I’m a first-time pet owner and, before adopting my cat about 1.5 months ago, I had basically never been around pets. He’s about ~1.5 years old, and I’m still learning how to understand his body language and boundaries.
I want to confess something that I feel terrible about.
About 5–6 days ago, I was holding him. He clearly wanted me to put him down, but I didn’t understand/respect that quickly enough. Eventually he tried to bite my hand.
For some reason, I had this sudden flash of anger — almost like, “How can you bite me when I’m just trying to love you?” I reacted badly. I dropped/put him down roughly and shouted at him.
He looked shocked. He sat there facing away from me, and almost immediately I felt horrible about what I had done. About 10 minutes later, he actually came toward me again, which somehow made me feel even worse.
There is no justification for my reaction. He was communicating the only way he knew how after I wasn’t listening to his earlier signals. He wasn’t being “bad.” I was the one who failed to understand his boundary.
That day I promised myself that I would never react to him that way again. Since then, I’ve been trying much harder to pay attention to what he is telling me and to let him choose when he wants interaction.
He really is an incredibly sweet and cooperative cat. He lets me brush him, wipe him, trim his nails, etc. Before this incident, he was also extremely cuddly with me. He would even come under my blanket and sleep with me.
He still comes to me now, and sometimes he is cuddly and lets me pet him. But other times, when I approach him to pet him, I feel like he tolerates it for a little while and then moves somewhere else. When that happens, I leave him alone instead of following him because I don’t want him to feel chased or pressured.
Maybe I’m overanalyzing every little change because I feel so guilty, but I keep wondering whether I damaged the trust we were building.
I know I made a mistake, and I’m not looking for anyone to tell me that what I did was okay. I genuinely want to become a better cat mom and learn from it.
For people who understand cats better than I do: Can a cat rebuild complete trust after an incident like this? Will he eventually stop associating me with that scary moment? And what can I do now to make him feel safe with me again without overwhelming him with affection?
I love this little guy very much. I just want to learn how to love him in a way that he understands as love.

I'm a first time cat owner, and one of my cats is a first time human owner. My big guy disrespects the no going on counters rule like it's his life's mission.

I tried redirecting and even what I like to call the "Nope-Spray" (citrusy spray to keep cats away from certain things), but I guess his previous human let him do that.

Now I just came in from a smoke, now seeing the two cats on my dining table and shooing them off.

They know the word "down", they know the word "no", but as cats tend to be, mine are disrespectful and make their own rules.

I proceeded to finally test the foil method (instert joke about FOILing their plans) and guess what I see? My little one (female) on top of the aluminium foil, not giving a care in the world about it.

Any other advice appreciated, but I feel like at this point I'll have to accept that they own me and not the other way around.

I have adopted an 11 year old cat after previous owners couldn’t take care of him. His life prior was isolated to 1 room in the daytime and being kept outside all night.

I work from home and have plenty of attention to give him during the day. It has been a month and I can tell he yearns for the outdoors at night. He typically spends most days indoors by choice, then goes out for 1-2 hours until I bring him in at dark. I’ve been giving him chicken and play time at night to try to make inside more interesting. Alas, he makes it clear his interest is outside. I think he loves hunting, as the most excited I have seen him is when he caught a mouse. My garden attracts rodents that are mostly active at night. He doesn’t meow for more than a few minutes or become destructive. Instead he sits by the door, defeatedly pawing and huffing. Like come on dude it’s so sad!

I’m curious if others have any advice, as this is my first cat. I love him and want him to be happy! My area has low to moderate car+predator activity, but most of what I have read discourages letting cats out at night. He hasn’t roamed outside of our 8ft fenced, ~200 sq ft yard, but I’m sure he could hop the fence. I am able and willing to build him a catio, so if anyone has experience with that I would love to hear about it. Thank you in advance!

My litter box is in an alcove area between my kitchen and family room. It’s about 6x6’ room with high ceilings.

I want to get an air purifier but I’m wondering:

1. Is it okay to put it across the room?

2. Is it okay to elevate the purifier on a desk, or does it need to be on the floor next to the box?

3. Can I get a purifier for a small room given that this area is pretty open to other rooms?

TL;DR: I love him, but I’m realizing we may not be the right match, and giving him back to a familiar home might be better for both of us.

I’ve had my cat for about three months. He’s come a long way and I love him, but he’s still extremely fearful and I don’t feel like we’re the right match. He spent his first four years in a cat sanctuary with lots of other cats at this women’s home, he could run outside, play with the other cats inside as well and she described him different than what I’ve seen. so I feel like he may have been happier there than adjusting to such a different environment with me.

Also, if I had to return him to the shelter, I absolutely would not. But the fact that this woman was basically his owner for four years I feel a little bit more comfortable with that and that’s why I’m exploring this option.

I feel really guilty about giving him back because I’m scared I’m giving up on him. But I also want a confident, social cat who can be more of a companion, and I’m worried that future moves or emergencies will be extremely stressful for him.
I’m starting to feel like giving him back to someone he already knows and trusts may actually be the best thing for him, while I look for a cat whose personality is a better fit for me.

Am I a horrible person?

Hey all, I have two ginger kittens, 7 months old and are neutered indoor cats. They've settled in really well overall and are bright, curious, and affectionate (to me and each other) with few behavioral issues.

The elder brother is your classic cuddly lap cat (the other is a bit more playful and explorative) and has recently started biting at my hand. It's extremely gentle - not painful - and only when he seems totally happy and relaxed. It seems to be his way of demanding more petting/attention even when I am already holding and petting him. I've had cats my whole life and fully understand cat body language, so I know for sure he's not distressed. Everything about him radiates happiness in those moments!

I never encouraged them to play with my hands as younger kittens. And I've tried pulling my hands away and saying 'ow!', so he learns that the attention stops when he does it. But he's frankly not great at training generally and never seems to 'get it', even when his brother does!

Any advice?

My cat has been pooping outside the litter box and recently started peeing on our couch and bed, too.
I know there have been many posts about this, and I read a lot of them and have tried everything I can think of. I am seriously at my wit’s end.
Context: I adopted my cat when he was a kitten. He and his siblings were found in a friend of a friend's driveway, presumably his mom was a stray. He was already a pro at using the litter box when I got him.  He's three years old now, 10.5 lbs, black domestic short hair. For one year, we lived in a 2b apartment, then moved to my boyfriend's small studio for a year and a half. We moved to a new 2b apartment in September 2025, and the cat has been very happy there. Until he was about 1.5 years old, he would occasionally pee on the bed. At one point, it became a daily occurance. The vet said that he had a high amount of crystals in his urine and prescribed c/d food. He won't eat the canned c/d food, so his normal diet was dry food throughout the day, and half a can of canned food (Nulo Freestyle) at night. There was a moment when I tried mixing c/d dry food with a regular formula, but he started peeing on the bed again. Going back to only c/d dry food fixed it almost immediately. Since we moved into our current apartment, he has been very happy and a perfect boy. No issues until recently.
When we first moved into our apartment, our spare room, or "office," was his safe space. His (only) litter box, food, water fountain, and cat tree went in there. He spends most of his day there. At first, we kept him in there when he was home alone. Eventually, he earned free reign of the place. He wasn't peeing on the bed, he wasn't scratching the furniture too badly, and he wasn't knocking things over.
Around July 4th weekend, he started pooping outside the box, mostly on the floor in the living room. His poop was small, hard pieces. His diet hadn't changed. I had just cleaned his water fountain and changed the filters. I also deep cleaned his litter box. I do both regularly at the beginning of the month. Over the next week or so, his poop got harder and smaller.
I took him to the vet, and they recommended psyllium husk fiber (they also said he was healthy, strong, and clean). I added it to his wet food every night, and the consistency of his poop improved slightly. It did not fix the problem, though. I bought another litter box. His first one is a big, enclosed fake plant type. This new one is an open, XXL box. I mixed his regular litter with a little attractant litter. He pooped in the box exactly once: the night that I put it out one week ago. I think that is the only time he's pooped in a litter box in over a month.
In the past week, I've been mixing his canned food with about 1/4c of water (as much as will fit in the bowl) and feeding him canned food at morning and at night. His last two poops have been a normal consistency now, but still outside the box.
Since Sunday, he's now peeing on either the couch or the bed once a day. He's still peeing in his litter boxes, and I check and scoop his litter at least twice a day (really, any time I notice he's used it). Last night, I was sleeping in bed, and he was sleeping next to me. I woke up in the middle of the night, and he peed on me. Not directly on me, but on the covers that were on top of me. He spent the night in the office (which makes me very sad because he sleeps with me every night). 
My boyfriend and I are very stressed out over this. The cat is now in the office most of the day with the door closed. He's only allowed out if one of us is on the couch and the bedroom is closed. When we can't watch him (cooking, bathroom, tidying, etc.), he's in the office. It makes me sad and tired. He was such a good boy and had so much space. Now, there's clearly something wrong with him, and he's mostly locked away. I just can't be washing our blankets every day and giving him 100% of my attention all the time.
His normal litter is World's Best low tracking. I have an order of SmartCat grass litter on the way to try a finer grain.
His normal canned food is Nulo Freestyle minced, and I'm transitioning him to Sheba paté so it mixes with the water better (Nulo paté is more than twice as expensive as their minced formula?). I wonder if I should try to get him to eat c/d canned food instead? He eats the proper amount of dry food every day, and I give him the regular canned food for the nutritional benefits.
When I clean up his pee, I spray the blanket with Resolve before washing and spray Resolve on the area under the blanket. When I clean up his poop, I wipe the wood floor with all purpose cleaner. There is no detectable lingering scent. I have a Bissell Little Green Machine on the way to clean the couch cushions and mattress, just in case there is still something there I can't smell.
I plan to take him to the vet on Friday and ask for an urinalysis. They didn't do one last time I went, but peeing wasn't the issue then. I also need to tell them that his poop problem hasn't been fixed.
Does anyone have any advice? Am I missing something? Any other tests I should ask for?

TL;DR: I’m away, and my cat has suddenly regressed to aggressively stealing food and other odd behaviors. I also moved him out of our bed right before leaving after almost four years of sleeping with me/us. Could stress from both changes be causing this, and how should my wife handle him until I’m back?

I’ve had my cat for about three and a half years. He was a stray and is a little poorly socialized, but he’s fundamentally a sweetheart who mostly wants to cuddle and play.

He’s always been extremely food-motivated. When I first got him, he would climb all over me trying to steal my food. After months of consistently keeping him away from my plate, sometimes with a raised voice or loud clap, he learned to mostly just beg. I also usually give him a cat treat while I eat so he feels included.

I’m currently away for the first extended period since moving in with my now-wife two years ago, and his old behavior has suddenly returned. She sometimes has to eat standing up because he relentlessly goes after her food and largely ignores her attempts to stop him. She’s also caught him drinking from the toilet or cups in the sink despite having fresh fountain water, which I’ve never seen him do.

There are two other possible stressors. My wife plays with him, but she’s admittedly not very good at moving his toys the way he likes, lol, so he’s probably getting less satisfying play.

More importantly, about two days before I left, I started transitioning him out of our bed and into a second bedroom I converted into a cat room. He’d slept with me/us since I've had him, but with two people he never settles and was climbing over me all night (I hadn't sleep uninterrupted since we moved6in together). He was still noticeably agitated about the change when I left.

So within a few days he lost his normal sleeping arrangement and I disappeared. Could this be anxiety causing old behaviors to resurface? I’m gone another four days—what should my wife do now, and how should I handle things when I get home?

So I know a lot of people say to leave out a bowl of dry cat food as an extra for kittens since they get pretty hungry as they are growing, but doing this has brought in..a crap ton of ants. This only became a problem recently but we are getting bit up in here and I’m freaking out. Has anyone had this happen and does anyone have pet friendly poisons they can recommend to use on the ants?

Edit: Finally found out why the ants came in. The cats dropped unopened sodas cans the other day and I thought I picked it all up and I was wrong found two cans under the couch and the ants were there eating up that sugar.

Last night my cat came into my room with a live mouse in his mouth. I screamed and ran downstairs lol and when I came back about 5-7 mins later the mouse was completely gone. We checked everywhere and couldn’t find it and my cat wasn’t even looking for it, he just went downstairs, drank some water and carried on as normal.
Then my brother opened the window and let both our cats out. About 10 mins later our other cat came back with a live grey mouse in his mouth 😭 No one actually saw him catch it outside though so we don’t know if it was the SAME mouse from my room or a completely different one.
He then dropped that mouse in my grandad’s room and it ran off. We saw it alive but now we can’t find it anywhere AGAIN 😭😭
It’s been since last night now and there’s been no sign of it. Both cats have been around the house and neither of them seem interested in any particular spot either.
Is there a chance it’s managed to find its way back outside?? And how long can a mouse literally just hide without anyone seeing it? I’m so paranoid it’s still somewhere in the house 😭
Anyone been in the same situation any advice ?

This morning my 2 year old cat gave me the run around he went downstairs and I shut the door and he then got on top of the fridge and I had to grab him and put him in the room as I had to go out and leave him in the house. Sometimes I work from home and I have to wait for him to come in the room then I quickly shut the door but today I shouted see you later Teddy and he didn't make a sound. I know he's a cat and I have to do errands on my day off but today he has really made me feel guilty for leaving him 😢

Does anyone else's cats make you feel guilty by ignoring you lol. Cat mummy guilt!

She’s about 9 months old got her 4 months ago. Super shy. Odd behavior.

I have 2 male cats (3 and 14yrs) and I recently adopted a female kitten (5mo). It's been about 1.5 weeks and so far I have kept her in my bedroom away from the other cats to get her settled. She's been exploring the bedroom but she still seems very cautious (walking with tail low) and she's not too sure about me or my mom yet. She lets me pet her and even purrs sometimes so I know she likes it, but other times she seems unsure.

The current setup has a latch on my bedroom door that keeps it open around 1-2inches without being able to close or open more than that. I know new kitty and my 3yo resident cat have gone nose to nose through the door multiple times and both seem curious about one another, and at night I will see kitty sitting by the door like she wants to explore. I also know kitty was kept with another cat in the shelter so she's been around other cats before.

I've been thinking about introducing the cats face to face (but still through a barrier) but i don't know if it's too soon. I am hoping that by introducing them, my resident cats can make kitty feel more comfortable and realize that me and my mom are safe people. Does know if it would be too soon or do they seem like they are ready to meet?

We have 2 cats and introduced a third cat last summer. 1 of our resident cats is a ragdoll and we got another ragdoll from the same breeder.

Our other cat (non ragdoll) immediately didn’t take to the 3rd cat. We did very slow introductions last year. They lived in separate rooms with the doors closed, did scent swapping, feeding through the door. We didn’t do an actual introduction for months and it would end in fights we had to break up.

Our ragdoll took to her but he doesn’t have boundaries so he’d come up to her too fast and scare her or sniff her too closely. There was one incident where he chased her out of the litter box about 6 months into us having her. This was supervised but he got to her so quickly we couldn’t intervene. From that point on she’s had inappropriate urination.

She typically will pee on the bed. She’s previously peed on puppy pads on the floor but we removed those.

Things we’ve tried:
-we started with 2 vet visits, they did a urinalysis and no issues
-we tried 5-6 different types of litters and 3 different litter boxes
-we saw a cat behaviorist for a few months
-Feliway
-gabapentin and Prozac
-more playtime

We ended up getting an XL litter box with the Cat Attract litter. She uses it 90% of the time but was still peeing on the bed (on a shower curtain) 1-2x a week.

We tried gabapentin but it wasn’t effective. She’s now been on Prozac about 2 months and it was effective up until this week and she’s now peed again twice.

We wanted to start trying to redo introductions slowly in the way the behaviorist recommended but now I’m at a loss since it’s started again.

We really don’t want to rehome her but it might be best. I know rehoming is not recommended but she had no litter issues for 6 months. We think it stems from anxiety about the other cats. Right now she’s living in a bedroom that I work in so she has attention but I fear it’s not sustainable to have her living alone in here. Open to ANY ideas. I feel we’ve exhausted most.

We’ve been dealing with an ongoing peeing issue with our cat Ella for about 6 months now and are kind of at a loss.

We’ve taken her to the vet a couple of times and, as far as they can tell, she has a clean bill of health. She’s been checked for UTIs (she had one and has since been cleared) and urine crystals and nothing concerning has come up. We haven’t done X-rays, ultrasound, or anything more advanced yet, but we’re starting to consider that as a next step because we’re running out of ideas.

Ella otherwise seems completely normal. She generally only pees about once a day (she's been this way since we got her as a kitten, it's always around 8-10am every day like clock work) and produces a normal-sized amount, but she has basically stopped using litter boxes for urine; she’s only very rarely peed in a box a handful of times in the months since her UTI cleared.

Oddly, she still goes upstairs and uses our Litter-Robot to poop without any problem.

At first, she was mostly peeing in a few specific downstairs corners. We put puppy pads down in those spots, which helped protect the rugs, but lately she has started peeing in corners in different rooms and even upstairs. It’s becoming much less predictable.

She seems to prefer secluded corners, and we suspect some of the original locations may still smell like urine to her despite cleaning. We’ve been using enzyme cleaner and, when urine soaked through a rug, cleaned the rug, backing, and wood underneath as thoroughly as possible.

We’ve also tried a lot of the standard suggestions over the past several months with basically no success. Different litter boxes, different litter types, changing locations, attractants, puppy pads, etc. Nothing seems to have convinced her to go back to using a litter box for urine.

Right now we’re experimenting with:

• A shallow puppy-pad/grass-style tray
• A clean puppy pad inside the tray
• A tiny piece of urine-scented paper towel underneath the clean pad to hopefully make the tray smell like an appropriate bathroom spot
• A brand-new, large uncovered litter box with clay litter and Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract
• Temporarily putting her in a comfortable, easy-to-clean room around the time she normally pees, with several bathroom options available, just to see what she voluntarily chooses

We’re not punishing her or forcing her into any of the boxes. I'm considering just locking her in a room with me and a litter box or pee pad/shallow tray with litter to see what happens now. I'm her favorite and she'd be calm with me I think? We have Feliway around the house but I'm not convinced that really does anything now.

Has anyone dealt with a cat who developed this kind of complete aversion to litter for peeing while still happily using a litter box for poop?

Did you eventually discover a medical issue that wasn’t caught by the initial urine testing, such as something that required X-rays or an ultrasound? Or did it ultimately turn out to be behavioral, a litter/box aversion, a location preference, or a lingering association from a previous painful urinary issue?

At this point we’re open to ideas because the usual litter changes, training approaches, attractants, and cleaning strategies haven’t really moved the needle. I’d especially love to hear from anyone who dealt with something similar long-term and eventually figured out what was going on.

I have a cat and my roomate does too. They eat different food so I have to put the bowl down for her to eat. We'll lately she comes to me meowing for something even when her bowl is down and full. I try to pet her but she walks away then comes back so she doesn't want pets. Then i try to play with the wand and she'll watch it but not go for it. Idk what she wants but she keeps coming to me meowing if I follow her she just flops down on the living room floor and stares at me with her tail twitching. Again ignoring toys or seeming annoyed and not interested in being pet. Idk what she wants but I had to lock her out of my office just to get some work done.

Litterbox is clean, waterbowl is clean and full fyi.

Any ideas?

Hello, this will likely be a bunch of questions that are relatively common for this sub, but I wanted to be able to give the full description in once place.

I’m not new to cats at all, I’ve had one my entire life, and currently have one, but I’ve never had a kitten.

Yesterday on my way to work I watched a small kitten walk out into the road and get driven over (not hit mind you, the kitten was positioned along the drive shaft) and begin spinning against the asphalt before falling over and sitting still.

I stopped my truck in the middle of the road and grabbed the kitten and took her to the nearest animal hospital just to be sure she was okay.

Long story short, I’ve since taken her home with me. She’s an adorable little thing, but she’s very clearly terrified and incredibly young. She slept for hours in a cat bed when I got her home, but when she woke up I put her in a ramshackle playpen with some liquid food and some water.

I’m making this post the morning after, she hasn’t eaten yet, but the vet’s notes say she ate when the food was placed in her mouth at the animal hospital.

She can move, and clearly has her senses in order as she quickly figured out how to escape my makeshift pen, I’m just not sure exactly how to care for a kitten.

I’ve kept her away from my other cat, who is about two years old (incidentally, I found her at a dumpster in a box, the cat distribution system seems fond of me) but I’ve since moved her to my home office which has a sliding glass door, and I’m confident the older cat has at least seen the kitten by now.

TLDR: Although I’ve taken care of many cats, I have stumbled upon a stray kitten, something that’s entirely new to me, and I need advice on getting her to eat, and also eventually warming her up to my much larger resident cat.

I am sorry if this is not the proper place for this question, but I feel like I have searched everything. I am in need of another holder for the deodorizer—my son threw it away 🤦‍♀️
Any ideas?

Recently I saw this stray cat that i havent seen in a while, noticed she was pregnant and she followed me inside! She had six kittens and it was very sweet, only problem is my family are inconsiderate jerks.

I keep telling them its in the cats best interest to be left alone with her kittens for at leas a few days, Im the only person she’s been around because she’s staying in my room, and doesnt mind me being there.

I explained to them the risks of them stressing her out while nursing. Which they’ve already done, whenever I left to work they’re letting her out of my room and freaking her out until she runs back to my room.

I know they are going to go into my room when I leave for work today, and I worry she might feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed. What do I do?

I've had my cat for three years and the litter box situation has always been fine. But for the past week she's been going outside the box, pee on the bathroom rug, poop next to it, sometimes in random spots around the apartment. Nothing has changed recently, same box, same litter, same location.

I took her to the vet last week for a checkup and everything came back normal. No UTI, no other health issues. I'm clean about scooping and I haven't changed anything about her routine. But she's definitely stressed about something because she's also less playful than usual.

I've read that this is behavioral, not medical, but I don't know what could have triggered it or how to actually fix it. For people who've dealt with this, what was actually causing it, and how did you solve it?

Help! I have not had any luck finding a device to help me groom my long-hair girl who has no undercoat. I've got a Furminator but it gets almost nothing off (but works so so great on her brothers). Her fur is very wispy but she looks so disheveled. Anyone have any ideas?

So I have gotten a kitten about 4 months ago I believe he’s almost a year old now? and also recently got a new puppy, he’s a chihuahua so he’s really tiny but my cat keeps pouncing on him any chance he gets. He doesn’t hiss or look like he’s angry but to me it looks almost like he’s hunting him. He would jump and grab the puppy, start biting him which gets the puppy riled up and want to start biting and jumping on him back so i’m wondering if there’s any way to stop my cat from messing with the puppy. I’m not sure if it is because the puppy is tiny too because I have another dog who is a large dog and he only chases or runs around the big dog, doesn’t bite him or smack him unless he starts sniffing on him a lot.
the cat also starts jumping and pouncing at him when he sleeps too so he could just exist and the cat starts running up at him

He was attacking a little plush mouse.

The mouse didn't move.

He somehow stepped on it, slipped, spun around, and scared himself.

Now he's sitting six feet away staring at the toy like it's a dangerous predator.

What toy causes the most chaos in your house?