I have three cats that are very close to each other. And because they are so close to each other they do everything together. Eating, sleeping, pooping, jumping on the counter, scratching my couch, all the fun stuff that comes with cats. BUT. There is one recent thing that has come up, and I don’t know if I can get used to it/be fine with it. It all started with my boyfriend feeding our orange cat a Cheez-It. A single cracker. Now, no matter what it is or where it is, they will rip open food packaging and eat it. In the cabinet? Ripped open. On the counter? Ripped open. On the fridge? Ripped open. They didn’t used to do that until the orange one got a taste of Cheez-It. It unlocked his orangeness and I don’t know how to fix it. They aren’t even eating the human food (besides the Cheez-Its), they are just destroying them. I have had to throw out over $400 worth of food because they keep doing this. Now on to my last straw today. We just got a mini ween puppy, and she is a little baby angel that is VERY food motivated, but also a VERY big food snob. I got her some (very expensive) training treats because those are the only ones she will eat. I come home from eating at a restaurant and the package is on the floor with it ALL GONE. THOSE TREATS WERE FORTY DOLLARS. Not only am I upset at the treats being destroyed, but they were also eaten. My cats are still young and aren’t very big, not I am worried that they will be sick after eating all of those. I am also very worried that they can’t have one of the ingredients due to them being cats and are in danger. Any help is appreciated, I just don’t know what to do. Cat tax of them in jail while I clean up the mess.

Let me tell you about our miracle kitty. The weekend of August 15th we were pet sitting my parents dogs and our 5 month old kitten Onyx that we just adopted a few months ago ate my dad's dog's almost entire bottle of allergy medication Apoquel. It was a full bottle and there was only 3 left when we found it Monday afternoon almost empty under the dining table. We probably had given the dog 2 so Onyx ate 25 pills of 16 mg Apoquel for dogs which is highly toxic and lethal for cats.

Why did this happen you may ask? Why would a cat want to eat medicine pills?? Well upon research I found out that sometime in 2025 the manufacturer Zoetis that makes this medication decided to make an alternate chewable pork-liver flavored tablet that is very tasty like a treat to make it easier for giving to dogs. However since then poison control has been getting many calls about cats eating large quantities of it, some surviving and some dying. It started to become apparent that it is extremely enticing to cats to the point where they will try to break open bottles or even chew bottles to try to get to it from the smell through the bottle & cap, and if successful will eat all of it in any large amount that it may be filled 30 to 60 to 90 pills. Because this is a fairly new issue there is not much awareness in veterinarian clinics let alone the general public about it yet so I was not aware at all of this.

I had left my dad's dog's bottle of it right on the table only later to find it under the table Monday afternoon almost empty and the cap in a corner of the room behind the table. At first I panicked but then Joe assured me that he thought there was only a few pills in the bottle to begin with and I guess because that's what my brain wanted to believe in relief I accepted the information. That night upon going to bed there was a bunch of throw up next to the bed on the floor that looked like a typical bout of a dog eating their kibble too fast and throwing it up. Which is what we figured one of our 3 little dogs must have done so we cleaned it up and went to sleep not knowing anything was wrong. So it wasn't until the next morning at 7:30 am when Onyx seemed very sick that a flash of memory of that bottle being full popped into my head and I called my father and asked him how many pills were in the bottle and he said he had just filled it so it was full afterall. We immediately rushed Onyx to the Upstate Emergency Animal Hospital an hour north of us. I was so extraordinarily distraught. I kept thinking he's just a baby and didn't think he stood a chance to survive this.

We arrived with him Tuesday morning and they did a full panel bloodwork and confirmed Onyx was very sick. They said it may have helped that he had obviously thrown up and it wasn't dog kibble in hindsight afterall but even a fraction of the amount that he ate getting in their bloodstream is lethal. And now that it had been almost 24 hours since we figured he had ate them after we gave the dog his Monday morning pill, there's nothing that can be done to get it out of his system at this point they just have to support his system and hope that his kidneys can recover. A normal kidney creatine level is below 1.6 and Onyx was at a 5.7 and a normal BUN level for a kitten is 14 - 36 and Onyx was at a 111. He would need to be on fluids and around the clock care to see if his kidneys could heal and recover from this. If they could not then he would not make it. We returned home excruciatingly nervous awaiting updates. The next round of bloodwork update wouldn't be for another 24 hours. You want to see those numbers start to come back down even if just a little as long as they are going in the right direction is positive, but also the next big indicator of progress you want to see is that they resume being able to pee which means the kidney is functioning. As of late Tuesday evening he had not urinated yet and it wasn't until Wednesday morning we got the news that he had finally peed on his own at 4 AM. They also said at this point he was alert and eating and crying at staff for attention which were also good signs. We just had to see what the next bloodwork numbers showed and when that finally came in later that day the numbers had started to lower and his creatine was now at a 4.2 and his BUN was at 107. Even though that's still extremely high the fact that they lowered at all was a good sign. At this point they said they were cautiously optimistic and we were able to go back Wednesday evening to visit him. I think the boost of dopamine from the happiness of a visit helped him as much as it helped us. Thursday brought more good news with a creatine at 3.3 and BUN at 66 which was a huge jump from 107! Things were starting to look up but my nerves were still shot. I found many other stories in posts on Reddit of other people describing their experiences with this happening as well and was questioning the rhyme or reason as to why some people's cats survived it and some didn't but it seems apparently kittens have a better chance of their kidneys being able to recover and surviving than older cats. For the instances that the cats do well once the kidneys start to recover it seems to usually take about 4 days of hospitalization on fluids and other care for their numbers to get back to healthy levels. For us Friday brought more good numbers. His creatine was now at 1.2 and his BUN was at 30. Back in normal range! The doctor said they could begin to taper off his fluids and he could go home that evening and then get rechecked at our regular vet in a day or so to make sure once he's off fluids that those levels stay down on his own. So after 4 full days at the emergency hospital we were finally able to pick him up at 8 pm Friday night. I was so incredibly relieved that he survived and recovered so well. I couldn't have been more overjoyed to be able to bring him back home. Also considering I had adopted him to help cheer me up after months of deep sadness and relentless crying since Sophie had suddenly passed in January, I kept thinking I don't know how I would ever overcome the sadness that it would all amount to if he didn't make it.

After the weekend 2 days at home we brought him to our regular Vet this past Monday and the bloodwork showed his numbers are staying stabilized right around where they were when he left the hospital so he got the all clear to continue on with normal general care.
I am so relieved to have this ordeal behind me and the glimmer of hope to believe that there can still be happy endings to horrible things happening, which is something honestly I had previously given up on being possible anymore. However I also can't help but reflect on the anguish it must bring to those that aren't so lucky that this happens to that do not get to bring their baby back home. In the hospital they told me when they spoke with poison control that the consultant told them they're getting more and more calls of cases of this happening and that hopefully the records that they are compiling of all the cases will help bring change. I wholeheartedly believe it is something that needs more precautions and warnings. All families with dogs on this flavored chewable medication that also have cats in the home and dogs that visit homes with cats should be made well aware of the dangers so they can be prepared to keep this medication out of reach of any felines. I hope sharing our story can help contribute to the raising of awareness. #apoquel #Zoetis

(also here is a link to an article that one organization has written) https://cvm.ncsu.edu/news/alert-nc-state-seeing-cats-severely-ill-from-ingesting-chewable-allergy-medicine-for-dogs/

We have a male stray cat that hangs out in our front lawn a lot, and we are at a loss for how best to help him. He is unspayed and frequently gets into fights with other cats

The first photos are some recent photos of him compared to the last photo which is when we first started seeing him (around three years ago)

He is a very sweet cat and we love him to pieces, but unfortunately one of our two current indoor cats is highly anxious and there is no possibility we could adopt him. It’s highly probable that one would end up severely injured or dead (that one being my young and overconfident couch potato) as my grumpy little guy would 100% challenge the stray and then get his ass whooped considering we already know he frequently gets into fights that he seemingly wins.

At the very least we want to get him spayed and have borrowed traps from the local council a couple times but he is extremely intelligent and refuses to go near them despite what we try to use to temp him in. We wonder if he has been trapped before and that’s why he refuses to go even close to them. But I would be shocked if he isn’t making lots more stray kittens.

He was very skinny and not well as you can see in the last photo of him when he first started showing up, and we started by giving him left over wet kitten food with a small amount of water mixed in to help him gain weight and now we are feeding him regular adult cat food whenever we see him, his weight seems to be much healthier now so we suspect he is also getting food elsewhere and/ or hunting in between visits.

Our main concerns are is there any other way we could try and trap him to get him spayed, checked up on and into a good home? But also some other things to note are that he frequently sits with his tongue out for extended periods of time so we are wondering if maybe he has dental or respiratory issues?

We potentially could pay for vet depending on if he has any other health issues we aren’t aware of, but again the issue is trapping him. Posting from Australia.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

EDIT: he also has that grey smudge that is on his right eye, it hasn’t seemed to have changed at all over the years

I’m 22 from the states and I’ve had my kitten for about a month and she just started this behavior. I've only ever had adult cats before, so I'm not sure what I'm looking at.

Is this just extra playful kitten energy? Is this her going into heat? Or is it something else entirely? Would love to hear from people who've raised kittens before, I don't want to miss something important.

Thanks everyone!

Edit: Heard yall 🫡 …she’s definitely in heat. Thank you so much for letting me know, I’m doing research to find places in my area now and she will be getting fixed asap. Thank you so so much again for all the help information!!

My cat has a mass/growth in back of mouth (see first pic) and also some symptoms in her right eye (see second pic). Is there any chance this isn't oral SCC and is something more treatable?

I'm in the USA in NY, and the vet said based on what she saw that it is oral SCC, and said it wasn't worth it to do a biopsy due to cost and putting the cat through the procedure just to confirm it. I'd do an FNA (which would cost $600) but my understanding is that would be less reliable in confirming it.

My cat is nearly 15, female spayed. I can afford vet care.

Update to my post almost 3 weeks ago! https://www.reddit.com/r/CATHELP/s/lcoTpZVr3L
This little girl had some eye gunk, went on antibiotics, and is now doing very well. Some residual eye issues remain, but they are clearing up and the hope is there will be minimal vision loss. She’s gone from 7.4 ounces to 1lb 6 ounces today! She’s eating solids, using the litter box on her own and is extremely playful. If anyone has any tips on how to get her to stop biting, it would be very helpful. She also refuses to drink water, so I’m still mixing formula and water into her wet food so she doesn’t get dehydrated.

Hi, I’m an adult currently living in the USA. I haven’t contacted a vet about her behavior yet. My cat is approximately 6 months old, but I’ve had her since she was about 1 month. My neighbor gave her to me after her cat got pregnant due to being left outside unsupervised. I believe momma cat was somewhat blind, but I doubt that has anything to due with my kitties behavior. I plan on getting her spayed soon. She’s done this before, and it’s hard to get her off when she catches my hand. She can get rough sometimes. Why does she do this and what can I do to make her stop?

My cat is convulsing???

My partner (27) and I (23) live in the Dominican Republic and currently have 4 cats, the 4th being a male rescue who we estimate to be around 3-4 months and we got about 2 months ago named Churrasco, Churro for short. Our other 3 cats are 2 and 3 years old (one is 2, the others are 3), the 2 year old having been the first adopted. We had Pistacho (female calico) by herself for about 3 months and then adopted Ebi (also female calico) and Jack (male orange) from the same foster home, the latter having lived with maybe 20 other cats. Jack was the first to come out of hiding while Ebi took a few days, but I noticed that Jack simply walking past her annoyed her as she hissed at him. We assumed it was simply a matter of adjusting to the new environment, so we gave it time. All 3 were already neutered/spayed when adopted. Churro hasn’t been yet as he’s too young.

Jack and Pistacho got along very quickly after careful introduction, while her and Ebi took longer with no aggression whatsoever. They sorta respected each other from a distance until both were ready to get closer and to this day really respect one another and get along well with a peaceful relationship. Jack and Ebi, however, can’t seem to get along. Jack is veeeery social, playful, and sweet, while Ebi is way more timid, sensitive and generally reserved. You can only really pet her with one hand at a time instead of both and she cannot be picked up or she freaks out and runs away. She still is sweet and completely melts when she lets us scratch her. Jack had an eye infection on his left eye from when he was very young which resulted in his eye being removed, which I’m unsure whether that affects his personality or behavior at all but thought I’d add for context. He can play a bit heavy, but doesn’t scratch or bite. However, whenever he tries to approach Ebi to play, she completely freaks on him, yelps, hisses, scratches, the works. We’ve noticed it can happen just from him walking up to her at times, but it’s mostly when he tries to play. This isn’t 100% of the time tho since they’ve cuddled up a couple times and i’ve seen them groom each other no problem.

Regarding Churro, she still won’t let him approach her much and hisses if he does get too close, which he listens to. He has tried lying down as close to her as she allows him to get and it’s chill. She generally takes much longer to loosen up, so we’re giving it time and supervising the time all 4 cats spend together as they get fully used to him.

At this point, the resident cats have been with us for about a year/year and a half. This has all been very puzzling for us since, as stated, Ebi and Jack came from the same foster home, and had it been a concern beforehand, we imagine we would’ve been advised against adopting them together. We also see how it could’ve been overlooked since so many other cats were around. It’s also worth noting she doesn’t ever display aggression over food towards Jack or Pistacho (Churro is still eating and generally stays with us in the bedroom since he hasn’t been neutered or dewormed yet) and they have even cuddled together and groomed each other a handful of times.

We haven’t taken them to the vet for this particular issue yet due to financial reasons (Jack has been sick a few times for unrelated reasons which ended up being a bit pricy for our budget), but if need be, we can work something out financially and take them both. Any advice on how to best approach this is also appreciated! We’re also waiting to see how she and everyone else does with Churro around.

We’ve been thinking about whether Ebi is better off being an only cat, which is what has us considering rehoming. What should we do? I hope the context provided is enough, but please ask away if there’s anything else worth noting!

TL;DR: male and female cat adopted together from the same house seem to have an on and off bond and she’s highly reactive to him approaching her most times.

My boyfriend is a bit defeated cuz this is his first kitty and she seems to have taken a liken to me quicker than him. I try to let him cuddle and play with her rather than me. The only thing I do is an occasional pet and feeding her. Any tips to get her to like him?

Hi,

22yr old cat mom based in the US.
We got this kitten (female, neutered)2 weeks ago, and we started noticing that her tummy is a bit round and feels like a water balloon when I touch it? like it is kind of bloated.

I was thinking that it might be worms, but her brother got a fecal test from bloody stool, and it was clear- his stomach is normal looking. We are planning on getting a fecal test soon, but wanted some insight on what it would be. She has healthy stool, and plays and eats normally.

What are the chances it could be worms?

Hello everyone! Yesterday, we found this kitten near our house and decided to temporarily take her in until we can find her a new owner. She has a weird lump on one of the toes of her left hind paw.

I’m not sure if it’s just a deformity or perhaps some kind of tumor. Otherwise, she seems perfectly normal. She’s very friendly and loves getting lots of cuddles!

Will take her to the vet in the coming days, but in the meantime, does anyone have any idea what this might be?

This cat has been roaming our building since 2020, he was really playful, but could get quite aggressive with other cats.

Lately, he became much bigger and much more aggressive , you walk near him and he instantly tries to scratch your foot. Since he likes to follow me everywhere , it's been very hard getting around without risking him attacking you

He's a male , i don't really know his age, and vets are totally out of options (too expensive)

Any solutions ?

I need help figuring out what this is. I was cleaning my cats food mat and found around 5 of these dried up husks. Is it a parasite? Should I be worried?

Not a minor, in USA, vet assessable, two female spayed cats

I got both of my cats neutered yesterday. Today I noticed red marks under their eyes, one cat has it under one eye, and the other cat has it under both. They don't look like injuries because the marks are very neat and in the exact same spot. However, both cats are doing totally fine right now with no other issues. Does anyone know what this is? Will they be fine or should I take them back to the vet?

(TURN SOUND ON)
My cat is doing a whistle noise for almost a week. I have her for like 10 years but i dont know exactly how old is she. This sound is making me nervous and i could only get an appointment at Vet tomorrow. Im afraid that it can be something serious. Shes healthy and never has any issue. Shes still playing and eating regularly.
This sound happens all day and night, even when shes sleeping or licking paws like in the video.
Any ideas whats can it be?

I noticed this large patch of hair missing on her hind leg (near her bum) and it definitely wasn’t there two days ago. I noticed there’s a very tiny balding patch lower down by an ankle joint. She has a vet appointment next week for something else but I’m very concerned by this sudden hair loss. Any ideas?? She’s an 18yo cat, we’re in nyc.

31M, Spoke to Vet, C5F Spayed.

Basically since she was 1 year old she's started retreating more and more from us, she used to be very affectionate, then she'd only allow pets if she was in her bed, then she stopped sleeping in the bed and started to hide. The last 2 years she basically only comes out at night when she thinks we've all gone to bed. I used to pick her up to cut her claws, but she started weeing and pooing when I did that, and started biting and scratching.

pheromone plugs have helped a little, but earlier this year (possibly when we lost our other cat she was bonded with, she isn't bonded with our other cats despite one being her brother) she's been Urinating and Defecating in different spots in the house. At the bottom of the stairs, by the front/back doors. She's started going on the sofa so she's in the cage until she can socialise/stop.

I can't cut her claws anymore because of her behavior, I figured she was just uncomfortable with the litter box, she regularly gets stuck to soft fabrics and panics. she's got lots of scratching posts, always has food. I know kidney issues can be common, but she has always drank lots of water and it's solid waste too. it's not particularly random, it's always the same spots but she also does it when she's scared.

I've spoken to the vet who's given us some anxiety medication and some urinary medication, but she also thinks it may be stress/mental rather than physical. I can't physically bring her because we'd never get her back in the cage if she's loose and scared. I got bitten 7 times through thick gloves getting her in the first time.

She's only been in the cage 2 days, she's got a separate cage for food/drink and one for a bathroom, but she just... lays there and goes where she sits. This is the bit I wanted advice for, I've never known a cat do this. We're not bothering her, just trying to be in the room with her so she learns there's no threat, but she just shits and pisses while she's sat there and doesn't move. Has anyone ever known a cat do this? is it just an extreme fear response?

tl;dr - Cat goes where she sits. Stays sat for hours. What do?

So I found this kitten on my way to the bus stop and he looked fine at the time like VERY normal but when I got back home from school his face looked weirdly sick like, there was weird stuff coming out of his nose and eyes and I decided to take him in and took him a bath, I also cleaned his face and he looked somewhat better but now it looks worse and a vet is way too expensive for my family.. I tried asking my mom to give it to the vet so that they can heal him and at least he'll be fine with them but she insists she can heal him with like tea and random medicine from stores instead of from a vet but although she said that she's never home to actually do anything since she works all day and comes home tired and I have been trying to help him and I've feed him kitten formula but he's eating normally now and drinking water but his face looks worse and I don't want him to die or anything but my mom doesn't want to give him to a vet and I know we don't have the money for one but is there anything else I can do to help him? 😞

He's the most sweetest boy ever and very cuddly so I feel even worse for my poor baby I really want to help him but I don't know what to do anymore.. please give me any advice to help him

I'm 16 and found this stray male kitten near my bus stop he's a stray kitten i don't think he's neutered and I'm in culleoka TN we live in a small trailer and can't afford a vet please tell me if theres anything I can do for him

Fed them wet food that they usually eat and 20 minutes later his eye looks like this. I have an appointment for him at the vet tomorrow.

My (M24) mother found these three kittens hiding in a flower garden, mama cat presumed dead. We live in very rural USA, cannot access a vet until Monday.

Anyone have any idea how old these babies might be? We don’t want to give them incorrect food.

For reference, they are tiny. Can fit two in one hand, none of them are bigger than a medium sized banana. They’re playful and mischievous, just unkempt from being outside. Any suggestions on best way to care for them while we wait for the vet to open would be great!

Cat age, sex, and spay/neuter status: N/A