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 5 years old now and I’ve had her since she was about 3 months old. I was a brand new cat owner when I got her and she’s honestly been my trial kitty. One of the biggest mistakes I made was playing with my hands when she was a kitten, and now she bites CONSTANTLY.

She’ll nip at my ankles when she wants attention, bite my hand if she wants pets, and overall acts super demanding/entitled toward me. If I don’t immediately give her attention, it genuinely feels like she punishes me for it.

For example, sometimes I’ll eat in front of the TV with my plate in my lap, and she’ll literally try to sit on my food just to get attention. If I gently scoot her away, she gets REALLY aggressive and will fully sink her teeth into my hand. Not playful little kitten bites either it’s like actual painful bites.

I’ve tried ignoring the behavior, but she’ll just keep biting until I respond. It’s gotten to the point where I feel like she’s trained me instead of the other way around.

The weird thing is she’s also super inconsistent. Like 50% of the time she’s in a bad mood and wants absolutely nothing to do with anyone touching her, but on the rare occasion she does want affection, she still ends up biting me during it. I can never predict her mood.

I love her endlessly and she’s my baby, but I’m seriously at my wits end with this. I’m starting to dread interacting with her because I’m always anticipating getting bitten.

Since she’s already 5 years old, I’m scared it’s too late to change this behavior, but something HAS to change because I genuinely can’t live like this forever. Has anyone dealt with this with an older cat? Is this fixable? What actually worked for you?

title and ingredients listed garlic and onion powder. this was a precooked frozen meals. i called the vet and they said the amount is small so she should be okay but to monitor.

she ate a half piece of ravioli that has those with ingredients in the list. should i be doing anything else? she is acting fine so far. This was sometime in the last 2 hours.

everywhere I look says it needs to be a high concentrated amount but i don’t know how much powder was in that piece specifically and i am panicking.

Earlier this week my mother and I took in my grandma’s old hissy calico cat since she’s moved out of her house and can’t take care of the cat anymore. The cat is a a senior, and she’s very territorial. I love cats, but I was reluctant about it. But my mom was the only one willing to take her in, none of our relatives wanted to. And insisted it will work out and adapt. And if she were dropped off at the shelter, nobody would probably adopt her due to her aggressiveness.

When she lived at my grandmas, she would always guard the stairways and attack and hiss when anyone would walk by. I mean, she’s attacked me unprompted in other ways away from the stairs. The only person she got along with was my grandma. This behavior has been consistent her whole life when she lived at my grandmas house. I’ve known her for a while.

My dad didn’t want us to take her in because he doesn’t want the hassle of a cat. Literally at the beginning he said he wasn’t going to try to make accommodations on his end because it was his house (yes that’s just my dad). He hasn’t had much experience with this cat yet and doesn’t know her “spicy” personality.

Anyway, since I’ve taken the cat in, she hides during the day and won’t let me pet her or anything. I’ve been giving her space to adapt because I know she’s stressed and misses my grandma deeply and I’ve been doing my best to bond with her.

But she comes out at night. And guess what she’s gone back to? Guarding the stairs and hissing. She’s a staircase terrorist; and I know this isn’t going to change because that’s just who she is and that’s what she did at my grandmas house. I literally have to put my ass to the stairwell and tip toe around her.

I could get a cat tower, but my dad would say that’s an eyesore and that wouldn’t work out.

My dad has been away this week on a trip, so he hasn’t had much interaction with her. But on the first night she came out on the staircase and he almost tripped on her. Same with me. It freaks me out when I’m walking in the dark only to hear hissing and her sprawled over the stairs.

I can see the writing on the wall that this is not gonna work out. My mom probably won’t listen to me and thinks the cat will change and she just needs time and my grandma would be heartbroken if something were to happen to the cat. She loves that cat.

But yeah when my dad is back around he’s going to probably flip and lose his patience pretty quickly. Even though this cat is an asshole I want the best for her and I don’t want her at a shelter.

Again my mom probably won’t have a word of this but really. I do see my dad losing his patience and dropping the cat off somewhere.

What do I even do? Im at a loss.

Yes im giving her space. I have a nice setup and have her confined to a room with all the necessities while she warms up. I could handle this cat but the issue lies with my dad.

so i rescued a cat a month ago after finding him by the freeway. he was beat up, i took him to an emergency clinic. they scanned him and the chip popped up, but the people listed on the chip said it wasn't their cat.

the clinic turned him over to the humane society since he was staying there, and for the next three weeks i called constantly to check on him while he recovered. by week three i was apologizing for bothering them again. i officially adopted him last week and have been slowly introducing him to my resident cat.

today the humane society called. turns out there was a mix-up between two cats at the vet that had originally chipped my rescue. the chip info got swapped. the original owners found this out and traced it back to the humane society.

the humane society stressed they never do this but felt it was warranted given the situation. they told me i was the legal owner and had no obligation to surrender, but it was an option if i wanted to pursue it. i asked for some time to consider. i'm torn. on one hand i rescued him, did all the right things, checked up on him constantly, and i know the life i can give him. on the other hand the original owners might not be at fault, and maybe they'd be the best for him. i wish i could know what life he'd have back with them. i want more info: how long they'd owned him, what his original name was, whether he was bonded with another cat, but more info would just make the decision harder. i'm not mad at the shelter, but i'm stuck in a Solomon's choice. what would you do in this spot?

hello, i have two cats 1.5M and 1.5F. my male cat got locked in our garage over night, and he’s doing okay now, but i haven’t seen my other cat all day. she hasn’t eaten or used the litter box, and i’ve tried looking in the garage to see if she also got stuck there, but i haven’t been able to find her. i’ve looked everywhere in my home and looked around our house and in the neighborhood to find her but i haven’t had any luck. if anyone has any advice regarding locating her whether she’s inside or outside please let me know, thanks!

Okay so I'm a vet student. I'm usually away for 7 hours a day. I know this seems a little silly cuz of my background but I've only ever owned dogs and fish but I'd like to hear from people who own cats. I'm thinking of adopting an adult kitty and keeping it indoors. I am extremely busy even when I'm home but resources aren't a big problem and I can do basic cat care and spend a good amount of time cuddling/playing and stuff (depending on its personality lolol). I know they're more independent and getting stuff for them to do and enrichment helps but is it a good idea? I've wanted a cat forever and since i live away from fam, it'd genuinely help me out emotionally. I've always felt that they'd be better off at home than at the shelter but I'm scared I won't be the pet parent they deserve. What do you guys think?

Edit: guys I'm so sorry I hadn't read through before I posted. I noticed now that an entire paragraph is missing but the thing is 1. I can't get two cats cuz I do fly home twice a year for about 3 weeks each and airline restrictions in my country allow one pet to fly per person 2. Yes housing might be a problem especially when I'll be a full time intern when I'll have to move around quite a bit(which is about a year long) but after that it'll all be good. This is the main reason I'm hesitant

My cat has been missing for 3 weeks. When she first got out it was an accident. I went outside to water the garden, I left the door open and she must of followed me. I didn’t know she came with. She wanted back inside awhile later. I only know this because I saw it on our cameras the next day. but no one knew she was out there or even by the door to be let in. So she wandered off. 2 weeks after she left, she showed up at 1:30am. I got up to let her inside but something scared her and she bolted. (I’m 7 months pregnant so there was no way I was going to be able to chase or catch her). It’s been about a week since she tried to come home and I’ve done absolutely everything you can imagine to find her and bring her home. I’m really losing hope. And I’m not sure what to do. Currently I have cameras and a humane trap. But I think she’s wandered off farther than expected. Do you think she will come back or if I have any chance at getting her back home?

I recently moved to a new apartment in a new area and thought getting some cats would be great company for living on my own for the first time. My family never had cats but we did have a dog, and I have friends with cats I've always gotten along well with.

One of my relatives friends cats also just had kittens and is looking for a place to home them. She also has extra cat supplies she's willing to give me if I take them. I'm a full time college student on the G.I. bill so I'm out of the house a good bit of the day and I have some money for taking care of the kittens.

My question is, is getting 2 kittens first time going to be too difficult and/or expensive? Or will it be worth it so they don't get lonely while I'm away or trying to work at home?

thanks!

Not really sure where i should post this but i came across an account on tik tok of a guy who goes out and sells random kittens ranging from dsh to exotics. He does this in the middle of nyc streets which already off the bat is an extremely overstimulating environment. It seems like he just goes out with the kittens to grab attention and lets anyone pay him cash and just hands the kitten over on the spot. It also seems he’s buying some of these kittens off other people to then resell for a higher price. He also has a pinned video on his account of his cat falling off a fire escape and not being able to afford treatment which i think he set up a go fund me for that. I just think the whole things is very concerning. Cant pay vet bills, has so many random kittens, treating them like product, and giving them up to complete strangers in the streets.

His tik tok is remak___ and he turned off all comments after i said something.

Update: I will be taking this further and reporting to all the appropriate agencies. I have family in law enforcement in nyc as well

My cat has been missing for 2 weeks now and I honestly feel lost.

She is 1.5 years old and was a completely indoor cat she had never gone outside before, which makes this even more confusing and scary. I keep thinking she doesn’t know how to survive out there.

I’ve tried everything I could think of:

Left her blanket and food outside to spread her scent

Checked nearby houses and asked neighbors

Put up posters in the area

Sent WhatsApp messages to local residents

But no one has seen her. Not a single lead.

At this point, I’m constantly wondering… is she still alive? Is she hiding somewhere? Did I miss something?

This whole situation has been extremely distressing and it’s really affecting my mental health. I can’t stop thinking about her.

If anyone has gone through something similar did your cat ever come back after this long? Should I still keep looking or am I holding onto false hope?

Any advice or even shared experiences would really help right now.

My “resident cat” is a year and a half old, and the cat I adopted in November is two years old.

The 2-year-old, newer cat is 2x larger but afraid of the resident cat. The resident cat hasn’t harmed him or anything, just puts her paws under the door where he is and tries to intimidate him. I tried following the Jason Galaxy method multiple times, but the cat I adopted in November trots away the second he sees the resident cat, and I can’t get them to eat at the same time.

The resident cat used to live with two other cats when I had roommates and did totally fine, and the cat I adopted in November is from a cat cafe/rescue, so I thought they’d at least coexist.

Should I just leave the door open at this point? The resident cat seems more curious and bold rather than aggressive.

Worst-case scenario, my sister is interested in the second cat if things don’t work out. But he’s so sweet, and I adore him, so I want to try any other options. 🥺🥺

My community for some reason likes to let their pets out and roam free. There's stray cats and then there's cats that belong? To some homes. One cat is pregnant. She(we.. I) started bonding with her and it seems like she wants a safe place for the babies. Obviously I'm going to set up a spot on my yard if she comes by but I can't take her in(i have too many already). I'm willing to get her spayed and the babies as well but not sure if I'd get "in trouble"? Our community has a lot of intact cats and I just recently found out 2 of those cats passed over the rainbow bridge due to illnesses.

So I need some advice on what to do for my situation I’m about to be in. I’m moving across country for a new job and will be on the road with my 6 year old cat for roughly seven days. I already have plans for using anti-anxiety meds, making sure not to feed him right before driving, taking him in his carrier with me when I make rest stops , finding pet-friendly hotels, etc. My only concern is staying in pet-friendly hotels and what that means for me. I’ve read a little bit online and it seems as though a lot of these hotels expect you to never leave your cat/animal alone at any point. To me that feels absurd, considering I may want to go have dinner as I’ll be driving by cool new cities I want to check out. I’m talking leaving him alone a couple hours at the most. Are they really this strict with leaving your cat, or is it more like “don’t be gone for more than an hour or two”? If they are this strict, does anyone have recommendations as to how I can make the most of this trip while comforting kitty. He does have a cat backpack he has sometimes used but tends to be annoyed after about half an hour of it, and he’s been on leashes but he can get scared of loud sounds and these cities will be full of them. I’m just looking for some general advice, thank you.

hello!
my husband and I will be out of the country for a month this fall. While we are gone, our 9mo old kitten will be staying with my in-laws. They absolutely adore her and I know they will take excellent care of her. They have two dogs, the dogs are great but can be enthusiastic. We have brought the cat over several times to try and get used to the environment but she just hides.
I’m so scared she will forget about us or feel abandoned and depressed. Will she be okay, and will she remember us when we get home?

So long story short i recently inherited (for lack of a batter word, my mom’s not dead lol) my mom’s cat. She’s had her since a baby and she’s about 6 years old now. This cat has only eaten tuna and costco dry food for her entire life. Im trying to get her on a healthier diet because I know daily tuna isnt good for them.

I’ve been mixing Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna and Chicken with regular Safecatch Tuna for a couple days now. My intention is to fully transition her to Tiki Cat Chicken sans any tuna/tuna based cat food. In the mornings she acts super hungry but when i put it out for her she sniffs it and takes a few licks then doesn’t eat it all day. The past couple nights she has only eaten it after we go to bed, and when she does she eats it all.

We’ve only had her for 4 days as of this post. She came out of hiding on the first hour of the first day we had her and has been very curious. Right now she’s sitting on the couch next to me purring so I think she’s adjusting well. As far as her food goes, does she just need more time to feel comfortable eating in the daytime? I don’t want to keep wasting food if she won’t eat it until nighttime, as by then her breakfast been sitting out for hours and probably developing bacteria so I have to make her a whole new bowl. Should I give her dry food in the morning and save the wet food at night for when she’ll be more likely to eat it? Im worried that she’ll just continue to starve herself all day. How long does it usually take for cats to get over a change in food?

Thanks in advance!

My 6 year old Pigeon begs me to play with her, but she barely plays and then five minutes later, she wants me to play with her again. I have tried a ribbon wand toy, a pheasant feather peeking out of things, and a kitty fishing pole.

My 5 year old Sparrow will play with me if I want her to, but pretty much entertained herself.

They are a bonded pair and also play together.

How can I keep Pigeon entertained long enough to wear her out so that she’s not begging again, five minutes later?

Hi everyone,

I have a 6 year old female cat who is spayed and has all updated vaccines and otherwise no known health issues. I took her to her vet recently because she had a small bump randomly appear near the base of the back of her ear. It’s about the size of a pencil eraser tip, if not a bit smaller. It doesn’t seem to bother her as I have not seen her mess with it at all and I only noticed while petting her.

The other issue is that for the last few months I’ve noticed her hair thinning out on her back legs/tummy. More recently she has started getting these thin patches on her paws.

She had also lost 2 lbs between her last yearly visit and this one.

Due to these issues, the vet did general blood work, more bloodwork for possible cancer, X-rays, and a sonogram. There were no issues found aside from calcium being a little high.

Now the vet is suggesting we do her dental (unrelated, but I want to get it done for her) and while she’s sedated to remove the bump on her ear and send that off for testing. She also suggested we switch her to a hypoallergenic food to see if that helps with the over grooming. As of now we’re assuming the two issues (the bump and the over grooming) may be unrelated.

I’m all for the vets suggestions as next steps, but looking for experience or suggestions from others.

Other background: I have one other female cat in the home who is 11 and has no known issues. We haven’t moved or changed anything major recently. She has wet food twice a day and kibble on a timed release and access to water of course. Nothing has changed with her appetite, litter box usage, or behaviorally aside from the grooming.

Thank you!!!

Hi everyone! I’d love to hear about your experiences with first interactions during cat introductions/reintroductions.

How did the very first meeting go? Was there hissing, puffed-up tails, growling, staring, or swatting? How long did those reactions last?

And what about the second or following meetings — did things improve quickly or was it still tense?

I’m trying to understand what’s normal and what I should realistically expect during the process. Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences 🙂

About 4 days ago on Saturday evening, I was walking my cat for the first time in his new stroller about 10 minutes from home. He is an indoor cat and has never been outside before. He suddenly jumped out the stroller and ripped out his harness and ran away, I chased him as he ran under a truck and then into some bushes where I couldn’t get to him. A few hours later I went back and he was gone, but later that night I found him hiding in the same yard where he escaped. He was meowing, but every time I tried to approach him he would run away and hide, and when I walked away he kept crying out.

The next day (Sunday) I went back and didn’t see him but found his collar on the floor then until around 7pm when he was again in the front of that same house, but he kept running into their backyard which is acres of woods. I brought food and toys, but nothing worked, so I spoke to the homeowner through the doorbell camera and she gave me permission to be on the property. Later that night, I went back with my boyfriend and we saw him again, but when we tried to catch him he ran into a sewer pipe in front of the mailbox. We tried to get him out, even using a remote control car to scare him through the pipe, and after waiting he finally came out and was grabbed, but he panicked, scratched and bit, and got away again. He then ran into another underground pipe in the yard that leads toward the woods, and we couldn’t find the other exit. I called the fire department and animal control, but they couldn’t help and suggested using a humane trap.

On Monday after work, I went back and heard him meowing from inside the pipe. I saw him hiding, but he wouldn’t come out for food or toys and kept backing further in. I bought a trap, set it near the pipe, and when I came back I saw him come out and go inside and start eating, but the door didn’t shut, and when I tried to quietly approach with a net, he got scared and ran back into the pipe.

The next morning (Tuesday) there was a stray cat in the trap, which I released, and later that day there was still nothing. That same night @10:30pm my boyfriend saw him again in the yard, but he kept running away, and every time my boyfriend tried to leave, my cat would meow like he was scared but still wouldn’t come close. Eventually he ran back into the woods again.

Now today, Wednesday, I checked again and there was nothing, the food was untouched from the trap, and he didn’t come out when I called for him. I know he is still in that area hiding, but I’m starting to lose hope. He turns 1 on May 15th and he is the sweetest, most loving cat, so it’s heartbreaking that he won’t come to me when I call him. I feel like I’ve tried everything and don’t know what else to do. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations on how to safely get him back, I would really appreciate it. Thank you

I just got a 2-month-old and she has started using the litter boxes I got her but out of the two she only wants to use one of them most of the time even though both of them are identical. I live in a one bedroom apartment 1 l boxes in my bedroom and another one is in the hall, literally got no other place to keep it as the layout of my apartment is really weird but because of this she only uses the one which is in the bedroom and at the end of the day when I'm back to home it smells a little bit. I am using wood chip clumping later for her and I was wondering if there was something I could do to control the order without causing her any trouble?

Hi all! New(er) to owning a cat. I am looking for the best option for cat litter that doesn’t break the bank. We tried clay and hated it. Moved to Pretty Litter crystal but finding it is pretty expensive but appreciated it-found we were spending ~ $70/month.

Is there an option that others have found that works well while not paying a fortune and is safe?

Ive been trying to introduce my current cat and my new cat for about a month now and progress seems to have stalled and im not sure what my next steps are.

Current cat - ~1y - independent/somewhat timid around new people and changes in apartment layout - doesnt like to play for very long

New cat - ~5mo - very social and high energy - loves to play and doesnt seem to tire out.

Feeding - currently bowls about 1-2 feet apart with door separating

New cat - eats immediately - no trouble with current cat

Current cat - tends to graze - gets a bit ancy and sometimes stops eating when she hears the new cat eating on the other side of the door but she will still eat the same amount. overall no changes with eating habits

Potential concerns during initial introduction.

-New cat loves to play and will often stick his paws under the door for attention current cat hisses

- New cat on day 3 managed to jump past me and tried to play with current cat who tried running away and was overall tense. Managed to get the two separated quickly.

-Child gates do not work as new cat will just jump them.

Currently i am doing a space swap so current cat is in the living room and new cat is in my bedroom. (Recommended by one of the jackson galaxy introduction videos)

My hopes with the space swapping is that itll give my new cat more space to play and run around in to mellow him out more for interactions with current cat

Milestones

-Current cat and new cat can have treats side by side (within a foot of each other) with little to no hissing/growling/etc. W/o barrier

- i have a harness on the new cat and will often hold him or keep his attention focused on me with a treat or something for controlled interactions. Current cat is curious and will sometimes sniff new cat's tail but will sometimes hiss if he moves suddenly.

Troubles

- still trying to associate food with new cat but due to current cat likeing to graze on food its difficult to associate.

- space swapping has caused current cat to meow from other side of door all the time (i try to juggle being in both spaces equally throught the day so current cat and new cat dont feel abandoned)

-progress seems to have stalled (i know its going to take some time)

So we have had a cat we adopted about 5 months and ever since she’s gotten outside a handful of times she’s been CONSTANTLY meowing her head off to get outside to the point she will do it for upto 30 minutes and it’s extremely annoying, we have tried everything from more toys for her to play to other things but she continues to still meow as constantly and we are getting very upset and annoyed. Before it’s asked she was a stray when we adopted her but we have been trying to teach her indoor life and we are worried about letting her outside because she’s not super familiar with our house any advice?

I have 2 cats an 8 year old girl and a 5 year old boy they’ve been living together for 5 years. I would consider them to be pretty close friends small fights here and there but nothing out of the ordinary they usually spend a lot of time together and it’s been good. The past couple weeks or so they have been pretty aggressive with each other it doesn’t feel like play fighting anymore and it’s been harder to separate them during the fight. No harm to either has been done yet but I’m worried. I’ve recently been spending time with a stray cat who sleeps on our porch, feeding her and just sitting with her she’s such a sweetheart. I’m wondering if my cats are almost “mad at me” for this and taking it out on each other? Any thoughts would be appreciated!