Hi everyone,

I was at a pet shop recently, and the owner told me something that got me thinking. They said, "Humans eat whole foods to stay healthy, so why wouldn't cats be healthier eating just pure meat?" They also said that feeding cats commercial canned food as their staple diet is just like humans eating Spam (luncheon meat) every single day because it’s full of additives, whereas cooked meat is a proper whole food.

As a vegetarian myself, this logic actually made a lot of sense to me at first because I really value whole, unprocessed foods.

But I want to double-check is this biologically accurate for cats? If I only feed my cat plain cooked whole beef or chicken, maybe sometimes with a little veggies?
won't they miss out on essential nutrients like taurine or calcium that they would normally get from eating a whole prey (bones, organs, etc.)? are the "additives" actually necessary vitamins?

Would love to hear some insights, especially from anyone knowledgeable about feline nutrition!

Edited > thank you so much!! Might not be able to reply to you all, but I have been stressing about this since I took over from my family. Cuz I heard that they are British short hair, so they might not be as healthy as other breed 😴 and they are fat….. I feel better now 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Hi,

So I’m 22F, partner is 21NB. Yes we are that stereotypical lesbian couple.

I just graduated, and am doing some courses and will start my masters next year. I also have some side hussles.
Partner is about to graduate and will more or less immediately become a detective because of their course.
Point is, we’ll have enough for a terrace house (mortgage) in six months.

I had two childhood cats. (I had goldfish too but I know it’s a lot easier, even though I loved my goldfish so much).
Partner has three childhood cats (and like every other pet under the sun except from dogs).

So it’s going to be the “first” time the cat is just ours. Instead of the families. We both obviously know all the caring - medication, injections, litter boxes, animal insurance, food, water etc etc.

I know we are capable, mainly just even putting this out there because I have OCD lol.
But on a serious note. We want to adopt. We wouldn’t mind either one cat or a pair. RSCPA we are considering. But also there are cat cafes? Has anyone ever adopted from there, I know they’re also non profit charities?

Any advice would be grateful as I want to make sure the cat/cats are well planned for.
Also we’re 50/50 on outdoor vs indoor.
5/6 of our cats have been outdoor, as we live in quiet places with wildlife species that have been around cats for 2000 years (so not a USA problem of killing endangered animals). The cat that didn’t was only because she was an expensive British shorthair.

I never wanted to be the person who rehomes their pets after having a baby. I love my cats, and I never expected having a baby to affect them this much. But after over a year of dealing with this, I don’t know how much longer I can do it.

After our son was born, my boy cat started peeing at the front and back doors, and my girl cat started peeing on the furniture and pooping everywhere and anywhere.

I’ve done ALL the things:

•Vet health checks

•Blocking access to problem areas
•Enzyme cleaners

•A second vet health check

•Feliway
• A third litter box
• Different types of litter
• Cat CBD
• More enrichment
• More vertical space
• Prozac

• A different vet for a second opinion

• Diet changes
• Keeping feral cats away
• More and less alone time
• And probably a dozen other things I can’t remember at this point

I’ve spent so much money on vet visits, tests, medication, cleaning supplies, cat supplies, and food. I’m out of money to keep trying new things.

They were, and still are, amazing, loving, wonderful cats. But I can’t live like this anymore. They don’t get to be lap cats the way they used to because we rarely sit on the couch anymore. We have to keep plastic covering it to protect it from accidents, and constantly moving the plastic around is exhausting. They’re limited to the living room, but we can’t trust them around beds. We can’t confine them to a smaller room because they start destroying the walls and doors.

I thought we had my boy cat’s issues under control. He went FOUR MONTHS without an accident. Then this morning, while I was packing my lunch, he started peeing at the door. I have no idea what set him off. The litter boxes were clean, I clean them every evening, and he had already been fed.

My girl cat hasn’t had a pee accident in a month. She likes peeing on soft things, so we’ve removed access to pretty much everything soft. Her last accident was on a hand towel someone left on the floor. The pooping has improved since we added another litter box, but she still poops outside the box about once every other week.

Most of the accidents happen at night, although sometimes they do it right in front of us in the morning or evening. Weirdly, they never seem to have accidents during the day while we’re at work.

I am mentally exhausted. I love them, but honestly, I don’t even like them anymore, and I feel horrible admitting that. I’m constantly on edge. I panic when I see my boy cat near the doors, and every morning I check all the places my girl cat has pooped before I can even relax.

Our vets are essentially out of advice. We can repeat all the testing and put pee pads in the common areas, but at this point, I’ve basically been told that I may just have to learn to live with it.

I feel like I’m at my breaking point. After an accident, I can spend the entire day sobbing. I go through the same cycle over and over: frustration, guilt for being frustrated, grief over how things used to be, and then the anxiety of waiting for the next accident. I’ve actually started therapy because of how much this has affected me.

I miss how things were before our son was born. I miss having my cats around without constantly monitoring them or worrying about what they’re going to ruin next. But I’m starting to accept that we may never get back to that.

I don’t want to rehome them. Even thinking about it brings up so much grief, guilt, and shame. But at the same time, the idea of not living like this anymore brings an overwhelming sense of relief. Then I feel horrible for feeling relieved, and the cycle starts all over again.

I don’t think we’re equipped to deal with this anymore, and I hate that I even have to consider that possibility. They’re not bad cats. They’re loving animals with issues that we haven’t been able to resolve, no matter how hard we’ve tried.

At what point is it okay to admit that you can’t do this anymore? When does rehoming become a reasonable option rather than giving up?

I’m not looking for someone to tell me to try another litter or buy another product. I genuinely feel like I’ve exhausted the options available to me. I think I just need to hear from people who have been in a similar position, especially those who ultimately decided to rehome their pets. How did you know it was time, and how did you deal with the guilt afterward?

I do stop her but she does it every time I’m on the system. She seems to like it. 😅

She can be spicy with a bit of derp on occasion. Her affection is measured. She'sleaning on my leg in these picturesbecause I wouldn't share my breakfast biscuits with her. 😏 Normally, she's the biscuit- maker. She loves to play chase (zoomies) in my house and the backyard. Wouldn't trade this little diva for anything or anyone. 💜🤗😻🌻

These are my two rambunctious orange girlies Foxy and Blitz. Blitz (the larger one) is the main initiator of these fights and I’m worried that she is bullying Foxy. Sometimes Foxy will growl lowly at her but never any hissing. Are they actually fighting?

Help! Are they fighting or what? That’s how they spend most of their time. The small one is Chile, and the big one is Karas. Karas is a guest here (he’s my cat, he’s 1 year and 5 months old, neutered), and Chile lives here (he’s my brother’s cat, he’s 3 months old, not neutered). I just can’t figure it out — is this friendly behavior? Chile is constantly pulling Karas’s fur out and biting him all the time, or chasing him. But also, if Chile starts meowing, Karas runs to him.. If you lock them in different rooms, they scream and eventually open the door on their own. What should I do? Should I separate them?

I know this is gonna sound cruel but I just moved recently, me, myself and 3 cats.

The oldest cat tends to keep to herself but the two younger cats can be a bit chaotic.

There's wood panelling leaning against walls because my my is currently trying to fix up the house (nothing too heavy, it's more like skirting and stuff like that) but my sister keeps her very expensive instrument in the hallway due to its size.

She was living here alone initially so it wasnt a problem. But we got 2 young playful, curious cats now and one of them knocked over a piece of skirting and it hit my sister's instrument.

I keep getting these ads from Temu about these car cages with litter boxes and I was thinking of getting a couple for night time. So they don't cause my sister trouble. She was here first and I don't want to be stepping onto her toes. I also wanna use it as a feeding area so they can eat in the same room without getting into each other's food.

Any advice?

He's currently 9 years old I want him to live a long and happy life

I just adopted a kitten a month ago and he’s about 4 months now. He’s already been to the vet (almost 2 weeks ago) and he seemed fine to the vet besides his fecal sample testing positive for giardia (he finished that medication already and we’re waiting to bring in the next fecal sample).

Recently I noticed a dry patch under his chin and at first I didn’t think much of it but as I started researching what it might be, I’m thinking it could be ring worm. He has a vet appointment tomorrow afternoon to check it.

I wanted to make a post here to see if anyone has had experience with ring worm and if it’s looked like this on their cats? He’s not itchy but I know that’s not always a symptom. I’m seeing other things might be acne or allergies, but he currently uses only ceramic and stainless steel bowls.

I’ll get the info I need from the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime lmk your thoughts! Thank you!

** also I washed my hands with hot water and soap after taking these if anyone was concerned. Trying to be very cautious about keeping things clean before we find out what this is

Over the last month or two I’ve notched my cat has a scab running up his belly in a straight line. I don’t necessary ever see him biting at it. But has to be biting with how straight it is. It’s a perfect straight line on the center of his belly. He hasn’t had any surgeries or anything like that in the past. He’s about 4 years old. As far as I know doesn’t have fleas or anything. His brother shows no signs of any flea or tick infestation. Anyone ever deal with this with their kitty? Anything I could order for them to avoid a 500$ vet bill?

Let me start by saying the we absolutely love and adore our kitty, hovewer, her peeing and pooping outside the litterboxes (yes, there are two) is a constant stress and my boyfriend starts to resent her for it. I could never rehome her and I also really dont want her to be an outside cat, but I am getting out of options. I am very devistated and I would really appreciate some advice .

Our 1,5 years old, spayed girly, has been having litter problems since we have her (12 weeks old). It is not a constant problem, she is better or worse periodically, but currently she is the worse she has ever been. Her favorite places: Bathtub, in front of her litterbox on the carpet, a little hidden spot in the corner in the bedroom. She also had some accidents in the bed (not too often), but it stopped since she started to sleep next to us. Last week however, we had guests, I put down freshly washed bedding on the couch and while I picked them up from the airport she pissed on their blanket.

Little backround on her toilette usage: When she was little, she mostly used the litterbox, had some accidents in front of the litter or in the bathtub, but it was fine. Then we made the mistake of trying to make her use the human toilet. I KNOW WE SHOULDNT HAVE AND IT WAS SUPID, but my boyfriends mom had a cat who used it and he instisted that we try to teach her. I agreed, and started the training. It did NOT go well, so after a couple weeks we stopped it completely. By this time, she discovered that she loves pooping on the roof (made a post about it). We didnt like it, tried to fight it, but after all, it didnt hurt anyone, so we just let it happen, and cleaned it up from time to time.

Then, about a month ago, we got a new kitten. It took them 2-3 days to get to know each other (used galaxy technique was fantastic) and now they are lovely. They play, lick each other, and hang out all the time. I dont think she is stressed because of him at all, if anything, her quality of life improved a ton. Since we got the kitten, her toilette behaour have gotten a lot worse. Now we cannot let her on the roof, the little one is too small, it is not safe for him to follow her (3rd story). The other thing that changed since, is that we used to bring her for walks and hikes, but since the baby cannot come yet, and we dont want to leave him alone, we also dont take our girl.

The past couple of days were hell. She really REFUSES to use her toilet, she even tried to use in the sink but we catched her mid-pooping and quickly put her in her litterbox.

We tired so many things:

• One box, two box, open box, closed box
• Scooping after every use
• We put water in the bathtub (this helped a bit, and then she pooped in front of it)
• We run the water directly when we caucht her in the act (1 time)
• We have now an self cleaning litterbox with deodoriser, only the kitten is using it
• Tried to put snacks in the automatic litter box (on the edge, not the sand)
• We tried giving high reward snack after using the box
• vet didnt find any issues, she is a healthy kitty

This is also causing issues in my relationship. My boyfiend today sprayed water on her after catching her pee in the corener, and yelled at her. I told him that cats dont understand negative consequences he should not do this, and now he is telling me that he is the only one trying to deal with this, he starts to resent her and I dont support him. She looked scared and confused, I simply cannot support this :( My boyfriend loves her to bits but he is contantly stressed and is becomming paranoid that she is also pissing in our bed, he sniffs around every night, and I think it is driving him crazy. What do I do?

Little Christmas stories in progress. My fairy cats getting ready for winter.

Linework done, watercolor next.

Happy to hear what you think about the compositions.

Hi there fellow cat owners! My poor boy recently contracted UTI and the vet advised to retrieve a urine sample from litter box for accurate analysis. We’ve done the retrieval from bladder at the vet but it may not be the most accurate as there may be traces of blood from the needle during the retrieval.

Any tips on getting a cat to pee in the litter box with no litter and only a pee pad? Just wishing the best for my poor boy.

He loves cuddling nonstop sometimes

she is brushed regularly, is a healthy weight, hydrated, and doesn't seem to have any symptoms of asthma. does anyone know why this could be happening and if it's a problem I should have checked out?

Please can we use the NSFW option for these?

Thanks,

Yours sincerely, people who don't want to see pictures of cat shit

looks like its stuck around the teeth.

do i need to take her to the vet?

2yrs old indoor cat for context

*UPDATE*

Thanks everyone for their help, it pulled out just now :)