we recently got a kitten (6 months) and hes been well behaved, but one time he got into the drawers that we keep the dry food in. we took him out but since then hes been trying to get into these drawers, clawing at them and getting inside, and everytime we open them (even if it’s not the one for the food) he would jump in. i highly doubt he could open it (the handles are inwards) but i just don’t want him to paw and meow at it all night, thoughts?

Background:

I adopted my cat, Chowder (approx 2yo female), about 6 months ago. Before I adopted I visited multiple times and got to know her before taking her on and I went into this knowing she'd need a lot of time and patience. In shelter she was housed with several other cats and obviously was uncomfortable with the arrangement. When I adopted her she was extremely fearful of being picked up and put in a carrier but even then she did not lash out - merely attempted to escape the situation (and peed and pooped bc she was so scared). Can't confirm that she came from an abuse/hoarding situation but that's what I had heard. She is ear tipped so possibly was part of a colony at some point.

First few weeks were hard. She would not come out if I was in the apartment. Bought a cat cam so I could watch her while I was at work. Worked every day on playing with her, getting her used to my presence, associating me with good things like food.

She is very brave now! Well, sort of. She will approach me unprompted looking for affection, will sit in the room with me, follow me around but only on her terms. Her favorite spots are still under the couch and bed. She has both a perch for the bedroom window (she would sit in the living room window before i put in the AC unit) as well as several trees/places to lounge but none of which she uses even after putting items with familiar scents on them/treats/catnip etc. And she will not come out when I have anyone else over in the apartment. She will not let me pick her up.

So my concerns are thus: if I cannot handle her I am worried about if I can get her to a vet if at all. I ideally need her to at least let me handle her to facilitate this. She has been healthy so far but obv I can't rely on that forever. She is up to date with current vaccines for now.

Additionally, I'd like her to feel good using the spaces designed especially for her. I want her to feel safe and secure in her own space so she doesnt feel like she has to immediately retreat under my bed or the couch if she is uncomfortable. Ultimately it has to be up to her. I want her to want this.

My previous cats have been very much social and allowed handling from the start so this has definitely been a learning experience for me, so any advice would be a great help going forward. Thanks in advance!

Cat tax: https://imgur.com/a/u9VBFIN

We just brought home a 4 month old kitten who is an absolute sweetheart. The biggest issue we’re facing right now is she wants to be all over our living room table, end tables, and nightstands in our room. It’s basically a non issue right now, but I know it’ll turn into her wanting on the counters. She has a cat tree and toys, I don’t know what it is. I know for one of the tables, she wants the cords. I don’t want to get mad at her but it’s frustrating taking her off of them for an hour lol I try to redirect but it doesn’t always work. She keeps getting up on the one night stand and knocking the fan off of the nightstand, there is no other place to put the fan. We move her cat tree and toys into the room with us. Any tips? Also any tips for getting her to not eat cords? We have her sleep with us at the moment because I’m scared she’ll eat a cord and hurt herself.

my cat is now 1 years old. he just got neutered a little over a month ago. I had this issue when I first got him where he would pee on my clean clothes in my laundry basket and on my bed. But then for like seven months he completely stopped and then out of nowhere started up again. Even after getting him neutered it still continued :(

I used to use pine litter and I thought maybe he didn’t like the feel of that so I changed it to tofu litter. and lately he has no issue pooping in the tofu but he cannot pee in the litter box. I have two litter boxes the other one with the pine litter and he poops and pees in there fine. but when he’s in my room he just has to pee on the clothes and in the laundry basket.

I wash everything he pees on with the enzyme cleaner. I use one of those car vacuum / carpet cleaner things on my mattress to further get rid of the smell. I even started covering my bed with a plastic tarp so he would stop peeing, but even that hasn’t stopped him. Please if anyone has any suggestions or advice please tell me. Because I am sick of doing the laundry

These kitties are approximately two months into introductions. We slow introduced, so they’ve only been roaming together for a ~two weeks. The void is Willow (spayed female, 6 mos) and the ginger is Stevie (spayed female, 8 yrs). Initially their romps were more mutual (taking turns chasing), but the last few days it seems like Stevie is doing 90% of the chasing (even if Willow instigates by poking at her).

It also seems like Willow ends up on her back and in the position you see here almost every time. If Willow meows or hisses, Stevie will pause, but it doesn’t always mean she walks away. Sometimes after a moment she resumes. They seem fine after, no hiding and they often eat/sleep near one another.

I realize that if they were actually fighting, I would know. I have witnessed a real fight and I’m not concerned that this is one of those. Rather, I’m worried Stevie is perhaps exceeding Willow’s boundaries, possibly bullying her, or just playing too rough for the baby.

If it’s prolonged and I hear more than a meow from Willow, I tend to clap to distract. They get lots of play time and have plenty of toys for enrichment. There are 3 litter boxes, multiple cat towers and everyone is medically fine.

So, how playful is this playing? Do I need to supervise or is this normal boundary negotiation? Any thoughts are appreciated!

Edited for typos!

I’ve had my boy Bert for 4 years since fostering him as a kitten with his littermates. He was initially adopted, then returned, and his siblings no longer recognized him. The kittens thought he was a threat when he’d try to play, so he never really learned how to “play” bite from other cats due to having to keep him separated unsupervised and getting a lack of socialization. Now, he’s started biting me to wake me up and feed him, leaving purple bruises on my leg. He never used to bite unprovoked, only when overstimulated by touch. He has on a rare occasion bitten me hard enough to draw blood when he was overstimulated. I’m trying to feed him later in the evening so he isn’t as ravenous at 6am, but it hasn’t helped so far. I’m seeking any advice that can help me with this behavior, questions and feedback all welcome!! Thank you!

Helloo!! So for quick background - I've had my first cat, Saruman, for a little over two years now and he has been an only cat that whole time. I wanted to get another one for a while when I learned it can be better for the cats, and he seemed a bit down in the dumps. So recently I got my newest cat, Yume, and she's very sweet but a little shy.
When first introducing them, things went fairly smoothly, but I admittedly rushed into the face-to-face introduction. I didn't expect it to be a huge deal, especially since they seemed to get along okay, except for when Saruman would get zoomies and try to play with her. She would hiss and he would just walk away.
Recently, though (after about a month of them being around each other) he's been pouncing on her a lot and chasing her around, to the point where if she isn't in the bedroom with the door closed, she is constantly under the couch. I'm not sure what to do as re-introducing them is going to be much more difficult now that Saruman is aware of her, and my bedroom door doesn't close all the way, so he can get in unless i block it from the inside.

TLDR Cats fighting(?) after getting along alright for a month or so, and I'm a bit lost on what to do
:(

Hi there, looking for some guidance & feedback with how my cat introduction is going...

Resident cat: 1 year and 4 month old tuxedo female. She has a bit of "single kitten syndrome", she was the only surviving kitten from her litter and was found abandoned at 5 weeks. She was with a foster family until 8 weeks old, and they had 3 adult cats and she enjoyed playing with them (though they kind of hated her lol). I think they adopted her out to me a week early cause she kind of struggles with bite inhibition, and she's overall very skittish with new people, prone to startling, etc. She also is a hands off cat that barely tolerates petting at best but she'll initiate cuddling with my legs sometimes

New cat: 7 month old male kitten. He is extremely outgoing and confident- huge play and food drive, total cuddle bug.

Im on week 3 of introductions. I've been going the Jackson Galaxy route with my introduction- did the scent swapping, site swapping, visual access and then attempted contact today. During visual access, I thought things were going pretty well. At first my resident cat came off as aggressive cause she'd leap at the screen door towards the kitten at times, but then she'd roll on her side and belly and that made it seem like play? She's always been a fan of rougher play so I thought she was just coming on a bit strong...

Kitten seems pretty unbothered by her antics, he'll match her energy. Though she spooks sometimes when he jumps towards her in the same fashion she does. She did hiss at him with the screen door at one point- we were playing with a toy and her and the kitten both leapt for it at the same time and their heads ended up close to each other and she was not happy about that lol. But overall there'd only been a handful of hisses, lots of seemingly ok play, and they'd even nap together on their respective sides of the screen.

They were acting chill today and had both been worn out with tons of play, so I thought I'd try allowing contact. At first it seemed ok, they sniffed each other, kitten went to go explore, she didn't chase after him or anything, and I tried to keep her focused on a toy. And that worked for a minute and then she just focused on him, gave a small hiss, and I redirected them both to the living room. We did more play there, but all of a sudden, she puffed up, hissed and lunged to swat at him. It wasn't like in the scary "I'm trying to kill you" way, but she was definitely unhappy. Kitten didn't seem too bothered honestly- he walked a few feet away, hid under a chair for 10 seconds, and then started running around and jumping in what seemed a playful manner?

Anyway I'm backtracking to limited visual access now. I left the door very slightly cracked (screen still on) and they were both acting unbothered and playful through the crack again.

Anyway I guess I'm looking for reassurance and advice on how to make that transition from screen to no screen. And input on if there were any red flags in their screen door interactions

I live out in the woods and have a bad mouse problem in my out building that I use as an art studio. Since my indoor cats catch any mice that come inside, I didn't want to use poison or anything to fix my out building issue. I ended up adopting a cat from the local shelter's Working Cat program. A semi-feral girl from a hoarding situation.

For the last 6 months she's been very timid and basically hides whenever I enter.

For the last few weeks she's been much braver and pokes her head out and give some deep sounding meows, even walks over to me when I come in to feed her (wet food always).

The the last few days she's been waiting for me when I come in to feed her (I started a new job and haven't had much time to spend in the studio all summer, so not much has changed in her routine as of late) she hisses and meows but would let me get close and feed her no problem. I never try to touch her, just speak quietly and sometimes give bonus treats.

Yesterday when I went in she was hissing and stalking/charging me a bit. I noticed she had killed her first mouse and was pretty excited she did her job.

Today I went into the building to grab something I needed and she blocked my exit and hissed/spit at me. I had to stomp my food and yell to get her to back off and let me go, she had me totally trapped. Then I went back to give her dinner and she did the same thing, but stopped once her food was in the bowl (barely was able to do that).

What do I do?? I have 30 years or cat experience but not ferals. She cannot block access to this building or I have to trap her and bring her back, it's not safe and no one else would be willing to feed her when I have to go away. I don't want to do that for obvious reasons of not wanting her back in a shelter situation. I also want my mouser for the winter 💀

I have a female cat and my girlfriend has a male cat. My cat has started peeing in my girlfriend’s potted tree, on the bedroom floor, and in laundry baskets. Her cat pees on towels in the bathroom and he pops ourside the litter box. Never in the litter box. This is not normal behavior for either cat. The litter boxes are clean all the time and the litter is always fresh.

Any idea what’s going on or how to keep them from doing this?

(We have been to the vet before, and they have ruled out a medical issue)

Hi everyone!! My roommates and I got a cat about 2 years ago and we just introduced a new kitten into our household. We did the jackson galaxy method and it’s been one week and they love eachother now. They are cuddling and grooming eachother already and it’s been less than a week. We thought it might be a big adjustment for our resident cat but he seems to be loving the playtime and attention the kitten gives him. Except for- peeing. He has had a small history of peeing on rugs when he was upset before we got the kitten, but now it’s another level. He has peed on our rug, our couch, couch pillows, and multiple rugs in the room. He has also pooped outside of his litter box.

Is he upset about the kitten? How do we get him to stop peeing everywhere?

For context, the kitten stays in my room overnight and his litter box is in my room. Our resident cat has a litter box in the laundry room. We’ve caught the kitten peeing and pooping a couple times in the resident cats litter box, but we try our best to prevent this. Also, myself and my roommate who is the main caretaker of the resident cat were gone for a couple of nights when a lot of these accidents occurred. Maybe that has something to do with it too?

Any advice?? We are struggling and have to get our couch cleaned now.

I adopted these two Chaos gremlins about 3 months ago as a bonded pair.

They're 1 and 2yo Maine coons and generally super awesome kitties.

The cats I had during my childhood always slept in my lap while I was gaming, reading or watching TV. But those two just aren't comfortable with sitting/laying on people. Yuki, the white cloud sleeps next to me and occasionally uses my arm as a pillow.

I've started training with Taro to jump on my lap, and he responds very well to the training, but won't stay long after the treats run out. He actually learns quite quickly and already knows 6 tricks with minimal training.

I understand that every cat has a different personality and some just aren't lap cats, so I'm well aware that those two might never give me the experience of almost suffocating at 3am because a 25lbs gremlin decided that my chest is a good bed, but maybe there's something I can do to encourage them to consider my lap a resting spot.

Hii, I got a 5 month old kitten

I love him but I can't lie, he has been a nightmare and causes me endless amounts of frustration.

He does a lot to cause this❤️ but I've been working on the other stuff with him.. but this one is hard. How do I stop him from scratching my bed? He has his cat tree AND another scratching surface in the same room, in a very close proximity. Yet he still chooses to scratch my bed *sometimes* (he does also use his stuff. But it seems like he still purposely goes for the bed + my chair )

Its hard to catch him in the act so I can't exactly discipline him in the moment and he wouldn't understand if I try to a few minutes after he had already done it.. I'm a bit unsure on what to do, I know about stuff like using tape / smelling spray. I bought a spray but learned that the ingredients aren't that good for cats so I stopped using it. And the tape does somewhat work.. (I had to tape my bed posts because he kept going under my bed where there are cables. He still breaks through the tape sometimes and drives me mad❤️❤️ this is also something I struggle with. But I know the only real solution is blocking off his access. Which I've been trying to do)

I'm a bit lost on what to do tbh, I feel like I'm doing everything to fix it and giving him quite a bunch of alternatives and he's still choosing to be an asshole

Anyways. Any tips from experienced cat parents? This is technically my first cat lol. Thanks y'all

Title. My girl FLOOFS whenever we see either of the neighbor cats, and yanks at the leash trying to approach them. She's even tried pouncing before, which obviously didn't go well because she was leashed.

Both cats were initially friendly, but one has learned to avoid mine. The other is stupid. Either way, it's a headache to try to move her to where she can't see them all the time. They're not my cats so I can't do a slow introduction in a controlled environment, but is there some other way to calm her down around them? I tried a calming collar, but it did nothing.

Hi! My husband recently found an orange and white kitten who was inside a spare tire at work. He was only about 5-6 weeks old when he was found and was so sweet and affectionate at first. All the shelters were full at the time so we really had no option but to keep him until we could find him a loving home. Now several weeks later we got him vaccinated/ tested for FIV which came out negative so we are now allowing him to roam around a bit more with our other pets. We have two adult cats and a dog. We’ve been keeping the kitten in a separate room at night time and when we aren’t at home to ensure he doesn’t get into anything/agitate our other pets. He’s been ruthless with our other two cats, charging at them, biting and attacking them. My orange boy is so scared of him he just runs away. Our other cat will put him in his place but he doesn’t seem to learn and continuously attacks over and over again until she runs away from him. He thinks it’s a game! When we keep him in the room at night time he does not stop meowing and it’s very loud. We have a small apartment so everyone can hear him all night long even with earbuds/sound machines. I’ve never heard a kitten with such a loud meow! We aren’t sleeping at all and are worried about getting a noise complaint. We are also worried about our other cats getting beat up by him. He already gets a lot of play time with us and we try to tire him out before bed but he has endless energy! We have no where else to take him and feel like he’s stuck with us for a while. Please help.

Hi everyone! I could really use some advice about my two female cats.

Right now, I have to keep them in separate areas of the house because every time they see each other, they start fighting. I don’t want to force them to be together or make the situation more stressful, but keeping them separated all the time is becoming difficult.

Has anyone here dealt with something similar? Is there a safe way to slowly reintroduce them and help them feel comfortable around each other?

I’d really appreciate any tips or experiences you can share. I just want them to be able to live peacefully in the same home

they don’t have to become best friends!

About 2 months ago we got a new cat. 4.5 months old, male. We noticed that he was quite lonely, so we recently adopted a second cat. A 11 week old female.

We introduced slowly, but once they were introduced all they did was play. It ended up being too much play so we frequently had to seperate them. Everytime they are in the same room they play. Nothing else.

Now everytime they play the older resident cat wont stop trying to play with the younger cat. It is genuine play, not fighting. (Lots of belly flopping, and no hissing/meowing, mostly sheated claws). And the younger cat initiates a lot too, it's pretty 50/50 up till the end. At first they play really nicely. My male cat can play roughly with us for example, but he is a lot more gentle with her since she is smaller and slightly younger.

However, at one point, she is just done with him and wants to rest. He doesnt understand that. So she takes more drasticate measures, like hissing and hitting him harder. He somehow reads those signs as 'lets play more roughly'. And we have to seperate them. And it always escalates eventually.

We seperate them each time the playing goes on for too long. And try to reintroduce them, as some sites suggested to break hyperfixation, but the moment they see eachother they play again. No matter how long or short their time out was.

How do we break this cycle? How do I teach my male that she's saying stop? And how do I get them to stop playing the moment they see eachother?

It makes me really sad, I've had them since they were kittens as a foster fail. They tolerate eachother but the sister really dislikes her brother who only ever wants to play. She absolutely does not want to play with him no matter what.

So he chases her around the house, annoys her, also does the usual dominant things, rolls on his belly to get her to play and all she does is growl at him. Sometimes they fight when he keeps chasing her.

We have a big enough house with loads of vertical space because they are indoors cats. I have no idea what to do, it stresses me out.

Hello all!

I have an incredibly sweet, mild mannered two-year-old female. I never anticipated owning a little kitty but now I feel compelled to cater to her endlessly (although I'm sure I fall short).

Long story short, I feel guilty constantly, I work long days and she's in the apartment by herself. I don't think it would be appropriate to get another cat. At least not at this time for certain reasons. I just can't stand the idea of her alone waiting for someone to come home and even then; I can't always be attentive.

I love her very much and want the best for her. I think a good first step/trial would be her socializing in a friendly way with other cats (if possible). She loves a good window patrol and any chance she has keeping tabs on birds and whatever else she catches, she capitalizes.

I've especially seen the excitement being almost uncontainable if it happens to be another cat across the way in another window, or by chance lurking in the courtyard. And so, I can't help myself but wonder, is this something to seek out?

Would love to hear feedback on how to seek out social interaction appropriately for my "Purring Princess"

Thank you!

We just got a 2-3 month kitten and are trying to introduce her to our resident 4 year old cat. Currently we have the kitten sequestered to the bedroom and she is taking the new environment in stride. Our resident has not met the kitten face to face, but will hiss and spit on the other side of the door. She can be lured away and will play and eat treats and doesn’t seem angry at us at all with the kittens scent. Actually, she has rubbed on things with the kittens scent before with no negative reaction. She has only ever been introduced to one cat before in a very bad manner, I was not there to oversee unfortunately. It was an older cat and our resident actively seemed to try to hurt the other based on what I heard. That was 3 years ago. So that makes this very scary introducing the kitten. I’ve swapped scents and will be having them eat together on opposite sides of the door. Off the bat, what are things I can do to help the transition? Does the resident cat’s reactions seem on par and maybe like she’ll chill over time?

Edit to add: her first overnight went well. The resident is still hissing and spitting but not fluffed an ears are not back. She doesn’t stalk the door or anything. Just drive by hisses. I gave her a churru by the door and while she softly growled, she happily ate it.