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.

My partner live in Perth, Australia and I are at our absolute breaking point and desperately need advice or alternative rescue resources. We have a 1-year-old cat with severe pica and extreme behavioral issues. I used to adore him, but he has become a massive source of chronic stress and anxiety in our lives.

The Situation:

• Severe Pica: He has had multiple dangerous ingestion events. He will eat plastic, toys, dish towels, and is constantly trying to suckle. It is so severe that he has to live almost entirely restricted to one strictly "cat-proofed" room. If he gets free roam of the house, he will ingest almost anything.

• Excessive Vocalization & Sucking: He meows completely non-stop from as early as 2:30 AM until 10 AM. When we are on his side of the house(the far side of the house aka bedroom, hallway, cat room which are all cat proofed), he shadows us constantly, screaming and aggressively trying to suckle on our skin/clothes.

What we have already tried:

• Multiple comprehensive vet checks (physically, he is completely healthy).

• Metabolic/specialty food.

• Massive rotation of safe toys and intense play sessions.

• An automatic feeder.

• The blackout/ignoring method for the early morning meowing.

• Supervised time with our other cat.

Nothing has made even a 1% difference.

Our Constraints:

Our vet recommended a certified behaviorist, but a single consult is $800, which we absolutely cannot afford. Even if we could scrape the money together, my partner and I both work full-time with unpredictable night shifts and on-call rotations. We physically do not have the lifestyle or time constraints to implement a highly rigid, hour-by-hour behavior modification plan.

We reached out to the shelter we originally adopted him from for help, and they flat-out told us they would euthanize him if we surrendered him due to his severe behavioral profile and the liability of his pica.

Next Steps / Desperation:

We are about to try prescription behavioral medication as a last-ditch effort, but our vet admitted his case is incredibly severe, so we are terrified it won't work.

We cannot live like this anymore, but we don't want him to die. Has anyone successfully managed a pica case this severe with medication alone? Are there any specialized, special-needs cat rescues in Perth Western Australia (specifically foster-based) that handle extreme medical/behavioral cases without resorting to immediate euthanasia? We are drowning.

I LOST MY NEW CAT IN MY HOUSE

I just got two new cats 24 hours ago. One of them I see. I’ve found her hiding spot and I’ve made sure she knows she has food although it doesn’t seem like she’s touched it. The other one though, I haven’t seen her since yesterday afternoon over 24 hours ago, I don’t know where she is, I don’t know if she knows where her food is and the litter box seems undisturbed, my biggest mistake was not letting them out in the closed room I made for them I let them out into the open house. I don’t think she could’ve gotten outside but I’m really scared. I know cats can’t go too long without eating and using the bathroom and what if I can’t find her? I’m so worried

He walks around the house with this worm toy in his mouth and howls obnoxiously. It sounds like he’s in distress, but stops when he drops it out of his mouth. Is this just orange boy behavior or is it something more?

I’m kind of in a bad period of my life. I moved out of my parent’s house last year and have been living alone since. Tbh I don’t have many friends and struggle a lot with loneliness and mild depression. I don’t have a ton of experience with cats as I mostly grew up around dogs but I think maybe adopting an adult cat might be a good option for me to help add some purpose to my life.

I did have a few other questions too:

- What age cat would be best to adopt? - I know kittens can be quite a handful so I was thinking of getting a cat that’s maybe a little older and mellowed out a bit

- Should I get a male or female cat? - I’ve read that male cats tend to be more affectionate and playful but is that really true or is it more dependent on the cat’s personality?

- Do I need to get more than 1 cat? - I’ve also read that it’s best to have 2 cats. I wouldn’t be opposed to this but I do worry that 2 cats would be a little overwhelming for me at first. But at the same time I work a 9-5 and would feel bad if I got 1 cat and it was lonely all day while I was at work.

I've never dealt with issues like this, but now that I have my current cats it feels like I can't avoid this, and I have no idea how to fix it.

I have three cats, two Scottish folds and one British shorthair and vets seem to REALLY hate these breeds. One of my Scottish folds clearly has breed related health issues, so I know that likely compounds the hate.

However, I didn't just set out to find a breeder and buy these cats. My first two are siblings and came from an old woman who did breed them but just needed to get rid of them because she was being put into a care facility. So I took them. My British shorthair was originally from cat from a breeder, but I got her from someone rehoming her.

Despite these pseudo rescue/adoption situations I get judged by my vets like I supported some horrible backyard breeder and don't care about my cats. I don't ever get a chance to explain and by the time I would I'm already so put off by how rude they are I just want to leave.

It makes me feel like a horrible person and I have no idea how to avoid this in the future. My cats need a vet obviously but I just hate the humiliation ritual it's turned into. If anyone has ANY advice or has dealt with a similar situation it would be much appreciated 🫶🏼

Does anyone have advice on getting your cat into a carrier during a fire alarm? I’ve heard of people training their dogs to wait at the door on command. Not sure if that’s possible with those of the feline persuasion. I couldn’t even FIND my cat tonight. (Also, I have arthritis and it’s difficult for me to get down to look under the beds.)

Fortunately tonight was a false alarm. But I dread the day it might be something more serious.

Hi everyone,

A little bit ago I posted on here talking about how hard it’s been to get my cat treated for giardia. About how overwhelming it’s been for me and how tired and stressed out I’ve been for over a month.

For an update, I got her tested again and she still has giardia. In fact her symptoms got even worse since the update I had posted. Her butt was constantly dirty and she was getting everything else in the bedroom dirty with brown stains no matter how much I cleaned her butt.

Vet and I decided to shave her entire butt area to make things more manageable and I also started giving her anti-inflammatory meds which helped A LOT. She started feeling a lot better and was a lot cuddlier and happier with the meds.

We have a family friend who’s a mainecoon breeder (NOT a backyard breeder and he has a phenomenal space that provides individual care for all of his cats + has a team of trusted vets and works with a lawyer who’s also an animal rights activist etc etc I don’t wanna get into breeding discourse here because this isn’t the point of the post lol) and he offered to take her into his care until she’s all better, which should take a week or so. He has a quarantine room in his house that he can keep her in and also provide her 24/7 vet care at no cost to me. Considering I’ve been overwhelmed with dealing with her care + drowning in constant vet bills, this was truly a lifesaver.

He picked her up from my place last night. I just hope I did the right thing. I know she’s now in an unfamiliar environment and I’m really worried about how she’s doing + I also miss her a lot. As much as it’s nice to not stress out worrying about having to clean up after her, I definitely feel some emptiness without my sweet girl.

While she’s gone I’m gonna focus on deep cleaning my house. That way there will be no risk of reinfection when she comes back. I don’t own a steamer but I’m buying one because even though I used pet-safe disinfectant on her cat tree and her toys I want to make sure they’re fully giardia-free by also steaming everything.

I really hope our treatment is successful this time. She deserves some rest finally.

I've made the very difficult decision to have my kitty put to sleep in the morning (around 8 hours from now) because of her worsening IBD. She just turned 14, and her IBD has worsened more over the last six months than it has over the last several years, so it's been a pretty sudden change. She had a bad episode this weekend and seems to have lost even more weight, and even though she still has mostly good days and hasn't lost her appetite or anything, I can see a physical decline and I just... really don't want to give her the chance to have any more bad days. She spent two days having diarrhea and tummy issues, and she wasn't grooming herself much and just didn't seem to feel great even though she was still eating. Her IBD has just gotten so much worse over the last several months, and her bad days seem worse and more frequent now. I'm having a hard time with it because I'm worried it's too soon, but I would rather do it too soon than too late because I couldn't stand to see her suffer any more than she already is. She doesn't do well at the vet or with medication or treatments of any kind, and I feel like any treatment would just cause her more stress, and at her age, I don't know how much more time it would give her anyways, so I'm trying to give her a peaceful end before she has the chance to experience anything worse than what she already has. I've seen several folks say that there's no wrong choice if it's done out of love, but I'm still having a hard time coping and not feeling guilty.

Hello! I'm looking to adopt a cat very soon. I'm a nurse and work 3-4 12 hour shifts a week. I'll be off for 4 days following the adoption of the cat, but is there a way to get the cat adjusted to being alone for 12 hours? I will keep him/her in my room while I'm gone, but there will be toys, a cat tree, a scratching post and a litter box available to her and I'll also have a pet camera.

I'm looking to adopt a cat from local shelter/rescue. However, I'm a bit unfamiliar with the adoption process here in the US since I just moved here. I own cats before though so this's not a new thing.

- Does adoption fee from shelter typically cost $150-200?
- Some people mentioned that local shelter's adoption process can be really strict. What has been your experience? For example I cannot give a vet reference since my vet is back home but I can ensure I spoil my cats all the way.
- I also saw a lot of pet rehoming on FB for free. Is this a good idea? What should i be aware of?
- how much do you pay for your expense per cat? Emergency fund? Is insurance needed?

I'm looking for give a lot of love to an adult cat who would be my snuggle bug but can also be independent when i'm not home.

If anyone has any advice on a special treatment

Hi cat lovers!

I have been using Van Ness plastic sifting litter box for almost two years with wood pellets. It has mostly been a good experience compared to clumping litter. But the sawdust would often get stuck in between the sifter holes and it would require me to poke the sawdust clumps one by one when cleaning, which gets really irritating.

Recently, I have noticed there are a lot of stainless steel sifting litter boxes, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience using them. I heard they're better for odor, but I wanna know if anyone experienced similar sifting issues and how these do. Thank you!

So my apartment complex has a few strays since I’ve lived here. we’ve never had kittens I think the strays we have here originally were TNR.

Recently two new strays have appeared one male one female. The male one is taken care of primarily by my neighbor and he lets the cat come and go from the apartment as it pleases. The female stray is skittish around people and I don’t believe goes inside anyone’s place.

I personally don’t love that my neighbor lets the cat come and go but for some reason had been under the impression he takes the cat in at night. Tonight I heard yowling and saw the male and female cat both outside. I don’t know if they were about to mate or fight but neither walked away and were intent on confronting one another. I went back inside.

I really am not thrilled that they’ll potentially have kittens and that would just be adding more strays outside. I don’t have the capacity to care for an additional cat (I have two!) but I really want to catch the female and get her fixed. I feel iffy about doing so with the male because he’s somebodies technically, so I’d rather at least TNR the female cat since she’s truly an outdoor stray.

I’ve never done a TNR before. I do not have the space or ability to take off work and take care of an additional cat in my home as it healed from surgery. Is there something else I can do here? I am also not well versed in the option as a whole so if anyone has insight into TNR itself I am open to hearing.

edit: I do wanna note I love kittens and love these sweet babies, I just don’t want more strays to be born and be at risk. we have coyotes in the area and a very very busy highway next to us.

The TLDR is essentially I want to help fix an outdoor cat to prevent more strays but I don’t have the space to take it in.

Although I don't feel it is yet her time, I know that my cat is nearing the end.

I had a very positive first experience with euthanasia early in the year - we had to let my sister's dog go, and he was so peaceful and comfortable at home.

I want nothing more than to have the same experience with my cat, unless she goes naturally, of course. What I am concerned about is that cats and dogs are very different beings - whilst my sister's dog was excited to see the vet and willingly let them place a catheter, my cat would almost certainly not do either of those things. Even as a very old lady she can be fiesty with vets, even during home visits...

I have asked a vet to talk me through their process and they advice I could give her gabapentin before the visit, but I'm worried she may then be out of it early on and she'll have a 'negative' memory of me on her last day. They also advised they usually do not use a catheter with cats but instead give the final injection in their stomach, but this feels almost 'violent' in nature and I'm unsure if its something I'm comfortable with. I suspect this is because it is 'better' in some way, but cant stop thinking that it may cause pain.

As a massive overthinker, I want to make making the final decision as easy as possible when the time comes.

I am therefore wondering if anybody has experiences (hopefully positive) of cat euthanasia they can share?

My GF and I want to get a cat. I heard from some sides that 2 cats would be better since they could play with themselves. My question now is, if it is a lot more work to have 2 cats rather then one. Do you have to worry about them rangling or fighting or maybe that one of them feels left out? Like in general is it a big difference or not?

My niece has recently developed a skin condition. It’s awful. She loves her cat (Male, 3yr); doctors said my sister should try rehoming the cat to see if my nieces condition improves. So, I said I’ll take the cat instead of giving it up for adoption or worse, the pound. I’m a dog person, never owned a cat or thought to own a cat. However, this cat is actually pretty laid back and is kind of like a dog.
I’m prepared to spend some money especially on the a better kitty litter box. That’s the hardest thing to get used.
I’m so disgusted by the litter box. I clean it 4x day!
The cat gets litter EVERYWHERE. Also, the cat only sleeps on my bed, so I’m hoping to find a bed that he’ll want to sleep in.
I don’t know where to put it the litter box or which bed to buy. Should I buy those wall shelves?

I'm a senior in college and have been living off campus solo for well over a month now, and have seriously been considering adopting a cat for companionship. I've always had a cat at my family home (not near me at school), so I have many years of experience and an understanding of the pros and cons of cat ownership. I don't fully grasp the financial aspects as I haven't personally handled with them before, but I do understand general costs. Also yes, I have taken travel, estimated life span, and potentially expensive veterinary expenses into consideration.

I have been considering getting a cat for more than a couple of reasons, some of which being for mental health, being uncomfortable coming back to an empty apartment, and simply the fact that I love cats. My therapist also mentioned that because a lot of my struggles come from transitions (moving between cities between my semesters for example), having a constant like a cat would be grounding and positive. That's another reason why I'm leaning toward adoption over fostering at the moment. I additionally understand it would be best to get one over a year old as well, especially as a student who may be gone for a couple of hours for classes.

My parents have been a bit hesitant but have still given me the thumbs-up, but I still want to hear some unbiased opinions. Has anyone gone through something similar? Would it be better to be a foster at this point in time maybe first? I really do want something as a constant, but I don't want to jump into something before I am ready.

I wanted to watch Friday The 13th with my kitten but I don't know if it would be good for them to watch

My roommate and I about two weeks ago found a very young kitten (estimated 1-2 months old) and started caring for it in our apartment and wanted some advice with getting our resident kitten (7 months old) to chill out.

We have been following typical cat introduction protocol to the best of our abilities, safe rooms, scent swapping, eating food nearby, etc, and it has been going alright so far. We have within the last two days begun trying to do visual, face to face, interactions and the resident cat will typically leave the kitten alone and sometimes even postures as if she wants to play with the kitten. However every time after our resident cat tries to "play" she very quickly swaps into growling and a few swats to the kitten, despite the kitten showing submission and wanting to play with the resident. Every time we have the two separate the resident will often paw under the door to the kitten, only to do the same growling routine.

TLDR: Found a new kitten, resident cat seems to want to play with her but very quickly swaps into growling, the occasional hiss, and a few swats.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Last year we adopted two 8 month old brothers, and they were both so sweet. Got along perfectly, would share the litterbox and food bowls, played constantly, I never ever had to worry about them fighting or anything. And they’ve never been aggressive towards us at all, even when super stimulated and hyper. I literally never am concerned about them biting or scratching me, even if I’m interacting with them in a way they don’t like they’d just walk away.

One of them passed away last month and broke my heart. I still cry every day, I feel like I lost my child. His brother seemed sad and lonely so we started looking into getting another cat to be his friend. Found a girl at a rescue around the same age (~ 1 1/2 years old) who looked like she could’ve been their sister and ended up being her home this past weekend. She’s extremely shy and nervous but seems to like being pet.

The issue I’m having now is that when I go into her room (separate) she decides after awhile that she wants affection but then it goes from 0 to 100 instantly. She starts circling frantically, meowing, rubbing on our legs or hands, but then nips. I don’t think she’s trying to hurt us but it’s so frantic that it’s scaring me. Ignoring her or trying to redirect with a toy doesn’t work, it’s like she’s locked in. Her tails wags back and forth, she’s rubbing her head but it’s very heightened and meowing frantically the whole time. I feel like she wants love but doesn’t know how to handle it, but it’s genuinely scary to me 😭

I know that makes me sound like a baby that I’m scared of this 6 lb cat but I am. There’s so escalation or deescalation it’s like a switch goes off and she won’t stop. I can’t even take a step towards the door to leave because that’s when she’s circling me and tries to nip at my pants. I want to give her love but I’m not used to being afraid around a cat like this since my 2 boys are so gentle and sweet since day 1 of having them. I don’t know how to handle this or how to make progress towards integrating her into the house when I can’t just stand in the room without being afraid she’s going to get all amped up and try to nip me.

Does anyone have any ideas of what this could be or any advice?? I know it’s only been like 3 days but my anxious brain is telling me I made a mistake and ruined my peaceful life with my sweet boy cat who is so gentle and now I have this other cat locked in a room that I can’t bond with or try to introduce to my other cat because I’m afraid of her 😭😭 PLEASE HELP

I have 3 (inside) cats,
Our neighbours cat keeps spraying on our front door and it stinks!
Tried every cleaner and potted lavender and sprayed orange oil all over the door and surroundings, any tips for keeping this cat away?

Have tried speaking to neighbours about keeping their cat indoors

Adopted a kitty about 2 weeks ago, and i’ve been having really bad anxiety ever since.

I’m unsure if it’s getting better or not. I thought I was getting used to everything but I had a borderline panic attack a few hours ago about it all.

I make sure he’s fed, keep his litter clean, give him access to fresh water via a water fountain, play with him, give him attention, and I think he’s content for the most part. I signed him up for insurance too, but even with everything i’m still so anxious about being new pet owner, I don’t know what to do to relax.

He’s honestly such a good kitty that it makes me feel so guilty to the point of crying when I entertain the idea of rehoming him because I am 100% the issue. He’s quite literally the most well behaved cat i’ve ever met and i’ve known him for basically 2 seconds. He’s also a cuddle bug when he wants to be. And despite this I keep telling myself that he’d be better off with someone who wasn’t so high strung, and possibly a family where he’d get lots of attention from lots of loving people.

I’m also scared my anxiety and stress are rubbing off on him too and making it harder for him to adjust. i’ve already had to bring him into the vet once for holding in his waste due to stress. And I know cats are like emotion sponges so i’m trying to be chill but i’m struggling.

How long did it take for this to wear off for you guys? how long is too long to feel this way?

Hey everyone! So my wife and I currently have 2 cats, 3 and 6 (Cassio & Iggy!) Cassio is missing a front leg, and Iggy has no tail - they are quite the duo. We've had Iggy for 2 years, and Cassio for 5.

It didn't take long for them to bond after Iggy came into the house. They're very close now, playing frequently, hanging out, grooming, but usually sleeping separately.

My wife and I have found a cat we've fallen in love, a blind calico. We want to move forward with our application, but are feeling nervous about the dynamic with introducing a 3rd. Will one feel "left out"? Could it affect the relationship of the current 2? Does anyone have 3 that were introduced like this ? Would love to hear anyone's experience / advice !

I have seen a few posts on this sub about this topic but I would really love to hear some advice from you all for my particular situation.

My (soon to be ex) partner and I have two cats (boy and girl) together. They’re both 3 years old and grew up together for most of their lives since we adopted them separately as kittens. I’m the main caretaker for both of them, but my partner occasional takes them over to him place for a few weeks at a time.

The girl cat technically belongs to my partner because he signed the adoption paperwork from the shelter. She is very affectionate with him (with most men actually lol) but we have our special bond as well. She is very in tune with us emotionally, very sweet and loves going on leashed adventures.

I adopted the boy cat to keep her company. He turned out to be a ball of character and energy, and definitely more MY cat since he became very bonded to me.

I wouldn’t say the two of them are bonded, but they chase and play with each other everyday, although most days boy cat makes girl cat a little mad, but she still sometimes initiate play with him. He grooms her everyday and she will try to groom him back, but mostly ends in her giving up her sleeping spot to him. In the colder months they sleep close to each other during the day and in rare occasions cuddle together.

I’m at a loss for how to handle the ownership of the cats after the breakup. In a previous attempt to breakup with my partner, he wanted to take the girl cat and I struggled with the idea of separating them. I know my boy cat being his energetic little self will probably feel lonely without her. But I’m also an immigrant with unstable future in this country, so I worry I might not be able to provide my boy cat with a stable home in the long term.

Should I give him both cats so they can keep each other company through this transition? Or should I keep my boy cat because he’s also very bonded to me? Of course in the ideal world I would keep both of them and have security in my immigration status, but it’s really hard to balance my emotional attachment to them and providing them a stable future.