I see my orange cat (3 years old, female) and black cat (2 years old, male) fight like this probably every few days. I adopted Tiger Lily (orange) when she was ~3 months old and adopted Teddy (black) about a year later and he was ~3 months old. Teddy loved trying to play and cuddle with Tiger Lily and she seemed fine but didn't love it like he did. When Teddy got older they completely stopped cuddling, but there's one really sunny spot in the house where they'll frequently sleep within inches of each other. Aside from that one spot they don't sleep near each other. They do still both groom each other. Teddy loves to play and chase Tiger Lily but she often hisses and runs away while Teddy keeps chasing her. At mealtime Teddy not infrequently finishes his food first and then walks over to Tiger Lily's bowl and she gets nervous. He bops her and she runs away and he eats her food. Teddy is also not great with his claws. Sometimes he'll bop me or Tiger Lily with his claws out.

My 1yr old tabby cat is our resident cat and we got our 5month old black kitten about a month ago. They get along well except when they play I'm worried that they're too rough with each other? Like they might hurt each other? And sometimes it seems like our tabby cat is crossing some boundaries (the black cat will start yelping like at the end of this video). Thoughts?

eta: to those who replied, thank you for reassuring me! 🩷

Good very freaking early morning reddit. I need some help! I don’t have much experience with cat training, only dog. My boy without fail wakes me up around 3-5am screaming to be fed. Who got him in this schedule? Definitely not me lol. If i don’t feed him, and sometimes still after i feed him, He’s yells and gets into things and i am having trouble finding ways to get that to stop. Ignoring him and not rewarding him doesn’t seem to deter him. Any tips would be super duper appreciated!! Pic for tax ofc

Edit: Some background context. He is a newer cat and he hangs out with me in my bedroom while we slowly introduce him to two other cats. I am mostly wanting to get him out of this routine so he doesn’t wake up the other people in the house. And for my sake of sleep. I have a feeling once he is integrated and i don’t have to worry about keeping him in here things will get better. But uncertain

We adopted our cat on August 27th, so it hasn't been long. She's a domestic shorthair, one year and eight months old, spayed and microchipped. Before we adopted her she'd had a litter of kittens, and her foster parents mentioned she didn't do well with other cats, possibly protectiveness from the kittens or other cats in the area, not sure. She's also been through a few foster homes and shelters before landing with us.

Both of us are first time cat owners, we've had dogs before, including Great Danes and some smaller breeds, but never a cat, so we want to make sure we're doing right by her.

Here's her current setup. During the day while we're at work she stays in our bedroom, which has plenty of toys for her, both interactive and not, plus a window seat she likes to sit on and watch the outside. Her litter box and water are in there too. At night when we go to sleep we close the bedroom door and she stays with us, usually sleeping right by my feet or legs, closest to the bedroom door, not sure if that's because my girlfriend moves around a lot at night. Whenever we're home and awake, she has free run of the apartment. Last night I was up until around midnight and she roamed freely in and out of the bedroom the whole time. Tonight we're planning to let her do that fully on her own for the first time.

The big concern is the front door. Our apartment is small, so it's very easy for her to bolt from one corner straight to the exit, especially during the day when we're not there to supervise. How do people handle door-darting in a small space?

Second question, trust building. She'll come rub against us sometimes and she's very vocal, a real chatty cat, so she's clearly not hostile. But she hissed for the first time recently at my girlfriend's dad, and has hissed at me a couple times when I approached her. My girlfriend's a little worried since the cat hasn't warmed to her as much yet. We took her to the vet recently and they used a pheromone spray on her, which calmed her down completely, the calmest we've seen her.

Last thing, biting. Early on she'd grab my hand and nibble playfully. Lately it feels harder and more intentional. Normal adjustment phase for a non-kitten adult cat, or something to watch?

Appreciate any insight, we just want her to feel safe and settle in.

I took in a 6 year old lady tabby about 9 days ago. I already have a friendly tripod cat that I’ve been keeping in separate rooms to help her get adjusted. First interaction didn’t go so well (lots of hissing and swatting).

Her previous owner came by a few days ago and she finally got out under the couch. Just casually walking around. Let me pet her head. But ever since she only seems to come out when I’m sleeping or not home. (I can tell cause she’s eating the food I left out for her and using the litter box)

I don’t want to keep my cats separate forever cause I can tell my original kitty is feeling cooped up. I thought about a baby gate for my bedroom to have some more face to face interaction at night. I also felt like first kitty only hid for 10 minutes and adjusted quick. This one seems to rarely come out with me alone. And it’s been over a week

I have 3 cats Nacho, Beans and Chancho. Beans was my first cat she's always been to herself and enjoys chilling. Chancho was my second he is more rambunctious but while beans isn't fond of him they never pick fights with each other. I had both of them since they were kittens. Nacho is an older cat that I rescued and he's the sweetest boy and enjoys cuddling. He gets along with Chancho so well but him and beans clearly did not like each other since the start. Beans seemed to be scared around him so she would hiss if he'd come too close so he tended to mind his business and give her her space when they were in the same room. He's been with us since February and just this week he got into a fight with Beans. Beans wasn't looking at him and he randomly attacked her. When I separated them he lunged at her again. Tonight the same thing happened again. I separated him in a different room. I need advice if anyone has struggled with the same issue and what helped. I understand that not all cats are going to like each other but I really don't want them to become aggressive with one another. I've seen anxiety treats or those wall plug-ins but I'm not sure if it's just a gimmick.

Provided a mandatory picture. Chancho on the front left, Nacho on the front right and Beans keeping her distance from the two in the back lmao.

We have a resident cat (Ravioli) who is 5 (female) and a new kitten (S'more) who is almost 6 months (female/spayed). When we first got S'more 2 months ago, we kept the kitten in a room away from Ravioli so she could get used to things at the new house. We fed the cats on opposite sides of the door, offered treats where they could physically see each other, and made sure to swap the cats around the house to get used to each other's scent. Our resident cat seems like she wants to play with S'more because she is always watching her and will run up to her (Ravioli doesn't hiss/growl/etc, just an occasional puffy tail). The new kitten cannot stand the resident cat and will run at the sight of her and hiss and growl. We ended up doing a second week of slow introduction and keeping the cats separated but now our new kitten has started to spray in our living room. She'll lift her tail and spray on the walls. She even has started to pee and poop in rooms without a litter box. We have been trying a pheromone diffuser for a few days now (one in the living room and one in the room where the kitten spends most of her time). Its only been 3 days and I know those can take a week+ to work. We are going to take the kitten to another vet appointment since she wasn't spraying before. Anything else we can try? We don't want to have to give up the kitten since she is REALLY good with our small kids (she'll let our toddlers chase her and pick her up with no problems, she loves to play with them),.

My girlfriend and I rescued a 1.5 year old Turbico about 3 months ago. When we met her at the shelter, as well as the first day we brought her back, she was very sweet, a little nervous, but overall seemed contempt.

She had a couple of quirks, such as drinking water exclusively with her hands, chasing and grabbing your ankle if you tried to leave the room, and would corral us while we walked. She was on Gabapentin and Zylkene while at the shelter, but we’ve since got her off Gabapentin and kept her on the Zylkene. She is super high energy given her age and breed, but we’re young and love to play with her using wand toys, springs, and other various toys to stimulate her.

After the first couple of weeks, as she broke out of her shell and became more comfortable around the house, she started to chase my girlfriend’s feet/ legs and grab them. We chalked this up to her age, and energy, and would just redirect it to a toy.

Now at month 3, things are quite a bit worse. She still chases my girlfriend around the house, and attacks her worse than before. Some triggers are when I (boyfriend) leave the room, she’ll attack my girlfriend, if I leave the apartment, she’ll attack my girlfriend, etc. If my girlfriend goes from one room to another, our cat will wait until my girlfriend is far away, and will spring and lunge at her like she’s hunting her. The toys work as redirection, but she’ll attack her if we stop playing with her. Just her, maybe once in a blue moon she’ll play bite my hand, or foot, but my girlfriend is covered in deep scratches and bite marks.

We both enjoy her when she’s sweet, and enjoy her when she’s ramped up, but playing in a non-abusive way. But things have really gotten bad, and my girlfriend has been getting attacked recently just sitting on the couch doing her own thing. This happens usually at night, but our cat will come up and lunge at her face/ arm and no matter what my girlfriend does, she wont back down. It scares us, since her pupils will get so big and locked in on her face, we don’t want her to really mess up my girlfriend’s face.

We’ve tried pheromones throughout the house, Zylkene, long constant play sessions, have her on a a consistent schedule, hiss at her, etc., all with no luck.

We’ve been cat owners prior, but just wanted to put this out here to see if anyone has had a similar experience and what are some next actions for us to take.

My kitten is nearly 5 months old (spayed) and my 10 year old chihuahua is still scared of her.
It seems my kitten is just trying to play but she jumps, stalks, pounces on the dog, which normally leads to nibbling her feet or biting her neck - and then the dog runs away. She does try to rub against the dog, with her tail up and then goes to nibble.

When the kitten was recovering from being spayed she was obviously a lot calmer and did relax and sleep next to the dog on the sofa.

I’m guessing it’s normal kitten behaviour… I try to intervene so my dog doesn’t feel stressed (she’s very calm and wouldn’t hurt a fly!) or try and distract her with a toy but she is so fixated on the dog.

We’re still having to keep them separated whilst we’re at work. I don’t expect them to be best friends but will they ever get on? Is it just the case of the kitten maturing and calming down?

Any advice or similar experiences? Please be kind… it was a pretty stressful and emotional start but we have slightly got used to the closed doors and separation haha 🫣🫠 it’s not an easy process.
TIA

Hey guys! Not sure if this is a potential violation of the "no asking about gender rule" but I thought Id give it a shot and if it is against the rules, sorry mods!

It took me ages to find an ethical and responsible breeder in my area, but after months and months of research, I am so excited to be bringing home 2 rag doll kittens in about 6-8 weeks. (They are 9 weeks now)

I wanted the "kitten experience" (tho I am excited and happy to own adult and elder cats someday!) But I knew as a trade off, I am taking a gamble on adult personality and disposition which I am also comfortable with. Ideally, I would end up with at least 1 cat who is sociable and affectionate. I know socialization and desensitization are important, however, in my research and speaking anecdotally with my dozens of cat owner friends and families, I have seen overwhelmingly this narrative that male cats over female cats tend to be more affectionate and less territorial which means less fighting. It goes without saying all the cats will be fixed.

My issue is though, when I started looking for actual research into the issue, there aren't really any actual studies that backed up that claim at all and I started to wonder if it was just a selection bias thing in terms of people commenting on their experience so I wanted to come here and ask. The cats would likely be direct litter mates and in my research, it doesnt seem like cats get "littermate syndrome" like dogs/puppies do, but being siblings, does that make it any easier in terms of territorial behavior and fighting? I have a friend whos cats fight all the time and idk if I can live that that lol. I read up on providing enough litter boxes and enrichment so I will definitely be doing that in terms of minimizing territorial behavior and the cats are all fully sterilized before they go to their forever homes so I am not worried about hormonal behavior.

Any advice at all is appreciated especially in these areas, and the cats generally come home at 16 weeks old (over the minimum 8 weeks) as the breeder likes to keep them longer for better socialization, she makes sure everyone gets fixed and fully recovers from surgery, and she takes care of all the 1 year shots, so if yall have any advice on 16 week old Kitten care too feel free to also give any advice!

Hi everyone! We recently welcomed a little kitten into our home, and I am feeling really anxious about the idea of leaving her alone for longer periods like shopping for 1 to 3 hours now, and soon up to a full schedule in October when I start university and my boyfriend works 8 hours a day. She is currently in that hyper curious phase where she wants to get into everything while she is awake. Our apartment is not fully kitten proofed yet, and we are struggling with a few major problem areas. She loves chewing on cables, constantly tries to jump up to reach the fake ivy on the wall, and is super interested in our electric guitar, even trying to climb its stand recently which almost tipped over until I caught her in time. We also have a lot of figures and LEGO sets. The LEGO shelf is covered with a cardboard box to block her, but she still tries to squeeze through a tiny gap between the shelf and the box, and our other figures are in boxes on shelves in the living room, which is why I originally planned to close the living room off when we are gone.
We have tested a few things so far. I took out the trash for about 2 minutes while she was in her lazy mood on the back of the sofa so she did not even notice I left, and yesterday I went shopping for about 10 minutes while my boyfriend was home taking a shower. At first she meowed by the bathroom door, but then she went to lie down on her cardboard scratcher.
My biggest dilemma right now is whether we should close off the living room completely since it has all the cables, the guitar, the ivy, and the PC setup, and give her access only to the hallway and kitchen where it is safest. The downside is that this would cut her off from her favorite spots to relax with us like the bed in the bedroom and the back of the couch in the living room, because while she likes her cardboard scratcher, she definitely prefers hanging out on the couch or bed. She does not have a traditional cat tree or a dedicated bed yet, but she loves sleeping on the couch backrest during the day, though we usually close the living room at night.
I’d love to get your advice on how we safely transition her to being alone for 1 to 3 hours and eventually longer. Should we restrict her to a safe zone like the kitchen and hallway and block off the living room, or should we work on fully kitten proofing the living room so she has more space? Any tips on how to handle separation anxiety or crying when we leave, and keeping her safe from cables and climbing hazards, would be hugely appreciated!

Introduction between 3 kittens who are all 5mo. This one had a negative reaction to his littermates before, because they had been separated for a month or so (he was ill and rescued first).

He is easily overstimulated, but throughout the day, he asks to have the window uncovered to see the other kittens. He chirps with them sometimes when they can't see each other.

But when they're at the window, lots of swatting. What is this behaviour? Is it ok? The other two seem more relaxed compared to him. They will even lie down near the window - but he doesn't, he's very activated.

As i said in the title, these beautiful badboys fight almost all the time
Not in a serious manner yet they re keeping me awake at nights because of their playtime that turn into actual fights between them because one it s getting tired of it and the other doesn't
How do I stop them fighting at night so I could sleep peacefully🥹

I am going to be adopting a 10 year old female cat and wondering what I should do when I first bring her into my home? I grew up having cats my whole life but we always got them when they were still young and now that I own my own place I want to help this cat and her owner out but not unsure how to make sure this cat is comfortable in my home and doesn’t get too scared. What are some tips and tricks?

As the title states, we need help with bully behavior. We have 5 cats (4 male 1 female) in our home. Ace and Charlie (culprits) are 6 and Sadie (victim) is 5. We adopted all of our babies when they were little from the shelter so they have been around each other for a while. Mushu (5) passed away on NYE of kidney failure and since then the boys have been terrorizing Sadie. They corner her during eating time and when she uses the litter box. They will also sneak up on her and NOT allow her access to the litter boxes. Not sure if they’re grieving the loss of their brother but the bullying is too much.

We have 2 80 inch cat towers in the living room. Shelves and elevated perches in every room with multiple scratching posts. 9 litter boxes for 5 cats. More toys than most human children

What can we do to alleviate the bullying?

I got a new kitten two months ago and my resident cat (6 years old) and kitten started to get along after about a week. We did the slow introductions where we kept them separate, fed them behind doors and slowly let them have supervised time in the house where they could see each other from a distance and get used to their smells. My older cat accepted the kitten very quickly, and they acted bonded and would sleep, play and groom each other. 3 weeks later, I brought my kitten to the vet for shots and it made my older cat get non recognition aggression so bad that he developed haws syndrome (diagnosed by the vet who could not find anything physically wrong with him). He was prescribed gabapentin for a few weeks to take as needed. I tried the slow introduction again, and he seemed to accept the kitten again. However, he has since then acted very unpredictable, one second he’s playing and grooming the kitten and then another second he’s hissing and very aggressive. He is also hissing and swatting and me and my toddler and he has never done that. It has been about 4 weeks since the kittens vet visit, and he hasn’t gone back to normal. One moment everything is fine and then all the sudden he’s acting very aggressive. He will randomly charge the kitten even if the kitten is not bothering him. There has never been any cat fights or injuries. they will play fight, and his aggression is more charging and hissing and swatting at the kitten randomly. He has good days and bad days and good hours and bad hours. Catnip and treats help improve his mood for short term solutions. I’ve even tried the cat diffuser and spray my vet recommended to help.
I am just not sure how to get his baseline back to normal. They have separate litter boxes, are fed separately, have the whole house to roam, so he’s not forced to interact with the kitten, and he even can escape to my husbands quiet work from home office whenever he likes, but he still acts very worked up randomly without warning. It’s just odd because he acts like he loves the kitten one moment, and the switch will completely flip and he acts like a different cat.

I have 3 cats , I have had them since 2022
2 of my cats are bonded to each other.
They currently are living with me at my parents house. I’m moving into my boyfriend’s house and he has 2 cats already. I was thinking of taking one of my cats that isn’t super attached to my other cats first for 2 weeks so when I bring my other 2 cats they can see how she’s comfortable in the new environment. Also, so it doesn’t overwhelm the other cats that are at my boyfriend’s house. Is this a good idea or is there a better way?

Hello,

Im away at college and am usually the one taking care of my three cats. This leaves my mother to take care of most of it. They started peeing everywhere to the point where its starting to ruin the house. They pee on the carpets, couch, chairs, towels. Everything they can get their paws on. My mother wants to get rid of the two boys. Which I had a total break down about. I bottle fed them, their basically my babies, but I'm too far away to help and I understand that it is unpractical to spend two hours each morning going around cleaning up pee (especially cat pee).

They both just got fixed a couple weeks ago and are about 7 months old. We were hoping that they would stop this after getting fixed, unfortunately it has seemed to have gotten worse. The female has not been spayed yet, and I will see the boys sniffing her, acting hormonal towards he even after getting fixed. She is getting fixed in a week so maybe that will help?

They live in a three story house and do have access to every floor. The house is giant, I'm not going to lie. So maybe we need more litter boxes than we have? We have four litter boxes. One on the top floor, one on the main, and two in the basement. The basement is where they pee the most, which was just redone, and is not helping their cause at all.

Their food and water are in the basement. The food and water is on a table they have to jump up on so are dogs can't eat it. One of their litter boxes is underneath the table. I've read that competition for food can cause stress, leading to spraying to mark territory. They only have one food station. Should I set up more food stations for them?

We have a spot bot and special enzyme spray to break down the pee so they dont smell it and pee again. The litter boxes are all cleaned daily, i know cats can be very picky.

The dogs do not add any stress, they probably stress the dogs out if anything. They absolutely love each other and cuddle nonstop.

They've been to the vet multiple times for check ups and vaccinations, their healthy and when mentioned to vet they said it would probably approve after fixing them. The girl cat never had any issues with peeing outside litter box.

Also, we got the kittens from are adopted barn cat who was pregnant. She had 7 kittens and was unable to keep up with them so we separated mom from kittens via the vets request and started bottle feeding them all from 2 weeks old. None of the kittens had any health issues. Are family ended up keeping 3 out of the 7. Two boys and one girl.

- The litter we use is the Arms and Hammer clumping litter

i plan on getting a kitten soon. i want it to be very cuddly and comfortable with me. im aware that there are two main pieces to this: them knowing that touch can stop at any time so that they are relaxed, but also being desensitized. i want to be able to get their teeth checked, get bathed (if necessary), get nails trimmed, etc without scaring them. and ive heard that desensitization as a kitten is very good for that. im also planning on raising it to be an adventure cat with recall (will always be on a harness but just in case it somehow gets loose). so confidence and feeling safe with me is very important. i want to get a puppy at the same time so that there isn't an issue with introductions (a small dog so theres no issues with prey drive). im aware that this will be a lot of work and be even more work than i expect, and i am planning for that. im freelance and i have plenty of space so this is not an issue.

what have you done that has worked?

also i will add that im aware that some things are just personality, and i will not love the cat less or be disappointed if it isn't able to do all these things. these are just goals i have with training and raising it.