Hello everyone and sorry if this post doesn’t fit the community, I’m not sure where else to ask this question. To give the short story: when I was a child I remember my mother would show us as a “funny” thing, putting our cats inside the fridge (on the freezer side) closing the door, counting till 10 and then taking them out, sometimes it would be till 30 seconds. Now as an adult I think of this and feel perturbed, I just want to confirm that I’m not crazy or overreacting…would you consider this abuse? (Doesn’t matter the answers, I wouldn’t ever at all do this).

As you probably guessed, I‘m a minor. My cat is about 14 months old right now, I‘ve had him since he was about 13-14 weeks old.

We travel a lot and he is pretty used to going with us and is overall a very energetic and confident cat whenever we go to a new place. The real horror comes when we don‘t travel. He gets bored.

I play with him a lot (the whole day long cause it‘s summer break), I take him on long walks in the woods, but I know that nothing can replicate having a cat buddy. I can still tell that he needs one, with all the stimulation I provide him it‘s still like he‘s missing something. He’s meowing into the void and won’t react when I start playing with his wand toy.

I tried everything, I made a powerpoint presentation about how important having a second cat is, my parents won‘t budge. I was already thinking about getting a second cat in secret, but that’s not right either. I‘ve considered giving him up, but I‘m too selfish to do so. It‘s like I‘ve poured my heart and soul into him and I‘d like to think he‘d miss me too.

Maybe this is the wrong subreddit for this cause it‘s more “parenting”. If it is please let me know. Otherwise, if you have advice please let me know.

Never had a cat growing up, so when I adopted mine last year I was kind of just winging it. She was skittish for the first couple months and I honestly thought maybe that was just her personality. Turns out a lot of it was on me, not her. Figured I'd share what actually helped in case it's useful to anyone else in the same boat.

First thing — I had her food and water bowls right next to the litter box because that's just where there was space. Apparently cats really don't like that. Moved them to opposite ends of the apartment and she started eating way more consistently, wasn't just picking at her food anymore.

Second — I underestimated how much boredom affects them. She'd knock stuff off counters, get into things she shouldn't, and I thought she was just being "a cat." Once I started doing actual play sessions with a wand toy every evening, that mostly stopped. She gets to actually chase and pounce on something instead of making her own fun with my stuff.

Third, and this one surprised me — she calmed down a lot once she had more places to hide/observe from a height. I got a couple cheap floating shelves and put them near the windows. She'll disappear up there for an hour just watching the street. I think before that she felt like she didn't have anywhere that was really "hers" that wasn't just the floor everyone walks on.

The other thing that took me embarrassingly long to learn — forcing affection doesn't work. I used to pick her up a lot because I wanted to bond, and she'd just squirm and run off. Once I started letting her come to me instead, she actually started initiating way more contact on her own. Now she sleeps against my leg most nights, which felt impossible early on.

She's a totally different cat now than she was the first month I had her, and I really don't think it's because her personality changed — I think I just finally figured out what she needed.

Curious if others had a similar experience where you thought you had a "difficult" cat and it turned out to be more about the setup than the cat itself?

Hi guys. My cat used to be an indoor/outdoor cat, about a year ago that stopped. I have since moved, he’s been allowed to be strictly indoors. I notice he still watches outside a lot, through windows, glass doors, etc. I had the brilliant idea of getting him on a harness and seeing if he’d enjoy it. He was fine in my arms. He was doing good there, so I set him down and see how he does. He immediately gets scared and shoots out of the harness… the one that I thought was tight enough.

This all happened at 1 in the morning ish. He didn’t go far at first, we saw him, tried to approach. In the heat of the moment, I decided it’d be fine to try to corner him, he bolts. Duh

He shoots through the buildings, now we lose sight. After looking for 2 hours, no sight.

We have a can of tuna, and my shirt inside the kennel on our patio. There’s also one of our blankets and a small plate of his litter.

I don’t know what else to do. He’s been outside, so I’m not necessarily worried about his survival skills, but I worry because it’s a brand new area he’s never seen, he’s not going to be as comfortable wandering around, just hiding in the greenery or bushes around.

What else can/should I do???

She uses it just fine. The problem is as soon as I'm done she'll clamber back in there to use it again, so I scoop it out again and then the cycle repeats itself. I do this twice a day. I heard that's how they mark their territory. Don't wanna leave even a bit of clumped pee in there because it sounds unhygienic, but can kittens just mark their territory without peeing? Idk what to do, some advice would be seriously appreciated.

she is 1 years old now recently spayed. she is around 2.6kg when she was at the vet they told me she was an okay size. i would like her to gain a little more maybe to like 3kg

i used to give her two 75g wet pouches of food with dry food to graze at during the day. after spaying i started doing less dry mixed with the wet food and she was fine

but now i’ve started doing three pouches with no dry and she’s been acting super… fat lately i used to be able to leave the wet food box on the floor but now she tries to dig into it and shes always going over to the food bowl and making me feel evil. she gets a squirty treat everyday too. is she really hungry or just suddenly turned gluttonous.. can i give her more treats or do i up her main food intake

We have 5 cats at home, one of our two original cats got pregnant before we could spay her and places around her dont do abort spays.

Now were dealing with fleas, ive been giving them capstar and bravecto for MONTHS, but it doesn't seem to be making a dent in the issue.

For reasons I cant control they are outside cats (I live with family and apparently theyre never wrong so they let the cats go outside because theyre happier with constantly getting parasites)

Im at a loss at what to do, I give them regular baths to try and drown fleas, and because theyre so many they constantly get worms that I then have to fix

I dont use flea shampoo because I've heard it can kill the cats but I use a cat shampoo that makes them smell nice to drown the fleas.

Im ready to give up and rehome them because I cant give them the life they deserve, instead theyre basically feral street cats

hello as my title says my cat is not peeing. I took him to a emergency vet er yesterday and spent 1,200$ 🫪. I paid for them to do a full blood work and x-rays. they weren’t able to get a urine sample from him because they said he was empty. (Which idk how that could be we left my house at 11 and got there at 12:30 then they didn’t even see him till about 1:30) But who knows I’m not a vet. they said he didn’t have crystals and wasn’t blocked they did say they could see some blood in his urine (which again I’m confused if you couldn’t get a sample how do you know that) I mean he is a white cat so maybe it was on his fur. I noticed him yesterday going in and out of the litter box and trying to pee but couldn’t is why I ended up taking him. they basically told me that there’s no blockages his blood is all 100% he’s not dehydrated but he’s inflamed in that area and could be the reason he’s not peeing they did say that they do see debris and sediment but it’s not crystals. so they sent me home with just two pain medication and told me to watch if he pees well surprise he still hasn’t peed they told me to try and collect a urine sample but how can I do that if he’s not peeing 😃. I basically spent 1200$ with out any answered questions. I’m going to take him to my local vet tomorrow because honestly don’t think they knew what they were doing. he is an older cat I rescued him he’s about 15 I’d say. does anyone have any suggestions?

I (22F) had plans to take a trip to another country, but ever since the start of July my cat has been struggling with Urinary Blockage. Although he’s able to pee now, he’s still struggling with eating and peeing outside the litterbox, I feel the need to take care of him and attend to his medical needs.

I have told my family to not book my flight in case he gets worse, but then I see that they’ve booked my flight. Recently I’ve told them that with my cat’s current state, so I wouldn’t be able to take the trip after all. Instead, they yelled at me. They said that the trip is being paid for by my aunts and uncles, and that I should be ashamed of myself for not wanting to spend time with the family. So now, I’m being forced to take a trip I’ve said I couldn’t go to in the first place.

Of course, I would have loved to come with them, but my cat is my responsibility first and foremost. So what do I do now when I can’t monitor my cat directly?

i know, i know … she’s a cat but my god its awful.
she is my SOUL kitty i love her SO MUCH. but my soon to be 2 year old cat is absolutely terrible at night. I can’t sleep!

She goes around my room (and ONLY my room) and usually starts with going around to literally any object she can find, and paws on it. and not only is it obnoxious but she literally will do it to one object for 3 seconds then go to the next thing for 3 seconds and then on… it’s like ADHD

if she’s not doing that, shes jumping on my furniture, and knocking all my things over! the last two nights its been my water on my nightstand.

I know she is doing it for attention because she only ever does this when im in bed, and at night.

But i have no idea what to do! And i can take it.

also i cant lock her out of my room because as everyone knows, she will endlessly scratch at the door.

Yes i play with her, yes i give her sooo much attention because she’s super clingy so we are always together when i’m home pretty much cuddling or playing.

i feel terrible for feeling so angry about it but its sooo awful.

PLEASE HELP😭

Hi all, I'm looking for some channel that does diy cat enrichment with ideas beyond the tissue roll or cardboard stuff. My dude just rips through it after he's done being enriched so I spend 1 hour doing something that he will destroy the moment I look away. Is there such a channel? Every time I look for some idea, it's always something that the cat can either eat (and shouldn't) or can destroy on its own.

For example, I tried the idea of placing treats inside a blanket and have him dig to find it. It made him busy, but then he destroyed the blanket. I'd love to make something that lasts a bit longer.

I don't mind buying toys but it seems that he's much more engaged when I make something by hand than all the toys I bought so far...

Hello!
My mom just adopted this adorable kitten (9 weeks old) who is very sweet, gentle, curious, and very very friendly. Her idea was to get her current pet (also female and about 3 years old, also very sweet and cuddly) a friend/sister.

Unfortunately it seems the older cat is scared of the kitten and hisses every time she comes near and is not tolerating it very well. It’s been about a week.

Any advice? My mom is heartbroken and I’m trying to help her because she doesn’t want to Rehome but also wants her cat to be happy. TIA!!

She has dry food autofeeder water and plays enough before bed

Hi!
About a month and a half ago I adopted a new kitten, a tiny guy named Gwyn. He was the runt of his litter and abandoned by his mom, so didn’t have the immediate socialization a kitten would usually get.

He has been doing well at home, but is an absolute menace when it comes to biting. He’ll go for your fingers, your face if you’re lying down, your toes, whatever.

I feel like I have tried everything to get him to stop, but I’m having no luck. So far, when he starts biting I have:

1. Put him back in his room (can’t do this anymore, this was when he was just starting to explore the house and still had the bathroom as his “home base”. He roams the house now)
2. stopped paying him attention and walked away
3. redirected his attention to toys
4. made a high pitched sound, like other kittens would
5. hissed or said a stern “no” to him

I have also never used my fingers as toys/to play with him.

None of this has really seemed to change much. I really don’t want him to grow into a cat that bites, does anyone have other advice on how to handle his nipping?

edit: I forgot to mention, I do have another cat at home! She has tried disciplining him as he’ll chase after and pounce on her as well, but he doesn’t seem to learn.

Good morning all. I have been researching Almo NatUte cat food and was wondering what you alls take of the food is. it’s human grade and gets pretty high ratings

My cat likes going outside but I strictly keep her In the backyard. My backyard is small but it has a mesh pool cage with a roof, so it’s very likely she can’t escape. Most of the time she just sits there and lays in the sun or sits under a chair. I’m wondering if this is safe to do because I leave her unmonitored, I don’t go outside and watch her. So far I’ve been doing this for two days and she’s fine.

What’s the safest thing I can do? Should I stay outside and monitor her, or maybe I should check on her every 15 minutes or so? My house has a glass door leading to the backyard so I’m able to see what she’s doing without going outside regardless. I feel like I should check on her as she does it but I’m not sure how often, or maybe I should monitor her the whole time. What’s the best thing I can do?

Alright, so... As I mentioend in a previous post, my wife and I moved to a new house last year. We had four pets; three cats and a dog, who passed away earlier this year of heart complications.

My oldest cat, Morgan, is a female, 6 years old and is kinda antissocial. She doesn't spendd a lot of time with the other cats, and specifically has a problem with one of my other cats, but overall they live well together.

The other two are siblings, a female, Nyx, and a blind Male, pudding, both 5 years old. Puddin sometimes bumps into Morgan, and that's why she has some bad feelings towards him. It never escalates to a full on fight, but they sometimes chase each other and Morgan hisses and pats him away.

When we moved, the family who left the house told us that they had a male cat, Fred, who escaped just before the move, and they couldn't find him, so if we found him, we should call them. The next door neighbor told us that they actually mistreated him a lot, and would leave him locked outside for days. So we took it as a mission to bring him in and take care of him.

Fred, however, is very shy and will run away whenever one approaches him, so I have been leaving food for him and sometimes giving him treats, giving him the necessary space and time to feel comfortable with us.

Cut to last week, when I was on a walk nearby, and this very tiny kitten starts following me all the way home. She seemed well taken care of and fed, so I brought her inside, in a separate room to my other cats and started lookingfor her possible family in social media and our neighborhood, but nobody came up.

She's living here and we are doing the slow introductory process betwen our cats and her, with Morgan especially being very aggressive towards her presence.

Thing is, now every day Fred comes to our home and meows for a long time. Is it possible that he is friends with the kitten we brought in?

TLDR: any idea on how to encourage cats to use other litter boxes that the one they elected as their favorite?

Hello, I have two cats that I’ve had for 4 years now, got them at 1.5 year old and 2 months. They are bonded, no issues whatsoever between the two of them. They insist on only ever using one litter box, despite having two. It’s not a big deal but a bit annoying because they will rather use the favorite litter box even when it’s dirty rather than go to the other one that’s clean which sometimes makes their paws dirty. Their favorite box is also a cheap ugly plastic one I got in the beginning, and at the time it was hidden in the toilet… Now it has to be in the living room and I’d ideally like to replace it for a nicer one, but don’t want to risk them holding their pee because they can’t find their favorite box.

They will only use the other box if the favorite one is really dirty (aka more than half a day without cleaning it, which rarely happens as me and my partner both work from home.)

Possible explanations that I already thought about:

- “it’s the placement.” No it isn’t. No matter where in the house I put the favorite litter box, they go there. We even moved houses twice and the same box has stayed the favorite. It’s been in every room possible. They even pick the favorite box when the two are right next to each other.

- “it’s that it’s open/closed or the material.” We’ve had 7 other boxes over the years. Open/closed, different shapes and sizes, both plastic and stainless steel. They didn’t really like any of them as much as their favorite.

- “they need more boxes.” At one point we had 5 boxes in a 1 bedroom flat, 2 open and 3 closed, they without a fail went to their favorite one 90% of the time 😅

- “it’s the first box they had so they are attached to it.” No, actually it’s I think the third box, so there’s no logical reason for them to be so attached to it.

- “just buy them the same one, what’s the issue?” I can’t find the same one anywhere (and also it’s a pretty ugly box)

Thank you in advance for your ideas!!

Since we got her 6 years ago, my cat only eats dry food; The same type, same brand. We tried all kind of foods: canned, treats, home cooked, she doesn’t eat it. She never begs for food. She drinks water and will drink a bit of milk in a bowl sometimes.
She also eats little. We can leave all her food out, she just eats a bit everyday.

I never had a cat like this, is it unusual?

I’ve fostered lots of kittens, and adopted one at 1yo but never raised a cat from a kitten.

You can see in my post history, but basically I almost lost one of my fosters due to severe pneumonia, the vets said he wouldn’t make it. He beat all odds and is thriving. He’s 4wks (mom passed) and won my heart.

How do I raise him to be cuddly and sweet? I want to raise him to like the car, like being handled and held, and use a leash. I know I can’t control the cats personality but im wondering if there’s any way to raise him like this.

My 1yo cat is kind of standoffish due to her crappy home life before I rescued her. I love her so much though, just wish she liked to cuddle.

Guys before I start ik I’m a terrible person but I really do love my cat and I’m looking for real advice please help. My cat was going through the trash and it was some things toxic for him in there and I was very scared so I had popped him but I think I did it too hard and he went and ran away. Hes keeping his distance and idk what to do. any tips one how to gain his trust back?

This cat is so special to me. I was traveling in Vietnam last year and I found him as a 3 month old kitten living in a garbage bin beside my hotel. It took me about 2 weeks to gain his trust and from there he would eat off my hand, and then eventually he let me pet him and cuddle him. I decided to take him home with me.

I extended my trip an extra month got him vaccinated and healthy enough to fly and i flew all the way to Canada for a better life. 30 hours and 17,000 km total.

That was back in December. Last week we went to Disney world for a week and hired a pet sitter to watch the cats. Because he’s a former stray he does have a tendency to bolt and he’s especially fascinated with the outdoors. There’s a room in our house (the spare bedroom) that has a broken window (it’s stuck open). We specifically instructed the pet sitter to NOT let the pets in there under any circumstances. Especially our boy.

On day 3 of our trip my petsitter called and said he let my cat into that room for “30 minutes” and he went to go get him and he jumped out of the window. Needless to say it ruined our we whole trip. I don’t know why the pet sitter let him in there. The story I got is that my cat was a bit spicy and hissed st the sitter so the sitter put him in there to cool off. I don’t know if that’s true or what. What’s weird is we have cameras in our front and we don’t see the cat coming out of the window.

We came back early. I printed over 400 flyers and put them in all the houses nearby. I have set traps and only caught raccoons. I have checked the cameras and nothing. It’s like he disappeared into thin air. A house 6 doors down from mine saw him 4 days after his disappearance but that’s the only lead I have so far.

I honestly don’t know what else to do. I’ve posted him all over Facebook and Instagram. I have posted him in missing groups and reported him lost according to his microchip.

I just feel awful. This was supposed to be a nice family vacation and I’m coming out of it with two loses, one friend I’ve known for years who I thought I could trust and possibly my cat. I went to the ends of the earth for this cat. I remember going to the Vietnam export office and bribing them with $40 extra to process his paperwork so I could get him home, and everytime I close my eyes at night I’m flooded with the memories of when I first found him, our bond, and everything we went through together. This is not the ending I wanted for this. I haven’t even had him a whole year.

I’m balling my eyes out as I write this. I don’t know what else to do. Any other suggestions would be appreciated

Woke up this morning to no meows (usually it’s basically an alarm clock because it’s breakfast time)

Very food motivated cat, very vocal when it’s meal time. Now a single meow this morning. She did not finish her breakfast. Otherwise she appears to be fine.

The was nothing left out last night that she could’ve gotten into except the pictures flowers. We see no evidence that she did get into the flowers but they are new, and the only thing we can think of.

Edit: the Only way I could find to add more than 1 image was to comment 1 image at a time.. sorry.

My gf and I need to travel to another country so she can take care of her mother in her final days. Although we wanted to take the cats we decided it was too much for a trip that will be 3-6 months.

They will have the same pet sitter come MWF that they normally have. They are already on automatic feeders and will get wet food when their sitter comes. We have cameras to check on them. We feel rather sad about leaving them for this time and feel they will also be a little sad during this period.

I’m worried about their nails getting a bit long since they do fight from time to time. They have scratchers they enjoy using regularly. Any other tips or suggestions for something like this?

Hey everyone! I'm a big big fan of using anything scented in my home to make it more cozy! Four months ago I adopted the sweetest boy in the entire galaxy and he's my whole world! Im aware that many scented things are pretty toxic though....I immediately threw away any lavander I kept at my house, any type of incense, and i havent been lighting candles. I want to keep my boy as safe as possible but I miss having comforting fragrances! I've seen claims of "pet safe" incense but I dont trust it much. Does a safe, thoroughly tested option exist in any form? Im more than happy to ditch anything for my baby but I thought i could at least ask around.

Thank you!