Use this thread to discuss anything related to cats that doesn't otherwise fit the subreddit! Also feel free to ask questions that you believe are too short for a standalone post.

So, my neutered cat just decided to invite a friend over a few weeks ago. He started sharing his food with him, which seemed like very unusual behavior. At first I thought it was a female, but nope, he has balls. Now they sleep together and are always near each other, I never saw them fight. My cat is so stupid I have to watch them while they eat so he doesn't starve himself, because he literally just stands there and watches while the other eats from his bowl. I know my cat is probably submitting on account of being neutered, but after searching for an answer I came to the conclusion this behavior is extremely unusual, especially since it involves two adult males. Has anyone ever seen something like this?

There are times where when I’m cuddling my cat, I get this feeling of sadness when I think of how much I’m gonna miss her when she dies. I’ve even shed a tear or two a few times when I pet her and think about these things. Is this normal? This has never happened to me before. I love my family, but I never start tearing up when I think how much I’m gonna miss them when they die, so is this normal or am I going crazy?

my cat usually sleeps on me. he snuck out of the house about three hours ago. is it insane for me to sleep on the front proch hoping he comes out and snuggles into me like he normally does.

Editing to add:
he is NOT an outdoor cat.

2nd edit:

its a very safe beachy town. mainly people regularly leave their doors unlocked and garage doors open while they are at the beach. So I feel totally safe sleeping outside.

As the title says, I'm moving to Germany in two weeks from the US for a graduate program. I've had my cat (4) for 2 years, rescued. Up until tonight, my step-grandmother was going to take him for at least the two years of my program, then moving forward we would see how her health is/where I end up. Just got a call from my dad that she's backing out of taking the cat. She just had hip surgery and is worrying about caring for him (which I totally understand). There's a chance she'll be able to take him in a month or two, but there's also a high likelihood she won't. As far as I can tell, these are my options:

1) Bring him with me immediately (if possible). I'll have to contact my landlord and the airline to see if he can even come, then see if I can make an appointment with an FDA approved vet before my travel date. On top of this, because I'm moving I'm bringing a lot of stuff with me.

2) Let him stay with my dad with the hope that my step-grandmother will take him in a few months. My dad said they'd take him, but they have a dog and my cat is extremely afraid of dogs. He does fine if there's a door between them, but isn't able to meet them. So, if he stayed with them he'd be essentially locked in an in-law suite except for when the dog is out. We've talked about trying to acclimatize him to the dog, but I have no idea if that would work.

3) Let him stay with my dad (with all the stipulations above), but take him with me to Germany in between semesters in March. I'm planning on visiting home and could take him then as long as I could have him at my apartment in Germany. But even with the additional time to organize everything, I'm worried about him flying. Even if I was able to get a direct flight (not sure if I can) it would be about 10 hours of travel all told, and he does NOT do well in the car. Meowing constantly, puking and defecating on himself and occasionally panting (though he hasn't done this recently). The puking and defecating may be medication reactions as I've tried giving him gabapentin before longer car rides. My vet did prescribe different medications for me to try, including one for motion sickness, but I don't know how he'll do on those yet. I'm terrified that he's not going to make it because of the stress from the travel.

4) Rehoming via Facebook or a shelter. This is the last thing I want to do. I love my baby with all my heart and I don't want to lose him to someone who would potentially hurt him. I'm also probably selfish for liking the idea that I could have him back when I move back to the US.

What should I do? Am I being delusional? Should I try and take him? Please, any advice or experience with traveling with cats is seriously appreciated.

This is my first time having a cat. I heard that you should completely empty their litter box and clean it at least once a month, so I tried to do that for the first time. I live in an apartment building with a trash chute, and I have a big cat so he has a big litterbox. I wasn't sure how to dispose of his old litter, so I just dumped it into a garbage bag and hauled it to the trash chute. Unfortunately, the bag completely ripped in front of the trash chute and all of the litter dumped onto the floor....

Thankfully there wasn't pee or poo in the litter cause I scoop regularly. But still there was a giant mound of litter just in the hallway. I spent 20 minutes literally hand scooping the litter into a new trash bag (and of course I was wearing shorts, so I was literally kneeling in cat litter bare legged). I have a cordless vacuum so I was able to clean it up pretty well. But I def don't wanna do that again.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to dispose of litter? It's so heavy that it's really not that easy to get rid of.

Hi everybody!

I recently took in my first foster kitty named Opal and am looking for some advice.

So I started volunteering at a rescue 2 weeks ago, I saw this very scared kitty hiding in her bed and the rescue organizer told me she wasn’t doing well in the shelter environment. The next day after some thought, I decided to take her in! I have a quiet home with 2 other very friendly kitties, why not help?

She’s a young ex-shipyard girl who has had 2 litters of kittens previously.

The reason I’m asking for advice is that she hasn’t warmed up to me at all yet, I’m starting to get worried. It’s been almost a week now and It seems she’s still as afraid as the day I brought her home.

Day 1: Just got her home, she looked around the room for a moment but opted to hide. I left her alone for the night.

Day 2: I was able to feed her a churu treat in the morning! She had lots of alone time while I was at work. Not interested in more treats when I got home. Hid for a while but watched me from the top of a cat cube tree for a while.

Day 3: Hid for most of the day until I fed her after work. I hung out in the room with her and she watched me from a distance, would hide whenever I got close

Day 4: It was my day off so I was able to spend a lot of time in the room with her. I got her to eat some treats but she would run away when I got close to her. I pet her a bit while she was hiding in her carrier to show her I wouldn’t hurt her but she seemed terrified :(

Day 5: She hid for most of the day while I spent time in the room with her, I tried to get her to play, give her treats, and pet her again but she wasn’t having it at all.

Day 6: Same as day 5. I rearranged the room a little and took the cat cube out to minimize her hiding spots but I think this stressed her out as she was more prone to hissing and swatting at me when I tried to interact with her. I feel bad for how stressed she got so I put the cat cube back in the room.

I’m going to try only having food in there when I’m around so she associates food with people. Does anyone have any other tips to get this poor scared girl out of fight or flight?

Thank you for reading this far! I refuse to give up on this scaredy, but my heart really hurts for her :,)

My beloved female cat that I first owned and raised has been gone for over 2 days and I’m severely devastated. She’s an indoor/outdoor girl and has been living in our neighborhood for 3 years now. This is unsettling because she’s very familiar with area and lives w/ 3 other male cats who come in and out along with her. 2 days ago, she did not come home with her other brothers. And they’ve seem quite nonchalant.

She rarely misses dinner and much more inclined to come home than my other cats. It’s always a call and she would be running back. I’ve been searching day and night all throughout the neighborhood, alerting the neighbors. My 3 other cats would follow me while I searched for her. It’s frightening because she would never hide from me, if anything she’s excited to hear her name and within a minute I can hear rustling through the bushes and she would be thrilled to show up. Which is making me severely stressed that there’s not a single response from her to my calls in blocks that she would hang around. Just silence.

I’m worried that she must’ve gotten trapped somewhere and knowing her she would be yelling. I feel like anyone would be concerned instinctively and investigate. My cat isnt an adventurous type, much more cautious.

Mentally I haven’t been able to control my worst thoughts. Imagining her suffering in a strange place is killing me. I’m truly distraught and borderline suicidal, I cannot imagine life without her and knowing her gone missing was my fault. My nervous system is destroyed. I cannot eat, sleep, take care of myself. I can only think of her and have put out work until she’s home. I’m going to be sleeping in the back porch tonight where she would come in. Possibly for a whole week.

I’ve posted on fb groups, craiglist, any lost pet websites I could find. I’m going to put up posters asap as well. If anyone can give me tips on how to cope with this while having the strength and hope to look for her it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you to all the cat lovers for reading my post!

I’ve been on a bit of a mission to find the perfect food for my kitties and have tried a ridiculous number of brands so far — Orijen, Open Farm, Weruva, BFF, Cats in the Kitchen, Stella & Chewy’s, Instinct, WholeHearted, Smalls, Purina Pro Plan, and plenty more. Yet somehow, I still haven’t managed to pry Friskies from their paws. I’m thinking about branching out into some of the more premium brands, such as Ziwi Peak, RAWZ, Feline Natural and Zeal. I’m curious if anyone else has been going through a similar journey of trying to find better quality food that their cats actually enjoy eating.

What does your current feeding regimen look like? I’d love to hear what wet + dry foods y’all are purchasing. Please include ages and supplemental treat meals as well!

My boyfriend and I live in a studio with our 3 cats. Point being, it's impossible to escape the sound of them walking, running, and getting into things. They are not cramped for space or privacy at all.

Every morning around 6am they (mostly our genius tortie and her accomplice, our chaos loving tux) suddenly decide it's time to explore every inch of the space as loud as possible. I'm a light sleeper, my boyfriend is not, so I spend every morning tossing turning and covering my ears trying to sleep through the sounds of them knocking water bottles and empty cups down and getting up to keep them from getting into things they have no interest in when we're awake.

We've tried adding a calming additive to their last meal of the day hoping they'd sleep or at least chill for a few hours longer, but that hasnt worked.

My sanity begs for any help on getting those few hours of sleep back. Love my babies, but they are little freakazoids sometimes lol

My 4 year old cat has been missing for 18 days. I think I have done everything I can think of. I unfortunately live about 50 feet outside of a trailer park where she was born and I began feeding her at around 6 months old. I let her walk in the house that winter, of course she was pregnant. We did a spay/abort and she has been an indoor cat ever since.

She escaped for 48 hours in 2024 and came back on her own.

We have had two insane storms and now Labor Day with the fireworks.

Things I have done in my search:

1. Made flyers

2. Passed them out almost everyone close to me in the trailer park and my block and the two blocks next to me. And also to the local vets, humane society, animal emergency and animal control.

3. Most of my neighbors let me search their backyards, sheds and garages.

4. I have gone out every night at 3 am into the trailer park and my neighborhood.

5. Put my heavily used pillowcase outside by the front door along with used socks and stinky old shoes

6. Set a live trap (I caught a TNR stray that I feed)

7. This morning I set up cameras in front and back of my house that animal control kindly provided to me.

8. I have watched all the cat ladies feed the strays and feral cats in the trailer park.

9. I had actual laminated posters made today that I will put up around my neighborhood and the trailer park.

I don’t think someone took her in because she becomes very aggressive outside and pretty much only likes me. I think she is probably very scared. I don’t know what to do, I am walking roughly 8 miles everyday looking for her and passing out flyers, talking to people etc. I’m so heartbroken and scared.

Any advice/tips? 😭

I grew up with cats my whole life and recently moved out of my parents house and I saw a 10 year old cat who needed a new home and I am most likely going to get her next week. I am just wondering what things I should buy for her to get her warmed up to my home and any tips and tricks to make her less scared?

I want to start this off by saying that I have severe depression and mood disorder. It affects my energy and daily life. That doesn’t mean that I don’t love and take care of my cat. I clean her litter, i feed her and when i DO have the energy, i play with her. But i feel bad when I don’t have the energy to play with her. Are there any toys that you guys use so cats can play by themselves?

Prob a misleading flair but I need help! My cat is a 2 year old Persian, I got him when I was 13 or 12, I never played with him properly at least when he matured. All I feed him is dry food/biscuits without being aware of his diet, his feeding time, his liquid intake etc, my financial situation is also messed up which makes me unable to buy cat posts, tunnels and toys for him. 2 days ago I bought a mouse toy for him but accidentally hit him on his head🥲 now he gets scared of it whenever I try to introduce him to it. I need help with his diet , how often should I play, his cleanliness, how often should I bathe him. I think he's also stressed out as he sleeps all day long in corners (specially dirty corners) he doesn't love getting bathed or getting wet , he gets irritated whenever I try to give him meds. I just need advice on how to take care of him as he and I have both matured as well but I feel burdened as I am the only 1 who can take care of him .

We adopted our male cat whe he was 3 months old, he is neutered. We are worried he is becoming increasingly more aggressive as he gets older. When he was younger, he would bite and scratch our hands and chase our feet while playing. We redirected him to toys, gave no reaction, put him in another room if he bit or scratched us, yelped/cried, and gave him other outlets however he kept doing it. About a month ago, we decided to get him another kitten he could play with and learn boundaries from since we were nervous he was getting single kitten syndrome.

Our new girl kitten we adopted is very sweet, and we tried to match their ages however we think she might be a month or two younger than the shelter said she was (she is pretty small). We let them meet slowly over two weeks and we think they like each other but he plays way too rough withb her. When she screams, cries, or runs away he completely ignores her and still chases after her. She does pounce back sometimes, so I am not sure how often they are playing and how often she is genuinely trying to run away.

Our male kitten is about to turn 6 months old in October and it is like he has had a complete personality change within the last few months. He sometimes seems withdrawn and disintrested and will just sit there. He does still play with our girl but it is very one sided and dominant. He will mount her and bite her neck, or just sit on top of her. He growls and hisses when he has a toy in his mouth which we thought was cute at first, but is now progressing to treats and food. He has episodes where he will bite and scratch us extremely hard, latch on to our hands/arms/legs/feet and shakes his head like he has prey (like how dogs shake their head crazy with a toy). It is very quick and he will run away immediately after attacking. We notice it worsens when he is playing with our other kitten. If hes attacking too hard, and she's yelping loud, we will seperate them. When we seperate them he seems to react harsher and more violent. Sometimes we will just walk past him and he will attack.

When he was younger we would redirect him with toys when he wanted to play with our hands. He has elevated hiding spaces, as well as hiding spaces around our home if he gets stressed. He has a great diet, and he's using the bathroom regularly. We're not sure if we should consult a vet, or a behaviorist. We're also worried he won't grow out of these aggressive habbits when he gets older. We would love some imput, thank you <3!

tldr: my outside cat is splitting time with another house, and we can't decide if we want to "replace" him so our indoor kitten has a friend.

My partner and I adopted an adult male from foster about 4 years ago. We love him very much, and I need y'all to trust me that we have done everything humanly possible to try to keep him inside our house. But the problem is that if he feels trapped in the house, he pees on anything – our couch, bed, rugs, laundry basket, sprays on the curtains, etc. He does not have urinary health issues. He is on calming treats and we have the feliway sprays. We have 3 litter boxes. The reality is that we adopted an adult stray tomcat who is not interested in being a full time housecat and we can't keep throwing money away trying to change his nature. He's basically a barn cat that we convince to come inside sometimes. I've made peace with the amount of safety and vet care we are realistically able to provide him and am no longer trying to change him.

So we fell into a good routine where he trusts that we will let him back out, so he happily comes inside every day to eat and nap a bit. He loved our dog and always wanted to be with him, but after our dog died about a year and a half ago, the cat has been spending a lot more time outside. This summer he has disappeared for over a week three times now. We bought a gps collar and saw that he spends a ton of time at a house the next block over.

We knocked on the door and chatted with the woman who lives there. She said he comes over every day and she feeds him and lets him come inside for a while! She lives alone and enjoys his company, and said she was really sad the day he showed up wearing a collar. She took our number and said she would call us the next time she has him inside, but realistically he's going to keep going over there. And honestly I'm happy to hear that he's indoors like twice as much as I previously thought.

I'm so relieved to hear when he has been gone for so long that he's had food and water and a safe place to hang out, but I'm also really sad that he has been there more and more. He's a sweet boy and I really miss even our limited time together. We adopted a kitten last year and while she LOVES her brother (and he kind of plays with her sometimes) I think he doesn't appreciate sharing space with her. She really needs a friend but I'm worried a third cat in the mix will seal the deal and he will just never come back to us.

I just got a new kitten. i have my doors open with the fly screen down to keep out bugs, but she keeps climbing it. I'm worried she will destroy the fly screen like my other cats have previously done (they eventually stopped but that was after it was ruined.) how do i get her to stop

Hi everyone,
I have a 7 years old cat, who used to live her whole life with another cat (same age) that passed away earlier this year from cancer.
Recently I adopted a 4 months old kitten. He has a neurological problem and I also found out he’s deaf after I adopted him.
I introduced them slowly and he’s been with me for a month and a half now.
He’s super cute and wants to play all the time. My older cat doesn’t like that. She’s not territorial, she’s ok with him while he’s calm. But when he wants to play it stresses her out. He keeps jumping on her and doesn’t get that she’s not interested because he’s deaf. I play with him a lot, but his favorite toy is my older cat..
I was thinking to get another kitten so that they can play together and the all the energy will go towards each other and not my older cat.
Does someone have an experience with this kind of situation? Will adopting another kitten help?
Thank you!!

I recently moved out into my own place after having a roommate. We both had 1 cat, and now it’s down to just me and my cat.

Since the move I’ve had a lot of stuff come up that’s made me need to be away for 24+ hours. I was gone for 2 days for a bachelor’s weekend, I work 12 hour shifts and go to my partners house overnight at times, and have other day trips or house sitting events coming up. Any time I’m gone for more than one day I have someone check on him for some play time and social interaction.

It’s worked out to where I leave my cat alone for 24 hours once or twice a week, and it’s making me feel like I’m a monster. He doesn’t like automatic toys much, but I have a few around my apartment, as well as two cat towers.

Am I being a bad cat parent by leaving him alone that long that often? We play when I am home, and I try to give him attention any time he meows for me, which is definitely more than it used to be. I would get another cat but I can barely afford to, and my partner has a cat already and we plan to live together eventually, whether it’s next year or the year after.

Hello, my 1 year old neutered boy Rocket seems to want to be outside more than he does inside. My wife and I will try to walk him on a harness and leash once a day but he will spend so much time crying, yelling, and jumping at our front door that it gets to the point that I get so angry and annoyed. I don’t take him out when he’s acting this way but I’ll put him in his pen for a bit until he’s calm, but then once he’s out he will do it again. He will even do this in the middle of the night when we are sleeping. I can’t get him to stop this behavior, how can I curb this?

Also, when I go to open that door (only door to outside in hour house) he bolts for the door and runs outside. I want to curb this behavior too. Now our newer kitten is trying to follow his lead and do the same. We have a screen door that we’ll open for them to look out at times but then Rocket will scream at that door until we open it so he can try to sneak out. It’s been hell coming home and having him try to escape after a long day of work.

If anyone has advice on this, that would be great. I’m losing my mind. I love my boy but I can’t live like this.

About three months ago I adopted a male kitten to be a buddy for my female cat. Both spayed and neutered.

Over a slow introduction the two really started to bond. A lot of playing independently and together, cuddling, and grooming one another.

The last few weeks our male kitten (about 7 months now) has been more reclusive. Hiding more, showing no interest in his favorite toys, and no longer sleeping in bed with us.

I took him to the vet thinking something was wrong but she said he seemed fine. Is this normal behavior for a young cat? I’m not really sure and I’m a little anxious about the severe change in his behavior.

Which is better for a cat litter box, plastic or stainless steel? I’m a new pet owner, and I’m currently using a plastic cat litter box. It tends to smell bad pretty quickly, so I often have to change the litter sand. I’ve heard that stainless steel is better. Is that true? I hope you can help me.

My cat, Pepita (2 year old female), really likes milk. Every time I try pouring milk for any reason she tries to drink from the stream, then she tries to lick it up out of wherever I poured it. She never does that for any other liquid. I know cats can’t have cow milk, but I feel sort of bad that I’m denying her something that she clearly yearns for. Is there anything I can give her to replace cows milk? Can adult cats even have anything other than water? If so, how do I give it to her so that it doesn’t mess with her normal food and water intake? I tried doing some research myself but I can’t really get clear answers.

The poor girl just wants some milk and I’m determined to find a way.

We adopted a kitten around a month and a half ago (she’s 6 months old). The rescue recommended that we give her wet food, so we’ve been splitting an 85g pouch into 3 meals per day. She also has kibble available.
Her poop fluctuates between really soft and then sometimes firm. It’s honestly so frustrating because she steps in it when she tries to cover it, no matter the consistency! 😐

We’ve been helping her out of the litter box before she even tries to cover it, but in the early mornings we sometimes don’t hear her using it, and by the time we notice, it’s too late.

We’re also looking at getting a bigger litter box to give her more space and hopefully help prevent her from stepping in it. Then we are also thinking of changing the food, I don’t know.

Does anyone have any tips or advice?

Me and my partner have been together for two years. We each brought two cats into the relationship total. We lived separate for two years and have lived together for 1 year.

Only one cat is a problem, which is my one of my partner's cats. She's about 4 years old now, and my partner has had her since she was a kitten.

Before we moved in together, she would yowl if me and my partner cuddled together or slept in the same bed. She'd corner me and would occasionally attack me and draw blood. It was NOT playful. She was definitely demonstrating territorial and fearful behavior. I tried feeding her and playing with her, which did help, but I still have issues with her occasionally growling at me and scratching me. I'm not even trying to pet or interact with her. Frankly, I'm so fed up, I don't want to pet her.

Fast forward to now: Me and my partner have lived together over a year and the cats acclimated fine. The problem cat gets along just fine with my cats. She STILL has an issue with me. I'm still getting growled at, hissed at, and occasionally scratched. I'm afraid to get into the bed sometimes because if she's there, she'll probably hurt me.

I'm not really sure what I can do from here. I feed all of the cats dinner due to work hours and I play with the cats, which works out fine. She'll even ask me for dinner or to play, so I know she doesn't hate me or anything like that.

My partner can pet her and handle her however he pleases. She's definitely a one person cat, which is totally fine, but I'm worried about the aggression towards me and how I can deter some of this harm. She IS spicy with everyone that isn't my partner.

We've been to the vet and they don't seem concerned, so it's not an issue of pain or poor health.