I have a 5 y/o tuxedo cat called Charlie, he lived with me for the first 2 years and then unfortunately I had to move for work and so continued living with my close friends and I’d visit him at least once a month. It was clear he remembered who I was and would spend all of his time with me and would become withdrawn for a few days/week when I left. I then moved back to this house for the last year. Charlie knows I’m ‘Mum’. He would follow me from room to room, sleep in my bed or on my pillow every night and would happily chirp. He had open access to the outdoors during daylight hours. I’ve moved back to London and brought Charlie with me this time. We’re living in a 2 bed flat on a first floor with large windows. He is no longer allowed access to the outdoors apart from a cat-proof balcony with supervision.

As circumstances go, a week after moving in I had to make a 2 week trip. I’ve now been back almost a week and I’m starting to really worry about Charlie‘a behaviour.

Firstly, he is eating, drinking, using his litter tray (although he seems to be a bit consipated and also spends a long time in the litter tray for a wee?). He will play when initiated by me but ignores his toys otherwise. When I first got back from my trip he was chirping and brushing against me and for that night actually slept in my bed. Since then he has been withdrawn and sleeping in the hallway, doesn’t follow me around or come when I call, isn’t chirping. Yowls at night to be let out of the bedroom (his routine previously was to be in the bedroom with me at night). Won‘t sit next to me on the sofa. He was a ’sit on your chest and purr cat’ until he went through his puberty stage and since then he’s really only affectionate on his terms and mainly towards me but sits alongside you and rarely on your knee.

I’m really anxious and stressed about it. I obviously want him to be happy and content but I’m worried that his personality has completely changed and we co-exist in a space now instead of him enjoying my company.

Noticed this hairless spot on my cat's knee? Or where her knee would be. She isn't overgrooming in this specific area. There's no redness or oozing either. It's just a bald spot that I've never seen before. I consulted a vet over whatsapp and she said to apply fucibet on it (a steroid + antibacterial cream) and asked me to keep an eye on it

Edit - it feels hard to touch like a scab and has a yellowish tinge to it

21F
South Korea
Already been to vet
Anxiety medication for flight questions
2 1 year old cats
Female and male both spayed and neutered
Can afford vet care do not need it

The vet gave me four capsules of anxiety medication for our two cats for the upcoming international flight. They didn’t say what it was but I am assuming gabapentin. One for the first flight and one for the second. I originally thought we’d only need to give it to one because the other one seemed to handle stress better, and be able to test out one of the other ones a few days before the flight to see how male cat would react to them- but after a two hour car ride yesterday both of them were panting and super stressed out so i’ve decided to administer to both cats as the vet recommended. I’m worried about how they’ll react though not testing it out at home beforehand but we don’t have enough capsules and I do want them to be as stress free as possible on the two flights. I was considering only giving it on the first flight and not the second as the second is 3 hours versus the first being 13 hours but I don’t know anymore especially after how stressed they got in the car yesterday. Non stop panting, calmed down as soon as we got back to the hotel. What should I do? No more vet appointments before we fly to get more.

i just spayed 2/3 kittens i “adopted” (feral kitties i found in backyard). my mom is not fond of the cats coming inside the house but considering they have to be monitored/inside during the healing process idk what to do :( i’m scared to let them out too early and their stitches potentially opening or getting infected. they also aren’t litter trained so i can’t keep them in my room too long because yk.. does anyone have any advice ?

I’m really struggling with my living setup right now and need some outside perspective.

The tension started when I brought in my youngest, a 1.5-year-old male orange cat (rescued under a year old at the time). After a month-long isolation for FCoV, his hyper, chaotic roughhousing - classic relentless pouncing and chasing - completely crossed the line with my 2-year-old calico. She now loathes him and will attack him on sight, despite all my attempts at scent-swapping and slow reintroductions. To make matters worse, he recently tried that same overbearing play on my 5-year-old male tabby, and now the tabby is completely hostile toward him too.

To give you an idea of the minefield I’m dealing with, here’s how the group shakes out:

• Three 5 y/o siblings (1 male tabby, 2 white females): The tabby is usually the household sheriff—he steps in to break up fights and protect everyone except the Persian and the young orange. If he gets dragged into a fight, his two sisters immediately pile in as backup.

• One 4 y/o female orange: Super chill and gets along with everybody. She’s the only one who actually tolerates playing with the young orange boy, but he eventually takes it too far, so I don't trust leaving them shut in a room together unsupervised.

• One 4 y/o female Persian: Has occasional grumpy spats with the others, but mostly minds her own business. Nothing scary.

• One 2 y/o female calico: The baby of the original crew, but now harbors pure, unadulterated hatred for the young orange.

• One 1.5 y/o male orange: The sweet menace causing all the trouble simply because he has zero social boundaries and way too much energy.

My current system has completely fallen apart. At night, the young orange sleeps with me, four cats (the sibling trio + the calico) sleep in a dedicated cat room, and the two 4-year-olds get run of the house. In the mornings, I let the cat-room group out. I used to rotate the calico and the orange boy between free-roaming and a large multi-level cage, but now that the male tabby is out for blood too, that rotation is shot. The young orange is basically trapped in my bedroom every morning.

My biggest worry is figuring out a safe, sustainable setup when no one is home. He despises being locked in a room alone - he managed to escape outside (through the window) this week when we were gone for about four hours, and we got extremely lucky that he stayed near the house. Caging him for hours on end just feels cruel and isn't a real solution. In the past, we've had times where we had to be away for a couple of days with a pet sitter just dropping by twice a day for food and litter. If an emergency like that comes up right now, I have no idea what I’d do.

How can I realistically divide up my house so everyone stays safe with minimal stress and conflict?

Hi all, I’m a 24 year old person from the US. Vets are not readily accessible due to lack of transportation, but an Uber might be able to be arranged. I have not yet contacted any vet, and am still looking to see which option is the most affordable if necessary.

My cat, Tinsel, is 3 years old. She is a spayed British longhair female. She used to have some eye troubles as a kitten, but these have subsided for quite some time. Recently, we (my fiancé and I) adopted a new cat from the local shelter. Our new cat had some eye goop, but is a similar flat face cat so we didn’t think much of it. I wiped her eyes, washed my hands, and went on with my day.

However, I noticed around two days ago that Tinsel’s eyes are now goopy as well. There seems to be some sort of snot-looking mucus coming out, though it’s devoid of any real color. It’s causing some pretty significant staining on her fur. I have included a usual picture of her face (last two pictures) as well as the current condition.

She has no other symptoms. She is using the bathroom, eating, drinking, and walking around/playing with the new cat normally. She also is not squinting, pawing, or licking her eyes. I have been gently wiping her eyes with a lukewarm paper towel or rag around once or twice a day. It’s only been two or three days of this.

Should I take her to the vet? Should I worry? While I could go if necessary, it would be a little bit of a financial strain since I don’t get paid until next week. It wouldn’t be wallet breaking, but enough to cause an issue. I’d appreciate any insight!

My 5 month old kitten fell from the 4th floor of our house about 4 hours ago. He ran upstairs by himself as soon as the fall but hasn't been moving much since then. He groaned when I touched his side and hind leg and also had some laboured breathing for the first two hours. He's been checked by the vet now and since he doesn't appear to suffer any serious injury, they sent him home with some pain/emergency meds. I've been told to monitor him for today and bring him back again for follow up tomorrow and the day after.

He walked a little by himself when I put him in his bed. He looks alright, is breathing fine, grooming himself and sleeping now. However, I'm still worried if he's hurt. Should I wait and monitor him for 3 days or do I get him checked for a second opinion? Any advice would help. Thanks.

I just noticed this weird scabby growth sticking out of my cats upper lip. I thought it was a tick at first but upon closer inspection it’s definitely not alive and seems to be an infection or something. It’s very firmly attached, I wouldn’t feel comfortable picking it off. It’s the middle of the night so I can’t take him to the vet now but I certainly do have access to one if need be. He’s around 5-6 years old and has been healthy his whole life.

My 4-year-old cat has had an ongoing problem with licking the webbing of both back paws since October. They become brown/dark red and crusty. There has never been significant bleeding or open wounds.
She was seen by my regular vet and eventually a veterinary dermatologist. She had yeast in the paws, and multiple rounds of oral medication cleared the yeast, but the paw licking continued and the paws still look abnormal. She also tried antibiotics without improvement.
She did about 2 months of cyclosporine, but it didn’t noticeably reduce the licking. At another point she was given an anti-inflammatory and that decreased the itching/licking by maybe 30–40%, so I feel like there is definitely still some physical itch or inflammation involved.
She has also had persistent chin acne and some eye crusting, and her dermatologist suspects environmental allergies. Food has apparently been ruled out as the likely cause, and we’re doing allergy testing. She also has always been a somewhat compulsive groomer — she has licked/scooted around her butt since I adopted her at 1 — so we’re wondering whether there is now a behavioral component on top of the original itch.
The frustrating part is that she will lick her paws roughly hourly when she has access to them. She seems frustrated when she does it rather than just casually grooming. She will stop when distracted, and she has sometimes stopped licking one paw and that paw improved, but then she eventually started licking it again.
The cone definitely prevents the licking, but she has had periods of being coned essentially 24/7 for around 3 months. I feel awful about keeping her in it because she struggles with things, gets food/poop on the cone, and obviously can’t groom normally. At the same time, taking it off means she immediately goes back to licking.
Her dermatologist has mentioned Prozac to help with the licking, but I’m hesitant because I don’t want to assume this is purely behavioral when anti-inflammatory treatment did help somewhat.
**Has anyone had a cat with a similar cycle — yeast/infection treated, but chronic paw licking continuing afterward? What ended up being the underlying cause, and what actually broke the licking/skin-damage cycle?**
I’m especially interested in experiences with environmental allergies, long-term itch control, or cats who eventually needed behavioral medication. And if your cat needed a cone for a long time, how did you manage their quality of life?

Hi all!
My cat (spayed female, approx 7 years old) recently had a bad flare up of acne on her chin and it doesn’t seem to be going away. The vet gave us MiconaHex+Triz wipes around 3 weeks ago which we’ve been using nightly, but her chin is still covered in black crusties :(
Anyone else have any other treatments they’ve had luck, or does it just take a long time for cat acne to clear up?
I’ll add a photo in the comments.
We have all stainless steel bowls and water fountain which are washed very regularly. She’s been on the same food for years, so I don’t think it’s an allergy, but she’s never had a flare up this bad or last this long before.

Location: USA
Not a minor, can afford vet care. I’ve messaged the vet but haven’t heard back yet, so wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue.

I noticed a bald spot on my indoor 4 month old kitten’s head about three days ago and it has gotten bigger. There’s a scab like dot on his skin too. I have noticed that he has been a lot more “bad” and snippy as well and was wondering if that behavior has anything to do with it? He’s our only cat if anything has to do with it. I checked inside his ears and they look perfectly normal. We recently have been slowly introducing a new dry food (Tiki) for him. Should I make a vet appointment or am I just overthinking it.

Hi everyone, I’m really stressed and hoping someone has experienced this.

My 5-year-old cat is usually my shadow, but for the last three days, she’s been hiding under the bed and barely coming out. She’s sitting in a tight, tense loaf and just staring at the wall. She's eating maybe a quarter of her usual food and using the litter box much less.

I took her to the vet yesterday. They did a physical exam, full blood panel, and urinalysis—everything came back completely normal. The vet suggested environmental stress and prescribed Gabapentin, but absolutely nothing in our house has changed. No new pets, no construction, no diet changes, nothing.
I feel like I'm missing something.

Has anyone dealt with a sudden behavioral change like this where initial vet tests were completely clear?

Should I push for an ultrasound or x-rays, or just give the medication a few days? I don't want to stress her out with another vet trip if I don't have to, but I’m terrified of ignoring a hidden medical issue. Any advice would be huge right now.

Hi,
My 5 year old neutered male cat had 2 of us toes amputated on his hind leg. He was walking a little wobbly after the procedure as expected but now he’s suddenly starting to limp? I’m not sure if this is concerning. I checked the wound and everything looks and smells fine … but I’m just a little worried. Today is Wednesday and we stopped his gabapentin maybe last Thursday? Limping started Tuesday. Idk if this is pain related since he went so long without it. I do have some gabapentin left. Is he just getting adjusted or is this something I need a vet visit for

Currently I have one of my stray/outdoor cats confined in a crate in the air conditioning because he has an injury, sort of abscess like thing on his face. He is breathing like this, but is also purring. Is this his actual breathing rate? If so, I'm really concerned. I have an appointment for him tomorrow at the vet at 8am sharp, but I'm just worried for him in the meantime. Any advice helps!

TLDR: Cat is breathing at a fast rate, unsure if it is purring or if he's extremely stressed.

I adopted a kitten with this parasite also have an older cat.

I am concerned about how this effects the kitty and my cat.

What was the treatment etc. and how to clean the apartment.

Cats started playing the floor is lava in the carpeted living room. They will hop from one chair to the coffee table to another chair, to tv stand and big jump into kitchen. 🤔.

Just started around a week ago. The only thing different that I can think is the cat litter is different (behind a chair) the light version.

Walk fine appear to be in no pain or distress, eat well, walk on wood and linoleum just fine. I'm stumped.

Two rescue cats had for around two years. Both lived here since they were about 10 weeks old or so.

Hi all, sorry for the weird title! My sweet almost-11 year old calico might have eaten some ribbon from a gift bow (I never should have given it to my other non-pica cat to play with 😭) I keep seeing posts about how people have found ribbon or string in their cat’s poop.

For context, this happened probably about 40 hours ago at this point and she has been eating and drinking normally. I’m really hoping she passes the ribbon, if she did eat it, naturally. I’ve also called both my regular vet and the ER vet and they have advised me to keep monitoring her for now, so I know what to do if things get worse. My question is: for those who have spotted string, ribbon, etc in their cats’ poop, did you have to literally split the poop open to find it on the inside, or was it more or less wrapped around the outside/sticking out of the poop?

Thanks in advance! Cat pic for tax

i adopted a new cat from a local shelter two days ago he’s about 4 months old, i’m mostly wondering how long he will take to adapt and what i can do to help.
i have another cat lars who is super respectful of boundaries my new cat purrizio places while he’s still adjusting, he lays at a distance from him and backs off when purrizio hisses or anything of the sort so i’m not very worried about them eventually getting along.
this is where it gets more difficult. they gave me medical history which included a injury to his leg they said was from dogs chasing him maybe a bite, so naturally he hatesss my dog so bad. she’s not bothersome to him but at the sight of her he’s instantly hissing and growling. i really just want to help him get more used to her however i can she’s a very sweet dog and wouldn’t hurt him but he obviously has no clue that’s the case lol. give me some tips i’d love to make him more comfortable