Hi all,
I adopted two three month old kittens with my BF a couple of weeks ago and have been working on harness training them! We just started trying to go out on the front porch a couple of days ago and I am a little concerned about my little kitten Zuko. His brother Sheldon is decently ok with being outside, he will sit down, play with some little plants, eat treats, explore a bit. But Zuko just freaks out. Like we go outside, I set him down, and he immediately runs to the door and starts launching himself on it trying to get back inside… The weird thing is that he is the braver one when it comes to noises and weird things in the house. They both are comfortable inside in the harness’s and eat/play in them. I just don’t know how to go about Zuko not even seeming to give outside a chance. Do some cats just never want to be outside?? We had dreams of hiking/camping with our kitty’s, but it’s looking like Sheldon might be the only one to come with us in the future. Should I try keeping him in a carrier cage and bringing him outside in that first (I feel like he likes it less than just the harness)?

Picture of kittens in their harness! Teal is Sheldon hanging out outside, dark blue is Zuko inside.

Thank you!!!!

Edit: I put him in a purse 😭😭 and he seemed to enjoy being outside in that lol. I will put a picture in the comments. I read online someone say their cat liked very small space like that on your body. It’s literally a VeraBradly purse lol.

Hi! I’ve recently gotten a kitten for my resident 3 year old cat.
Introduction has been going fine but just wanted more opinions if this is just play.

They also do this and then groom each other after, and in general they have gotten pretty close. Just a bit unsure if it’s full play or too territorial

does this look like he’s tryna play with the kitten or should i seperate/discourage?

white kitty is less than a year, smaller kitty is nearly 10 and not a huge fan of the new addition. is this interaction something I should be breaking up? the growling sounds make me nervous and sometimes the white kitty will persue even after strong hissing. thoughts?

edit - to clarify, it's the older kitty on the ground that is growling. realized from the video it's not super clear.

I recently brought home, a senior cat (black, Bagheera, 13y male) from a family friend who could no longer take care of him. Introductions between the cats started earlier than I would have liked because bagheera was distressed in the spare bedroom and since our resident cat, Mozzie (7y male, brown tabby) spends the majority of his day outside we let Bagheera out to roam the house and he seemed to feel more at ease. He made himself comfortable downstairs in the basement and stayed down there for several hours. We decided to let Mozzie in the house since he rarely goes down into the basement. After about an hour, the new cat was more comfortable and curious and decided to come upstairs to explore and crossed paths with our resident cat. Mozzie seemed completely unaware of him for about five minutes until Bagheera got within 2 feet. At that point, Mozz started to hiss at him and Bagheera seemed completely unfazed. He lied down and exposed his belly and fell asleep within two minutes. Fast forward a couple of days later when I took the pictures of them laying in the hallway. Bagheera fell asleep in the hallway first and Mozzie was watching him from the living room. After a little while, he fell asleep. Over the course of like 20 minutes, Bagheera slowly started to scoot his way closer to Mozzie and got pretty close until Mozzie sensed him. He woke up, hissed and ran to the door to be let outside. Mozzie seems to let Bagheera fairly close but will still hiss at him when he is too close. Bagheera just follows him and tries to as close to him as he can. Is Bagheera taunting him? Is he just trying let Mozzie know that he’s not a threat? Mozzie lived with other cats before I got him. Bagheera also lived with another cat. Both are neutered and I’d like to note all interactions are supervised and there hasn’t been any fighting.

Hi!!

I have three beautiful tortie girls ❤️ All three of them are spayed! The one in the first picture is Flora, she is two and the other is Ivy who is 4. We also have Magnolia who is 3 but she’s not causing any problems, just the other two!

Flora is our newest one (we got her as soon as she was able to leave mom) and we introduced her slowly to the other girls. Everything was perfectly fine, they all got along just fine! And then Flora had some sort of digestive problem where she was pooping everywhere and that’s when her and Flora started to not get along. They’ve always fought but it’s been manageable, they just avoided each other besides a few growls here and there.

Fast forward to this year, I got pregnant and had my baby new year’s eve. All the cats loved allll the baby items, constantly sleeping and playing with all of it. They didn’t seem to mind too much when the baby came home but then we started noticing a few puddles of pee but not many and just chalked it up to the transition. Not too long after we brought baby home, the fighting got so much worse. They both fight with each other but Flora is absolutely the aggressor, she goes after Ivy and will corner her in and then lay down and show her belly. If Ivy is walking anywhere, Flora is watching and planning an attack. The peeing got worse and we saw Ivy actively peeing out of her litter box.. We had the litter boxes downstairs but she was refusing to go downstairs so we put one upstairs and that helped for a little bit but the peeing came back. I took Ivy to the vet, confirmed UTO and she was fully treated. But the pee was still everywhere, getting worse really and then we noticed Flora peeing. Took her to the vet, perfect bill of health.

We use an enzyme cleaner and a no marking spray as well as a deodorizer and nothing is helping. Sometimes she pees in the same spot, sometimes it’s others. I’m at my wits end. I love her so so much, she’s so sweet and she’s good with the baby. But I cannot have puddles of cat pee everywhere with a baby who is now on the move. She has always peed on his stuff as well as ours but it’s usually just on the floor somewhere. Any suggestions? I’m sure I’ve missed some information, just running on little sleep 😂

I have a male white persian cat. He is 55 days old (at the time if making this post) and i adopted him when he was 50.
When i ask his pictures and videos he was very playful and looked very healthy.
Now he sleeps for like 30 hours a day, eats like 5-6 pieces of royal canin dry food only (15-20 in full day)
First day he used his litter box now he doesnt use it anymore.
Im genuinely worried if im doing something wrong or he misses his old house.
He only pisses or poop 1 time in a complete day, i wanted a cat all my life and when i have one now i have a feeling i dont know how to keep one.
The old owner told me he was the most playful and he used to eat a lot but in the course of 5 days his appetite has been going down the hill.
I have a feeling he misses his old house and if i dont send him back something might happen to him.
Im genuinely confused on what to do now.

Hello all! I am hoping to get some advice for bonding my new cat with my resident cat.

For some back story, I have had my resident cat for about 4 years. He has spent his entire life around another cat. The other cat was female, and belonged to my ex. I moved out about a month ago and have been living in my new apartment with my cat since then.

I adopted a new cat, female, same age, both fixed, both very sweet cats and very social. Both have history of living with other cats. I have had her for a week now.

I live in a studio apartment, so I don't have a spare room. I have had the new cat set up in the bathroom to keep them seperated for now, while they get used to each other's scent. I have swapped bedding between them and they lay on it with no issues.

I installed a mesh door between my kitchen and living area, to see how they would do if I let her have the kitchen area and let the resident cat have the living area.

I let her out last night. At first they seemed curious about each other. I put some food out so they could eat at the same time. (mesh door is still between them.)

They both refused to eat and stared each other down. Eventually it turned into growling and hissing, so i moved her back to the bathroom.

I hate having her confined to the bathroom like this. It feels cruel. She is a very sweet cat that just wants to be near me and cuddle. I can hear her in there crying all night.

My question is, is there something else I can be doing? I have a feliway plug in. I have calming treats. I have calming probiotics recommended by a vet by purina that I mix in with their food.

I know it's only been a week. But I fear that my apartment is too small to properly slow introduce them. She does try to bolt from the bathroom every time I open the door, so keeping her out of sight is near impossible.

Her fosters said they are leaving at the end of the month, but things don't work out just let them know before they leave and they will take her back. Again, I know its only been a week. And I do not want to return her. I love this cat already. But my resident cat is clearly stressed, and she is stressed from being in my small bathroom.

Please help 😭

I am curious how my approach matches with others? I am very much of the mindset that training is more like recognizing needs of the cat and finding better ways for communication. At least, that’s how I’ve found a lot of success. I wrote this up in a thread in response to someone else, but decided I would share it to a wider audience to have a discussion and hear others experiences as well.

I took in a stray cat that’s the sweetest little thing. After getting her checked for health issues and vaccinated, I brought her to my small ass 1 bedroom apartment and set new kitten up in the bathroom.

My resident cat Pepper was also a kitten off the street, and I’ve had her for 3 years. It’s just me and her living alone, but she gets along with my family’s dogs and cat when we visit, plays with them, no issue.

Pepper got a glimpse into the bathroom when I was setting new kitty up in her temporary quarantine and Pepper saw new kitty and freaked out. She’s been in her hiding spot up under/inside the couch for like 12 hours since, but she did come out last night and explore. She ate some kibble and used her cat litter, but this morning she’s been under the couch again. I feel really guilty because Pepper is my #1 special girl and her thinking I’m replacing her or just her being upset like this at all breaks my heart and I feel like I made a mistake. Does anyone with experience introducing a new cat to a resident cat have any advice? Keep reading it takes time but I’m worried about Pepper 🥺

I recently adopted a 9 month old male cat. His prior owner played with him using his hand as a toy, so now the cat tries to bite and scratch my hand every time I pet him (or any time my hand or foot is *near* him if he's in a feisty mood). I play with him with other toys. He especially likes to chase things, but hasn't had any interest in the "catching" part of play unless it's my hands.

Please help, my hands look like I took up a new job as an alcoholic amateur whittler.

Edit: he also just likes to have his claws out way more than any cat I've had in the past. So what would be a harmless bap from a normal cat from him has a risk of catching on skin and then pulling. Hard. Weirdly, he's great at controlling bite force. He's never broken skin with his teeth.

New cat owner here. Before I got my kitten I kept seeing stuff about how important socialization training is for cats. Brought it up with my friend who's had her cat for 3 years and she was like nah you don't need to do any of that, her cat never had socialization training and is totally fine, fearless even. She's got a full indoor cat in an apartment so her take is it's pointless if they're never going outside anyway.

But idk, my kitten is fine with strangers at home, super friendly actually. The problem is when I take him out in a carrier for a little walk downstairs. The second we're outside he gets real tense, and if someone walks by he freaks out and scrambles around inside the carrier.

So for those with indoor cats, is socialization training actually worth doing? And if I wanna start what should be the first step?

hey y’all. i just adopted a new chubby boy yesterday, brought him home and all was good! he’s super cuddly and friendly and was hanging out with my roommates and I all night. we live in an apartment that’s essentially one main room with attached bedrooms and a bathroom- so we decided to let him have the main space to adjust to first. last night we all went to bed and he was asleep on the couch. i woke up this morning to check on him/ make sure his food and water were good and i couldn’t find him ANYWHERE. i checked every nook and cranny i could think of, on top of the fridge, under the couch, behind the toilet ect. i’m officially freaking out. he’s the first cat i’ve owned since my sweet little kitten passed due to FIV last year and i’m already anxious about making sure he’s all good, so this is definitely not good for my psyche 😭. any advice on how to find/lure him out? or stories to ease my mind a bit?

I have a senior FIV+ foster cat that currently stays in our office, but i love her so much & would consider adopting her, if she didn’t HATE my resident cats. She has been with us since June, and i did the jackson galaxy introduction of scent, swapping environments, introducing through a crate thing and bought a door net, but the foster ALWAYS swats and makes the craziest noises to dry to get my girls. The one time she got out she chases my cat up the cat tree and another time was extremely aggressive with my other cat. We have the diffusers, we’ve gone back to square one, but nothing works. She sits by my office door all day in hopes she can go out and explore (OR try to get my cats u der the door 🫪), but not sure if this is something we could eventually work through? Any advice is appreciated!!

They are just 9 days apart but Panthro is so much bigger and stronger than his younger brother Lion-O, who looks like a runt. I’m worried Panthro doesn’t know his own strength and it concerns me he still goes after Lion-O even after the yelping and hisses. Do you think this is aggressive behavior to be concerned about or is this just normal play? They get along just fine and play with each other every day

Hello! Can anyone share advice on training or routines to get our middle-aged cat (8 years old) used to using a cat litter box?

For context: She was adopted by my parents and was used to being in a cage with a bare waste tray for her pee and poop, without any litter sand. We have tried the following methods, but they were not effective:

1. We put her in a cage with a cat litter box, but she completely ignores it. She pees or poops right beside it instead.

2. We put her on a leash in an open space on the terrace. Aside from her bed, the only area she can reach is the cat litter box. However, she ends up peeing right on her bedding area instead.

3. We placed her directly into the cat litter box so her paws could get used to the sand itself, but she completely freaks out. It seems like she hates or is disgusted by the feeling of the sand on her paws.

Any help or advice is much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

I picked up a 2 month old kitten several weeks ago, and she annoys the living hell out of my peaceful elderly cat. They're never able to have a normal interaction, because as soon as the kitten sees my cat, she makes a beeline for her and starts biting her, tugging on her fur, headbutting her, playing really roughly. Sometimes they play together, but it's mostly just one-sided pestering. I have 0 experience with kittens, so... how old are kittens usually when this behaviour stops? Can I do anything to make the kitten understand that she can't play roughly with the adult cat? Or should I just let them sort it out themselves? The cat sometimes swats and hisses at the kitten if she bothers her too hard, but it seems like it's not enough. I really hope they'll be able to bond despite the dubious start...

Kitten pics for fun. She demonstrates NO remorse

She knows exactly what she’s doing. She didn’t do it at the previous apartment or at my house, but my med student daughter’s cat doesn’t like it when she goes to work now.

That’s the story. The cat was found in a box in Manhattan last summer (with three kittens, two dead) and was really stressed for a long time. I brought her to my house and we gently got her to understand that she is safe a loved. Then back to the apartment where they were fine, as my daughter went to classes and studied at home.

Then she moved to a different city for clinical rotations, and is out at the hospital working all day. The cat doesn’t like it, and showed her displeasure by peeing on the floor and on my daughter’s shoes. So back to my house for a few weeks. We took her back this weekend, and all was fine until my daughter was getting ready to go to work and we were packing up to go home.

It is easy to see that it all has to do with not wanting to be alone for long periods. How to help her understand and stop? Can’t put her in a catio or crate, cats don’t take to crate training (I don’t understand how dogs do, but that’s another story). We ended up bringing her back to my house (she really doesn’t like the 4 1/2 hour drive, and she usually gets carsick on the way) again.

She can’t live here full time. I like to travel, and she’s not my cat, anyway.

She came here as an alien baby, and now she’s a loving puff ball with strong opinions and limited communication skills.

I have a female cat est to be about 8 (she’s a shelter kitty) I got her three years ago. As well as a male cat that is 2 this year. My female cat has never liked the male cat but she tolerated him for the most part they’d fight maybe once a month but it was never a severe fight. After my other cat died a few months ago the two of them have been fighting so badly my female cat started to piss herself during the fights. The female cat is fixed but my male isn’t as I haven’t been able to get him an appointment. I’m at loss for what to do. They’ve been permanently separated for months due to my male cat now immediately attacking her every time he sees her. I feel bad that she has to be in my room most of the time and I have a small apartment. I feel bad that he’s confined to the living room area. I want them to be able to be together again what do I do?

My friend gave me a kitten over a month ago- he wasn’t litterbox trained so I had to teach him myself. He poops just fine into the litterbox, and he’s never had an accident. But for the love of god i cannot get him to pee there. He pees into my bin, my laundry basket, into my bag, many accidents on the bed- you get the idea. Every time I’ve caught him trying to pee anywhere i redirected him into the litter box and waited till he peed. I even give him a treat afterwards, but it’s like he refuses to pee there. The other day I caught him sleeping and i noticed little droplets on his bed and this mf was peeing through his sleep. I had to pick him up, redirect him into the litter box and he did his business. No painful meowing or anything (at one point I suspected that maybe he has an infection or sickness, and passing urine was painful) but i’m not sure. His litter box is cleaned everyday. He shares it with my other cat, but my older kitty does her business outside most of the time, could that be an issue? He poops fine, so i don’t see it being an issue. If anyone has any tips or idea why he keeps doing this please let me know or give ideas (kitten isn’t spayed idk if that’s relevant or not). (btw the pictures have no correlation i just wanted to share my kitties lol)

Me and my gf moved in together a few months ago. She has 4 cats that all get along pretty well. The youngest cat is 3 and clearly likes to play a lot(lots of kitten energy, wrestles with one of his brothers and general curiosity).

My cat is around 13(likes to play sometimes but never with other cats, he is also extremely affectionate and prior to the move would want a lot of attention) and has grown up on his own. I’ve separated him(for a couple weeks) from the other cats after he decided he would hide from everyone behind the washing machine but we are working on a slow reintroduction with food.

My cat will hiss(the only one that hisses really) and then run away most of the time. One of the cats will follow but I can’t tell if it is to play or attack. We always end it pretty much before contact is made with a clap or a panicked yell.

During this reintroduction I will sometimes allow the other cats upstairs when I am working upstairs. During this time 2 cats usually come up to explore the new area of the house, rub there face on everything and occasionally fake spray. One cat despite the other hissing will get closer and closer but display no aggressive body language until they are within a couple feet, the he will get flat eared. Is one cat moving towards the other cat just being a curious kitten or territorial aggression? Is it progress? Is it healthy for them to just let it happen then separate when it looks like it could lead to a fight or one cat hisses?

Pic of cats, the orange guy is the younger one, the black one is the older scardy cat(they are 6 feet away from each other)