Hi everyone,

Last week I took in a 3.5 month unspayed/un-neutered kitten (I think he's a boy, but I'm not 100% sure).

The first few days he was using the litter box wonderfully, but 5 days in he started urinating outside of it. He has two spots: right behind my portable AC and now it's right IN FRONT of the litter box. It's like he knows he's supposed to go in there, but he just doesn't for some reason. He is still pooping in the litter box.

Here are some details about the litter box set-up:

—I use a low-dust, clumping natural litter that feels close to sand
—I have a large stainless steel open litter box
—The litter box is located in my bathroom, in a corner (so quiet and hidden)

I'm aware that this issue could be medical, so I will get him checked by a vet. But I have a suspicion it's due to the stress of the new environment and perhaps he's anxious and/or marking his territory. I live in Europe and they don't neuter kittens until about 5-6 months old here.

In the meantime, I have put pee pads down right in front of the litter box and he's going on there, thank goodness. But I would love for him to pee AND poop inside the litter box. I know a lot of people say to get a second litter box, but I live in a small 28m2 apartment and have no idea where I could put a second box.

I'm considering buying a Feliway diffuser if this is indeed stress related.

Any other tips or tricks would be appreciated! He's a foster but I think I would like to keep him if I can figure out this peeing thing.

I adopted my cat (Nami, 1 year old) from the shelter last week, and she felt right at home with me immediately; she was incredibly affectionate—by the second day, she was already sleeping on my lap and constantly licking me!
Now, a week later, she seems much more relaxed in the apartment, plays energetically, and isn't as skittish anymore, lets her guard down aswell but she is noticeably less cuddly. Tho she is very talkative even if I just gently scratch her head, she starts whipping her tail back and forth and she looks annoyed. Not that it bothers me or anything—I leave her be and she leaves me be—but I’m just curious: how should this behavior be interpreted? :)

I’m teaching my cats to talk with the buttons you can get from FluentPet. Hugo has figured out that pushing the treats button rewards him with treats (I’ve been reinforcing that, every time he pushes the button he gets a treat).

But now he is waking me up with the button presses at 5 in the morning! And if I give him one, I go back to sleep, and then he presses it again!! I had him do it 4 times before I took away the button. I felt so bad doing that ;-; and now he’s not pushing the button anymore.

Can anyone help me reinforce the button pushing behavior without him waking me up at butt o’clock ?

I have a 8 year old diabetic male that became diabetic about 8 months after getting a kitten. For the most part they can exist together, but its never anything more than that. At worst he'll chase her around the house and if he gets ahold of her he pins her down. I think the added stress of the smaller female cat in the house is worsening his Glucose control. Is there a way to get them to get along? Sometimes she'll jump up on the bed where yes laying and try to lick him, to which he just starts smacking the shit out of her lol. Sometimes there's fur but never blood etc. Its never terrible just bad.

I need some advice on cooperative care. (Ideally building upon the training methods she is used to. I tried to explain everything as clearly as possible, you're welcome to ask questions)

My cat is very smart and in some cases easily trainable. I've noticed she's getting more nervous when her carrier comes out to go to the vet. I even had to put her in today because she wouldn't go in herself (normally she does), she immediately ran back out. She will go smell the box but her skin ripples and her she'll flick her tail nervously.

How can I slowly train her without stressing her out every time?

I'd also like to train her further in cooperative care if she wants to do it (like checking teeth cause she has a broken tooth, it's fine right now but has to be checked regularly to ensure it stays okay. Checking ears for a lot of wax. And more)

She has been trained to: trust her owner (me), not attack (something she used to do), and always have predictability (based on words and intonation).

She clearly benefits from predictability, and our bond is strong. She knows that unpleasant things happen sometimes, but I'll always let her know when something is done. She might still snap at the air afterwards (or nip veeeery gently at my finger—without even touching it with her teeth) to let go of her frustration, but she doesn't attack me anymore.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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?

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?

Bonjour,
J’ai 4 chats : une femelle de 5 ans, une femelle de 3 ans et deux frères mâles d’environ 1 an, adoptés ensemble en mai 2026.
Les deux femelles se sont toujours très bien entendues, malgré des caractères assez différents. La femelle de 5 ans est plutôt introvertie, elle montre quand elle en a marre, mais elle est aussi très douce et attentive. La femelle de 3 ans est quant à elle une vraie boule de poils, très joyeuse et gentille.
Les deux mâles étaient très timides au début, mais sont maintenant très gentils et tout se passait bien.

Le problème concerne surtout la femelle de 3 ans : les deux mâles ont commencé à beaucoup s’intéresser à elle et à la poursuivre tous les deux.

Avec la femelle de 5 ans, en revanche, ça se passe plutôt bien. Ils peuvent rester tous les trois dans la même pièce sans problème. S’ils vont trop loin et commencent à l’embêter, elle leur répond (elle crache/se défend) et ils arrêtent généralement de l’embêter. Je n’ai donc pas vraiment ce problème avec elle.

Avec la femelle de 3 ans, c’est différent. Les mâles peuvent parfois se mettre à un endroit et l’empêcher de passer. Si elle descend l’escalier, ils peuvent se mettre en bas et commencer à lui courir après.
Elle reste donc généralement dans le bureau à l’étage avec nous. Même lorsque nous ne sommes pas là, on a l’impression qu’elle préfère y rester.
J’ai également retrouvé des pipis dans l’arbre à chat à l’étage. Je me demande donc si elle n’a parfois tout simplement pas assez confiance pour descendre faire ses besoins.

J’ai donc installé une litière, de l’eau et des croquettes à l’étage pour qu’elle ait au moins accès à ses ressources sans devoir passer devant eux.

Tout à l’heure, je la caressais tranquillement quand l’un des mâles est monté vers nous. Elle lui a immédiatement craché dessus. Du coup, je me demande si elle commence à devenir agressive envers eux parce qu’elle se sent harcelée, ou si leur comportement est au contraire une réaction à son comportement.

J’ai aussi installé un Feliway Friends, mais je ne sais pas encore si ça aura un quelconque effet.

Que feriez-vous à ma place ? Est-ce que je devrais les séparer davantage et faire une réintroduction progressive ? Leur apprendre à ne plus la poursuivre ? Les laisser gérer leurs interactions tant qu’il n’y a pas de véritable bagarre ?
Je suis surtout inquiete qu’elle commence à avoir peur de descendre de l’étage ou d’accéder à certaines ressources à cause des deux mâles.

Merci d’avance pour votre aide ❤️

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

Hello! I'm looking for help on getting my boy to use the new litter box we recently got. I've kept it on sleep mode so the sifting wont scare him, he has seen our other cats use it just fine, and is able to be inside of it without a problem but he just won't use it. I've tried Dr. Elsey's cat litter attractant and that hasnt helped.

Any advice appreciated!

Hi guys! I adopted a senior cat (he’s 14) almost a year ago. I’ve been somewhat lenient in his behavior because I’m honestly not sure how to handle him. He is really bad about climbing on counters/tables where he isn’t supposed to, he eats every plant around the house, and he recently pooped on my floor that he has never done before (he ALWAYS uses his litter box). He’ll eat food or drink milk if it’s left alone for more than 10 seconds. I left him with my roommate this weekend and came home to a destroyed room (tv, lamp, picture frame on the floor, some other things knocked down where he was in places he wasn’t supposed to be). I’m just not sure where to even begin with his behavior. It might be worth also mentioning he’s the most vocal cat me, or anyone I know has ever heard. I try to play with him twice daily, but he’s not always interested. Any advice?

TLDR; My senior adopted cat has bad indoor cat behaviors, and I’m not sure how to break them.

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.

Please help, my patience is so thin at the moment. My 2 year old ginger cat won’t stop opening my kitchen and bedroom doors. I have to barricade myself in my bedroom every night with a chair behind it as jumps on the handle to get in. But the main issue is the kitchen.

I came down this morning to find the door open and he’d pulled out 8 sachets of food from the box on the counter and ate them all. I’ve tried putting a hoover in front of the handle, rested a baby gate against it, a baking tray filled with water, boxes blocking it, tin foil on the handle, a baby lock and so many other things. But he still figures it out. He’s extremely food obsessed and been fat since he got neutered which I’m trying to work on. He also bullies his sister, chases her round and pins her down when he’s hungry. I struggle to give him toys because my dog chews them all.

My fiancé (39M) and I (37F) are reaching a wall with cat introductions and could really use some advice or shared experiences from anyone who’s been through something similar.

Here is the setup:

* Resident Cat: Peanut (11.5F). She is extremely timid, scared, and skittish by nature, and always has been. Her primary "safe zone" is actually hiding inside the living room couch on the 1st floor. She is not food-motivated at all, which makes classic trick-and-treat counter-conditioning nearly impossible.

* New Arrivals: Cosmo (M) and Pixie (F), two 4.5-month-old kittens. They are full of energy, super restless in their room, and very eager to explore and play with her.

Where we are at:

We’ve had mesh screen doors installed for over a month. Peanut will walk by and hiss, but mostly she just stays on the 1st floor and avoids the screen area completely.

When we tried letting the kittens out for face-to-face time, the intensity escalated quickly near Peanut's couch area, so we immediately stepped back to screen-only interactions.

The current dilemma:

To let the kittens stretch their legs and explore the rest of the house, we tried carrying Peanut upstairs to a spare bedroom while the kittens roamed downstairs. However, moving her makes her extremely stressed because it takes her away from her couch cave.

I feel terrible for Peanut because she's terrified, but I also feel awful for the kittens being cooped up in one room when they have so much energy to burn.

A few specific questions for the community:

* How do you do counter-conditioning or positive association when the resident cat turns her nose up at food, Churus, and treats?

* How do you manage room swaps or territory expansion when the resident cat panics about being moved away from her safe hiding spot?

* Has anyone successfully integrated hyper kittens with an older, highly fearful cat? How long did it take for things to settle down?

Any tips, routine adjustments, or success stories would mean the world to us right now!

NOTE: I’ve stitched three clips together to show what their interactions are usually like. First one is her reciprocating, the other two are him going after her.

OK SOOOO:
I’ve got a neutered 1.5yo male Sphynx and recently brought home a 12-week-old female Sphynx kitten.

We did scent swapping, room swapping, cracked door, then face-to-face. There are loads of positive signs. He licks her sometimes, chortles at her, slow blinks, they play together, can eat about 60cm apart, and he can walk away from her.

BUT he is absolutely obsessed with her and has zero chill 😂

Whenever she runs, he’ll chase her. Sometimes he catches her, basically topples her over, does a quick 1 to 2 second bite on the neck, then lets go and retreats to watch her. She doesn’t cry or struggle, but I can tell she’s not a fan of it.

He also seems to LOVE when she goes into small or tight spaces because he’ll follow her and basically try to corner her.

Their play can get rough because his energy just builds and builds. He’ll lick her then nibble her, stalk her, run over her, etc. Most of the time she’s really tolerant and will play or swipe back, but he doesn’t always seem to understand her limits. If she does cry, he doesn’t necessarily stop, so we intervene.

We’ve separated them twice when he got way too excited, including one time where he basically held her and started bunny kicking. She didn’t really react, but she’s tiny compared to him so we broke it up.

The main thing worrying me is that he NEVER relaxes around her. He won’t sleep or properly settle when she’s there. We can play with him loads and feed him beforehand, but apparently the kitten instantly restores his energy bar 😂 Even if she’s just sitting doing nothing, he has to go over, give her a swat, light bite on the neck, walk away, then come back again. The longer the face to face goes on the more riled up he gets

Has anyone had something similar? Did the obsession or novelty eventually wear off? I can’t tell if this is fairly normal young-cat and kitten behaviour or if his energy and play style are just going to be too much for her.

My partner is in the process of moving into my apartment.

I have a bonded pair of 4 year old cats (the resident cats) and she’s bringing a 14 year old female (new cat).

We began the Jackson galaxy method today (putting new cat in her own room seperate from the resident cats with absolutely no contact). Since the new cat has arrived, one of my resident cats has been experiencing a lot of redirected stress towards my other resident cat. There’s been a few incidents where my aggressive resident cat has hissed at, hit, bit, and chased after my other resident cat.

We suspect it’s because the aggressive resident cat can smell/sense the new cat in the house, and our other resident cat is simply the only target available.

I have no idea where to go from here, any direction would be highly appreciated.

Hi. Maybe you can help me. Thank you in advance for all the advice.

One of my 3 cats has already left home (looks like for good. I still have 2 male cats who used to play together, but no more.

I have a male tabby cat, a very gentle creature who accepts every other cat, but is being bullied by my orange cat. He doesn't want to enter through the cat door anymore, he only comes home to eat and greet me (he literally does me favors by sitting in my lap for a while and then leaves), he doesn't sleep where he used to sleep before, actually he doesn't sleep at home at all. It's summertime now, but I know for a fact that winter doesn't bother cats when they're offended.

I would take the orange cat back to his previous home (he still goes there to fight other cats), but he's just so crazy, unpredictable, forceful and I also know that he ran away from there because he was abused one way or another (when he came to me, he was afraid of hands). He adores me, gives me hugs and kisses literally every time I feed him, sleeps with me.

It just breaks my heart.

Thank you in advance.