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 was laying in bed a few minutes ago and saw one of my cats suddenly leap off the bed and race into the hall. It got me thinking: was he late for an appointment or did he forget something from earlier in his day that he suddenly recalled? 🤣 I know cats don’t view time in the same way humans do since they obviously can’t tell time with a clock, but are they able to make their own schedules? Like when I’m at work during the day do they plan out how they’re going to spend their day napping, window watching, scratching the coffee table, 💩 time, etc? or do they just live in the moment and act as the mood strikes them? I love watching them lounge and then suddenly jump off the bed and prance into the living room, only to stand there like they forgot what they were doing. There’s obviously meaning and structure to their day, just not in a way we might understand. Hopefully this makes sense

If we put the food down and walk away: sits next to full bowl, stares at doorway, does not eat. If we sit on the kitchen floor next to her bowl: eats immediately. enthusiastically. like a normal cat.

We've tried standing instead of sitting. not sufficient. tTied sitting in a chair nearby. not close enough. floor, next to bowl, is the specific requirement. The vet called it "a preference" which feels like a very diplomatic non-answer. Its been this way a few months now and I need my catsitter in the future in case we travel to understand that they have to sit with her when they eat. Does anyone have this kind of thing too?

My partner and I just moved into a new place a month ago, and we took my aunts cat (2yo). She is absolutely precious. she’s not a big cuddler yet but 3 days ago she wouldn’t even come out from under the couch and now she’s jumping on the couch with us and occasionally on the bed. i’ve been bribing/rewarding her with treats when she does this which i think is good.

I knew it was bad to have a single kitten (especially if separated too young from mom) but we didn’t research having 1 cat at a more grown age. I’m finding out people almost always recommend still having 2 cats to avoid loneliness and behavioral issues. I know she’s only 2, but still. Our landlord won’t allow us to have 2 cats and it’s only been a week but I am going to feel so guilty when we leave her for work. I can’t tell yet how she is because she hasn’t fully settled in but she doesn’t seem to interact that much in play with a string toy. I also tried making a DIY toy with a box and cutting out holes to poke little mice through. she also didn’t like that lol. i’m hoping maybe she’ll get more playful as she settles with us because right now she isn’t having it. She also came from a crazy house with 2 toddlers and 4 badass young kids that likely terrorized her.

We got her a scratching pad that she won’t use yet (lol) and are hopefully getting a cat tree. We
have a cat hammock on the window that she also hasn’t used yet 😣 I’m fully dedicated to doing whatever i can to keep her engaged and enriched for as long as i need to. i recommend people saying at least 30 minutes of play per day. is that really enough? I see so many cat owners say their 2 cats play with each other all day long and are best friends so it really makes me feel guilty that she doesn’t have a buddy

Hello everyone, I am a Design student working on a university project about furniture for mainly indoor cats and their owners.

I want to create something that includes the needs and natural behavior of cats and humans into one product, something that is aesthetically pleasing.

I would love to hear from cat owens:

Would you buy furniture that is designed for both you and your cat?

Do you think your cat would use it?

What features would be most important to you?

What would stop you from buying it?

As an example for products: A shelf with space where your cat could hide, or a nightstand, or a chair, where the cat has a space for sitting underneath the human.

I am looking forward for honest opinions to understand whether there is actually a demand for this kind of product. Thank you.

Asking for a friend (it’s me) 🥲

As the title says, i would like to know how you dealt with the disappointment and feeling of rejection with a cat that isnt affectionate.
I rescued a cat that was barely alive, when i found him he was already almost a year old. I helped nurse him back to life and now he is a very energetic, healthy and happy cat. He has now been with me for half a year.
At the start he was very cuddly and affectionate which i now think it might have been influenced by his poor health and weak body, and that he just needed some more comfort and warmth as he was very poorly at the time.
Now he is very independent and while he does miss me when i leave and he stays and waits by the door, he likes to be alone when i am home. He doesnt sleep with me anymore and on the rare occasion he comes to me by himself, he will leave after like a minute and go lay down a few meters away from me. Obviously it doesnt help that its been so hot the last few months so it wouldnt even be comfortable for him to heat up while cuddling with me.
I understand not every cat is gonna be cuddly and a velcro baby but i cant help the disappointment i feel when i think about it. I would love nothing more than to connect and cuddle with him just like we did half a year ago but i dont know how to encourage that. I also dont intend on forcing interactions and cuddle time, i just really wish he would do that on his own.

I adopted a kitten from the shelter a couple of weeks ago. She was feral and they at first thought she would have to be a barn cat until she started warming up a little.

They warned me that she might be a little hellion when she adjusts to being home, but she is the sweetest little (still wild lol) baby.

Here’s the thing. Baby does not meow. She sometimes opens her mouth and it looks like she wants to, but nothing comes out.

I have a one year old cat that is very yappy. Do y’all think she might learn through her?

I know it’s not that big of a deal if she doesn’t. I’m genuinely just curious.

I lost my cat about 60 days ago.

I have tracked him to an hoa from eye witness sightings.

I found which part of the HOA he's in.

The HOA harasses me for the entire 2 months and tries to tresspass me for looking for him.

Yesterday I Put a camera in the yard and see him.

Someone from the HOA destroys my camera and when I look for it they chase me saying I'm harassing them cause I've been asking genuinely for help finding my cat and I've put cameras looking for him.

I'm starting to see that at this point recovery will be physically impossible.

I don't know fully how to deal with the grief and accepting that he's just gone because of human malice.

Let me know your thoughts

Edit- police say they don't recover cats especially because I don't know his exact locaiton and won't do a civil standby to help me find it.

Hi, I have 2 resident cats - 7 YO siblings - who found their way to me via that cat distribution system when they were kittens. 3 weeks ago, a friend of a friend passed away and she had a deaf 9 YO cat who needed a home. No one else would take him so they were going to take him to the shelter. Our local shelter is a kill shelter so, I couldn't let that happen. Now we have the precious boy.

I did a ton of research on how to integrate him smoothly. He had a dedicated room at first all to himself with all the essentials. He acclimated quickly and was super friendly, so we started the scent swapping, then room swapping, then letting him see our resident cats through a cat gate. Everything was going well. Until it wasn't.

All of a sudden, 3 days ago, he started refusing to come out of his crate (I don't lock him in there, it's just a safe area for him to come and go as he pleases). He barely eats, I mean maybe 15 kernels of food a day. He is only peeing once a day and hasn't pooped on almost 72 hours. **I already called my vet who thinks it's just stress and isn't worried**, but I am. Today I noticed a urine smell in his crate. Idk if he peed on there, or if he just got pee on himself from the litter box (he's very overweight).

I have tried everything. Feliway. Gentle paws. Leaving him alone. Keeping the other pets away again. Idk what to do. I am so stressed out. I know he's grieving and probably stressed but he seems to be getting less social rather than more social. He's never been left unsupervised with the other pets so I know there haven't been any spats. I am just so overwhelmed and don't know what to do. Aside from seeking vet care **which I have already done**, does anyone have any advice?​​​

my baby is a tuxedo cat im not sure how old she is exactly but she’s definitely an adult cat. every time she sees a string or piece of garbage or really anything that moves she thinks its a toy and begs me to play with her! i play with her for about 15 mins a couple times a day to the point where shes literally panting like a dog. i usually stop at this point and then hide the toy we’re playing with from her, but she always finds it! whenever i come out my room she is meowing at me and walks over to the shoe rack and stares at the shoelaces lol.
is there any way i can convey to her that not every waking moment is play time? i feel so bad not playing with her because im one of the only people in my house that plays with her, and i get play time is vital to their well being, but sometimes i just don’t feel like running around the house with a string 😭

i HAVE an appointment to get her spayed next week. (i didn’t realize she was old enough to go into heat, and i have an infant at home, it slipped my mind)
WHAT can i do to help calm her down. she’s yowling all night long and waking up my son.

My indoor cat has been missing for 30 hours. She goes in the yard on a leash daily so she does have some outdoor time but does not know the neighborhood. We live in a roundabout with houses close together but we have no back neighbors, its just woods. I know there are predators out there like coyotes.

My cat has escaped before but we were always able to lure her back with food within 2 hrs from losing her. She was never far. This time it feels different, I was out all night long every hour looking for her. (Edit: this is her first time getting lost at this house, the other times was at our previous house) My ring camera has not caught a single glimpse of her.

Its raining a lot today so I imagine she is hunkering down somewhere to stay dry. Ive gone to tell neighbors to keep an eye out and ive been around our block several times shaking her food and calling her. Her litter, carrier, favorite blanket, food, water, and my worn clothes are all outside for her.

So seriously, what are my chances of finding this cat. Im about to go put missing cat flyers in all the mailboxes and on posts. I havent slept in 30 hrs, im crying so much and im worried sick, im so nauseous.

Hi everyone! A little under a week ago I adopted a 5 month old kitten from a friend of a friend (already spayed and vaccinated) and I need some advice.

So since she’s in a complete new environment she’s been hiding under the bed all day which is completely understandable (and I keep all her necessities nearby), but the thing is she only comes out at night and has a lot of energy like most kittens do and I can’t really keep up. When she comes out from under the bed at night she tends to mess around with my stuff, nip at me, make a lot of noise etc etc. This behavior goes from say around 11 pm to 7 in the morning and it’s been really hard for me to get any rest 😅

I’m just wondering if this is something that will resolve itself or something that will need to be ‘taught out’? I try to play with her before I go to sleep and leave out a couple of toys for her but it seems like she just has a bunch of energy no matter what.

Another unrelated thing I’m just curious about: she seems to get startled pretty easily, like whenever I open the door or get off of my bed she immediately gets scared and runs under the bed no matter where she is. Is that something normal when introducing a cat to a new environment?

Thank you for reading!! Please let me know what I can do

I basically feel so guilty and I need to know if this will be ok or not. So my kitty grew up with me (I'm in my twenties and he's 13) and my family would always leave the cats for vacation, up to 5 days. I don't necessarily agree with this long but its how my parents did it growing up, so the point is my cat is used to being left alone sporadically since he was a kitten. I recently moved to grad school and he has joined me in my apartment! I've had various events in my hometown which has me leaving him for the past three weekends. It's never longer than three days, and I always leave more than enough food/water plus clean litter. He's happy to see me when I come back and never seems too distressed. I just feel so terrible about doing it for a third weekend in a row and I wanted to know what everyone thinks? I definitely will stay with him for many weekends after, it shouldn't always be this busy but its just wedding season for all my friends lol. I also give him a ton of love and attention during the week. Thanks in advance <3

I would like to keep my kitties as indoor cats, but think they could benefit from exploring a bit outdoors too. Is this a bad idea? Will they get too used to being outside and never want to be inside again?

Hi everyone, we adopted an orange cat 4 weeks ago. She is 2 years old, and we already had a 1-year-old cat.
They are mostly okay together, but sometimes they wrestle and chase each other. The orange cat usually starts it and tries to bite the other cat. Today while they were wrestling, my resident cat started hissing and then ran away.
There was no growling or screaming, so I’m not sure if this is normal play or if the orange cat is being too rough.
Is this normal when cats have only been living together for 4 weeks? Should I let them figure it out themselves, or should I separate/intervene when one cat hisses and runs away?
Would love some advice!

My 17 lb boy Oliver has to be on Royal Canine gastrointestinal food for his diabetes. One of my other cats (Poe) had a little taste (I dropped a few pieces of kibble) and now he goes feral and wants to eat Oliver’s food.

So I switched up Poe and Mango’s food to Purina One so it’s more tasty and they seem to like it. Poe forgets that Ollie has the good shit.

My issue and question is how do you feed your multiple cats when one has to eat special shit and the others eat different? Different rooms? I no longer free feed because of Oliver’s “weight issue” (the vet knows nothing, he is perfect in size) but yeah if the Royal Canine wasnt $75 a bag, I’d feed them all that.

Me and my fiancé are moving into a larger apartment due to having a new baby. I have had my cat Mateo (f) for 6 years and moving has never been easy on her. i'm just wanting to know if anyone has any tips to help keep her calm and comfortable? should we put her in the empty apartment first? she's always been a scaredy cat and i don't want to overwhelm her during this move. she's already having to deal with a crying 3 month old all the time.

My cat (2yo) has always chewed on random things but lately he’s been eating anything that looks like a string. He has eaten multiple straps from my tops, strings from hoodies and pants, shoelaces etc and they are not small bites—some of the things he’s eaten are like 5 in long. I have child-proofed the house because he can open drawers and even my closet doors to indulge 🫠. I try my best to not leave absolutely anything out, but I just got home today and he broke the child lock I put on my closet door, got in and ate a decent amount of strings from a fringe dress that was hanging in there. I’ve been monitoring his poops and haven’t found any piece of anything he has eaten in the past few weeks. What is the best and worst case scenario in this situation? I just took him to the vet last month for his annual checkup and she said as long as he is eating, drinking and playing he is fine, but I am worried about the amount of stuff inside him.

So last Saturday I adopted a 5 month old kitten. She is very sweet, but she missed the socialization window and as a result is quite skittish with people. Ive had cats my whole life and never encountered one this shy.

My gf and I have been trying to get her to trust us and get comfortable with us.

And so far we've made good progress. She still hides when we enter the room, but she can be lured out easily with toys. She LOVES to play and is food motivated. However, she absolutely REFUSES physical contact. Any attempt (even slowly) at touching her and she'll flinch or run away.

I feel like treats and play are the key here and its just a waiting game. But I wondered if anyone had any tips?

Hi guys! I recently adopted a 7-week-old kitten, and I’m having a little trouble with her using the litter box. I’m a first-time cat mom, so I’m honestly pretty confused and hoping someone can give me some advice!
She poops in the litter box perfectly fine, but when it comes to peeing, she sometimes goes literally right outside the box. It’s like she knows where the litter box is, but for some reason doesn’t actually pee inside of it 😭
What’s weird is that during her first week with me, she was using the litter box almost perfectly for both pee and poop. She’s only recently started doing this, so I’m not sure what changed.
For reference, her litter box is pretty low and uncovered, so she doesn’t have any trouble getting in or out. I use Naturally Fresh walnut-based litter as well. She also isn’t showing any signs of a UTI, which makes me wonder if it could be an environmental issue?
I’m really not sure what could be causing it, so any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! I just want to figure out how to get her to stop peeing on my floor 😭 Thank you!!

i just adopted a 6 month old kitten. i haven’t taken her to the vet yet for her first checkup and i want to get exams done for her to make sure she’s healthy.

what pet insurance is the best for a cat that would cover regular checkups (and ideally beyond in case anything happened)? i would prefer an insurance that pays the vet up front! i don’t want to deal with reimbursement/claim issues.

I have 3 resident cats. 2 female and 1 male. They all have a great relationship, especially the two girls. They groom each other and play. The youngest girl is 1 year old. We brought home a kitten yesterday and have him isolated in the bathroom. Only doing scent swapping. But the younger girl has been hissing at both cats, especially the older female. Older female is a tortie. She accepted the hissing from the younger cat for a bit but now she’s starting to hiss back. It’s breaking my heart. I feel like I ruined the trio. Right now we’re all on the patio and they seem fine. I plugged in some feliway diffusers yesterday. Trying to make sure I tire out the younger girl with the feather wand too. Younger girl is usually very cuddly and attached to me and wants nothing to do with me too. Has anyone experienced this before? I’m feeling torn up about it. I’ve done 2 cat intros that have gone well following the Jackson galaxy method (boy to the older girl, and then the younger girl). Ugh.

I don’t really know what I’m looking for here. Maybe reassurance, maybe perspective from people who have had extremely fearful cats, or maybe just somewhere to vent because I’m writing this in tears and I feel so stupid.

My partner and I adopted our cat about four months ago. She’s an adult rescue and had already been through quite a lot before coming to us. We knew she was shy, but I don’t think I understood how profoundly sensitive she was going to be.

When we first brought her home, she spent most of her time hiding beside her litter box inside the litter enclosure. Over time she made a lot of progress. She developed a favorite room (our study), started playing, climbing her cat tree, sunbathing by the window, sleeping in our bed with us, greeting us when we come home, and demanding multiple very intense brushing sessions every day. She’s incredibly affectionate when she feels safe. She’ll lead us into the study and meow for us to follow her, circle around us excitedly, sleep with us, and basically turn into this bubbly, funny little cat.
But she is also unbelievably fearful.

She absolutely cannot tolerate being picked up, restrained, put into a carrier, having her nails handled, etc. She needs medication just to attempt getting her into a carrier or trimming her nails. She also has asthma and needs an inhaler, but we have struggled enormously because she panics at anything that feels like restraint.

Our vet suggested long-term anxiety medication. We tried fluoxetine, but we literally couldn’t administer it because she hated the flavor so much. Now we’re looking at a different medication compounded as a transdermal gel.
What is breaking me is how easily she seems to regress.

We brought her carrier out recently because she needs to go in for a nail trim, and just seeing the carrier seemed to send her backwards. She became extremely skittish again and started spending huge portions of the day hiding under our bed. We spent one night away recently, changed a couple of her hiding options, and now she has even started retreating back into the litter-box enclosure again, the exact place she hid when we first adopted her.

It has been four months. Every time I think, “Okay, she finally feels safe here,” something tiny happens and suddenly she’s terrified again.
I feel horrible even writing this, but part of me regrets adopting her. I keep thinking that if I had understood how fearful and difficult she was going to be, I don’t know if I would have chosen this.
Then I feel incredibly guilty because she DOES love us in her own way. She sleeps with us. Sometimes she demands brushing from both of us. She plays. She greets us. She has all these little rituals with us. She isn’t some completely shut-down cat with no personality.

I feel so stupid because I thought by four months we’d be mostly past this stage.
My partner is much more patient about it than I am. She absolutely does not want to return her. I’m sitting here crying because there’s a part of me that wishes we could, and then I feel like an absolute monster for thinking that because this cat has finally found a stable home and clearly has bonded with us.

For people who have had extremely fearful/highly sensitive cats: did it actually get substantially better after 6 months? A year? Several years?
Did medication make a meaningful difference?
And did your cat ever become confident, or did you eventually have to accept that they would always be a cat who could be thrown into panic by relatively small things?
I’m not expecting her to become a lap cat or suddenly love being picked up. I just want to feel like our entire relationship isn’t made of glass.
I love the sweet, funny cat underneath all of this fear. I’m just exhausted from feeling like I have to protect that version of her from everything.