have a tiny ass bed that barely fits my partner and I, we legit don’t have room for her (our feet hang off our bed lol). Even if we did, she’s a long-haired cat and tracks litter everywhere, which gets it all over our bed. We ONLY shut our bedroom door when we’re sleeping, she’s allowed in otherwise. We have not faltered in this and she has never spent a night sleeping in our room.

She knows how to maximize how much sound she makes. She doesn’t have a super loud meow, but she is super agile and will jump up and off our door, taekwondo-style, or throw herself against the door and drag all her claws all over it. It’s impossible to ignore, bracing the door doesn’t work and she isn’t deterred by tinfoil or plastic on the door. I honestly wish I could see what she’s doing, because she’s so fucking loud. I know you’re supposed to ignore cats, but I get so fed up with her that I’ll throw the door open, pick her up and put her in the living room without petting or comforting her. Or she gets put in the room with her litterbox for 5 mins if she is incessant. She’s not letting us sleep. My partner does better at sleeping through it, but I’m a light sleeper and I’m suffering badly. She’s brought me to tears multiple times. We’ve seriously considered giving her away to a rescue or something. She’s always been this way (even with other cats around), so the thought of getting a second cat (which would basically be a sacrifice to get her to stop, which isn’t fair to anyone) makes me so nauseated.

The other thing is that 80% of the time, she’s nonstop yelling at me specifically. I’ve not owned cats before her, So I’m not as in-tune with meows as someone with experience, but it’s usually not pleasant meows. She’s constantly begging, yelling, essentially scolding and being mean to me in her kitty language. It makes it incredibly difficult to train her and not reinforce her meowing, because she does not stop. I talk to her and meow back if she’s not misbehaving, but she’ll bitch and moan regardless of what’s going on. I try to follow her to see if she wants to show me something, and she leads me to nothing (not the litterbox, not a toy) or it’s about food. She’ll lose interest in play after 30s, she doesn’t wanna be picked up, she doesn’t wanna sit on my lap, nothing. She hates it when I’m busy doing anything, hates when I lay in bed (AWESOME combo when you’re chronically ill, I know), and hates when I sit down and not follow her around 24/7.

I’m honestly getting so sick of her. She has moments when she’s wonderful and sweet, she always wants to sleep in my lap, let me handle her in ways that other people can’t, and seems to love me very much (according to my partner). I love her, but her meows are like pencils getting shoved in my ears. We haven’t had good sleep since we got her. I’m at the point where I’m shoving her away or closing the door behind me when I go to the bathroom, just for a moment of peace. She hasn’t been to the vet yet, but rest assured, she’s going once we have the money put together. Please please please does anyone have any advice. I don’t wanna give up on her but I’m getting so fed up with her. Thank you so much.

I’m looking for a cat behavior expert for a remote consultation (see my previous post). So far I’ve gotten one quote for a remote session which was $325, it feels steep.

Anyone you can recommend?

I have 2 cats that I adopted/got rehomed to me a little under 2 months ago, my girls are 5 and 17. They both have been using their two litter boxes with no issues, in their previous home they only used one but I think it was because the other one was covered so when I took the cover off they used both. Neither of them haven't gone anywhere but the boxes before.
The older one has started pooping in the shower and today I saw her pee in there as well.. She did go to look at the litter box but then went to the shower and peed there :( Since settling here in my apartment the bathroom and especially the shower corner have been her favourite spots and she has scent marked them a lot with her cheeks and always comes to hang out with me when I go to the bathroom.. idk if this is relevant information.
I have made some mistakes I think like I switched their litter (little by little, about 3 weeks ago I switched completely to tofu pellets) and rearranged some furniture a few days ago.
She also used to hang out a lot on the sofa backrest but I had to clean it because it smelled a bit like pee (she has arthritis so she can't clean herself well) and I think she didn't like that.. now she has moved on to hanging out in a corner shelf thingy where I made a cozy spot for them to sleep. She mostly stays there and sleeps and isn't as interested in food anymore either, but still eats when she finally gathers the strenght to leave her nest. She used to come every time the second she saw the food bowl :( She just went to the vet before I got her and they said she's fine except she has some caries, but she was so stressed from the move that I thought I'd wait before taking her to a dental vet.. but could that be the cause for this weird behaviour? I feel like she's so fragile I don't want to upset her by taking her to the vet again because the stress might kill her..
Idk what to do should I change the litter to something smoother like not pellets because I read somewhere that can also hurt their paws and cause litterbox aversion.
Help me pls

About 4 months ago, our 2.5 year old kitty started peeing and pooping all over our house. We took him to the vet immediately and they ran some tests and said he was fine, assumed it was anxiety causing urinary tract inflammation, and sent him home. In the few weeks that followed, we tried numerous medications including gabapentin among others, and he’s been on Prozac since then. He never has stopped pooping on the floor since then, but the peeing did improve on the Prozac. We are also doing prescription urinary food, treats, and supplements. But over that time, blood in his urine became more prominent, and I would see it regularly in the litter box. He went back to the vet, but again, they can’t find anything wrong (did an x ray, blood work, etc).

This week, the peeing all over the house has cranked up BIG time, and there is more blood in his urine. I have watched him in the litter box for the last couple months, and he really struggles to pee. It takes him about 10 minutes after he squats to get it all out. He also washes his groin CONSTANTLY.

He’s going in tomorrow for an ultrasound, but I am exhausted with being told there is nothing wrong when CLEARLY he is uncomfortable . He has been seen by 2 different vets and I very much trust both of them, but there has to be something here that is being missed.

Does anyone have any ideas that we could investigate further? We love this kitty dearly and really want to find a way to make him healthy again.

hi hi i have a young velcro kitty who loves following me everywhere no matter what i'm doing, and im taking a few flights in the next couple months does anyone have advice or tips or things i absolutely need to know? i'm asking the vet about sedatives but im worried he'll get stressed

My kitten (10months) is the sweetest cat in the world until she gets to play outside in the backyard & smells a mouse, rabbit, or lizard. Then me & her race to the door as she always tries to BOOK it inside. She is an indoor cat by the way. She has a set schedule now, she will let me sleep until 10am and that’s when she starts screaming to go outside. Then she’ll be ok with coming back in around 2pm for a nap until dinner. But obviously I have to hangout with her outside the whole time or I know she’ll be too curious to go further and get lost possibly. I built her a catio but she only likes it in the backyard. Have I spoiled her or is this fine? the only problem is that every time someone opens a door she runs outside. How do I train her that she can go outside from the side door but never the front door?

Help! Just adopted a cat, and she will literally only play with one toy, but it just broke!! Literally have bought her $100 worth of toys and this is the only one that works……

It has a blue wand and this yellow fish attached above. Any advice on where to buy so i can buy them all would be so great!!!!

P.S. TOY picture is in the post reply’s sections i couldn’t figure out how to attach it to this post.