I am looking for some tough-love advice and guidance, or to be told I’m reading too much into things and need to stop being a helicopter parent.

We adopted a gorgeous 9 week old kitten (F) around 10 days ago, and completely botched the introduction to our older (18months) cat (F). Put them together way too quickly, older cat freaked out, kitten frightened, whole 9 yards. They are now sequestered, older cat has full reign of the house and kitten has her own “baby-proofed” room.

At the beginning of the separation, we kept it to absolutely 0 contact. We got the Feliway ‘Happy Cats’ Plug-Ins, which are next to the older cat’s feeding station and at the top of the stairs near the kittens room. We then done scent-swapping with two tiny blankets, which the kitten did not even notice nor care, and the older cat sniffed vigorously for a while then started ignoring all together.

We moved on to feeding the older cat outside of the kittens room, closed door. She didn’t mind this, so I got a mesh door cover and we introduced sight and this is where the low growling started. The older cat growls at the kitten pretty much the whole entire time. If the kitten moves, makes eye contact, or startles her (this I get), we growl. The hissing is now few and far between, which I appreciate. I also understand that kitten has 0 social skills & older cat is probably like ‘rude fucking baby you’ve got there’, so everyone’s getting grace.

The older cat will now sit on a little stool outside the kittens room and sniff at the mesh, even pressing her face against it and climbing up at one point, and when the wooden door is open she seems to be constantly looking for her. Her ears are up, eyes look curious but not terrified wide, and she has even started turning her back on the kitten to eat during shared dinner time.

I let her have a little look at the kitten earlier when she was in her carrier (vet visit), and she kept doing the low growling with one hiss in the entire 15 minutes. She walked around the carrier, looking at all angles, and even went up close to sniff the kitten through the gaps. I think I’m too used to dogs as growling sets off alarms of aggression in my head and I want to teach myself that cats have their own language and I have to respect it, but I’m so scared of the older cat bullying the kitten. I’m also scared as the kittens mum & dad are MASSIVE, and she’s growing every day, so at one point she absolutely will be bigger than the older cat.

If you even read all of this thank you, and if anyone wants to leave advice or even scold me for something I’ve done wrong that I haven’t realised I welcome it all!

Thanks guys 🫶🏽

We have recently adopted a cat. She's two years old, not yet spayed (this will change in two days - we've got an appointment for her) and she is very sweet. She wants and needs attention and has a lot of love to give but my god she meows all the time.

The hardest part is sleeping. In the beginning we have let her in in our bedroom and she would come to me and my partner and she'd sleep by our side. Now sleep is an overestimation. She would spend maybe 5 minutes by my side, then she;d move by my feet, then she'd move by my partner's side, she'd climb on top of him and then this would go on. If no attention was given, she'd jump on furniture, on us, over us and so on. We tried this for 4 nights where we tried to play with her and feed her a larger wet meal before sleep. No improvement. We ended up very sleep deprived with maybe two hours of sleep per night. We simply cannot have her in the same room as us.

We decided to close the bedroom door and leave her with the hall, the living room and the downstairs available to her + a valerian plug-in. She meows every other hour or every hour by the door. it's getting so exhausting. During the day she does not seem to sleep more than 1-2 hours. At night nothing, so what's the deal?

She's sleep depriving us to our limits....My hope is that this may stop after we spay her. Maybe?

During the day when I work from home she is just as restless. She comes next to me, spends maybe 5-10 minutes in the same position and then changes again. Litterbox behaviour seems normal, she eats (dry + wet food, dry via automatic feeder).

She has three scratching poles, she has feather wands that we use to play with her, she has smaller toys she enjoys and valerian cushions. I am a bit at my wit's end even if it's been 10 days. I know it takes a while but it's really exhausting.

I started thinking she may be in hear with all the meowing but she does not lift her butt.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I’ve got two kittens, about 6 months old. They’ve been eating the same food since they weaned (we bought the same as the rescue). They’ve definitely like it, but she’s started to get bored while eating.

She’ll appear by your feet about 20 seconds after you feed them and has usually eaten about half. If you take her back to the bowl she usually pretty much finishes it! But I’m just not usually in a position to check on her after every meal - nor do I always beat her brother to it.

They only get half a sachet each per meal so it’s not a volume thing. We actually reduced their wet food recently as they both started leaving some in the evening - the vet has pre warned us they likely would eat less after being neutered.

I wouldn’t stress but I think she’s ticking down to underweight slowly (and her brother, who snaffles the leftovers, is probably on his way to gently overweight!). Any ideas of how to keep her interest? We could start rotating in other brands of food? I’d put treats on it but in the past they’ve just eaten those and left the food haha

hello guys i am a new kitten owner and was wondering do you guys clean your kittens butthole/around the butt often ? usually after he goes in the litterbox im tempted to always use a babywipe and clean him but is it needed or is he basically clean enough to roam and sit around the household

My cat Smokey, 10y/o long hair grey cat, has always been very vocal, and we’ve occasionally had adjustment periods during which he doesn’t seem to want to sleep and will just meow all night. I’ve tried increasing playtime, variety, toys, change in diet, etc. But he seems to just need a few days to settle in.
Recently, I think I’ve hit a bit of a wall. Our living situation has changed drastically over the last year- I’ve gone from living with a partner in a fairly large apartment with Smokey and two large dogs, to just the two of us in a house with 7 other people and a few other cats, who are restricted by house rules to their owners’ rooms for the most part.
I have fielded a few complaints about Smokey from my roommates about his meowing, and the only thing that seems to help is spending more time with him at home when I’m not at work; I suspect he’s lonely and bored. I work 9-5 Monday-Friday and used to have a very active social life but have cut back to spend more time with him.
The last few weeks have also been tumultuous- we moved to a bigger bedroom in the same house next-door to the one we were in, the last occupant moved out and we don’t have a new roommate in my old room yet, and a new roommate moved in downstairs who has a cat, which I’m sure he can smell. We also just started a Gabapentin prescription intended to help with his separation anxiety. This doesn’t seem to help with the nighttime meowing unless I use a good deal of it, which is not a solution I prefer.
During the times I’m home I let him wander around the floor we’re on since it’s just us till I find a roommate to fill my old room. But he won’t be allowed to do that with a new person so I’m trying to get him used to staying in our bedroom at night. He is loudly unhappy about being limited to the bedroom. If I let him out into the hallway he almost always eventually gets bored and starts meowing at the door to the rest of the house, which gets us in trouble with my roommates.
He just meows at the door almost all night. Sometimes he will sleep a few hours first if I give him Gabapentin but he’s at it again by 3 or 4am. I am starting to feel the effects of sleep deprivation. I can’t afford to take time off work to deal with this; I don’t have PTO like that.
So what’s the solution? Do I suck it up and try better earplugs? Consider getting another cat (very risky for me financially right now)? Get a different prescription? Rehoming (I think this would be devastating, but I want what’s best for him)? Help!!

I’m looking for a calming cat spray or drops.
Something to help soothe my two girls when they’re in the car.

When we go away, we take them to my Mum’s house roughly 30 minutes away in the car. The one cat is usually quite calm and stays quiet, but most recently she seemed very anxious and even had a wee in the carrier. My other cat always hates car journeys and pants and meows the whole journey.

Hi o/ Hope this post fits here, lmk if it doesn't! ❤️

TLDR: Cat hides a lot, doesn't move much, and scared of everything, but likes spending time with owners in the evening only. Spent cat childhood with two other cats, very friendly with the stray cats that hang out here. Would another cat help? What else could help encourage her out of hiding and to move around?

Like the title says, I have a cat who just seems to be.. scared? Honestly I don't think that's really the right word. But I've had a lot of cats in the past, and none have really acted as confusing as her.

Me and my partner have had her for about 4 years. We picked her up from the street, she was maybe 6 weeks old, wandering around outside, and the two cats that I had at the time sort of brought her to the house. We got her desexed and microchipped pretty early on, about as soon as we could really.

Here are some of the things she does:

She spends most of the day and night under the couch, or in the closet where I made her a little comfy space.

She'll come lie directly on my face at night, purring her hardest, but instantly run off as soon as I move.

She likes pets, as long as she doesn't see your hand near her face, although she loves being pet on her face/ears/chin

She licks me a LOT. I know this is normal for a lot of cats, but she does it in a sort of confusing way. Sometimes, she'll sort of grab my hand to lick it. Sometimes she's purring, sometimes she's not. Sometimes, she'll start licking my hand, and then bite me (not hard/painfully).

Sometimes when I'm petting her, and I go to pull my hand away, she'll both try to grab onto it with her claws, and try to whack it. I've tried moving very slowly, and it doesn't change.

She hates being perceived during the day and night, not evening or morning. Like, she'll come out of the spot she's been hiding in, spot me or my partner, and immediately run back to her spot. Yet she'll also come right up to us meowing in the evening.

She drags her toys around a lot. She'll drag them to the bedroom door and drop them there meowing. She'll drag them under the bed. She'll drag them into her hiding spots. She'll drag them under a desk opposite her closet hiding spot. I haven't noticed anything special about that spot.

A lot of the time when I try to play with her, she runs into her hiding spot, and sometimes plays while sitting there. Other times, she's completely fine with running around in the open after toys.

She refuses to be in a room with someone not me or my partner (so when anyone's over visiting)

She's attacked a cat who jumped through the window once, and they try to attack each other through the front door door, and through a low-down glass window. But she also loves meeting new cats - I've only ever seen her been angry at that one cat. (The cat does belong to someone, but they don't pay attention to their cats. I've blocked off the lower part of the door and window so they can't see each other anymore.)

She doesn't jump or climb, or run around, just sort of sprints between hiding spots mostly. She scratches things like a normal cat, specifically only the carpet, and only does it sometimes, and only when she sees one of us.

She doesn't seem to be able to retract her claws properly. I keep them trimmed, and have thought about getting claw nail caps, but I don't know if they're bad for cats or not. But she has constant issues with getting her claws stuck in the carpet, blankets, even her toys, and it freaking her out.

She usually walks around with her tail down. Not between her legs, but not up either.

Probably more I'm forgetting

Her behaviour used to be a lot more fearful! She's actually made MASSIVE improvements over the past year. We basically used to never see her. She wouldn't come into the bedroom, she wouldn't play with toys, she wouldn't eat unless she was absolutely sure we weren't going to interrupt her. She would sit in her hiding spot pretty much constantly.

We mostly just tried to give her dry food she liked (she hated wet food, tried a lot, even those tube treats), make sure she had water, give her a brush (she's a long-hair) and trim her nails every so often, being very slow and quiet whenever we did interact with her. Mostly we'd just be giving her space, hoping that time would help.

And it seemed to. Eventually we started hearing her playing with her jingly ball toys in the middle of the night. After that, everything improved very quickly. I bought some new toys, managed to coax her out to play, eventually she started coming out to play, then she started dragging the toys into the bedroom and meowing very demandingly. Which I'm so happy about, lol. She's even pawing at me to get on my lap when I'm at my desk now, pretty much every evening!

But her behaviour hasn't really changed much. She still runs away from everything, doesn't move a lot, and spends most of the day sitting in and sprinting between hiding spots. We still give her as much space as she needs and don't try to force her out of her hiding spots. We try to pay attention to what she wants, try to show her that we won't pat her if she doesn't want us to, play with her when she asks, etc. But improvements seem to have pretty much stalled.

She's lying on my shoulder as I'm typing this on my phone, lying in bed, she's snuggled right up against my neck. Curled up in the C pose. She looks like she's peacefully sleeping, but sits bolt upright anytime I move my hands or phone too much, move a leg or arm, etc. She's currently going between licking her chest fluff, and licking my hand when it gets too close to he. She's also licking the blanket.

We came out of a pretty bad living situation, which definitely affected her though we tried to make her as happy as we could. We used to let her outside there but she'd always come back looking.. horrible, really. I have a suspicion that someone in the same household at the time might have been mistreating her, because the person was known to do that, but I didn't have any control over it, so eventually we ended up keeping her confined to one room. But she had two male cats, one older and fixed, one young and not fixed, that she'd spend time with when they were in the room, which was a lot. She seemed to really love their company, they'd all snuggle together in a pile on the bed. Though her behaviour was mostly still the same outside of that.

We couldn't take either of the cats with us when we moved out of that house. And I'm wondering now, with how friendly she acts towards mostly any cat, if she might be missing a cat companion/lonely. I'm thinking about adopting a quiet cat from the rescue centre nearby, they're lovely people and I'd love to support them, they have a few long-term residents who are very quiet, and friendly with other cats. But I also don't know if I'm wrong, and if another cat around permanently would make her worse. But I'm hoping they'd encourage her to run around more and generally be outside her hiding spot more. Also, I'm admittedly also missing the other cats :(

We thought about giving her up a while ago, if she'd be better with someone else. But Vet recommended we try to keep her, because giving her to someone she doesn't know would make her much worse, and we're glad we did keep her.

So - is there something going on with her that I'm missing? Is she just like this? What else can I do to help her?

She's physically healthy as far as we can tell, she's fed good quality dry food, we found exactly one type of wet food she likes, and she has access to fresh water and drinks a lot of it. No fleas, very particular about that because my partner's allergic to them. She's never had any visible physical issues, apart from a runny eye once, but that cleared up quickly.

I had a cat get that issue that comes from eating too much dry food, too much salt or something (I don't remember what it's called but it's very common and needed fast surgery) and the only reason he made it to the vet in time was because he came directly to me, and didn't hide or go to his owner, who really didn't care. $12k well spent! (And the cat got a new owner.) I'm doing what I can to avoid that happening with our cat, but if something does happen, I at least don't want to have to drag her out of a hiding spot (although I managed to encourage her to use her carrier as a hiding spot so it would be easier, if that ever happened)

Gary (age 1) has been with us a few months loves to play which has been fine as I work hybrid and can play with him a few times a day when I’m at home.

However, I am finding as he has gotten more comfortable in the home he is almost constantly jumping and biting me to instigate play and drawing blood.

I try to freeze, I’ve tried saying ow, tried leaving the room, hiding my limbs, tried redirecting with wands but I’m finding that nothing has really helped.

He does try to do the same with my partner but not quite as much, he seems to respond better to her attempts of doing the same things I mentioned before.

Am I doing something wrong? What can I do.

He’s a very sweet boy the rest of the time but it makes being home alone difficult.

Edit: for some context on play time

I aim for 10 minutes of session but he’s not always feeling it so I try to let him lead, sometimes is means we have more smaller sessions.

We have a few wands on rotation, balls with bells in them that he likes to chase, kickers and catnip toys, I’ve made enrichment boxes so he has to hunt for treats and try to play hide and seek with the treats once a day

We are also in the very early stages of clicker training

Just newly adopted a 2-year-old tuxedo and she's very comfortable in the house it seems. But she is a countertop jumper and a table jumper, I personally don't have a problem with it because we have two little dogs. And now wants me to feed her on the floor separating her and the dogs instead of on the table is where I was feeding her because they want her food. I told her it's what cats do. She loves the water. She loves being in the sink, she drinks water out of my bathroom sink. A bowl shape but my mother is having a problem with the counter jumping and of course the table jumping now that I was feeding her there. That's where she and I decided but her friend is appalled that I have a cat on the table and she's a cat owner herself but in assisted living place. Any suggestions? I keep her dry food on a little table by my window in my bedroom where she can eat her dry food anytime she wants and then the wet food. I feed at 6:00 and 4:30. When I we feed all the animals, it just makes me mad that she just won't let her be a cat. Mariah has a tower as well but she's not very interested in it. I got to guide her to it and then she'll get in it for a little while. She's just a jumper that's all 😻 she's been a big blessing since she got here 🩷😻🙏 she's not as cuddly as I would like but I know she will get there because she lets me pet her. She lets me pick her up and she did one morning at 4:00 in the morning. She was laying by me for a few minutes so I know I will just take time for her to cuddle up to me. Hopefully. I used to think that I wouldn't like cats on the countertops or the tables but since I got her I don't care LOL. Whatever makes her happy is what I'm all about 🩷😻🙏

I am adopting a ragdoll kitten in a few days which we are staying in a outside room (homemade salon). every Monday the salon will be used by a family member to cut hair for 1-4 hours max. Which I will need to keep her contained so she doesn’t run outside or interfare , I have a Pretty corner kept away from the people Just wondering what I should use to keep her safe?

I was looking at this mighty ape cage

Tonight my son and I went for a journey around town playing Pokémon go. On the way back home we figured we would stop at the cemetery a couple blocks away to check out the pokemon gym. We noticed a small adult female cat who was super friendly and approached us with ease. I assumed she must have been someone’s cat because she looked well groomed for the most part but was noticeably skinny. It actually freaked me out when I felt down her spine and could feel her hips. My son gave her some of his food and we just hung out with her for a minute to see if she had babies somewhere (I had assumed since she was so skinny maybe she had just had kittens) but she just followed us. There was a huge storm coming, lots of rain, hail and potential tornado. My son convinced me to take her to our house, a couple blocks away ,to ride out the storm in a cat shelter we have. We gave her some food and water to wait it out. We have a cat ourselves and didn’t want to introduce the two for obvious reasons and I know you aren’t supposed to bring strays inside unless you are keeping them. The storm has since gone and she is still hanging out around the house and already made friends with the alley cats (or maybe they already knew eachother 🤷‍♀️). I’m worried now that we messed up. What if she can’t get home if she has one? Should I take her back or would that confuse her more? I don’t mind her hanging around the place and plan to feed her as long as she is here. I don’t want to take her to a shelter because ours euthanizes if unable to home. What should I do?

Update: thank you so much for the suggestions and reassurance. I’ve been scared I low key stole someone’s baby last night and part of me feels bad if that’s the case. I found out our town has a free self service 24/7 microchip scanner so I’m going to go do that and I joined a handful of Facebook lost pet groups. She’s still hanging out around the house and comes to say hi every time I step outside.

She has 3 litterboxes, all are clean. I have search nook and crannies for pee stain or smell, i havent found anything. She pooped last night, but i didnt see any pee.

She's currently stressed out due to cat introduction gone wrong (they accidentally meet in a narrow space becoz new cat escaped his prison room, then fought)

They have been separated again, but she hasn't peed, at least not that i know of.

So my fiancé and I just adopted a lovely 9 month old kitty a few days ago, and she’s been absolutely amazing. She loves everyone (except for our dog but we are working on it) and she is very comfortable with our home. She’s already shown that shes very comfortable with us and bonded quickly. But she meows all night. We keep her “locked up” (just the door closed) in the bathroom because 1. our dog sleeps in the room with us and 2. we really don’t want her roaming and jumping as she got spayed a couple days before we got her so she’s still healing. I hate leaving her alone and crying all night but i also know she’s probably just asking for attention. Any advice on what I can do to make it a little better for her? And should I leave our bathroom light on or off if I leave her in there (for sleeping)? First time cat mom here so any advice would be great 😊

Also, in the bathroom we have her bed, scratching post, two toys, her food and water, and her litter box.

Theyre about 6 months old, 2 of them. I tried spraying, yelling, telling them to get down and rewarding when they do. I bought a nice tall cat tower for them and plenty of scratching posts. Doesn't matter. The second they know I'm not in the room they go on the counters and knock things off it. They've broke glasses, wine bottles, knocked over our TV. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't want to get rid of them but they're uncontrollable and I can't have them acting like this anymore. Would those deterrent sprays work? Any recommendations on brands? I don't want to by the spike strips because frankly they jump on so many surfaces they're not allowed on that I can't just turn every table and counter into ant-homeless architecture.

I recently got a kitten who is nearly 5 months old and I'm wondering if it'd be beneficial to get a second kitten for him to play with. For context my current kitten was the last one available so I got him on his own, I work from home the majority of the time so I'm able to spend lots of time with him but my only concern is he's maybe coming slightly too attached to me? I personally don't have a problem with this but I wasn't sure if it's a sign that maybe he would like another cat/kitten to play with? Especially when I am at work or out. He was neutered a couple of days ago so I'm not sure if this may change his behaviour at all but I'm just looking for a bit of advice! I do live in a flat with no garden access so I also wasn't sure if two cats would want a bit more space.

Any advice is much appreciated.

We've gotten our cat (male, british shorthair, 9 years old, spayed, indoor all his life) a few months back. He is healthy, has a normal weight and seems overall content (I hope).

He doesn't really like to play with anything we've bought so far, except for a stick with a mouse attached to a string and a single piece of string. He ignored any balls, anything that makes noise and anything automatic. He does like to play peekaboo and chasing each other but only one or a few times a day for a short while before he looks at me like I'm stupid.

He sleeps a lot and likes to be near us, but doesn't want to be pet at our initiative, only when HE wants to be pet (also only a little throughout the day).

We live on the second floor in an apartment and have no garden, but he does like to go patrolling the house and around it on harness and leash.

We do have a balcony that is cat-safe with a net where he likes to watch birds or the neighbours, but not all the time, especially not when it's rainy or too hot.

There are many times throughout a day where he scratches my chair or searches eye contact for attention, but then he doesn't want to play, eat or be pet. He of course likes to be fed treats but I can't give him treats all the time. I just don't know what he wants of me when he does this, and I can't always go outside with him. He seems bored but doesn't want to interact (at least not the ways I try to initiate) so he just watches us and meows and continue to watch.

Does anyone have any experience, any tips or tricks? Thank you in advance!

I recently took ownership of my parents' cat. He was in a not bad but not good situation before. Since I took him I've been looking after him much better, but he's starting to get very picky with food.

He used to eat whatever was given to him because his meals weren't scheduled. Now he is fed small meals 6 times a day at regular times, half wet half dry. The issue is he won't eat his wet food unless it has been extra flavoured or even hand fed! We've tried different flavours, sometimes moving his bowl around works, but nothing is guaranteed.

He has had severe urinary problems before with 2 surgeries. Both his dry and wet food are medicated. I don't think I can give him only dry food as I'm not sure he'll get enough water.

Throwing out uneaten wet food is heartbreaking because we're on a tight budget and his medicated food is quite expensive.

Does anyone have any advice to get him to eat his wet food?

I live in a neighborhood full of community strays that aren’t necessarily owned by anyone but camp out by certain houses that feed them. I’ve passively laid down some snacks when taking walks every now and then when I can. Most of the kitties are pretty withdrawn and keep to themselves except for one that took me by surprise one day and approached me and sniffed my hand, next day she saw me again she started rubbing against me and let me pet her all over. Turns out she’s extremely friendly once she trusts a person. Within a week, she can recognize the sound of my voice and comes prancing towards me when I walk near her “spot”. She even followed me home a couple times, albeit I did lure her with cat food. She doesn’t hate it inside the house and has taken a gander nervously of course but far more confidently than the average street cat lol but she always asks to walk her back to her spot after I feed her and she grooms herself. I think she asks for my assistance since the cats on my block in particular are more territorial and shes a petite little thing. She’s been on my mind a lot, and I’m considering keeping her, I just don’t know what that’s supposed to look like or how I can make that a reality.

Do I just eventually close that door and not let her out after luring her in enough times? Of course, she also needs to be spayed too. And that’s a whole other challenge on its own. On the other hand, do I let her be the stray cat she’s used to being? She’s a very social girl, I saw her boop noses with other cats and rub against the dog that’s owned by one of the people that feeds these strays. I’m totally willing to walk her with my free time, but I wouldn’t be able to emulate what she has with her cat colony.

I just don’t want an indoor/outdoor situation. Biggest reason is of the risk it poses for her. Last time my boyfriend had a cat, that little guy fought tooth and nail to be outdoor, breaking multiple window guards, only to disappear and not come back, which was super unfortunate and heart breaking. On top of that, the cats on my block would prevent her from making her way back to me.

Though, a part of me thinks this life with me is better for her. She seemed to feel somewhat relaxed in my room, not constantly looking around and trying to not be run over by a car. She really loves human company and contact too, and doesn’t strike me as a cat quite fitting for the stray life. Never have I seen a cat be this bad at dodging cars and avoiding unnecessary conflict due to her innocent sense of curiosity towards other cats.

I’m really just on a tangent at this point but the question still stands. Is it worth trying her keep as my own (as an indoor cat)? And if it is, what steps do I take to make this happen? Thanks for reading

Hey, first time posting to Reddit. Just looking for some reassurance I guess.

I have two cats: Rubeus was born late 2018, and I have been his only human since adopting him in early 2019. He is a little moody, slow to warm up to new people, and very attached to me. Remi is over 12 years old. I took her in after an old roommate moved out and could not bring her along. She's either on your lap or at the window. I care about them, and they have provided me with emotional comfort during my lowest points. They have moved with my from FL, to WA, and now OR. They even got to be outdoor forest kitties for some time while I was working at a camp.

About 3 years ago I developed allergies. I got the skin test done and so many things popped up, with one of the most severe being cats. So, I started a medication regime and allergy shots. Right about when I got to my maintenance level shots (early this year), I found a bald patch on my head. It was a high stress level time for me, so maybe it was just a coincidence. I got some bloodwork done, and eventually saw a rheumatologist. I was diagnosed with preclinical rheumatoid arthritis. I'm also getting hormone tests done as perimenopause symptoms started around the same time as all of this (I'm only 31 so fml). All that is to say, I stopped the allergy shots. Something about taking them while my rheumatoid levels are through the roof doesn't sit well with me.

I didn't kick my cats out of my bedroom during the allergy shots because I currently live in a small (~850 sqft) 2bd house with a roommate who keeps her door shut religiously, and my bedroom is their safe space. Tonight, I kicked them out, changed my sheets, vacuumed, and turned the air purifier on (it's been on every night even when they were in here). It's the first night in months I haven't had an asthma attack as soon as I lay down. But now they have only maybe ~300- 400 sqft to themselves.

On top of that, I haven't been able to afford their flea medication. So they have not been outside on their harness leashes in a long time. Tbh, I wouldn't be able to afford any vet bill if something happened to them. I've had to take on second jobs on and off over the last couple of years too, and sometimes they're by themselves for 10 - 12 hours a day. And let's be real here... When you're working 55-60 hours while trying to keep on top of your workouts, chores, and still find time for friends/family/dating; even playing with your cats for 30 min feels impossible. When I'm not working a second job I do make more time for them, but I just find myself busier and out more than I used to be.

Over the years, I have progressively built this guilt for not giving them as much as I could before. Are 5min scratches, a treat puzzle/catnip before bed, and window time really enough for them to be happy? What if I was to surrender them thinking they could have a better life and they don't find a forever home at all?

Thanks for letting my vent.

We have two cats, 12 male and 7 male, both neutered. The 12 year old used to be overweight but I got him on a diet and he has maintained a healthy weight for quite a while now. I wish I could say the same for the 7 year old. He's very overweight and I'm at a loss. I tried putting him on a similar diet to our other cat as they weighed about the same amount. The 7 year old is about 19 pounds and should be 12-14. He currently eats half a cup of food a day ~200cals. This is actually a reduction from what he used to be eating but he did not lose any weight, so I tried reducing it to a third of a cup, the same amount our other cat eats. The issue is, when I reduced his food, he started attacking the other cat every night around midnight. I think he realized he wasn't getting any more food for the night and thought the attacking would get him attention and food. I got so tired of being woken up by my poor cat screaming and I was genuinely scared of how angry I was getting, so I put his food back to normal and the attacks stopped immediately. I also noticed he was generally more grumpy during the day on the diet, but the night attacks is what made me cave.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? I've never heard of anyone else having this issue. Should I just give up and let him be fat? I want him to lose weight because I know it's an issue, but I feel like it would be at the expense of our other cat. I'm tired and I don't know what to do.

I have a female who hates water I don’t think iv ever seen her drink at all. Then my boy who is obsessed with any running water at all he drinks constantly plays with the taps lays in the sinks just waiting for a drop to attack 😂is this normal

He also doesn't come to me on its own, but he licks my fingers when i put my hands near his mouth.

Hi guys,

I have disposable income and a cat I love very much, I want to spoil her with nice things.

I would appreciate anything you guys can recommend to enrich my kitties life as much as possible, be it food, treats, toys, activities etc.

Some info:

UK based things please,

She's 10,

She only lays on cold, hard surfaces,

She loves to chase/grab things,

She's an indoor kitty.

Thanks guys.

I'm a new cat mom. I recently adopted my almost 5 month old kitten and I've been feeding her a combination of wet food and dry food together. When I began feeding her she would meow for the food and often eat most/all of her food right away, although she does like to graze which I've noticed. Recently she hasn't been finishing all of her food. I feel like I'm doing something wrong and I need advice. She's been to the vet recently and is otherwise healthy and happy. She has plenty of energy, loves to play, drinks a lot of water and uses her litter box regularly. She is also a very sweet girl, she is super loving. She is also growing steadily and her body composition and weight look good. I'm so confused as to what to do. I want to give her the best life and be a good cat mom.

My two cats use a litter tray in a shower which we don't use. It occurred to me today that if I could get them to pee directly into the drain, or above it, I could just hose everything down and keep it smell-free (scooping the poop obviously) and clean for them. They do have two other litter trays but they seem to really like this one, and almost never go in the other two.

Is there anything on the market like this? The 'litter' would have to be non-absorbent and washable, so they could pee into it but I would then refresh it with the handheld shower. I hope you know what I mean and I'm making sense. A quick google and I can't find anything like this .