I mean I like animals so I treat them well but I'm also a quiet thinking person so I value being by myself when I can. Why? Why do both of them want to always sit on me? If I learn forward so they can't get on my lap they literally climb on my shoulders. I don't do anything special and I just don't get it.

My father cut off all of my cat’s whiskers because he was drunk and I’m so devastated.

This is my cat. We adopted her from one of my moms client’s this March. Her name is Jingle Bell and when we got her, she is overweight and already has walking problems.

I dont know what to do in my situation. Does anyone know what I should do now? Below is a picture of her currently and the length of her whiskers before.

https://imgur.com/a/bqTaN89

Bit of a sad question, my cat i adopted at 16 weeks old shes now 1 year and 9 months old, shes pretty bonded to me she spends alot of time in my room somedays she just follows me around, she always comes and cuddles with me when i go to bed, so id guess shes pretty well bonded with me. Im wondering how long it will take her to get used to a new family, im losing my income and im afraid i wont be able to take care of her anymore which breaks my heart but its probably whats best for her.

Edit: I should clarify that she wouldnt go to a shelter, i have friends and family that have offered help and said they can take care of her, i mainly wanted to know how hard it will be for her to adapt to a new home and if theres anything i could do to help this transition for her get smoother.

I also didnt want to go into details about my situation because this is a cat reddit, i appreciate all of the replies, getting food from shelters would help for abit but in the long run im not to sure whats going to happen with my life and rather be 100% sure shes safe with a new family.

Also not from the US but i do think local shelters would be willing to help out.

And also when i decided to get this cat everything was alot different then it is now, i regret getting her and i wish she'd gone to another family instead.

My 6-year-old girl has become really fussy about her litter over the last 6 months, and I'm running out of ideas.

She'll use a fresh box once, maybe twice at most, and after that she poos directly outside it, right next to the box. I've always scooped after every single use, so it's not like the box is ever dirty, but once it's been used she seems to stop accepting it.

This is new for her. I used to go about 3 weeks between deep cleans. Now I'm deep cleaning every day or two just to keep her using it.

What I've tried so far:

• Multiple litter boxes (at 3 now)
• Different litters: World's Best Cat Litter (unscented) and wood pellets
• Cleaning the boxes with plain soap only, and separately with enzyme cleaner
• A vet visit, which ruled out any physical or medical issues

The only environmental change I can think of is that I'm home a lot more now since I lost my job. Could that be affecting her? I genuinely have no clue what else it could be.

I'm getting stressed about it. I'm going through a huge amount of litter, and after the layoff it's becoming a real financial strain.

Has anyone dealt with this? What else could I try to get her back to using the box normally? Any ideas are appreciated, especially cheaper ones.

So it has just been 11 weeks since we adopted our cat Genie. She is 8 and a half and was at Cats Protection for 7 months. Not much known about her back story other than she was surrendered by her family, and there’s a feeling it is because she couldn’t cope with the young kids (couple said they had Genie since she was a kitten, they also said they have a 3 and 4 year old and that Genie can absolutely not be with kids so kinda adding things up here).

In some ways she is doing so well. She sleeps and cleans herself in front of us, she greets us, she guards the bathroom when we are in there and follows us around etc etc etc. She is eating well, very playful…just, she seems to be settling in nicely.

However we have had 3 vet visits since we had here. Stress grooming, stress UTI and then yesterday it was because she had an allergic reaction to the flea treatment. But when the vet had a further look at her (which he could only do because she was high as a kite on gabapentin) and her belly is still showing signs of over grooming.

She is also very reactive and will attack feet, and though she asks for pets she gets overwhelmed very quickly and attacks. So clearly, she is stressed. And today she attacked my hand so bad that I have to have antibiotics again, 2nd time since getting her due to deep bites.

What we are already doing:

- we have a behaviour plan
- we play a lot and use puzzle feeders
- she has loads of different sleeping spots at different heights, different areas and different cover levels
- calming supplement
- Feliway upstairs and downstairs

And still, here I am again on meds. Just..despairing, feeling some regret and then feeling severe guilt for feeling some regrets, feeling like we are doing stuff wrong (even though the vet says we are doing everything we can do), feeling annoyed at her and then feeling guilty about feeling annoyed and just, ARGH.

Also, my hand hurts 😭

Hello I got a kitten a couple weeks ago, white, blueish orange eyes, proper cutie, after a while I've noticed she doesn't respond when you call her, I was using a power drill next to her and she tried to come right up to it, she doesn't move when I hoover, she doesn't meow she screams and I mean she screams it's so adorable, when she's sleeping you can be so loud and she won't budge. I have a feeling she may be deaf, she's 12 weeks old. Either way I'm obsessed with her, and I love her so much already! When she sees you she will scream and wobble over to you and lick your face. I just want to know if caring for a deaf kitten is hard, if there's anything I should do etc, when I feed her I have to show her the food so she knows I'm feeding her as she doesn't hear it. And I can't stroke her if she doesn't see me first as she gets startled. Is having a deaf kitten the same as having a normal cat or will she be more hard etc, I've only had 3 cats before and this is the first time I've had a deaf pet, also I have a dog and she's not scared of her at all maybe because she can't hear

On Sunday, I had to say goodbye to my old baby cat Minou (Caramel, a Bombay), he was almost 18 years old. What upsets me the most is that we took him to the vet multiple times over the past few months, yet his lymphoma was only discovered when it was already too late.

Back in August, we brought him in because he had a fever. We kept being told it was his age, his kidneys, or just fatigue, even though his kidney condition remained stable until the very end. Almost every visit, we were dealing with a different veterinary assistant, and we were mostly just prescribed the same medication we already had.

There was really only one veterinarian who seemed to know what he was doing, and on October 23, he finally discovered my cat had a lymphoma and not just chronic inflammation as we'd previously been told. Unfortunately by then the tumor was already too large and my cat was too weak to undergo a biopsy and do chemotherapy.

I can't stop thinking about how things might've been different if we'd pushed for more tests, especially an ultrasound back in August or September, instead of the vet finally deciding to do one in October when it was already too late. He was still doing so well just a few months ago, and everything happened so fast. I'm honestly convinced he could've made it to 20 with the amount of love he received in his life, if we'd caught and stabilized the tumor earlier.

On October 21, after two days on IV fluids, he came back home looking so much better. He was eating like crazy, had two entire pouches of food and still wanted more. I actually thought he was recovering but by Thursday evening he started getting weaker again, and on Friday we had to take him back to the vet. And then on Sunday, I held him in my arms while the vet put him to sleep. He fell asleep almost immediately before receiving the final injection.

I wanted to be there with him until the very end, but fuck, it's so hard. I feel empty, and I still think about his little face after he passed away.

One of the vets there, who was really kind to us, told us she'd never seen a cat so loved before. That meant a lot to me, but it also made me sad thinking about all the animals out there who never get to experience the amount of love my mom and I gave to Minou.

I'm 26 and I've had him since I was 8. He was there for pretty much my entire childhood, teenage years, and adult life so far. Apart from my mom, my cat was my family and pretty much my entire world. So losing him feels like losing a huge part of my life.

I'm grateful I got to spend all this time with him, and I know he had a wonderful life. But it still hurts. I really hope I'll eventually be able to cope with losing him, because right now I'm not sure how to do it.

Hi everyone. My cat went missing on 10/22 and she is a completely black cat. With Halloween getting closer I am extremely worried about her. I’ll explain everything we’ve done to look for her, please let me know how we can change our search strategy or if there’s anything else we can do.

On 10/22 around 5-7pm, my partner’s roommate discovered the door was open after waking up from a nap. He swears he closed and locked it. We’re not sure how it came open. Regardless, at that point, my partner’s cat, Gabby, was gone.

Immediately my partner left work and began looking for her. He set out her bed, carrier and food with clothes and things that smell like her. I was trapped out of town for the weekend, so I began posting to Facebook groups and contacting local resources near us (we’re located in Phoenix)

The next day, he set out some of her soiled litter as well, and began looking several times throughout the day, prioritizing sunrise and sunset and looking in good cat hiding spots. He also set up a tomahawk trap with food in it and some clothes.

We set up a camera pointed at the trap, and we’ve noticed other strays in the area coming to eat there, but no sign of our Gabby. We even brought Gabby’s brother cat with us while looking because we hoped he would meow or the smell would help, but he just hunkered down in his carrier and was quiet.

Me and my partner have both been out looking with flashlights at sunrise and sunset. We’ve kept our search incredibly close to home, no more than 1/2 a mile. We live in an apartment complex. We’ve put up fliers and asked neighbors to keep an eye out.

We suspect she’s scared of the other strays which is keeping her away from the trap.

What else can we do? Any advice helps. Please, please share. We are so worried about her.

I am planning my honeymoon at the moment for around 10 days. My husband and I have never both been away from our cat for longer than maybe 5 days since we got her. She is SO anxious, so we won’t board her because she absolutely hates any form of change, and previously when we’ve been away we have hired a cat sitter (the same everytime) to visit with her twice a day whilst we are away & we have a pet cam.

I’m just feeling so guilty about leaving my best friend for 10 days. I worry about it damaging the trust we’ve built. She is my whole world but also I know my honeymoon is a one in a lifetime trip so I don’t want to cut it short because of my anxiety.

Hello, it's me again, I posted a week ago about suddenly losing my cat Alfie. We talked to a vet and she said that from the symptoms it seemed he had a stroke.

How do you deal with grief? One moment I feel fine but then something happens that reminds me of him and I feel sad. Sometimes the floor creaks and I think he is walking around or I go into a room and I expect him to be there. One day was really sunny, I walked into the kitchen and was hoping to see him sleeping on the table. He really loved sleeping on the table when it was sunny. I can't wash a blanket because he used to sleep on it and it still has his fur on it.

So I have three cats. My youngest, Cricket, (a little under two years we think) is super active and a bit crazy. She needs a lot of attention and enrichment, otherwise she destroys things or fights with the other two cats.
My middle cat, Goose, (about 5.5 years old) is super playful when she wants to be. She is like a dog that is ball crazy. When she’s playing with a toy or hair tie, she sort of loses her shit 😅 but the two don’t really play together.

My problem: I keep buying interactive toys to keep them occupied while I’m working or just randomly throughout the day, mainly to help with cricket being bored, and Goose ends up breaking them in less than 24 hours. She just plays too hard and destroys whatever it is. I have gone through many electric chase type toys, automatic rolling balls, and the laser pointers that turn on intermittently. All are broken.
I am looking for recommendations on toys / enrichment for the cats that Goose is less likely to be able to destroy.

Thank you!

I’ve had my cat for 7 years and he would never come into my room or sleep in my room but for the last week he has been in here every single day and he stays the whole day and night just on my bed with me. He leaves at around 5am and then he comes back in at 8am and he doesn’t leave until 5am the next day. He just sleeps the whole time. I want him in here ofc but I’m so anxious and I’ve convinced myself there must be something wrong with myself or him. We have other people in the house so it can’t be because he’s lonely. Should I be worried?

Hi everyone,

I've always been a dog person, never really had a cat, so I'm essentially a cat illiterate. My girlfriend moved in with me and she never had cats either (she's been in more contact with them).

Couple of weeks ago, an adult female cat came into our backyard, then left. Then came back, and left at night, then started staying through the night. We read that when they do not go back at night is because they don't have anywhere to go. So we said, lets just adopt her (rather she adopted us).

The issue though, we know virtually nothing about cats. We fed her, we noticed that she meows when hungry, when is thirsty (won't drink from tray, almost exclusively from running tap water), or when she wants cuddles, I bought her some toys, but touches them very rarely (a mouse made of yarn and a catnip ball, something like that).

The main issue we are having is that she keeps wanting to stay in our bed when we go to sleep, and stays mostly up during the night, sleep through the day, and wake us up meowing at 5 am.

Any advice??

Edit: Some additional details, the cat appears to have had an owner. She was well fed, and had a collar, but no tag. We asked around and no one claimed her really. Where we live we don't really have tags, or ways to know a cat already had a home, other than a tag. Furthermore, my GF tells me she has 'spayed cat behaviour', as in, she is not really super active (doesn't really play all that much) and has some trouble jumping onto higher surfaces (like a counter top). I will take her to a vet as soon as I can to confirm.

Edit2: So, the cat has a family, a block away. Last night they saw her on the window ceiling and came knocking to our door. And she isn't a she, its a he. So yeah... They mentioned he does that, dissapears for weeks and comes back. I guess he needs a vacation from them. They told us that everything we were doing were his favourite things, and that he is super spoiled. So know we co-adopt I guess. He did have a chip in the collar tag, but it was lost apparently.

Hello! My 6 month old male cat absolutely refuses to wear a cone after his neuter surgery yesterday. He’s not really going after the area, but I’ve tried the plastic cone and a Velcro one and he will not tolerate either. He thrashes, rips it over his head and throws himself at the wall immediately after I put one on him. I’ve tried everything.

He’s been not wearing one. Is that okay? I’m doing everything I can to keep him dry and calm…but he’s a very very active cat. I got permission to double his dose of gabapentin and I’m working from home to monitor him. When he starts getting too excited and jumping, I put him in his carrier. Is there anything else I can do to keep him to be calm and leave the area alone? Is it as bad as it sounds to let him be without his cone? Let me know!

So last week I adopted a bonded pair (though, it looks like they’re “loosely” bonded in so much that they just kind of tolerate each other). They’re cute and adorable and all that good stuff, but when I was driving them home, the weight of the responsibility hit me. I did all my research, talked to all my cat owning friends, and was definitely logistically ready - I’m just feeling a little bit anxious/nervous about the pretty big life change.

Don’t get me wrong, I will not be giving up these cute 2 yo cats, I just wanted to see if anyone else dealt with this form of post-adoption anxiety/depression and when it’ll get better.

My brother’s girlfriend moved in with us 6 months ago and brought her cat (2yo M) Our home already had 3 pets, 2 dogs and 1 cat (11 yo M). When they first moved in we kept the cats completely separated but would swap objects from their rooms to try and get them used to each other’s smell. we eventually let them see each other through a barrier and then let them meet face to face. My cat (11 yo) started picking fights with the other cat. We’ve tried reintroducing them slowly again and nothing is working. My cat is constantly on the lookout for the other cat and has been the instigator each time. We’ve added more litter boxes, multiple water dispensers, multiple food bowls. Right now we keep them separated with a baby gate, one cat upstairs while the other is downstairs and we swap them back and forth. Is there something else we can try? This is the first time my cat has ever met another cat so we tried to move slowly but are at the point where we just aren’t sure what else to do. Both cats seem on edge constantly and we want to make them feel comfortable in the home. They don’t even need to be friends, just stop with the fighting.

Hi everyone! I suspect that my cat has acid reflux and until I can take him to a vet, does anyone have advice on what kind of food to give him and what to avoid?

For example, he gets Purina kibble (freely in the bowl all day) and one small Purina wet food tin a day (morning and afternoon). He also gets 1-2 salty olives now and then as treats and he begs for my food, so sometimes I give him a tiny bit to try.

Should I stop giving him salty and fatty food altogether? Anything else I could change to help him?

I recently got a kitten and from what I can tell her and her sister dog are getting along great! If the dog is drinking out of her water bowl kitty goes right up and joins her. Follows her everywhere around the house and is constantly trying to cuddle with her if she’s lying down. My question though has to do with playing. The kitten will stalk the dog and then after the dog looks start running to get the dog to chase her. They seem to love this game. My biggest concern though is that the dog is 45 pounds and kitty is obviously significantly smaller. She has her spots she can hide but is there anything I should do or are they okay to continue playing like this? The dog try’s to be soft but because she’s so large I’m nervous that in the chase she might stomp on her accidentally.

My cat is 1.5 years old, and his PICA tendencies are seeming to get increasingly worse. I am a grad student and my partner and I just broke up, so I am living alone in an apartment with my cat and his sister. He used to eat string and yarn if it was left out, and I learned to diligently put it away. In the past few weeks, however, he has been eating rubber of all types (spatulas etc), he ate steel wool, and even a bite of a protein bar. I try to hide anything I think he might eat, but at this point I feel like he will just find new things he likes to eat. Last week I spent $500 at the ER vet getting X-rays, and I am constantly so anxious about a blockage.

I'm just looking for advice about how to live with this. I play with him as much as I can, and I've tried taking him outside for more enrichment but after many tries, he is very uninterested in that. He is a black cat and I got him and his sister as tiny babies. He's never stopped making biscuits on me in the middle of the night, and I think he was bottle-fed. He is very vocal and clingy. He loves cat TV and I taught him how to high-five me. I love him more than anything and am really struggling with worrying so much about him, especially in the midst of a big breakup. My vet has not been very helpful, just telling me to put things away, so I am open to hearing anything that might help. Also, is pet insurance a good idea? Seems like this wouldn't be covered since it is a preexisting condition.

Thank you.

After considering everything she will not be rehomed i finally made progress trying new medications and calming plug ins around my house. She actually slept near me for the first time and didn’t attack anyone when i went upstairs.

We definitely have a long way to go trust on both ends she still isn’t allowed to free roam the whole house. I haven’t been attacked or lunged at once today and was even able to get her to play a little bit. She hissed once when I accidentally dropped something but that is way better than anything I’ve experienced with her ever since having her.

I have a 17 pound short hair cat (give or take, shes been dieting) and she has been slacking when it comes to cleaning herself. She is 10 years old and just trying to live her best "old lady" life. We have noticed over the last year or so that she just isn't cleaning herself as much. There has been an odor that sometimes is unbearable. I have been trying my best to clean her, but she does not tolerate it very well. Usually, I provide her with a lickable treat and then take a facecloth with warm water and cat shampoo and wipe her. Sometimes she gets through the whole treat before turning around and scratching me, but usually she makes it through only half the treat before realizing what I'm doing.

Does anyone have any tips/tricks on how to give her a sanitary cleaning without me getting mauled? or does anyone know how much it costs nowadays to have it done at the vet? She had it done at the vet about a year ago during an appointment. I just want to try whatever I can at home first before going through that stress.

Maybe I just need reassurance because I feel guilty about how lonely he seems.

I've had him since he was 1, I do not have other pets. I used to take him on walks, but had to move to a condo which made walks significantly harder (a lot more people, dogs, cars, noise), so he's indoors almost all the time now. He sleeps a lot and isn't usually interested in playing except for bursts of energy every 3 days or so at night.

I've been debating getting another cat to keep him company because my work is bringing us back in office and due to my long commute, I'll be away for 11hrs at a time.

He's very social, so I feel bad that I have to be away from home for so long. When I took him on walks though he would try to fight every cat he sees, hissing and lunging at them (he is NEVER this aggressive to humans or dogs). So, I'm thinking it would be a bad idea to get another cat but I'm also wondering if he'd be okay after an acclimation period and he would end up happier in the end.

Or maybe I'm just trying to find a way to not feel guilty anymore, because after I come home I don't leave the house to socialize or run errands (I usually try to save these for weekends).

My life revolves around his happiness and I've tried all the at-home enrichment things (DIY treat puzzles, teaching him tricks, etc) but he just isn't super interested in them anymore.

Any advice? Thank you

I have two 15yo cats, and one is in her final days. I’m obviously devastated, and worried about how my other cat will take it. Anyone gave tips on supporting a survivor cat?

he does this so much and its specifically for his wet food. especially in the afternoon. i give him his sheba wet kitten food at 8am and 8pm and i have a automatic feeder that goes off throughout the day. he will scream at me for his wet food when he has kibble in his bowl. he will eat his kibble. theres times where he goes straight to his feeder once it dispenses. and i cant just feed him only wet food especially with how pricey it can get. but for some reason he will sit or lay on top of me while im laying down and will scream directly at my face and paw at my face and even lay in my face for a good 30 minutes to an hour for his wet food. or i believe his wet food because i when i get up to follow him he goes straight to his bowl (that usually has his kibble in it that he eats). idk if hes exactly meowing for the wet food or if its something else. i don't give in to his screaming and dont give him extra wet food portions. i play with him and he has a bunch of toys that he plays with by himself. i give him so much attention when im home. any advice is appreciated. this can be really annoying especially when im taking afternoon naps.

My cat got out in the evening on September 2nd and has not been seen since. It's been absolutely devastating. He is about a year and a half old and has never (and I mean never) been outside. I thought I got lucky with a cat that didn't even have a desire to go outside - every time I opened the door, he would run the other way. He never once tried to get outside. I went to let my dog out to pee that night and he must've run out under her because I didn't even see him go out. I thought nothing of it until he wasn't around the next morning. We looked tirelessly - I even got up every 45 minutes throughout the night for about a week to go and look for him since everything I read online said they often come back at night. It'll be 2 months tomorrow and we've had no sightings. I've read so many stories about cats coming back weeks, months and even years later (I even had a childhood cat run away for 6 months and we got him back when someone took him to get scanned for a microchip). We've got him posted all over the internet, have put signs up everywhere, are checking the local shelters and are still actively looking for him on our walks with our dog. We even tried talking to an animal communicator. Is there anything else I can be doing? I still feel like he's around and would do anything in the world to get him back.