Hellooooo! I have a 12 month old cat. She is a bit overweight and needs more enrichment. We just got her a month ago. According to my friend they found her around 3 months abandoned as a street cat. She is litter box trained. My only worry is that we have a lot of stray cats in my area. I live in Chicago,IL. I don’t want her to start peeing randomly to mark territory inside if we start taking her out?
We also have a 2 year old male cat that we are also considering leash training. But again, we are still trying to get them to get along. They are both still in separate rooms rn. Should I worry about them trying to mark territory inside if we start walking them outside? Again, we have a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood.

long story short i ended up with 4 cats (1 my fiancé's childhood cat, one a rescue, one a manic episode, one a foster fail). the first three got along great and pretty quickly, and then i lost my job last year and my partner and i decided we would have time to foster kittens. that's sort of where it began i guess. my third (fig) wasn't thrilled, even when the fosters were, for the most part, confined to a closet. one of the kittens from the final foster litter stole my partner's heart so we ended up with her (oat).

even while not being the most welcoming, fig didn't seem to mind her too much at first. the other two cats loved her immediately. it wasnt until in recent months that fig started suddenly despising oat. avoiding her, then occasional scare tactics when they crossed paths, and in the last month or so she's begun seeking her out to attack. not vicious to the point of injury, but definitely not playful. oat doesn't fight back- she runs to hide where she can't get jumped.

the individual relationships between all four is great and very loving with the exception between these two. we have a litter robot but we suspect the singular litterbox may be part of the issue. we plan on making an extended weekend to try and separate them for re-introduction with a new litterbox, cat tree, cat shelves, and maybe pheromone spray? it might be good to add fig is, for whatever reason, an extremely anxious cat.

i know im far from being the first to ask for advice on this but any would be appreciated.

Hi! Back in June an orange cat came onto my porch. Over the months I have taken care of her, gotten her vaccinations, microchipped, gave her food, toys…basically adopted her! The vet said she probably around 2 and was already spayed. She is an indoor-outdoor cat at the moment and I am not a fan of it. I would much rather her be inside all the time. She mostly just goes outside to lay in the bushes and people watch and to use the bathroom. She is only outside for a couple hours a day at most.

As it gets colder outside, I would really like for her to be inside fully, but the problem is, we can’t seem to get her to understand the litter box. I tend to give in and let her outside because I know she is holding it all in because there are days where she will stay inside for 12 hours at the time. She only had one accident in the house, luckily she did it in the spare bathtub and not on the carpet. We moved the litterbox into that bathtub to see if maybe she would associate using the bathroom in it, but so far she could care less.

Any tips on getting her to use the litterbox? I just worry about her getting stressed out being inside and needing to use the bathroom. When we asked the vet for advice she just kinda said, “yea it’s hard” and that was it.

Advice appreciated! And please be kind! I haven’t had a cat since I was a very little kid, so I’m still learning! I just want what’s best for Ms. Dexter 🧡

This is Frankie, aka Frankenstein, Franquito, and FrankenBeans. He is a new addition to the world and to our family. Frankie is great, his personality is awesome and we love him. Obviously he is still very young, about 10 1/2 weeks old, and overall he is rocking it. Buuuutt he has a couple troublesome behaviors, don’t we all, right? These are his:

He likes to play attack the arms, legs, and feet when I am sleeping.
He also likes to jump onto my clothing and hang from my skin/clothing when he wants something when I am busy and not paying attention.
He also favors getting onto necks when picked up, I have a bad neck and won’t be able to indulge this when he is 15-18 pounds.
Another thing is if I have to use the bathroom and close him out he stands at the door crying, but if I let him in he spends the whole time trying to jump on my lap, which hurts because my legs are exposed and he is so small he has to grab onto my leg to get up.

I haven’t had a kitten in over 20 years, so I am out of practice and looking for recommendations for good cat training/behavioral support resources online. If you have tips I will take those too 😂. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

TL;DR: I need recommendations for kitten/cat training websites or videos

Hey there folks I’ve had Yolk since he was about six weeks old (he’s now about 5 months old) after a friend found him in a tree on his friend’s family farm (they later found what we assume is his brothers & sisters later and mom had sadly past away). I’ve never really had kittens before, just typical cats so I’m still trying to learn and get better at taking care of the lil (now bigger-) man. So I just have a few questions to plop down below, any advice with helpful. I’ll just drop the questions below:

1). How do I get the lil guy to stop biting? I’ve done my best to redirect with toys and make noises of pain/ hiss at him to try and show that it’s not okay…he just continues. Then I leave the room for a few minutes or put him away in a different room.

2). When I let him roam the house, he doesn’t seem too interested in playing with toys and the like. Just like to go downstairs and looking out the window/wandering.

3). How can I better allow a smooth integration between Truffles and Yolk? I feel like they can coexist pretty well together 85% of the time, it’s just when that playful kitten side kicks in and he gets close to her she’ll hiss, growl, swipe and try to get away from the lil man but he ends up chasing her and not respecting/understanding her boundaries. This usually ends with me having to separate the two. I know it’s probably just an age difference thing, high energy vs old lady energy.

I’d get a second kitten if it was financially viable for me but I’m unfortunately not in a position where I could do so. Any advice would be very much appreciated, I feel like I could be doing better for lil man than I am right now :(

we’ve had our kitty (female, 5 months) for a week as of yesterday, and we have been keeping her seperate from our resident (male, 3 years old) all week. because there has been no hissing or growling at the door we decided to start with the screen visits. this is our first one. we weren’t able to catch the first bit, but they both immediately sniffed each other and then started to scratch the screen together 😂 this is more the end of the interaction. i just more so wanna know, does my resident cat seem alright? he’s flicking his tail but im not sure if he’s interested or agitated. i know there’s no volume to the video but there is no hissing or growling accuring at all. thanks!!

My cat is about 15 years old.
He used to belong to a relative, but shit happened and now he's mine.
He's been mine for at least 8 or 9 years.

~~
TLDR: My cat is a shithead, and constantly knocks things off of tables/counters/shelves.
My landlords are on their last straws. What can I do for this cat to help him stop.
Edit: Yes. the cat has toys, yes I play with him. Yes there are cat trees.
~~

He was always a good kitty, the only issue was his weird obsession with plastic bags.
5 years ago I moved into a new place. It's a rental but we are closer now to where his old owners live. So he gets to see them often.
The last 3 or so years this cat has become extremely naughty, and doing things he's never done before.

Besides his obsession with plastic still going strong; He's made it his mission to destroy everything that's breakable. He's been going out of his way to get up on counters, tables and shelves just to knock things over. Doesn't matter what it is. If he can push it, it is going on the floor.
He's also obsessively attacking plants. To the point that all plants have either been removed, or locked up. He's indoor only now, I used to let him play in the yard, but all he wants to do now is eat grass until he barfs, then eat more grass.

He has a kitty friend. Lots of toys, climbing posts, ect.
He's free fed kibble (in a chip feeder) and gets wet food 2x a day. So I know he's not hungry.
I play with the cats daily. Or try to, this one doesn't always want to play, he will look interested then just sit there.

I took him into the vet and got a clean bill of health.
They said there's a little bit of tartar build up that should be cleaned (currently saving the 3k needed for that) But She said that the teeth are not bad, and it unlikely to be the issue.
We did a full blood panel and urinalysis to rule out any health issues.

I rent from family, one room. Obviously I can't lock a cat up in a bedroom, so part of my rent covers letting both cats free roam the house. I can't really afford to keep replacing broken things (a few sentimental items have been broken as well).
The family members I am renting from are really fed up (understandably) and I am worried if this keeps up my cats and I will be homeless.

So if anyone has any tips. Please, I'm desperate.
I've tried everything I could think of from my years of animal work. But this is beyond me.

Resident cat rolls around while simultaneously making weird noises and growling at new cat. She chased him away shortly after this video. I almost feel like she can't figure out if she's happy or mad to see him

My cat likes these outer edges next to the stairs. How do I cat-proof these, or should I not be worried and trust her?

Bonded two year old siblings (black one is a male called Merlin, orange one is a female called Tango), almost certainly playing but wanted to make sure.

I saw a fire and of a cat owner terrified about his cat, till the fire department rescued them. It got me terrified on what I'll do if there's a fire with my cats; one time they turned on the stove without me knowing (eventually I smelled the gas) and I now have made it harder for them to climb on my stove.

What are things one can do to remove a cat in an emergency? Is there a way to train myself (and my cats) for fire drills?

The past five years I have helped an older couple every morning and evening with their pet horses and I also look after the barn cats. Now I’m in a seemingly hopeless situation where after a year, the 1-year-old spayed female has claimed the barn as her territory and is violently chasing away the 4-year-old neutered male, and the barn owner is fed up and wants her gone ASAP. I already have two indoor cats in an apartment and don’t know anyone who can take her.

These are not typical barn cats because I have spent so much time with them since they were both kittens, so they are basically housecats who live in a barn. I am very attached to both of them. They love people and dogs and they love running around the barn and (separately) sitting on my lap and getting cuddles. The owner has never known anything but feral barn cats and he’s extremely attached to the male, who is one of the friendliest and outgoing cats I’ve known. He will run and jump into my arms.

I have had many cars but only ever introduced them in regular house/apartments, and a barn is something different. I really horribly guilty that I didn’t take action earlier but I assumed they were working things out when really the opposite was happening. He doesn’t have any aggression towards her at all and seems perplexed by her chasing him off.

However it seems he actually ceded the barn territory to her over the summer, and I rarely saw him but knew he was eating his barn food every night and was bringing moles as gifts. Now the weather has turned and he needs to be inside the barn during the day and she’s not having it. The owner saw her puff up and howl and try to attack him, and he’s done with her.

The initial introduction seemed to go well. The female, GK, came with another male kitten, Nube, last November from another state (where they were caught from feral mamas) at around 8 weeks old, and they soon started playing with the resident male cat, Tux. He was interested in playing with them and they got along fine, although she didn’t like rough play. Occasionally as she got older she would act aggressively and chase him away while other times be just fine with him around. She’s still a bit smaller than him.

The two young ones rarely went far from the barn. Tux has a large territory he patrols during the day, but always comes back at night to eat and to see the people (there are other horses the owner takes care of). For the first two years he was kept in a large crate at night for safety, but now he’s allowed to roam freely.

The barn is old and only has one room (tack room) with a closing door that can be used as a safe room, and this is where the two kittens were kept at night to keep them safe. Unfortunately in July the owner said it was time for them to be free at night, which I tried but failed to talk him out of, because while Tux is mostly black, the new pair are very light, and there are occasional predators (coyotes, owls, maybe bobcats). I was afraid they would be playing outside. Nube lasted about three nights before he vanished, and I was livid. After that I insisted that GK was shut back in the room at night. This unfortunately meant she wasn’t getting used to Tux at night.

We have two separate feeding stations in the barn - one in the tack room for her and another one for Tux, but she and Nube always ate from his dishes when he wasn’t around. The dishes are high up so the owner’s dogs don’t get into them, and I think what happened is that he jumped up there while she was eating and scared the hell out of her. A couple times the dishes were knocked over and I noticed he started being very cautious in climbing up there, going very slowly and peering up first before jumping. I think this really traumatized her and she’s been in high alert mode ever since. And since she has been attacking him, he’s equally in high alert.

The owner’s wife has promised me that they will find a home for her (after I got upset about him wanting to take her to the shelter) but I don’t really trust that fully because of his attitude. Being around the horses is really good for my mental health and I’m trying my best not to turn this into a conflict with them.

She’s been mainly shut up in the tack room the past few days except for a couple hours when I knew Tux was sleeping elsewhere. I’ve also been going in and playing with her. However we also have large crates that are full of blankets that they like to sleep in. I thought maybe we could lock her in her crate that’s in the tack room so she could get used to Tux more.

I read about the tip of giving special treats only when the other cat is around. I brought tuna this morning Tux was sleeping in his crate. I shut the door and gave them both tuna separately but inches apart. They loved it and ignored each other otherwise. However he hissed when he first saw her and I can see he’s very threatened.

I would like to get them to play with cat toys, because they both love to play, but the only safe room is firmly her territory. I don’t know if he would be able to relax in there.

Would love any advice at all. I don’t know if this situation can be salvaged but I think we owe it to her to at least try. She’s so happy in the barn and I feel terrible for failing to make them a priority.

Thanks so much. 🙏🏻

3 male cats, all neutered, no known health conditions. resident cats are 4 and 12. new kitty is maybe 3-4, and was a street cat with some scars that look like they may have come from another animal.

so, it's been 3 months since we brought the street kitty inside and began the introduction process. we went the typical jackson galaxy way, keeping them completely separated for about 1.5 weeks, only feeding them on opposite sides of the door. was going really good at that point, all cats seemed extremely chill. the resident kitties get along really well with eachother, and the new cat was extremely friendly towards us so we decided to give them some brief supervised interaction.

the supervised interactions also went very well at first, with the new kitty even able to nap next to the resident kitties. so we layed back on supervision a bit by three weeks in, still keeping them separated a lot but when we let new kitty out, we would let them all free roam without strictly following them.

without getting too much detail, new kitty ended up starting a nasty fur flying fight about three weeks into this. we started all the way over. few weeks of progress, another fight. so we gave them a few weeks to cool off, buy a bunch of feliway, then set up a screen door.

screen door is going alright for usually the first ten minutes. all kitties will eat on opposite sides just fine, maybe a couple face to face cautious sniffs between new kitty and the younger resident.

then, the residents always scamper off to do their own thing. we wanna get them all used to visually seeing eachother throughout the day, so i've been chilling on new kitties side of the screen door waiting to see what happens if resident kitties come back up.

now here's the problem: when our older resident kitty will come back to the screen after the initial interaction, he is usually startled and will hiss. this sets the new kitty off, and he will yowl and throw himself at the screen with a puffy tail. resident kitty doesn't seem that affected, and i am usually able to calm new kitty down and get him purring, cuddly shortly after these interactions.

its been a few weeks of this. i wanna get them past this point cus its already been three months and its tough to keep up with site swapping, obvs we just want them to get along.

so do they just need more time? anyone have any advice on how to get new kitty more relaxed and less stressed out by the hissing? the hisser is not aggressive at all, he just likes to hiss as a way to say "fuck off" but thats the furthest he will go.

any advice or anyone in a similar situation?

May I present Hugo (M4y) and Britta (F12y). We found Hugo four years ago sitting at the side of a big road in the middle of nowhere. He was approximately 7 weeks old and skin and bones, 690 g. We took over Britta from an old relative who passed last Christmas. They are best friends and love each other, and also loves to fight.

a month ago 2 street cats came into my lawn and started living there, one is a year old and another is about 2 months now, i have been feeding them and they stay in lawn where they pee/poop in the mud. I am moving soon and i cant leave them behind in my new home there isnt a lawn so i was planning on making them indoor cats, the kitten has never known how to survive outside because he came into my lawn when he was 2 weeks old but he knows how to cover his pee/poop after doing his business, i want to litter train them but im confused how to i have never had a cat never planned to get one either they just spawned and i take care of them now, what should i do to prevent them from peeing/pooping all over the new house and where should i place the litterbox since my house is 2 floors im confused

My cat is 1.5 years old and trying to harness train her. Does this harness fit? We’ve been trying for a few weeks short sessions but she’s still walking awkwardly like this

My 2 kittens keep fighting through the mesh screen. My new kitten (girl) is the one growling and hissing. My resident cat (boy) is on the other side of the screen. i've been introducing them via scent swapping and toy swapping food and treats etc . I've had my new kitten for just over a week. Should i let them keep seeing each other through the screen ?

#UPDATE#
I let them be together for a couple minutes to test their behaviour and my resident immediately started stalking and trying to pounce my new kitten. They started fighting and my new kitten was making a loud howling noise. Split them up quickly and not sure what i should do now ):

Hi all. My fiancé and I have a wonderful boy who is about 6 years old or so, give or take. We’ve had him for about 4 years or so. He has been an outdoor cat almost his entire life although I don’t know his whole history. He showed up at our rental spot when we first moved in and started to come around more and more until he decided to move in. He has his own routine but comes home throughout the day and will sleep inside if it’s too cold or hot outside for him.

We are looking at purchasing our first home and it has a wonderful backyard he can roam in. My biggest concern is moving him. He’s never left this neighborhood (other than vet visits).

My plan is to harness train him so I can take him on walks and to move things he sleeps on often into the new spot first so he recognizes his scent. He’ll also be kept inside for the first 3 weeks while he adjusts other than walks on a leash based on my other research.

He does all his business outside and to my understanding has never used a litter box. He also loves to hunt.

Any litter box training or harness training advice? Anything else I need to take into consideration for this move?

The neighborhood we’re looking at is gated and the backyard is fenced. It’s also about an hour away from our current location.

I forgot to mention, I have a Tractive tracker on him. He also loves to outdoors, but he has also grown very attached to us. He loves to cuddle and comes in often asking for us to pick him up and carry him around.

So my boyfriend and I have 3 cats total. When I moved in I brought my now 5yo male Ender and 3yo female Beef, both fixed. My boyfriend has a 2yo female Mei Mei, also fixed. (Mei Mei also only has one eye and can only somewhat see so she startles easily, Ender has no teeth and some behavior issues with sometimes chasing Beef around and fighting too hard, and Beef is very skittish)

When i moved in, my boyfriend already had a roommate with also 2 adult male cats. Mei Mei was used to be around them and they got along. My cats did not, we def messed by introducing them immediately. So we kept them in different parts of the house and didn’t let them interact. Eventually we got a gate door so they could see and smell each other. Ender was fine with that, sometimes they’d tussle through the door and only hiss occasionally. Beef did not like it, as soon as another cat came by she would hiss/growl and run away. It’s been a little over a year, our roommate and his cats moved out, and it’s only slightly better with Beef. She’ll sit by the door if we’re in the other room and just hiss if Mei Mei starts batting at her or hovers around the gate too long. We also have started feeding them at the door with the gate and they are all comfortable eating there. Every so often we switch their areas so they can sniff the others’ scents and they are chill about it. If we bring Ender in with Mei Mei he just tries to avoid her and will get mad if she gets too close. But they both have problems with boundaries and don’t understand that a hiss means back off.

We are about to move into a new place. A one bedroom apartment and desperately want them all to get along or at least co-exist. We’re planning to get at least 3 new cat towers, using the feliway diffusers in the apartment before they get there, and making sure they have places they can hide. We really don’t want to take steps back in their progress but we hope a new place with no scent will help them adjust. We think Ender and Mei Mei will get along a bit better but Mei Mei and Beef are our main concern. The rare times they accidentally interacted early on Mei Mei would chase after Beef and try to fight, we think cause it’s both females and both have only lived with males until now.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

My short haired black female 3 year old cat is a bit of a diva. She has to have a specific food brand, must be starred in and will mainly sleep on a blanket.

However recently shes been moody and swipy, I have been to r/catadvice as I think she has bad play aggression however we've gone down the route of increasing play with her. We're also looking into my mum (who she attacks at night on occasion) to wear citrus oil to deter her feom doing this further.

However recently she's started getting rougher while playing, we can't watch cat videos anymore (she thinks there's a cat in the house even though before she seemed fine with it) as she gets mad (growling) at the person watching them and tgey have to full on leave a room. She stares at myself with airplane ears alot despite me not eating during these instances.

She swipes at us we take her toy from her ( heard this could be resource guarding) and she starts starts scratching and biting hard when playing.

She's due for a check up so I'm insisting on a claw trim and with advice on het behaviour as she seems grumpy alot.