Use this thread to discuss anything related to cats that doesn't otherwise fit the subreddit! Also feel free to ask questions that you believe are too short for a standalone post.

We adopted a kitten in September, and within two weeks, our entire household was dealing with ringworm. Myself, our two toddlers ), dogs, and our kitten.

Our kitten had almost no visible symptoms, but under a Wood’s lamp, she was glowing green practically everywhere. Our vet said it was one of the most extensive cases she’d ever seen.

Our kitten is now quarantined and receiving oral and topical antifungals. We’re treating our dogs, and my oldest son has multiple spots on his scalp with hair loss.

The cleaning has been absolutely exhausting. Constant vacuuming, disinfecting, laundry, and worrying about spores on every surface. We’ve spent so much money and honestly just want our normal lives back.

For anyone who’s been through a widespread household outbreak:

How long did it take to completely get rid of it?
How much cleaning is actually necessary?
Did you disinfect couches, carpets, and furniture daily?
When did you finally stop worrying about reinfection?

I’m mentally exhausted and would love to hear what actually worked for others, especially families with young kids and multiple pets. I am truly most terrified of reinfection after we spend months getting it to go away. I’ve seen stories of people mentioning they did all the cleaning doe it to come back a few times!! It’s my nightmare.

All cats are trainable at any age. I started training my last 2 cats when they were about 8 and 9 years old. They lived to be 16 and 18 respectively. They learned sit, give paw, go around, ring the bell, stand and come on command. One was a tortie point, the other a tuxedo, both females. My current cat is 4 years old, a male, seal point Bengal mix. I've had him since he was 17 weeks and started training him immediately. I got him when my other 2 cats were 15 and 17 years old. Within a week he was already doing sit and give paw like the other 2.

Teaching your cat tricks is a fantastic way to introduce them to human socializing. They start recognizing your language faster and pay attention to you more. But you need to pay attention to them too. Cats use body language to communicate as well as talking, so you need to observe.

I regularly take my current cat, Q'Bit, out on a harness. He prefers to stay around the home building when he goes out so we don't usually go far. I regularly talk to him about what we are doing. He has a significant understanding of vocabulary.

I recently got talking buttons for him. I should have gotten them alot sooner. He started independently using them in context within 4 days. It's important to remember that just like us, a cat can use language for different contexts and express past present or future. So knowing your cat's behaviors and personality and being open minded is important to learn to interpret how they use the buttons.

Cats appear to ignore you at times. They aren't. They are much more aware than many people realize. They just stop bothering to try when their owners don't pay attention.

I believe cats want to communicate with their owners if they have a good relationship. So once they figure out what the buttons are for, I suspect it will start to be clear sailing from there.

Hey! Almost a month ago, i adopted a now 3 month old kitten as a first time cat owner. The first 2 weeks were emotionally challenging for me and i experienced what people call "kitten blues". Having a cat changed my routine and i was adjusting to that. Also, i was so worried about being a good parent, making him happy, being present, stopping him from getting into trouble etc., which really wore me out. Thankfully my kitten was patient with me, but i cried almost every day because i felt so overwhelmed and even questioned my decision.

Fast forward to now: i love my baby so much. I can't wait to get home every day to be with him! He's settled down to his routine and i adore him. Most of my worries faded away. Of course i still worry if he might get into mischief when i'm not home, or if he hurts himself somehow or gets sick, but those worries have taken a backseat and i feel like i can now enjoy the present with him. He's super sweet and cuddly; i adore nothing more than taking a nap and seeing him snuggle up next to me to sleep too (he's sleeping in my thigh now as i type this). In the beginning i thought i had to keep him entertained all the time and felt anxious about the possibility of boring him, so i bought SO MANY toys and played with him for hours a day. You know what's been his go-to toy for the past week? Yep. A CRUMPLED PIECE OF PAPER. NOT ALL THE FANCY TOYS I BOUGHT FOR HIM. 🤡 I'll be eating my food and throwing the paper around the house for him to catch and he puts The Flash to shame. And what's more, you know what really gets him entertained in the morning when i'm half-awake and dreading getting out of bed? A wrestling session with my stuffed animal. He LOVES it and I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO GET OUT OF BED FOR THIS! So basically, i realized that cats find their own entertainment too in the most unexpected ways. You don't need to be extraordinary to make your cat happy. Sure, they will annoy you sometimes, bite you, steal your food and whatnot, but 1. they can be trained, and 2. it's normal to feel angry, annoyed, sad etc. with your pet sometimes. It doesn't mean you don't love him, it means you don't like the thing that he did. That's okay!

So in the end, i wanted to post this in case anyone out there is also having the kitten blues. Everyone says this, but believe it: IT PASSES. Give yourself time. It's ok to not feel like you "LOVE" your pet at first. In fact, i think you might be feeling so down and anxious about your pet PRECISELY because you care so much and want it to work out. You will enjoy being with your new buddy as you get to know each other. Don't be so harsh on yourself, it's a lot of responsibility and you're feeling the weight of it, but give it time. Also, hold space for doubt. Maybe it'll work out, maybe it won't. Give yourself a trial period before making any decisions, for example. What if it doesn't work out in the end? You simply take the steps necessary to make sure your friend can find a new home that can better fit his needs. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH REHOMING (RESPONSIBLY)! Don't let strangers on the internet or people in real life shame you for that. Sometimes life happens, but it isn't so black and white as people make it out to be. My advice would be to give yourself the opportunity to fall in love with your new pet, which takes time, but if it doesn't work out no matter how much you want it to, don't beat yourself up over it. Whatever happens in the end, you can handle it. Stray cats who hated humans get re-socialized ALL the time - your cat will adapt even if he's not with you. But who knows, you might find out that cat you were crying every day over will turn out to be the loveliest and most precious part of your life!

I hope this reaches whoever needs to hear this now. Breathe! Thank you for the advice on my previous post on this subreddit, by the way - you all were right, it does pass, and now i have the lived experience to say it!

Hi everyone,

I’m a 27m who lives alone in a small apartment. I’ve never had a pet, but for the past few years I’ve become really interested in cats. I approach stray cats, my social media feed is full of cats, I read a lot about cats here on Reddit, and honestly, I’ve had this nagging desire to get a cat.

I adopted my cat two months ago (he’s a 5- to 6-month-old tuxedo). The truth is, he’s a good cat—he doesn’t destroy things, he eats well, he uses the litter box, he likes to play with me, sometimes asks for cuddles, and sleeps with me in bed. Although it’s true that for many hours of the day, he just likes to stay at a safe distance from me, grooming himself or watching me.

The thing is, I haven’t developed this love I read so much about on Reddit. I mean, sure, I like the cat, but I’m not ultra-mega in love with him, and I feel like I wouldn’t do anything and everything for him as I read from cat owners everywhere (obviously, I take him to the vet, make sure his life is as good as possible, and take care of him).

I just see him as a little creature who lives in my apartment and sometimes interacts with me.

Is this normal? I feel bad. I’m starting to wonder if I’m really a pet person. I’m having intrusive thoughts that I’ve put it to the test and it just hasn’t worked out for me. Thoughts about whether maybe it would be best to find him another home?

Obviously, the animal is a financial burden (especially at first with vaccinations, buying the litter box, toys, bowls, food, litter…), and sometimes I feel annoyed about spending money on it. Before adopting him, I bought everything with excitement and it didn’t bother me at all, but now it’s different… I also read about people who spend thousands of dollars on medical tests for their pets, and I think I wouldn’t be able to put my finances or my hard-earned savings on the line for him. (Obviously, I’m referring to major expenses.) Is this normal? I feel like a terrible person.

This money thing is just an example to illustrate my feelings toward the cat—it’s not like this is all about money.

I need advice/help

One of my babies was gone for about a month. My neighbor just found him. We brought him home and he's been so snuggly and lovey. He seemed to not understand how to eat dry food anymore so we got him some wet food and he was thrilled. It's too late to be able to get him to a vet (we don't have a 24 hour one in the area). He didn't eat a bunch of wet food, so I'm not worried about him over eating. He's been going back to it, eating some, having some water. He walked around the house for a bit yelling at us. But he settled down and just wants to lay on us and gets mad if we move. He is curled up on my lap now.

Prior to going to the vet, any advice for taking care of him? He's so so skinny, he's got a couple scratches, his skin under his fur looks a bit red.

I have a toothless senior who has been on Weruva Patés for most of the time since I got him a year ago.

I did switch him to Fancy Feast and/or Whole Hearted for the past couple of months, since my budget was extremely tight, but things have gotten better since the beginning of the month.

Since I've switched him back to the higher-quality food, he'll barely touch it, licking the top and then walking away. I've even tried him on comparable brands (Wellness, Tiki), different textures (minced, mousse, soupy), and anything else he might prefer, but the Fancy Feast is the only thing he finishes now.

He is still very interested in tube treats, hunting his toys, and anything I'm eating.

He was coughing and sneezing last week, so I brought him to the vet, where he was diagnosed with Allergies + Former-Stray-Chronic-Sniffles, and he looks and sounds much better now.

They also did bloodwork and UA while he was there, with beautifully unremarkable results. They were concerned that he has lost about a pound, though.

I am extremely careful to avoid household fragrances/anything that may be irritating to his upper respiratory tract around the house, except maybe a candle for guests here and there. I worry that the cheaper food was actually part of the reason he got so snotty, which is why I'd prefer not to keep him on it, but now he starves when I try to take him off.

Am I putting too much stock into the bougie brands? Should I just feed him what he likes and call it a day? Even with the thumbs-up exam and clean bloodwork, am I missing something? I will accept that I may just be neurotic because I lost my other cat very young and unexpectedly to Oral SCC, but he isn't presenting the way she did at all; she was quite obviously experiencing nausea, he just seems to have gotten picky.

(I've also tried 50/50 mixes of FF and the "healthier" stuff; or topping the latter with treats; he won't touch that either.)

Tonight I found a stray kitten and I would have probably left it be but it will be the first cold night here and I got worried it would die overnight. It was already dark and I didn't think anyone else would find it.

It is in good health and I estimate its age to be around 6 weeks. I fed it wet kitten food and the powdered cat replacement milk.

I absolutely cannot keep this kitten for longer than a few days at most since I own a dog who hates cats and it's been stressful for him. I am keeping the kitten in a separate room for now.

I am going to be calling around local vets and shelters or whatever other organizations there are but I have a sinking feeling they are most likely full. I also absolutely cannot afford any vet fees so I'd like for it to go somewhere it can get checked out sooner rather than later. I checked it for fleas and it didn't have any and it was very clean. I suspect the owner dumped the kitten once it got "old enough", which was tonight.

I understand I was not the right person to pick up this kitten but it's just so cold tonight and it was already dark and it kept mewing and following me.

Best case scenario is that a shelter takes it in, but what do I do if this doesn't happen? Do I return it to the same spot I found it and hope someone else finds it during the day? It will be warmer after a couple days here

Edit: I do not have Facebook or Next door

I just adopted my girl (name yet to be decided), who is around 2 years old, so I have yet to fully figure out what she does or doesn’t like. One of the things I’ve noticed tho, in the few days I’ve had her, is that she’s very skittish. I assume this is due to being in a new place with new people coming in and out of my home (friends and family) and due to predicaments I’m unable to share, I’m not able to give her her own space to relax and get used to everything (tho I do know it’s better for them esp when they’re new).

Due to noticing her skittishness, I’ve been trying to give her time to warm up, and to be pet when SHE wants to be only, not forcing her. She allows me to touch/pet her backside and that is all. She has no tail (an incident I’m not entirely sure of happened before I got her, likely having happened when she was a kitten?) so it is only her back I pet, though I thought due to this fact, she would much prefer head touches over back touches, though this is not the case.

Every time I try to reach to pet her head, or anywhere near her ears, she kind of jumps back? The vet records I got said she only really had built up wax at one point, but nothing more. In the shelter, she let me touch her head to pet her, but that was really the only time. One other time, she allowed me to scratch her neck and chin (as I have other cats in the past) but she jumped back right after. I stopped when she did this, so I have yet to do it again!

With her only letting by me really touch her back, and nothing else (the stomach is also a no as it usually is for other cats), I want to know if this is a weird thing. I’ve only mainly had kittens which we had grow into older cats growing up, so adopting a cat older than that is still new to me and I want to make sure I make her as comfortable as possible.

She has a vet appointment this upcoming Friday, but I do not know what or if they could help with me understanding this?

i just adopted a 3 month old kitten who’s become obsessed with chewing, biting, and scratching things. i’m getting her a cat tree ASAP to give her something to scratch and jump on, but i worry the tree won’t be enough to stop her from biting the furniture.

i’m a renter, and she’s bitten at the bottom corner of almost every cabinet door and entryway in my bedroom and bathroom. the paint is now coming off of a lot of them, and i don’t want her to hit wood and have to fix them for $$$.

how do i correct this behavior? people say to redirect her to toys or chewy objects, but she’s picky about textures. while she loves cardboard, i’ve caught her trying to eat bits of it she chewed, so i’d like to avoid that.

i only noticed the door biting today because i’m at work from 9-5, so i can’t see what she gets up to while i’m away.

is there a budget-friendly way to prevent her from further damaging my doors even while i’m not home? thanks!

I have 3 cats, each with wildly different personalities. Recently, my "middle child" has been pooping right outside the litter box. Our litter box is extra large and fully enclosed in a huge wicker box. We use pine pellets for litter and we keep everything in an open closet which always has the light on. We used to have 3 litter boxes a long while back, but the other two were never being used so we just decided to keep the one they all liked to use the most. This behavior of pooping outside only started recently and we've been to the vet and had very expensive blood work and stool tests done and everything came back completely normal.

That being said, my middle child has always been a more anxious cat. I feel like it might be anxiety that's keeping her from using the box? I've noticed that whenever she tries to go to the box, our youngest cat often follows her. I'm worried she's getting in her way and I'm considering setting up a camera there to verify. But is it possible that my youngest cat is keeping my middle one from using the box?

Background: The youngest child is known to be an absolute menace. She can be the most affectionate and chill cat you've ever known, at the same time she can be a terror and she knows it. She seems to thrive off of being annoying to us or the other cats. She loves it and will push buttons further and further. She also loves getting in your business and wants to be a part of the action at all times. I don't know why she feels the need to follow the others to the box, or what I can do to stop her. I'm not sure what to do at this point but any similar stories or suggestions would be so appreciated.

So I caregive for my grandma and her cat whoses between 17 and 21 years old. The cats been fine for the most part of being old with some light arthritis, but over the summer she’s clearly aged lots. It started with using the bathroom outside the litter box at the beginning of summer, and this past week it’s declined pretty rapidly. She keeps falling when trying to walk, she makes this sad little meows that sound like groans, and she just doesn’t seem there mentally. Past few days or so she started eating less food and drinking less water, and starting yesterday lost interest in most food. Doesn’t even want tuna or her favor tube treats, and i believe today stopped caring for water.
My grandma loves this cat and it’s her last cat she will ever have, and it’s outlived every other pet in the home. It’s also the last cat she got from her deceased husband, so she has all this extra attachments to her that makes her not want to humanely put her down…
so my question is this: what can i realistically do to make the cat more comfortable, and do i unfortunately have any guest estimated time and poor kitty passing over

About two years ago, my coworker rescued a cat off the street who she couldn’t take care of, and I offered to take him in. The vet estimated he was a year old, which makes him three now. He is the sweetest little guy, he’s so playful and has such a big personality, he is constantly purring and getting in my face to lick my nose and my hair.
The only thing is, I think because he was a stray for the first year of his life in Phoenix, he’s adapted to staying cool/hidden in the day, and awake from dusk to dawn. This has led to him being extremely active at sundown and sunup, but he sleeps during the day. I am a light sleeper, so I’ve had to shut him out of my room at night due to him climbing all over my desk and knocking everything over, or trying to climb my blinds, or trying to play with my other cat, who sleeps in bed with me and does NOT want to play at night. Lately, he has started jumping up against my door, and meowing VERY loudly. In the morning, he switches doors and does the same to my brother (who is awake earlier than me because of his job’s hours). I live in an apartment in an older building so the walls are pretty thick, but I don’t want to chance him bothering our neighbors, especially when I know one of them has younger kids and one of them has a reactive dog, and he is already bothering my brother, who did not ask to have another cat living in the apartment with us.
I have tried everything I can think of. Playing before bed, establishing a routine he can follow easily, changing where his food/water bowls are, making sure everything is clean, clearing off my desk of EVERYTHING, cleaning the litterboxes even more frequently, sleeping with headphones in. The only thing that seems to have any effect is turning a dimmable light on, so I think he might be afraid of the dark? But I don’t know what to do. I don’t want him to be stressed out, I don’t want my neighbors to be stressed out, and I don’t want my brother to be stressed out. Do you have any tricks or tips? Resources? Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated

So I have my lovely 4 yo baby, Sammy. I’ve had him for two years now and over the summer, he jumped at my face for the first time. Now, I figured I pissed him off. It was maybe 10-15 mins after I tested out a harness on him. I don’t think he liked it, so I took it off. I came back later, and I don’t know if I was playing with him or just petting him, but he jumped at my face. I figured I overwhelmed him, but I was startled. This was the first time in almost two years that he’d ever done anything like that.

He still did it once in a while, but recently, in the past few weeks or so maybe, he’s starting doing it more. Sometimes, I have literally zero clue why. Other times, I figured I smothered him too much or played with him in a way he didn’t like.

When these incidents happen, his tail is indeed whipping about, not crazily, but probably in an irritated way. His ears are normal, not airplane. He’s not growling or hissing at me, although he does make a noise usually when he actually jumps at me. He does stare at me intensely. That’s how I’ve been able to avoid direct hits to the face recently. When I see him start to stare at me this way, I start to look away, breaking eye contact because I know that’s a thing for cats. But even then, he’ll still do it. He got me in the shoulder the other day. It doesn’t hurt or anything, but he has gotten me a couple times with his claws and bit my cheek once over the summer.

Now I know he loves me. Literally right after, he’ll start acting normal, meowing at me and rubbing against my legs with his tail in the air. That’s why I’m writing this. I’m just getting increasingly confused. Is he mad at me? Or is he being playful? Why has he started doing it more frequently?

I’m not mad at him. I love him. But I’ve started getting anxious when playing with him or holding him. I don’t particularly want to take a torpedo cat to the face, so I’ve started anticipating and getting nervous around him to protect myself.

I guess I’m just asking for advice. Does anyone else’s cat do this? Multiple times a week? Am I irritating him that much? Is there something I should do differently?

my cat is spayed but she had pyometra. I am concerned because her tummy is getting bigger and her nipples are getting pinkish. I wonder if her spay is unsuccessful or she’s just getting fat?

Here is the photo of her tummy. Thank you

cat

So my GF and I currently have a 14 year old cat. We would like to get another cat/kitten and an opportunity has come up. A woman has two kittens available - ideally we would only really like one due to cost etc but we're wondering if it's OK if kittens (they will be a 2 or 3 months old) are separated.

Is it bad for the kittens? It would be great to take both in but we worry about cost/space + if 2 kittens might be a little overwhelming for our senior old gentleman now.

Would appreciate some insight please - would like to do what is right for the kittens and for our existing cat but won't adopt just one if it's really detrimental to the kittens.

I have had my older cats for a while, one for maybe 6ish years and the other for about 3 years. We just got two little rescue kittens and the eldest cat seems okay with them, she licks them and will interact with them, and just generally doesn’t pay much attention to them. But the younger cat, at first hissed and would growl at them, then got better and would sniff and lick them, but then started to spray and wee on things as a way to mark territory I’m guessing, but that was before she improved.

My question is, now she’s gone back to hissing and growling at them, but worse than before. She’ll actually jump and swing at them now and chase them which we obviously don’t want, she’s a fairly large cat tbh and an aggressive one at times. How do we stop her from growling and hissing, and more importantly trying to attack them? She’ll start watching them and growling, and when you go near her in this state she’ll attack us too.

Any advice??

We adopted 4 neglected kittens they are 3 weeks old and using a bottle. We live in south africa so the options for bottles and kitten milk is very slim. Weve been using the royal canin kitten milk aswell as the bottle that it comes with but they struggle to latch. The babies were fed by the original owner with diluted expired kitten milk that had rooibos tea to dilute it. My issue is now that they were fed with wider neck bottles compared to the royal canin ones would it be okay to switch them over to narrow neck baby bottles again so that they can latch better? And is the royal canin a good milk for the babies? We have had a bottle baby before but got him around 1 or 2 weeks old and he latched just fine on these bottles aswell as was healthy with the royal canin milk. Im not sure if this falls under medical advice. But its more if others have experience with bottle babies and what you did to help them :D

Okay my 6month old kitten just started going into heat and it’s like she wants nothing to do with me :( she no longer follows me around she doesn’t want to stay in my room anymore and she seeks out my roommates attention more than me and even tries to get into their rooms but avoids mine and it’s makes me sad

I’m getting her spayed next week but I’m scared she won’t go back to how she normally acts with me 💔

Se perdió en San Juan de Miraflores, Lima es una gata hogareña por lo que puede que la hayan robado, la estoy buscando desde el 13 de octubre por mi zona y no la he podido encontrar estoy triste ya que es muy especial para mí y todavía es pequeña. #sjm

I adopted a cat while my husband was deployed. I've had the car for about a year, but my husband is going to be home soon. The poor guy hid in a closet for 2 weeks when I first got him. How do I not terrify the cat when an unknown man comes into his house

I have two six month cats. They’re brothers.
They were both neutered early today and as it became nighttime they started getting aggressive towards each other. I keep the litter box in the bathroom and they were both acting territorial of it.
Right now they were being so aggressive towards each other, and i don’t want them to rip their stitches fighting, so i placed them in their cat carrier. I think the anesthesia started wearing off around the time they started acting aggressively.
Can i leave them in the carrier overnight? Should i put them in separate rooms?
If anyone has any advice, im all ears and could use the help.

I just got approved to adopt two 6 month old kittens. I already know most of the common online advice (stainless steel litter boxes, food placement, access to high and low places, etc). As a first time pet owner, I have no idea about the little things. Like how long does it take for a cat to learn it’s name, what areas do they like gentle vs harder pats? how do you even clean a litter box, do you need to disinfect it every month, week?? how often do you have to trim their nails, and how on earth do you brush a cats teeth?? (seriously that one scares me a bit lol). I just don’t know what to expect, but I feel so excited to welcome them to my home. Any and all advice is appreciated!

I adopted two cats and one of them has taken to peeing and pooping in her own bed. Vet gave a clean bill of health which is a relief.

I have washed all of the things she peed and pooped on (mostly blankets and soft sweaters etc, and a couple of pet bed cushions, with a sanitize cycle on my washing machine, with vinegar as the fabric softner. I can't smell the pee on the items but I'm worried that the kitty can and it may be encouraging her to keep going, despite her poo not being as violently runny as it was when this started. How do I treat the items now to make sure the smell is all gone?