Help my cat of 7 years lucy keeps attacking me earlier she was pooping on her litterbox and I kinda rushed her when she was covering it because I wanted to get rid of it since it smelled so bad I think she got mad when I finished cleaning all of a sudden she started attacking my legs aggressively like she dosent know me and now after almost 3 hours she’s still mad at me his at me and chased me around the house she only acts aggressive towards me and acts normal around other family members does it mean she hates me now

I’m not a cat owner, nor have I ever owned a cat, however, I have this friend and we’ve been friends for years, and she has two cats that she got a month ago and every time I visit her or sleep over, her cats are always in the crate. And when I wake up in the morning, the cats are still in the crate, even when she wakes up. She says she does let them out all the time though, but idk. I’ve never had a pet, and her place is small, but is that wrong? I’m not sure honestly, but it feels wrong, but I could be wrong (I honestly never trust myself or others). The same thing goes for smoking. I have another friend too and they both smoke in front of their cats (and one uses incense as well), but they say it’s fine or they might keep a window open. I’ve researched it and there aren’t any positive effects, but my friend has been ghosting me recently (the one that keeps her cats in the crate) and idek why, but she’s active online, yet isn’t responding to my texts, but says she wants to talk in-person cuz she values direct communication. I feel like logically, you shouldn’t be doing it, but idk, because I feel like I come across as judgmental if I try to express my opinion.

To preface the situation - I got 2 barn cats about 9 months ago and live on a farm about on about 10 acres. The cats get locked up at night and are let out during the day.

About 9 months ago I rescued two barn cats from my local shelter. We have a ton of mice and love cats. We did the whole introduction process and kept them inside for weeks to acclimate them. Once we let them out everything was perfect. They stay relatively close and had great recall. Every night at dinner time they would surround the house and barn until I’d go out and feed/ lock them up. A few weeks ago one of my boys didn’t come home. I was super upset and knocked on the doors of the few neighbours that I have. My neighbour 2 doors down said that she use to feed a cat that looked like him but hasn’t seen him recently. My cat came home 2 days later. Days after he came home, my dad was working in our yard when he heard that same neighbour calling our cat’s name (we never told her his name, she only would know it from hearing me call for him). He went over to her house the next day and politely let her know our cat was home and there was no need to call his name. She denied it and he moved on to avoid going back and forth. My cat has come home every night since but has become increasingly more difficult. He some times takes over 20 minutes to come home when called (use to take no more than 5) and hardly eats his food at night. When he is home he acts normal for the most part. I’m pretty sure my neighbour is still feeding him and I don’t know how to approach without sounding crazy. Maybe I am crazy?

Also: my other cat is perfect and hasn’t caused me any trouble yet, that’s why he isn’t mentioned.

Hi I just wanted to share my experience. I got two 4-months old brother kittens about a month ago that I’m rehoming through the same foster association where I got them. They will be rehomed in a foster family before being adopted again.

Rehoming them was a very painful decision I’ve taken. I felt regret and overwhelmed since I had the two kittens at my home. I’m single with OCD autism and ADHD. I always had cats in my family and met many people with cats and while being single so thought it would be okay, also informed myself. Despite all this the experience was too overwhelming and I’ve felt my life was really shaken since.

I decided after three weeks to adress that with the foster association and they were angry at me and said they don’t want me to keep the cats. It was difficult emotionally for me tbh.
I really loved the kittens spent some sweet time with them as they adjusted to me but at the same time they can really turn me crazy. I feel a lot of regret as it’s obviously what kitten do they play but my flat is being turned around like there was a hurricane and I can’t keep up I lock myself in my room and can’t sleep.

I feel so stupid to have done that. I feel guilt and also as the day where I will surrender them approach started to have some dreams about leaving my cats. I feel really drained and painful and depressed.

I think I will have some relief when the two kittens have a new family but feel more time with them I wouldn’t be able to let them go. At the same time I’m falling apart as I can’t keep up.

I feel the responsibility triggered issues with me. I am so surprised it went that way. All my friends told me I look super tired and am reclusive since I got the kittens. I wish it would have been different…

I’ve had my cat for 2 years, and lately I’ve been thinking about rehoming him. I feel really guilty about it, so I wanted to hear what other people think.
When I first got him, my uni schedule was pretty chill. Attendance wasn’t mandatory, so I spent most of my time at home and could give him a lot of attention.
But things are really different this year. I’m a uni student, and now I have classes almost every day from 8:30 to 5:30. With commuting and everything, I’m usually out of the house for at least 12 hours a day. During exam season, it’s even worse. Sometimes I literally come home just to sleep because I spend the rest of my time studying.
I live alone, far from my family, and all my friends are in the same boat with uni, so I don’t really have anyone who could help out regularly.
I keep feeling like he’s bored and lonely at home all day. Adopting another cat is not an option due to my home being pretty small. love him so much, and I hate the thought of him spending most of his life waiting for me to come home. But at the same time, the thought of giving him up after 2 years honestly breaks my heart.
I know cats sleep a lot and can be fine on their own, so maybe I’m overthinking this. But I can’t stop wondering if he’d be happier with someone who has more time for him.
I don’t want to give him up just because taking care of him has become harder for me, but I also don’t want to keep him just because I’d feel too guilty to let him go.
I genuinely don’t know what’s the right thing to do, and I feel awful even considering it.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do? Do you think rehoming him could actually be the better choice, or am I worrying too much about him being alone?
I’d really appreciate some honest advice.

Hi guys!

Background info: my Bonnie is 8 1/2 years old and I love her to absolute bits. We got her when I was 13, and my family (who I don’t think did much research) decided she was going to be an outdoor cat. At the time I didn’t know the risks, and she’s also our first and only pet. This year I’ve been learning about the risks of letting cats out unsupervised, and so I’ve started taking some steps in keeping her indoors more often. The first step for me is keeping her inside at night, which is hard because she is kinda nocturnal.
The issue is her cat flap is in my dad’s bedroom, and my dad is insisting that I keep her in my room at night because otherwise she will whine and cry at his door and wake him up. Of course I don’t want to keep her in my room because I want to give her more freedom around the house as she transitions to being inside more (and she’d wake me up too). The problem is she doesn’t do with toys, as I think she only likes to play with live things like mice and people, so I’d feel terrible keeping her in one room with no adequate stimulation. I’m taking her to the vet tomorrow (for an unrelated issue, she hasn’t been eating her dry food for some weird reason, is fine eating everything else though) so I think I might ask the vet for advice too. Any advice would be massively appreciated!

edit: the other thing I’m worried about is that she’s not litter trained because she just always gone outside. It’s 8pm here in the UK so I can’t just go get a litter box right now and I do not want her pissing and shitting in my room (or the house in general ofc but I am trying my best to keep her inside)

I’m going to Michigan and cannot bring my cat with. I have a gravity feeder, and will give him extra food and a clean litter. my cat has survived 5 days alone when my caretaker had to go to the hospital and has survived. I cannot afford a caretaker. my cat is also not a very zoomy cat, so he won’t knock anything over or get stuck. He‘s 8 years old. can I please have advice?

I trained my cat to be comfortable with being held. You know, for emergencies. The only problem is she likes it a little too much. She complains when I put her down and doesn't jump out of my arms when I start to let her go. I have to lower her completely to the floor so I don't drop her on her head or something.

I live in an apartment that’s built into a hill. I rent, so these must be renter-friendly recommendations. Because we’re built into a hill, the front of our unit with our bedroom is ground-level and our bedroom window sits practically on the ground. We love having our bedroom window open, and our 2 kitties love the window as well. They have their window perches right there and there’s always lots of bird & bug activity for them right at the ground that they love watching.

Well, tonight, an outdoor cat came along and scared the absolute hell out of us. Our girl cat noticed the outdoor cat first and started growling, and when I went to investigate, the outdoor cat popped up and started hissing and clawed at our screen (the window was open). This set off our 1 cat (our other cat just ran off scared).

I immediately closed the window & blinds and both cats are in the living room decompressing.

What can I do to try to deter outdoor cats from coming up to our window again? This cat lives in our neighborhood, we’ve seen it around many times and have even said hi to it on our walks. But I really don’t want it ruining window time for my cats and causing problems again. Right outside our window is a huge patch of ivy and then grass, with a small strip of dirt running parallel to our window. I don’t think putting stakes there would work, as cats could easily go around them. Is there a scent I could spray in front of the window that would deter other cats? Would tossing some of our cats’ used litter out there work?

Thank you for any suggestions!

Hi everyone!

I already wrote in this community before but I'm now writing for the same cat, a different reason.(Minor information before we start: girl, about 5/6 months old, healthy - WAS AT THE VETS 3 days ago, currently on pain meds due to the surgery, mainly outside cat/learning to be indoors, mildly anxious)

We have recently taken on a challenge of trying to make a kitten able to be adopted (either by us or by a good family). She's been doing amazing and has grown so much in about a week.

The biggest issue we are currently having is the fact she chooses to relieve herself (only number 2) outside the litter box. We know she can and knows how to use the litter box - mum has seen her do it in our outside litter box (we have multiple cats). However for whatever reason she refuses to do it. What's also concerning is the fact she's sick almost every night. She's completely fine during the day, playful even, then when we all wake up she's made a mess on the rug...

It's extremely concerning because my mum has noticed red in it this morning...

We aren't sure what's causing it. She's recently had the surgery and is on pain meds (picture provided in comments), so maybe that? She's originally been an outside cat so she eats her food insanely quickly - another possible reason?

We tried giving her some cheese plain Greek yoghurt yesterday, but that doesn't explain all the previous times she was ill. She did amazing being inside and being clean before the surgery, now we are all struggling. I feel horrible that she might be in pain and I don't know how to help her.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated! ❤️

I recently got my first good job and i’ve been wanting a cat my whole life. I play with all the cats outside and can’t get bored of them.

I never had the chance to actually adopt one because of my family. I usually live my day in a room outside the house. I only go inside when I sleep or if I want something. And I’m very used to being alone my whole life and I like the freedom that comes with it. So i figured it would be a perfect idea to get a cat and put it in the room (its a big room don’t worry)

My first concern was the job since I’ll have to leave the cat alone. After research, I figured it was okay if the needs are met.

So, I got the cat, and it’s been almost a week. And Idk if I regret it or I just have to get used to it. But, everything concerns me. if she meows I get concerned, when I game and she lays down I feel bad for her cause I think she is bored. I feel like i’m tied and have lost my freedom. like my whole day revolves around this cat now, which is very wrong but i don’t know what to do. I feel like i’m not doing enough even though she has everything. she purrs all the time and we play a lot. but it feels like and obligation and not a fun time

Maybe this is how the first couple of weeks go, I’m hoping so. because I thought she would help me mentally but i’m now more anxious and miss when I had no responsibility.

It’s heartbreaking to see post after post where a cat is clearly neglected, distressed, or depressed, yet when the owner asks about rehoming, the comments beg them to keep the cat at all costs

Having worked in animal shelters for years, I’ve helped rehome countless cats from homes that only provided food and basic shelter, but completely ignored their mental and emotional well-being. Whenever I checked in on these cats weeks or months later, they were thriving in their new environments. rehoming isn’t giving up. and some owners don’t want to change. it can be the kindest choice you can make for an animal’s quality of life. We vet the new owners and keep on checking on the cats every now and then. seeing the difference is rewarding all the time

The worst advice is when an owner is clearly not capable of offering all of that and then you tell them to just have patience and tolerate it. It’s just wasting time because the cat could’ve been somewhere better.

I’m talking from experience - i do realize that cats miss their people. But they won’t miss them if they find better love and care else where. and “just play with it 10 mins a day” is not enough and will never be.

I have two cats I adopted a little over a year ago as kittens. They are a brother/sister bonded pair and are VERY VERY (did I mention very?) tight to each other. Since I've gotten them, they are always sleeping, eating, playing, looking out windows, together. If they do split up, they are always in the same room as the other one. If one goes downstairs, the other one follows. They also follow me just about wherever I go and sleep with me every night.

Ok now with all that said, they are the most ANXIOUS cats I have ever met in my life. I love them to the death but oh my god. Garage opens? They run and hide. I take a gentle step toward their general direction? They run but then come back. They hide from basically anyone new. It took them 3 months to even get used to my roommate.

I've only taken them to the vet once (I'm going again soon). I want to say they did okayish? They cried for the first 5 mins of the drive and then the last 10 mins of the drive to the vet they were fine.

With this said, I'm trying to figure out the best way to take them to Nashville with me.

I drive a Tacoma and plan on renting a uhaul trailer to attach to my truck and drive out there from the Bay Area.

If I do the drive with them, I'm only doing 8 hours of day driving MAX. I can easily do 12-15 hours of driving, I did it when moving to California from Atlanta a few years ago but I know that would be too stressful for them.

Now, I also thought about driving myself out there, letting my roommate watch them for a few weeks until I'm moved in and then fly back to California and fly to Nashville with them just to only have one stressful day for them. But I am so scared about taking them to the airport. They do NOT like being picked up, and I know I need to take them out of the carrier to get through TSA.

If I do drive them, my plan was to get a very large dog crate and give the whole back seat of the truck to them basically. Obviously, they will never be out of the crate until we are at a hotel for the night and I have also cat-proofed the hotel room.

I'm going to the vet soon to also get advice and get gabepentin but what are yalls thoughts on my options?

I also figured if I drove them, they can stay together and maybe be more comfortable instead of being split up in different carries on a plane.

Hi guys!! Me and my family have recently moved into an apartment and we've had to give away our dog because he was just.. too big for an apartment. And now it feels so lonely and I'm considering getting a cat instead because from what I kinda know, cats are (I hope I'm right) better pets when it comes to living in an apartment.
Anyways.. I would love some help!! We've only ever owned dogs and I feel like I'm not knowledge enough on cats. But I'm planning on adopting one from a shelter next year because I've just graduated and I'll be staying home like.. all day every day.
Do you guys think I should get a kitten or an older cat?? what do I do with toilet training?? how much would they cost like.. food and litter wise?? I'm too new to this. I hope this wasn't too long!!
And another question. Are litter boxes actually stinky.. like to the point where we'll have to keep it hidden somewhere to hide that smell? I haven’t actually told my dad about this plan yet but I know he'll be fine with it but he might turn it down completely if it'll stink up the place. Help me please!!!!'

I used Hartz gentle hairball shampoo on my cat days ago and she’s been fine since, do I still have something to worry about? What should I do?

My male indoor cat is 1.5 years old, and last month he started with blood in his urine and going outside the litter box. We took him straight to the out of hours vets and he was put on Metacam and booked into for a follow up with our vets the following week. The medication helped but as soon as it was ceased the blood came back within a few hours of the missed dose.

Then we had lots of tests, first off was a home urine sample and rheumacam for 5 days, nothing was found in the sample and despite a few days clear, the blood came back even still on the medication.

Then we had ultrasounds and more thorough urine tests taken directly from the bladder. No crystals, stones, bacteria or cancer cells were found, just that the urine was extremely concentrated. He was put on 2 weeks of gabapentin, urine supplements and rheumacam in the meanwhile. We also added an additional litter box, more water sources, a feliway plug in and moved him onto a mainly wet diet.

We then tapered off the rheumacam and the blood didn’t come back this time, all clear for 12 days and then this morning it’s come back.

So we are back on rheumacam and are watching for his output. The vets don’t want to put him back on the gabapentin and have said they wouldn’t prescribe this long term, but I’ve seen that other people have had success with low dose gabapentin / amitrypline and even fluoxetine for stress and nerve pain management.

We’ve been told it’s likely stress related, and we know sometimes we won’t find an obvious cause of the stress. The only change we can identify is that I’m pregnant, we found out in June, his behaviour did change somewhat, he’s always been friendly but he became more affectionate but seemed fine in himself. We can’t identify any new or frequently visiting neighbourhood cats.

I’m just at a loss, the vets are basically saying that we are just to treat the flares as they come and there’s no preventative options. We have been recommended to put him on Hills C/D but he would require 4 cans a day which is £9, with a baby on the way this is just isn’t in our budget. We hoped his usual iams wet food increased to 80% would help him without the massive increases in expenditure but now we are feeling pretty dejected by the new flare up and aren’t sure how to proceed.

Any advice or success stories would be greatly appreciated

Hi all,

I took my cat to the vet today for an annual check up and on the way back, a nearby car honked and spooked her real bad. She ended up peeing in her carrier. We made it home within 5 minutes of this happening but she’s been smelling like urine all afternoon.

I’ve already wiped her down with a wet and dry towel and used wet wipes (the ones for cats from the pet store) as well. I’d say the smell definitely is not as strong as before. The smell is mostly on her bottom half/ underside.

I’ve never bathed her before as she is pretty skittish around water… If I just let her be and let her clean herself is that okay? Or is a bath absolutely necessary here?

UPDATE: thank you all for responding so fast! I’ve decided to not bathe her and just let her groom herself. Better not to stress her out again! Please see comment section for cat tax :)

Hey everyone,

I recently adopted a 3 to 4-month-old kitten. She’s currently an only pet and spends some time alone during the day, so when she’s awake, she has crazy bursts of energy.

We all know the classic meme: you spend money on a fancy toy, and they just want the cardboard box. I want to avoid buying things that end up abandoned after two days.

In your real, lived experience with your cats: What toys have actually sustained high engagement over time instead of just 5 minutes of novelty?

I desperately need advice on getting my cat into her carrier because I genuinely don’t know what else to try.
For some context, my cat has been staying at my boyfriend’s apartment for about a month now, and I need to get her back home ASAP because we’re going on a trip. My boyfriend is allergic to her and doesn’t want her staying at his apartment unsupervised while we’re gone, so bringing her home is really important.
The problem is that she absolutely will not get into her carrier. Her carrier has been left out this entire time, so it’s not like it’s suddenly appearing out of nowhere. I’ve tried getting her into it, including trying to wrap her up like a burrito, but she managed to escape. I also tried using a large storage bin to help get her in, but she jumped out of that too.
After trying to get her into the carrier, she got scared and started hiding from me. That honestly broke my heart because she’s normally super cuddly and sweet with me at home, and I don’t want her to start associating me with being scared.
She’s also still hiding a lot during the daytime at my boyfriend’s place. She has started coming out and hanging around me again more recently, but she still isn’t acting completely comfortable there.
I’m looking for ANY safe, realistic suggestions, even unconventional ones, because I need to get her home and I don’t have much time. I also don’t have money to buy a different carrier or pay for a vet visit right now.
Has anyone dealt with a cat who absolutely refuses to get into a carrier, even when it’s been left out for weeks? What actually worked for you? I’d love advice from anyone who’s had to transport a very scared cat without making them even more afraid of you.
Please be kind. I’m stressed, I feel awful that she’s scared of me right now, and I just want to get my girl home safely. 😭

We adopted a 3 year old dumped cat who kept coming to our house.
Initially, he was very sweet when he was outside, but when we brought him in, his behavior has changed. We keep him in a spare room with a litter box, food, water some toys and a scratching post. When we go in to visit he is affectionate and very relaxed. When we let him out into the rest of the house he loses the affectionate side and seems unsettled. We are not cat people but this cat seemed to capture our hearts. Last night he attacked one of my beautiful upholstered chairs and I about lost it. Any seasoned cat owners have advice for us? We have purchased scratching posts, a cat tree, and toys galore. I’m already feeling like we made a mistake 😔

Hey everyone! I am preparing to travel for the first time since adopting my cat (1 yr female) and am weighing the best option for her! I will be traveling for 3 days for Thanksgiving, and traveling again for Christmas, but timeline is more flexible there (while I would like to travel for longer, I’ll do what’s best for her).

She is high energy, likes to be around people, and needs stimulation. She is timid around strangers, but not super shy— not a hider. She has been alone for several hours at a time in our apartment, but has never been alone overnight.

I have a few options (in no particular order) with pros and cons, and am trying to find information about what is the least stressful scenario for her. Please let me know if you have any experience with these options and what has/has not worked well for you before!! TIA!!

1. Leave her and get a sitter. She would be in a familiar spot, but even if a sitter dropped in 3-4 times a day, she would still be alone most of the day. Unfortunately, I don’t have the option of having a sitter to stay at the apartment while we are gone.

2. Boarding. While it seems like the most expensive option, I would feel most confident that she would be stimulated throughout the day. However, I’m worried about her being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people.

3. Bring her with me. It’s a short flight, only about an hour (I could also drive ~8 hours) I’m not sure if flying or driving is less stressful, as the car is a more contained environment but much longer than a flight. Once we arrive, she would be in an unfamiliar place, but with me.

So I adopted this cat two months ago because I have a one year old boy (Willy) who is very playful and needed a friend. We also have a dog so getting a cat that is cat/dog friendly and who was around the same age as Willy was the most important thing to me. We ended up finding this girl (Whimsy) at a rescue and she seemed to check all of our boxes.
Her profile and during the meet and greet with the foster I was told she gets along very well with cats and dogs (true), she wants to be with her person all the time (not true), she doesn’t scratch furniture (not true), and she has perfect litter box habits (not true).
Specifically, what’s going on with the litter box is driving me nuts. I have three litter boxes for two cats. One is in the basement, two are upstairs in a spare room only the cats go in. I scoop them daily (maybe once every two days at the most).
She’s peed on the floor four times that I know of. Two of them were while I was in the same room as her, and the last two times were in the past 5 days. I know she knows where the litter boxes are and how to use them.
She also hides 90% of the time in our bedroom, if I bring her downstairs with me she’ll hangout but she HATES being carried and rarely will come downstairs by herself.
I’ve also tried bonding with her through playing but she doesn’t really know how to play… she plays with my other cat but doesn’t like wand toys, strings, and will chase a spring for 10 seconds before becoming bored.
I feel so guilty cause I just don’t really like her yet and she’s not growing on me... if anything it’s the opposite. I know I have to wait longer for her personality to come out but honestly, I don’t know if she even has one… and my partner isn’t as much of a cat person so her peeing everywhere is causing some tension. I just want some advice on bonding with her and making her feel more confident in our home.

Me and my friend saw a cat that was really underweight and gunky outside of my house. She was sat in the same spot for a few hours before we decided to finally take her in. When we picked her up, we could feel all her bones and she jumped at food like she hadn’t eaten at all. She was also severely matted and we took the time to cut out what we could and cleaned the gunk from her eyes.

We called the RSPCA who advised us to take her to the vets to check for a microchip. We did the next day. They saw that she had a microchip and confirmed the cat was 13 and that the owner lived a street across from me but couldn’t confirm exact address due to GDPR. The vet said she was a house cat.

The vets called the owner who said that it was normal for their cat to roam around like this and usually liked to sleep in abandoned garages and a lot of neighbours usually bring her back. My concern is with the state we found the cat in and the fact the owner said the cat would go by herself back home for dinner time. The owner didn’t care to come pick her up herself or arrange to meet up to pick her up.

When we tried to get the cat to leave after the vets, she wouldn’t go until we had to quickly close the door. When going to get groceries the next day, I saw the cat outside my door wanting to be let in. I’m concerned that the cat did not go back home and was waiting outside my house all night.

I did let her back in to give her some water and food and again when I tried to make her leave, she did not want to go.

The vets also seemed like they did not care about her physical condition, just said that she was slightly underweight. Would I be justified in making a report against the owner for possible neglect? I’m scared that I might be overreacting but this does not look like a cat that wants to go home, otherwise she would’ve left the first chance she got. The owners attitude seems really off to me. I’d appreciate any advice on this, as I’ve never owned a cat myself and I’m worried about any legal implications.

Hi all!

I think it may be time to do the unthinkable and bathe my cat. He’s about 6 years and very friendly. But I’ve never bathed him. Only reason why I think it’s time is because he now has access to my mini yard and LOVES rolling around in the dirt. Each visit, I clean him off with a wet towel, but I fear it may not be enough to fully clean him. He freaks out at loud noises so I’m a little nervous to bath him. Any tips on this would be greatly appreciated!

Hey someone just threw away their kitten. I have bo experience raising one but have always wanted one . I found her shaking not sure whether it was out of fear or cold .I just fed her some milk and sardines but from here I don't know what to do . I would appreciate some help from the community if there is anything I should know