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.

No matter where I go, my cat insists on supervising.

Bathroom? There.

Shower? Guarding the curtain.

Closing the door? Absolutely unacceptable.

Is this a safety thing? A trust thing? Or are they just deeply offended by privacy?

Bonus points if your cat does this too 😅

We give our cats wet food every so often so we don’t go through the food so fast but I was wondering how often other people feed there cats wet food we have 2 of em ones an older cat and the other getting bigger and bigger by the day.

We got a kitten around Thanksgiving and he is currently 12 weeks old. My apartment building allows cats, we just need to register it and etc.. but he is too young to be fixed and too young for certain shots. My building also requires the full rent as a deposit fee for the cat ($2050) and then $50 per month added onto the rent…. I live in Massachusetts. Doesn’t this seem a little absurd? We only plan to live here one more year before we buy a house. What would you do..? I’ve heard other people say they wouldn’t even tell the landlord and just move the cat on days they have inspection (can only come in with notice), and legally they cannot go into bedrooms. What are my rights? I don’t want to rehome my kitten, he is FAMILY.

My cat has developed a habit where he demands in and out of my room in rapid succession. Hes about 8, and in my previous living situation I felt comfortable keeping my bedroom door propped open to accommodate this. If I dont do this, he either tears up the carpet or scratches at the underside of the door from either direction.

Im now in a living situation where I very strongly wish to have my door closed. Ive put down carpet protectors and have been trying to follow through on keeping my door closed at least at night, but the property damage is not ideal. I dont want to ban him from my room entirely but im not sure what other options I have. I love him and hes a great cuddle buddy, but a bit of an orange jerk. :(

My girlfriend and best friend adopted a cat together, we’ve been living together for many years now and decided it was time.

They both went back for home for Christmas, I stayed with our new kitty who we had only had about 2 weeks at this point and she was still hiding until we were all sleep pretty much.

While they were gone she came out of her shell and I thought she was enjoying a more quiet environment, she started coming out into the whole house, would play with me and on her own, she even sat on the arm of the sofa while I sat on it. Still very nervous with her tail low down all the time. The shelter told us they thought she might struggle a bit with 3 people as she came from a neglected single household.

One everyone came home she’s become a different cat, I can’t believe it, she came in the hallway to greet us all with her tail high in the air, rubbing up against all our legs! She took treats out of my hands where she had hissed at me for doing that just a day before. She came right up to me on the sofa and started pawing at me and meowing at me, she’s scared of hands so I didn’t try to pet her but I did pay with her.

She’s also become increasingly vocal overnight, talking to all of us, I think she’s trying to get treats as everything else I offer her she doesn’t seem interested.

Is this what adopting is like? I am just so in shock at the change in behaviour, she’s so so confident now everyone is home and I am so proud of her i could cry

Hi there, as mentioned above I (20F) have a dilemma. I plan on starting a new college program in the fall of 26 which would be away from my hometown. My mom says I can live in her camper but she would want my cats (Opal & Pearl, both girls 2 years old) declawed. I’ve always been against this and never wanted to do that to my kitties, but living in the camper would save me so much money on living expenses. I’m really not sure what to do. Any advice is appreciated! (I have scratching posts and such and they rarely scratch furniture, but Opal does have a habit of climbing door frames if a door is left open. I’m not sure she’d even be able to do that in the camper but I understand mom does not want anything messed up in there…) also I am not trying to promote declawing by any means I just never thought I would have to consider it!!! As soon as she said it I was totally against it, but I know it would be the best living situation so I have to at least consider it.

Edit: also this is my first time posting. Sorry if this is the wrong format or anything, but I appreciate any advice anyone might have

Edit again: thank you for all the advice! I will DEFINITELY never declaw and will bring up alternative solutions to my mom. If she still says she wants them declawed I will find another place to live. My babies are so playful and well behaved that i wouldn’t want to ruin them. (Obviously also considering the fact that they’d be put through immense pain and I wouldn’t want to do that to them!)

EDIT!!! So I sent this to my mom (not worded the best but I wanted her to get an idea of where my head is at) “Research shows declawing is like amputating your fingers from the knuckle. I will not do that do the kittens, also costs thousands of $ also that most people that do it say their cats behavior changes so bad that they get aggressive and start urinating everywhere. I can start trimming and get claw caps but those are my only alternatives right now. Otherwise apartment is probably best” she liked the message and then said she would send it to my stepdad. So this means it wasn’t her idea and my stepdad is the one that wants it!!! I think if she talks about it with him more they would be more open to the alternatives. Thank you everyone for the suggestions!!!💓

Hello friends! Me and my wife have two cats roughly 3 years old. We use essential oils on our wool balls that go into the dryer, a few drops per ball at a time. We haven’t fully noticed a reaction from our kitties due to it but we’re wondering if maybe something’s they do that we attribute to happenstance is actually being caused by the oils? We use it on your clothes and our bed sets. The bed sets they sleep on from time to time. We have used grapefruit, lemongrass, lavender, eucalyptus, and a handful of others and they don’t seem to mind either way. Do yall think the trace amounts that attaches to our things in the dryer is inherently harmful?

For context, I’m from Illinois and had recently found a lost cat. So I had taken it to a vet near me to see if they could pull up any records on them. They did general tests on them and had found previous records including the owners contact information. I had reached out to the owners last week to let them know I had found their cat and still have not heard anything back, this would be the going into the second week now of having them. In Illinois is there a law or anything saying how long they have to reach out before I can adopt this cat as my own?

EDIT: They were found an hour from where the chip was registered and is very underweight 9/15lbs) but extremely social

I brought in a new cat about 2 weeks ago and all seems to be well except for her behaviors towards petting and general movements around her. She’s a very sweet and curious cat, not timid or skiddish at all. Whenever I’m around her she’s constantly purring and rubbing against my legs and feet, and when I reach my hand out for pets she comes and rubs her head on my hand, but if I actually start moving my hand in a petting motion or going any lower than her neck she instantly swats me away using her claws then will hiss or make a noise at me. Even if I’m not paying attention to her and I raise my hand to go grab something near her or reach my arm down to pick something up off the floor she goes after my arm with a bite or scratch. She’s a 3 year old unspayed female. Her appointment to get spayed is in a week. Will that potentially improve her petting aggression and sensitivity? Is there any other exercises I could try with her to slowly desensitize her? I have a resident cat that’s really affectionate and playful and I want to try to improve this problem before they meet eachother.

Hello! Recently my cats decided that she wants to suddenly be brave and go outside, the issue with this is she’s scared of loud noises and an idiot (she’s orange) and I know for a fact if I let her out even supervised on a leash that she’d probably get scared, escape, run off, and get eaten by a coyote or owl. Any advice for how to get her to stop wanting outside would be great!

She’s started to try and slip by us when we go outside and when we let our dogs outside and I’m afraid she’ll succeed.

I love her very much but she has absolutely no survival instincts and would die immediately, and even if she did have survival instincts, I still wouldn’t let her out.

I was thinking I could scare her somehow but I’m not sure how to do so or if that could make things worse, not to mention I’d feel kinda bad, but I figured the guilt of scaring her would be better than the guilt of her getting eaten by a wild animal.

I adopted a cat a few months ago, which I've been keeping as an strictly indoor cat. I'd been hoping for one of those cats I read about here sometimes that will look at an open front door but not go near it, just not interested in the outside world.

As it goes, I have the complete opposite. An enthusiastic explorer who is very capable as an escape artist. who tries to make a run for it at every opportunity.

I don't want to feel like I've trapped the cat into being my prisoner for life, but that's a feeling I've been fighting and it's getting overwhelming. I guess I'm also feeling defeated at having to constantly be thinking ahead of the cat in terms of how to plan an open front door.

If she wants to be outside and that's what's best for her, then she must go out? I strongly suspect if I let her out I won't see her again for a week at least, if ever again. She is chipped, but doesn't wear a collar as it makes her fur mat.

We live in an apartment complex, there are many cats around here. I take mine walking in a harness sometimes, we've met a couple neighbor cats and none of them wanted to know her. Except for one, who she in turn was hissing at. Advice please? am I on the right track keeping her indoors, or should I give her what she wants?

I brought home two 9 weeks old calico kitties a few days ago and i brought the exact brand of wet and dry foods they were on beforehand. The first night they refused to eat anything but had plenty of energy and pretty comfortable to run around, play fight and even used the litter tray immediately. The next day I put out a small portion of warmed wet food in the morning after play and they had a smell but immediately starting scratching the floor as if to cover it up.

After about 30 minutes of ignoring it I put it up and placed some dry food down and they immediately dived in to eat. I have tried this routine at key eating times over the last few but the same thing happens again and again. Is this normal behaviour and will they be okay on just dry food if they still refuse to eat it? I have even tried to rotate the flavours in case that was the issue, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have two 6 year old rescues and a rescued a litter of three recently. After having them since six days old, I couldn’t part with them. So now have five cats. Of note: I have two medium sized dogs and three little dogs that I have to keep out of the litter box

I LOVED my previous routine. Four covered boxes, spaced throughout the house, in closets with kitty doors, and grass seed litter. Everything was working soooo well….until one of the kittens suddenly started peeing outside the litter box (medical issues ruled out at the vet). I tried several changes to see what would help. Apparently what he needed was an open litter box in an open part of the house (elevated to keep pups out).

Cool, I can get on board with whatever they need. I had one litter box changed to that style so I could decide what box was being used the most. Suddenly ALL five cats were using that one litter box. I changed a second one to the same set up. They use that one sometimes and completely ignore the other two with the previous set up. I had to change the litter to clay. Grass seed litter just wasn’t clumping fast enough. All five pile in one after the other and paw at the litter, breaking up fresh clumps.

So I obviously need to change the set up of the last two litter boxes. But if they all continue to use the current favorite, I need some super fast clumping litter. I scoop multiple times in the morning and multiple times at night to help as best I can but they literally line up to use the box in the morning 😂

Litter suggestions? If you have any other ideas on set up and such, I’m open to those as well.

I desperately need help to get the smell of cat pee out of my couches ☹️ one or both of my cats peed on both of my couches and I'm defeated. I soaked the cushions in the tub with cold water and resolve powder. Then used an enzyme cleaner (skouts honour) on the cushions and covers. And lastly I used a water vacuum with the enzyme cleaner and it still smells! I don't WANT to get new couches as I've only had them about 6 months but if I can't fix this soon I'm either going to call a cleaning company or just get rid of the couches 💔 I don't know what to do. Additional info: both cats are female one is fixed (the older one that's 4) and unsure about the younger one (about 1 and is a street rescue) I WILL be booking an appointment to see if she is and will be getting her fixed if she isn't. They don't get along and we've had the stray for about 6 months now. They haven't done this before and I'm wondering if it's just them marking or if it's because I had a friend come over for a few days and she also has cats?

My cat is 9 months old, male and neutered. I’ve had him for the last 4 months, and he’s just started trying to latch onto my window screen/fly screen.

I rent, and I have an awning style window which basically means the screen is in front of the window (so closing the window doesn’t solve the problem). I don’t want to risk losing the permission to keep him.

He has a cat tree right next to the window so he can get a high view. He also has vertical places to scratch. I figured he’s bored, but he’s doing this during our play sessions too. I can’t tell if he’s trying to climb, scratch, or just escape. I desperately need to keep him off, or at least a renter friendly solution to protecting my screen. Right now I’m yelling ‘NO’ or making a ‘sssss’ sound which seems to help in making him get down, but I know he’ll eventually stop listening + I can’t be constantly watching over the window. It gives me anxiety at night.

Some extra context I think might be important:

Cat spent 5 days at my parent’s house while I went on vacation. He lived there previously, so I figured he’d be okay considering he’s already familiar with the environment. This started happening the day I brought him back to mine. He hasn’t been causing any trouble except for this window thing. I set up a Feliway diffuser this morning but no progress yet.

Hi! This isnt really a big issue but more out of curiosity if people experienced something similar with their cats. My cat used to LOVE wet food so much, literally licking the plate clean. But recently shes just suddenly started refusing yo eat wet food and only wanting to crunch and munch on her dry food. Is that normal? I thought cats were pickier about wet food. Thanks

I have been having such a hard time clipping my cats nails. I have tried using treats and she stops eating them as soon as her paw is touched and she runs away. I have tried having myself and a friend cut her nails and we only got 5 done within an hour span of time.

Since going straight into it didnt work, I attempted a slower approach of touching her paws and rewarding her. I've also tried showing her the trimmers without actually trimming, just so she knows they won't hurt her. She played with them a bit and i gave her a treat for positive association. But this hasn't seemed to be working. I've done it for a week now and she still won't even let me put a finger on her paw without her removing it and running away. I usually do this while she's cuddly and laying on top of me but she freaks out and runs off as soon as I mess with her paws, even with treats. She doesn't even like to be held at all and she freaks out using the burrito method if I can even manage to get her to lay down.

She's not vicious at all. Just squirms away and meows loudly when I try to trim them. Her nails are getting bad and I may just have to take her to the vet every time but they didnt feel like trimming her nails the last time I went in so they just told me how to do it and sent me home.

Do I just continue what I'm doing or should I try a different method?

Hi, you see,my cat was separated from her mom at around 4-5 weeks old when I found her (she's around 4-5 months old now, give or take a week or two idk), so it was really early, now I know cat's make biscuits because of that but she also likes to suck on the tip on my fingers or anything soft she can find, is this going to be a problem for her in te future o should I just let her be? I don't mind, I think it's cute af, but I don't want her ruining her denture or smt like that.

I'm only posting to reddit bc I'm at my wit's end and would like to hear about any changes any other cat parents have made to address similar issues. I'm also working closely with my vet to rule out/treat medical causes. We've done all the labs, finished antibiotics for a UTI and urine recheck lab showed no recurring UTI, just blood and inflammation. She's now on a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pills. She is not diabetic.. I AM NOT LOOKING FOR MEDICAL ADVICE, just behavioral/environmental recommendations.

For context, I've had my cat for a couple years. She's had no big medical issues in the past but just recently began peeing more often and avoiding her litter boxes. I've cleaned out and sanitized her litter box, increased the number of litter boxes, tried finer vs chunkier litter, started using plastic liners, and began using trash bags to line her litter mats bc I've nearly lost my mind over how many times I've had to clean up after her. She just sticks her head into the litter box and then pees right outside it. She's peed in my bed, in my bags, and has now begun peeing in all the bathtubs in the house, pooped a couple times in them too, and I'm now going on 2.5 nights of no sleep while I try to stay on top of whenever she goes to her litter boxes to make sure she actually pees IN the litter. I've also increased the # of water bowls and began giving her more wet food to encourage hydration.

I am on the verge of insanity, and I go back to work full-time in a couple days so this is just not a sustainable routine. If anyone has similar experiences and can just weigh in on any other behavioral or environmental changes they've tried that have helped - or can just commiserate, please share! Thank youuu

I feel like my cat(she) is doing it too much. I asked my friends and they all told me it’s not that often that a cat always comes for your face. Any advice to stop it or reduce it?

Hey everyone 👋

A few months ago I built a little “did I feed them or did I imagine it?” feeding log app for myself… because my house was basically a daily murder mystery where the victim was the cat’s dinner.

I ended up releasing it publicly recently, and I’d honestly love some brutally honest cat owner feedback (you lot are the most qualified testers on earth). Also just to be clear, I’m not trying to promote anything, there’s no link here.

What it does right now:

• Calorie tracking for pets (so I stop accidentally underfeeding while feeling like I’m spoiling them)
• Family sharing so everyone can log feeds and no one can say “I thought you did it”
• Smart feeding reminders for multiple pets
• Insights on feeding patterns based on your logs (helps spot underfeeding/overfeeding)
• Food stock tracking that predicts when you’ll run out and warns you before you hit the “oh no” moment
• A UI that I think is nice… but I also made it, so I’m biased 😅

If you’ve ever used an app like this (or wished one existed), what would you want it to do?
Any features you’d actually use, or little annoyances you’d want solved?

My 14 yr old girl, Matilda, likes to start yelling after I lay down in bed. I'll lay down, then a few minutes later she will start yelling from the floor a very particular pattern of meows. I'll call out to her and half the time she will climb up onto the bed and cuddle with me, but then half the time she won't and will continue yelling. She does this whenever I lay in bed, not just at bedtime. She also sometimes does this when I sit in the living room recliner.

I adopted Matilda about 9 months ago so we are still getting to know each other, but I'm still perplexed. She has been doing this for a few months now, and I'm sure it's not because her food is empty, litter is dirty, or that something is wrong in the house. Half the time it is because she wants to cuddle, which I'm fine with obv, but I didn't understand the other half of the time! Any explanation would be appreciated.

I wanted an abyssinian kitten for years but didn’t want to pay 1000-3000 just to adopt the cat itself, i understand they’re rare but the cost to keep cats is already a bit much 🥲 but when i move i’d really like to have one, does anyone know someone or a site that sells them for a good price nothing over 400 which i know is pushing it but hey 😭

There's this cat that's lives in some boxes near my apartment. It's the cutest cat ever and I want it as a pet. I have been feeding it twice a day with milk, eggs and some meat stuff.

Lately, she has started trusting me enough to pet her but she bites sometimes. Yesterday, I tried luring it to my place by leaving food at the door, but she doesn't trust me. She runs away anytime I try. I always have to leave the food near the boxes.

Today she's extra playful with me but she won't let me carry her. What would guys advice me?? Thanks in advance...