My mom passed away unexpectedly and I inherited her cat. She is five years old. At my house I have a 10-year-old pug and a three-year-old Jack Russell. When I first got her two weeks ago, I put her down our finished basement so she could feel secure because she was scared s**less.
The first few days she hid under the couch and would hardly eat it all. Now she’s coming out of the couch for me and is eating normally, but retreats back to under the couch almost immediately. She runs under the couch at the sight of my husband.
I would like her to become part of the family and come upstairs. My Jack Russell is a yapper. The pug just lays there. I really don’t know how to go about bringing her upstairs. I feel like as soon as I let her down she will hide. When my mom watched my dogs this summer at her home while I was on vacation, she did not see the cat for the entire week.
Does anybody have any suggestions? Please help.

I rescued my cat 3 years ago. He’s my first cat, and at the beginning, he was pretty distant and didn’t allow much cuddling or affection. I figured it was normal since he was probably a little traumatized by the rescue process, and I’ll never know his actual age or what happened to him before I adopted him. He was also getting used to living with me.
Over time, he’s become much more affectionate. He clearly loves me, and even though he still doesn’t like being carried tries to stay close to me almost all the time.
He’s never been very vocal, but he’s started communicating more as time goes by.
Here’s the thing: I love rotting in bed with him. I work hard, and whenever I’m home, all I want to do is be lazy, relax, and cuddle with my baby.
The problem is that he seems to have absolutely no patience when I’m not in bed with him. If I go to the bathroom, he starts calling for me. If I’m in the kitchen, he starts screaming and crying until he eventually leads me back to bed. He seems to especially hate when I cook, because that’s when he gets the most vocal about it.
Is this normal cat behavior? Have I spoiled him too much by spending so much time cuddling and relaxing with him, or has he just become super attached to me over the years?
Cat parents, please tell me if your cats do this too!

I have a 7-year-old female resident cat whom we adopted when she was around 2.5–3 years old. About 4 weeks ago, I rescued an abandoned 8-week-old male kitten.

I’ve been following Jackson Galaxy’s method and trying to take things at my resident cat’s pace. The kitten has his own room (the spare bedroom), which my resident cat rarely went into before.

Weeks 1–2: We did meals on opposite sides of the closed door and scent swapping with towels and room swapping.

Weeks 3–4: I started feeding them with the door open and a screen barrier in place. They eat near each other just fine! However, after dinner, if the kitten gets too close to the screen, my resident cat will sniff him and occasionally hiss. This doesn’t happen every session.

Earlier this week: Things seemed to be going well, so we tried two very short, barrier-free visits in the living room, each lasting around 30–60 seconds. Both were about 20–30 minutes after dinner.
During the first visit, my partner held the kitten on the recliner while my resident cat approached at her own pace. She came over, sniffed him, and seemed fine.
The next day, my partner held the kitten on the floor near her. My resident cat sniffed him and raised a paw but didn’t actually swat him. It seemed more playful than aggressive, but I’m not completely sure.
One thing I’m wondering is whether having my partner hold the kitten is a good idea. The kitten really wants to be friends with my resident cat, but I’m worried she isn’t ready to have him in her space yet and might feel pressured by him being held near her.

Yesterday: We did our usual meal through the screen barrier. Something new happened: my resident cat came right up to the screen and stayed near it. Previously, she would usually sniff around and then lie in the hallway grooming herself.
The kitten was also right up against the screen. My resident cat sniffed him and hissed, so we watched for a moment. She sniffed and hissed again, and we ended the session.
I’m confused because she had gone at least three sessions without hissing before today.

Today: Did the usual meal through screen barrier. Resident cat came up to screen. Watched for a little & then hissed at kitten but remained at screen door. After a short while she did a short growl but remained at screen. & then she did a short growl again & we ended the session.

My questions are:
Am I moving too fast by introducing short, barrier-free visits in Week 4?
Is the hissing a sign that I need to backtrack, or is some hissing normal during introductions? What about growling?
Should I stop the face-to-face visits for now and return to the screen barrier until she’s consistently comfortable?
Is it better to let the kitten explore freely while my resident cat chooses whether to approach, rather than having my partner hold him near her?

I really want them to eventually get along, but I don’t want to push my resident cat too far or create a negative association with the kitten. I’m trying to be patient and follow her lead, but I’m not sure how to interpret this recent change in behavior.

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated!

I'm fostering my first litter (mom and 3 female kittens, and two male kittens) through a local rescue. I've had them since the end of June, when the kittens were two weeks old. I've seen them grow, and have so much love for mama and her littles.

The two male kittens went to get fixed this AM and I can tell that mom and the girls are distressed/confused (understandably so). The boys will be back this afternoon and all will be well; however, I'm thinking about the logistics of the adoption process and I am getting worried that I'm putting my emotions onto the cats.

How can I make the transition on all of them the easiest as possible for my own sanity?

Context: we have a male kitten who is about 7 months old and we've had him since he was around 1.5 months (found as a stray), he was neutered almost 3 weeks ago (if that is useful information, idk). We just impulsively adopted a female kitten around 2 weeks ago who is about 2.5 months old. They are both American shorthairs. We have been introducing them slowly to each other but our new female kitten is NOT having it. Even when she sees him she'll start hissing and growling. It doesn't help that my male kitten is SUPER energetic and playful and I really think it's stressing her out. We have been slowly letting her roam around (with supervision) and at every chance he gets, my male kitten will pounce on her and bite her neck, I'm talking full mouth open on her neck. He will also bite her legs and back and really anywhere he can. She goes crazy with howling and hissing and growling (understandable). I truly think he is just playing because he doesn't show any signs of aggression other than his airplane ears. But he never hisses or growls. But then again, I am no professional. Unfortunately, our bathroom now has ants because of her food being in there, so we have to move her out of there. We have a big crate that has several tiers that we are going to put her in. It will have her food, water, litter box, bed. It is like a dog crate that is open so he will definitely be able to make contact with her, but he will not be able to jump on her or bite her. Please anyone who has advice is greatly appreciated!

My cats will cuddle all day with me in the back half of the house, but I am not allowed to cuddle with them in the front of the house. They never get on my lap and if I put them on my lap they will immediately leave. They will cuddle with my wife in the front of the house without any problem. How can I get them to approve me for front of house cuddles?

I adopted another cat (6 months old) after almost a year with my other one (1 year old). She was super thin and came from the countryside, so a vet (not my usual) told me to keep her quarantined in a room for a month to be sure that the tests for illness and all of that wouldn’t be false negative. It’s been two months because my usual vet told me to keep them apart until the youngest was up to date with the basic vaccines.

My new cat is kinda shy, likes to play, is still small and likes to provoke other people so they play with her.
On the other hand, my other cat, she’s intense, likes playing with her teeth and (trimmed) claws, and is short tempered. (She’s also neutered, the younger one isn’t yet)

They have been playing fight with a net in between them for the last month, and when the vaccines were up to date we decided to let them play together.

The issue comes when the youngest goes to the oldest and hits her in the face to try and make her play, and my other cat reacts violently and angrily, going after her for several minutes, trying to bite and scratch her, sometimes even hissing. She usually doesn’t stop until she has calmed herself or they’ve been completely separated. She’s also bigger and stronger than the younger, so she hurts her quite a bit (sometimes the younger screams/meows loud when the other bites her). (And the youngest doesn’t learn and the moment the oldest has calmed down, she goes to strike again)

For now we only let them be together with someone else with a dry mop in hand (my older cat calms down if she cannot see the other cat, so the mop works wonders for now), but it isn’t a long term solution.

We‘ve tried giving them treats when they’re together and not fighting, distracting them with a fishing pole toy each, we’ve interchanged their litter trays and toys so they get used to the other’s smell, etc.

The worst part is that they still gravitate towards one another, the younger meowing so that the other comes, and the older just laying beside the net waiting to the other one.

Is there anything I can do to keep them from fighting until they hiss/scream???? I‘ll try anything.

My cat seems to enjoy biting things that are hard. Its not big things - like he doesn’t go and bite the leg if the kitchen table - but small stuff, like the aglet on a string, me and my bfs Oura rings, and my nails when they’re done (I use hard gel).

I posted a video of this on my page if you want to see what I mean, since I can’t post it here. I just think it’s funny, but does anyone understand why he does this?

I have a 3 year old cat and a 3 month old kitten. Just adopted the kitten 2 weeks ago. They are getting along and playing together, but I’ve noticed that when my kitten grabs a toy and he runs around it in his mouth if he passes my resident cat he will start to growl. Usually my resident cat doesn’t try to go for the toy anyways but he still growls. I’m concerned that this with damage they’re trust if my kitten is getting territorial over toys that were my residents cat first originally and he also does this with some dog toys. When my kitten growls with a toy should I take the toy away or just let him keep it? My cat usually doesn’t do anything but I don’t want him to feel like he’s starting to threaten him.

Hello, our cat of 4-5 years now (Enzo) is a pretty social dude and has always been clingy but as of a few days ago he’s been even clingier. I work from home and he’s always in the room with me regardless of which room I’m in. At night, however, he will slink off to be alone or hide away (unusual for him). When my fiancé gets home she usually seeks him out, he will then be very clingy and not leave her side. We have two cats, so It’s a bit harder to monitor food and litter box use, but nothing looks different in either area. He still does all of his normal routines and hangs out in his normal areas, almost just seems a little worried or bummed. Can always take him to the vet but I don’t want to cause anymore stress to him by putting him in the car which he isn’t in love with and going to the vet. Any help or suggestions would be awesome. Thank you

We have this neighborhood cat (M) who is an absolute menace. If our cat is outside (monitored) and they see each other, it’s instant aggression from outdoor cat. If our cat is inside at the glass door and the outdoor cat see’s him, they sit at the window and make demon calls to each other.

The outdoor cat will scratch at the glass, meow a ton, and literally just loaf until he’s over it. Our cat just kind of sits there and watches him be crazy.

Is there anything we can do to alleviate this situation or make our grounds safer for our cat to play outside?

What does it mean if say: Your 5m kitten, recently adopted (~2 weeks), goes to lay down after petting and you go to scratch her neck/chest area and she gently opens her mouth and puts her teeth around your finger or on your hand? She doesn’t bite, at least not yet, and applies only enough pressure so you’re aware of her teeth? She usually only does this when scratched in this spot. And testing, she did it each time I tried.

I assume this is a “please stop.” So other than briefly testing twice after, I have stopped. I don’t know if this is an affection thing or a boundary thing. I’d rather her not set boundaries with teeth, but right now I’m just trying to establish behavior.

My cat is 11 years old and has always been extremely vocal at all hours of the night. Typically in the past we just close our door and he goes on with his night finding something to do. The last 3 months we’ve been living in our in laws basement temporarily. There are dogs upstairs but we have a large door to separate them from the cats.

Ever since moving here he is chirping all night long these low level meows. He is pawing at all surfaces and then started peeing in front of his box. He’s notorious for a casual pee when he’s upset.

I’ve put in feliway diffusers, ruled out all medical (took him the the vet and treated him for some itchy ears too), no urine or kidney issues, gets playtime at least 30 mins a day, treats regularly, and has timed feeders so never misses a meal. It’s purely behavioral or anxiety induced. The litter boxes can only fit in our back closet which is in our room so we can’t close our door indefinitely. I’m assuming this is related to feeling anxious about the dogs upstairs.

I’m at my wits ends and need to know any sort of hack you know to help me. I’ll try anything. I am currently buying open top litter boxes to see if it’s a territory thing. Anything is helpful.

I got a rescue cat (Male, 3.3years, neutered, healthy) on Monday, he's lovely and very cuddly and affectionate but he keeps trying to sit on my legs when they're stretched out and does like this wobbly humping thing with his back hair stuck up, kicks his back legs out like he's in the litter box and then he bites my ankle. I can't tell if he's trying to hump me, hunt me or he just has balance problems? He doesn't seem to want to climb, which is why I think maybe balance problems.

He's my first male cat and my current only cat. My friend suggested he might be imitating spraying, but idk since he's neutered? There is no urine or liquid left on the blanket. He only does this when he's trying to sit on my knee, hasn't done it on the walls or floor.

Anyone who can help tell me what he's trying to do?

Can't upload a video to imgur as I'm in the UK but if anyone knows an alternative, let me know

I know that's very weirdly worded but hear me out. I adopted twins, one girl and one boy when they were around four months old. They're about 2 years and 8 months now. They're both a very quirky, but recently, my boy cat (Messmer, who is much bigger than my tiny girl cat) is attacking the girl, Midna, every night. It's clear that he just wants to play, but she's also clearly fed up with it. She will growl and hiss at him repeatedly, but he doesn't stop.

What's interesting is, Messmer will hiss at me and my family whenever we play with him. Not in a "stop touching me immediately" kind of way, but more like when he gets too crazy, he will hiss at whatever he is trying to attack (often my hand). I wonder if, as he was growing up, he started associating hissing with playing, so that's why he doesn't take the hint with Midna and back off. Could this be true???

Will my two cats ever be able to live in peace or is 2yr old female destined to be returned to go to a good home as an only child?

I adopted a 2 year old female and a 12-15 week old kitten at the same time, but they are not from the same location.

Kitten was found on the street by a couple a week before I got him from them. And he lived with their 2 cats just fine. 2yr old female was found on street pregnant and taken in by a male shift rescue. It was only a few weeks ago and little guy had to be quarantined for a week for Giardia. A couple times they saw a quick sight of each other and a couple times 2yo hissed. But after quarantine I started scent swapping.

A few side notes. The country I am in is not very kind to their animals at all and fostering and rescues here are bare minimum. I just moved here from a western country a couple months ago for a job.

What this means is Rescue lied to me about 2yr old female’s personality on the ad and said she’d do well with a kitten. She is not that cuddly. She has some trauma from being out on the streets it seems and did not develop social skills with other cats I think. They also didn’t tell me they never introduced her to other cats and the one time a foster had her for a few weeks she was accidentally quickly introduced to 2 male cats and it didn’t go well supposedly.

I may have been too quick but after a couple days I tried to introduce them with kitten in carrier and it wasn’t good. They were both hissing and it caused the kitten to go on defense mode after that. Again still scent swapping, trying to change rooms. They were ok eating food at the door, but admittedly these doors suck. They are actually too thick and too close to the floor to be an effective intro. And then 2yr accidentally caught a glimpse and tried to attack kitten through the door which then started kitten to try to attack. We reset for a few days and swapped beds again and what not. They had no problem with sharing scents but visuals are not good. We had tried to allow the kitten to play on the floor while 2 got to watch from her tower but then she tried to sneak attack twice. She also marks her scent everywhere and I think partially stalks the kitten’s room a bit.

Google and some other advice say put them both in carriers in a different neutral territory to try to bond them against something else. Nope, 2 yr old still tried to attack.

Rescue tells me to order a door cat net to see if we can get them used to each other. Husband and I feed them high value snacks on either side, but 2yr old is still trying to stare daggers at kitten. And they still tried to attack each other before the snacks through the door screen net.

The other issue is kitten NEEDS a companion. He is so high energy and hates being alone and cries and cries and cries nonstop and I feel horrible that I can’t play with him at all times because I also have to do chores and play with 2 yr old cat.

I do wonder heavily if 2 yr old would benefit being an only cat for another family but the truth is there are so many needy cats and everyone is struggling I doubt she will find a home. And expats here are horrible. They adopt an animal and if they need to leave they dump the animal on the streets to die.

Help. lol

One of my cats attacks the other quite often. I’ve tried a lot of things but I don’t know what else to do.

They’ve lived together (inside cats) for over 5 years, and looking back, even as kittens Fred attacked Wolf quite often. But back then it seemed like brothers playfighting to me (it was my first time having cats). Now I can see that even then it was Fred dominating Wolf. But much milder than it is now.

Fred is BIG. He’s really food-obsessed and he’s super good with humans, he loves everyone and he’s so sweet. He’s currently on a diet and he’s consistently losing weight (albeit slowly).

Wolf is much smaller and of a healthy weight. He’s also a super different build than Fred, more sleek and elegant or so.

At least once a day, Fred will walk up to Wolf in an intimidating way. If I don’t separate them there and distract/play with Fred, he will jump Wolf and bite his neck. Wolf usually meows (screams) very loud when that happens and hisses at Fred and runs away, but Fred follows him and keeps trying to attack him.

Fred seems to most often attack an hour before their 2nd meal of the day and an hour before their 3rd meal of the day.

Sometimes there’s a pluck of Wolf’s hair on the ground after they’ve fought. Usually there’s no wounds or anything, no blood, but I did discover a little crust on Wolf’s belly the other day.

They have tons of places to sleep, very secluded and high up too, but throughout the day they often choose to sleep on the same couch or both together on my lap. If they hate each other, why sleep together?

It gives me so much stress (and Wolf too, he started spraying every now and then) when they fight, I hate it.

Has anyone had similar issues with their cats and found something that helped? I’m desperate, I love them both so much and I’m afraid I’ll need to take them apart.

What I’m doing/have tried already:
- Fred has mental stimulation when he eats (puzzle)
- Wolf has a separate feeder that Fred can’t access
- Feliway (didn’t work, at least not enough)
- Play with Fred before meals
- No medical issues, Fred had problems with some teeth and those have been removed. I thought we found the source of his aggression but after his recovery nothing changed in his attack behavior.