(ADVICE NEEDED READ THE EDIT)He is only 8 month, he needed treatment and I didn’t have the money. Surrendering him to his old shelter would get him the medical assistance he needed.

I sat there in their room crying and sobbing like a piece of shit. The worst day of my life, I can still feel him around the house, I just can’t get myself to believe that he is not gonna wake me up tmrw. He was my entire family and best friend and the reason I get up in the morning. I genuinely don’t see how I can live past this. Never been more defeated and broken. He was so good to me and gave me all I ever needed

When something terrible would happen in my life I used to say to myself at least I have my cat. I don’t know how to stop thinking that he feels like I abandoned him, or if he is scared right now.

He needed ultrasound and then a surgery for an intestinal blockage, he was in so much pain and my efforts with the vets were not enough. He made me feel so loved for the first time in my life.

Edit: A lot of people are now recommending that I get a friend to adopt him after his treatment and give him to me. I would love to have him back, in your opinion is it okay for me to do such thing? Or does the fact that I couldn’t handle him this time mean I am incapable of guaranteeing it to him in the future ?

I'm a wreck right now, so sorry if this doesn't have enough info. My 8 year old cat just went through 2 full urethral blockages in 2 weeks, I picked him up from the vet yesterday after he peed on his own, but I just watched him go into the litter box and... nothing. He came out of the box and uncomfortably meowed.

I adore him immensely, he is the sweetest little bastard ever, but I feel like I can't keep doing this to him or myself. If I were a kid I'd say "of course you should try anything to fix him!!"

But I'm an adult with an inconsistent income and a now dwindling savings account... I could afford to have a catheter put in maybe one more time, but it's failed twice now, and he had a habit of pulling it out overnight. I know there's a surgery to fix the problem, but I just can't afford it and I know this sounds horrible but I don't necessarily want to go into debt over this. He's also a very nervous cat, so surrendering him would feel terrible to do.

I just feel like maybe this is a sign to let him go.

I just wanted to share another success story for anyone that might be in similar situations and feeling helpless <3 All my love to you! And best wishes on a healthy return.

Even though she would go outside with us all the time and just sit in the yard, she decided one day to just run off down the side of the house and into the woods behind our house. I followed after her less than two minutes after her thinking she was going to be at the deck in the back yard, but she was long gone, no trace of her. We searched extensively however with no idea what direction she went into the woods and the steep hill side we had no clue.

I did all of the suggested things, posted on nextdoor, facebook, pawboost, EXTENSIVELY put out laminated posters all around the neighborhood. Left food, her litter box, and clothes that smelled like me outside. I even got a thermal drone guy to come out five days in(please research A LOT of them are scams) and search the neighborhood, to no avail. We followed every lead given to us, rented a trap from a local animal shelter, and caught several raccoons and a different stray black cat. We have multiple coyotes in the area, they even walk around in broad daylight on the street. I was so so so hopeless and thought she was gone forever.

A day before she was found my neighbors two houses over got a picture of her from their window which we could confirm was her! Then my next door neighbor saw a black cat when she took her dog out, then she showed up on our porch camera. We took the trap out again and left the window open hoping she’d go into one.

That same day we saw her on our porch camera I got her! She was just three doors down in the neighbors side yard. Although very skinny and scared, she is in good shape! My neighbors were amazing and let me know as soon as they saw her. On the last day the neighbor came over saying she saw Mabel in her yard but she got spooked by her name being called, she didn’t follow her more and instead showed me where she went. I went to look a little, sure that she was long gone but she was right there looking at me!! She was meowing back at me when I called her name and then came right to me when I walked closer.

Pawboost, neighborhood apps, posters, and getting the neighbors together was what really brought her home! My neighbors were really committed to helping me get her back and I got so many tips for black cats with my posters, even though they weren’t her it just shows how much people care!

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. 😭

Hi guys, really need some advice for my super picky cat.

he used to be pretty skinny so a few months back i bought some canned tuna wet food for him. He absolutely LOVED it and was eating like 4 cans a day (around 280g total). I was super happy he was gaining weight at first, but then i got worried about nutritional imbalance.

So during the recent shopping season i bought a bunch of different flavored cans like chicken, beef etc to mix things up. then the nightmare started... he totally refused to touch ANY of the new food. He only wants that exact tuna brand.

At first I thought ok if he gets hungry enough he’ll eventually eat the new stuff. So I put out the new food and waited a day. But when I checked my pet cam, I saw him walk up to the bowl, give it a quick sniff and just walked away!! He literally chose to starve instead. That was when I panicked a bit lol

His food intake has been super low these past few days cause I stopped giving him unlimited tuna. But today I had a small breakthrough, he actually ate a bit of a chicken treat that he used to ignore before!

Since his defenses seem to be breaking down a bit, what should I do next?? How do I safely transition him without making him starve? should I mix a tiny bit of tuna into the new food?

Any tips from people who dealt with tuna addicts would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

We have an ancient cat who is ok except one problem right now and we're not sure how to help her. She's pretty matted and we'll de-mat her one day but then the next day or two she gets matted again. We've tried shaving her but she hates it. We've accidentally cut her because she fights and we couldn't tell where her fur ended and her skin started. We do not want to hurt her at all, she's our little baby. Right now it's the worst it's ever been and to make it worse she has poop stuck in her fur. We give her baths and for the most part she's pretty ok with them. (Nice warm water, attention, treats. And I bet getting clean feels nice too). Right now though the poop is an issue, obviously. I don't want poopy cat water all over the tub (where I bathe my child) or in the sink (for very obvious reasons). Of course I would clean either place very well, but I feel like I wouldn't get it clean enough after. Any suggestions on getting her clean, keeping her clean, and mat free without hurting her. She is absolutely terrified of vets and has to be sedated if she were to go, but she's so old the vet suggested we only do it in emergency only situations.

Hello, My partner (38) and I (36) are looking to adopt / buy kittens. I will be honest about our situation so I hope no one judges me. I have always loved cats and wanted to someday adopt one but I have always been afraid to. I have always been busy and somewhat OCD when it comes to organizations at home. I am also a bit hypochondriac. I always thought maybe having pets would be quite difficult and since I’m inexperienced I don’t want to mess it up and want to fully take care of my cat. Recently I really became interested and want to start the process - I am interested in kittens maybe 3-4 months old. Again I am totally inexperience and don’t even know where to start. I started researching about adoption and found it quite difficult and a long process. At the one shelter I visited they said the wait time is long and I could tell they were not impressed with me being a new pet owner. So I decided to use kijji and find a kitten there to start then maybe adopt another in the future. I was wondering if you could help me with tips to look out for and what I need to know before.

One of my friends said that she wanted to get a cat from kijji and the seller said the cat is fine and perfect but my friend wanted to set up a vet appnt at her expense and the seller quickly changed and said that the cat has a lot of parasites and even one can transmit to humans. Is it normal to ask the seller to set up a vet appnt if not what can I do to ensure the kittens are up to date with their vaccines and de-worming. Or they don’t have any issues. Again, please don’t judge me but I am very nervous about parasites tics and things so I want to make sure the cat is not suffering from anything that could be checked first. There are a lot of sibling cats as well. Do you recommend getting two together? I’m worried about how overwhelming it would be but I know it would be good for them in the long run. Do you recommend pet insurance ? I have watched a few what to do before getting cats but if there is anything you found useful I would appreciate it so much. Specially regarding their hygiene etc

Thanks in advance to everyone!

We just put down our 6 yr old sweet orange boy today. He had been in and out of the animal hospital for the past two weeks due to urinary blockages that just kept recurring. Had a cystotomy to manually evacuate bladder first time and came home after a week, had to bring him back the next day due to straining immediately and he spent five more days there. Got him back two days ago, and same thing, not even 12 hours later he’s howling in pain and not peeing.

Vet agreed he has a very awful case of blockages and despite everything, needed hospitalization again, and we mutually agreed we did not want to put him through anymore with very little hope he would even improve. So we put him down.

I know we did the right thing, and even though we could have kept trying we felt he had been through enough and wanted him to go peacefully. I’m just so devastated, I don’t understand why his case was so bad, it’s just so unfair. He was so young and the sweetest cat ever, and I’m just really struggling with the fact that’s he’s gone and not coming back, especially since we only had him home for like three days out of the past two weeks. It doesn’t feel real, and I just wish I could stop being so damn sad. Just kind of wanted to vent honestly idk what I’m expecting from this post.

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

I got a kitten back in July and I love her so much but man oh man am I having trouble with nail trims. For the most part she is an awesome cat and is pretty easy as kittens go, but I think the combined forces of kitten wiggles and mouthiness and my lack of experience makes it almost impossible to consistently trim her nails.

If I wait till she is quiet I can get a few before she starts biting me or squirming and she is a longhair with dark fur so its hard to actually see the nails to nab them and I have the hardest time getting them to squish out so even when she is good it takes me forever. When her breeder sent her home with me she trimmed her nails right before we left and she just yoinked the kitten and slammed out those claws and the whole thing was over before kitten could even comprehend what was happening. I yearn for that level of expertise.

She has a grooming appt scheduled for the end of the month and I am going to get her on a quarterly schedule to help out, but I’d really like to be able to do it myself more effectively. She loves a churu but I don’t have enough hands and putting a lick mat on the wall works but its an awkward angle and she finishes too fast xD.

Would love some advice/tips or tricks on getting the claws out and also how to deal with a wiggly mouthy kitten (she doesn’t bite super hard but I would rather discourage it lol).

I had just woken up and I saw a flea crawling on my finger that had a cut this morning and I’ve been cleaning all day and I have an appointment with the vet on Friday (the soonest available) and I’m like freaking out 😭

I have a good eye when it comes to tracking bugs and small moving objects (Florida trained) and I have only seen that singular flea. I checked by cat and I only see flea dirt at the base of her tail and after finding that single male flea I’ve come to realize what I thought was just gravel from the lanai was actually flea dirt for the past I would say month? She had a bath Oct 2nd and it took close to a week to see the dirt again and then an additional week to see the actual flea.

I had combed her with a fine tooth pet comb I think two days ago while I was giving her her sanitary trim and I didn’t see anything else moving, and barely picked up any dirt but I did comb her again today and saw more dirt at the base of her tail. I’m going to do any even more thorough check once I’m done cleaning but what’s the likely hood if it being that singular male flea? I haven’t seen anything else, I used an upholstery cleaner on my bed, vacuumed it four times, and will do it again before I put clean sheets back on, also vacuumed my rug three times and I vacuum my rug and floors at least three times a day because she tracks litter everywhere. I double checked her cat house which I’m just going to throw away and get her a new one and I didn’t see anything moving, I also checked her cat tree and this wicker hamper she loves to sleep on and saw nothing moving. Also checked my vacuum after each use and saw nothing as well.

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.

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

Hi! My boyfriend and I are both busy-ish college students who have our own apartment. He’s experienced with cats, but I haven’t had one since I was a little kid. We have both fallen in love with the idea of having cats, but we want to make sure we’re making the right decision that prioritizes their hypothetical wellbeing.

Our apartment is 400sqft, with two separable rooms (kitchen & bedroom/livingroom) and a small bathroom. We are out for different periods of time during the week, but with cats we would return ASAP whenever either of us gets free.

One of the main questions we have is whether we should get 1 or 2 cats. With two cats, we’d aim for a bonded pair but there’s no guarantee that our nearby shelter has that. My main concern with having one cat is that it might get lonely without kitty socialization when we’re gone, and become unhappy. With two cats, I worry that maybe we don’t have enough space or something like that.

Do cats have temperaments where they’re happy without any kitty friends? If so, are shelter staff able to recognize that and recommend such cats for us?

Thank you so much for the help!

TL;DR, small apartment, 400sqft. enough for two cats? will one car get lonely? thanks :)

Edit: We aren’t looking for kittens; they’re very cute but much too wild.

Hi guys! I have 2 ~7 year old male cats, and though one has always been vocal the other is usually normal with his meows. Recently, the quieter one has been meowing ALOT and sometimes "screaming". He's an orange boy if that matters? Both are still eating drinking and using the litter box normally, no changes in the house have really happened. But my quiet boy has been even more clingy then usual, fighting with his brother alot more (stalking him and chasing/wrestling), and again screaming at me. Twice now he has even randomly attacked my ankles by batting and biting them in a non-playful way, but still wants to cuddle more than usual. Im trying to figure out wtf is going on with him. Is this a sign of boredom? I try to do as much enrichment as I can but I do live in a smaller apartment that we moved to from a house as of last year. He's extra feisty right now since I was recently out of town (had a pet sitter though) but this has still been a recent thing even in our normal routine with me home.
Also; he does not like toys for some reason. Any kind of toy- no interest. Doesnt like boxes or catnip or use other things as toys, his brother is the opposite and loves the toys I get. So, I guess enrichment for him has been very difficult to find, Im taking ideas though!
TLDR: My cat is being extra vocal, extra clingy, and extra irritated with me and the other cat seemingly out of nowhere.

So my cat eats 3 times a day wet food but i was wondering if i should also leave a bit of dry food out. While I'm at work or if I'm running errands. Or would that be too much? She gets 2.5 cans of fancy feast a day with occasional minnows and chicken hearts crushed in. But i was also thinking about putting a little dry food on-top of her wet food maybe for her dinner.

Hi everyone,

I had to say goodbye to my baby girl of 12.5 years on Monday Oct 12.

She started having symptoms Nov 2025 and I finally got her into internal med for consult and ultrasound in January. We started her on b12 supplements at that time. March she was scheduled for upper and lower endoscopy with biopsies. It came back as small cell GI Lymphoma and IBD. We started her on steroids. She was doing great on the b12 and steroids untill the end on June. She started vomiting and having bowel issues in July. Steroids were increased and MiraLAX then started with Cerenia as needed. She continued to have issues off and on through august. Sept 16 she had an echo that came out pretty good so steroids were Increased again and she started chemo pills everyday Sept 27. I had noticing her eating less for a while now and I would give her some Mirataz they gave me in July when I noticed she wasn’t eating as much. Well this past Friday she pretty much stopped eating and she was restless not sitting in one spot for more than 30 min, she seemed sad and totally not herself. So Monday I took her in for a quality of life assessment. In my head I knew there was nothing else we could do that the cancer must have progressed but my heart was saying there had to be something else we can do. She had lost 1.6 lbs from sept 16-Oct 12. Her regular doctor agreed that it was time and believed the cancer did progress.

I am now on day 4 and I keep reliving that day, I can’t stop crying and thinking about her. I also keep having the battle in my brain of was it too soon, could I have done more. I just don’t know what to do I am absolutely heartbroken.

Soo we have kittens, and we keep them in a bedroom (the one that I'm temporarily sleeping in) away from our other cats. Well, yesterday the runt of the litter died and since then my aunt has been insistent on keeping the mom cat in the room. The only problem is, the mom cat does NOT want to be in here. She's knocking stuff off dressers, running around the room meowing ect. Not only is it making it Impossible for me to sleep, but she also sounds really distressed by it. I don't know what to do. In my family, if you don't listen to my aunt she throws a huge tantrum, but she also thinks that shes right about everything. So telling her the cat doesn’t want to be in here is gonna stir the pot. But the cat is really stressed out and I dont think thats good for her or the kittens. Should I stir the pot or just leave it alone?

2 losses in 2 months, I'm completely broken

I've experienced quite a lot of pet loss in my life with family pets over the years and being with my husband for over 10 years who also had a house full of pets.

I've never experienced something quite like this. Our own cats. We had our 3 at the beginning of the year and these sudden losses now means we just have one baby on his own.

Our first loss was our eldest who passed peacefully in her sleep at the age of 16. Whilst it was a rough few days to cope we always knew it was going to happen soon so we felt more prepared.

The second, which happened only yesterday, was hit and killed by a moving vehicle. He was only 2 years old. It seemed to happen instantly from what we could tell.

It's left me completely broken and angry. I'm angry at myself and whoever did it, even though there is a chance they didn't even know depending on the situation.

He was so young and had so much life in him. We always knew there was a risk with him having access to the outdoors but with our living situation it seemed safe. He had so many gardens and friendly neighbours houses to visit that surrounds us.

I never imagined he'd cross a main road as he was very skittish around loud noise.

Now I'm just wallowing in my grief. Feeling completely hopeless and worrying about our cat who's been left without his brother (he came from the same litter).

We're looking to adopt another as I can't imagine him being on his own and we miss having a house full of cats. I'm hoping it will help us heal as we manage this incredible grief.

I'm leaving home with my siblings. We have a 10 year old family cat at home that I predominantly care for, and a rocky relationship with our parents. I really want to take the cat, A. Because she's my best buddy. And she's my mental health support. B. Because I don't fully trust my parents to look after her properly. Yes they sometimes forgot her water, let her out too late at night, and have left unsafe substances in her reach.

I also want what's best for the cat. I don't want to over stress her. But I don't want her to get accidentally killed. I also know she will really miss me and I her. But she's older and it's her home. I'm so torn. I really want her with me. Any advice?

So I just moved into a new place with my two cats and there is a cat who already lives here (his name is Romeo). In an ideal world mine would be the only cats in the home but I moved for grad school and pet friendly housing was super hard to come by so I took what I could get. Good news is they’ve all been introduced and they’re civil with each other. However, Romeo will take any opportunity to eat and my cats are grazers, so their food bowl stays out. I really want my cats to have free reign of the house, but right now when I’m not home they stay closed in my room so Romeo doesn’t eat their food (he also has a marking issue but that’s another story). My room is pretty big and they have plenty of room to zoom around and climb, but it’s their house too they should be able to roam.
Romeo’s owner has suggested that I get the SureFeed microchip detecting food bowl, but those are ~$200 USD and I would love to not have to spend that kind of money just to keep someone else’s cat out of my cats’ food. I know there are slightly cheaper RFID ones, but my cats refuse to keep a collar on. Also I know one of my cats’ microchip has migrated from between her shoulder blades, so idek if the SureFeed bowl would be able to detect her chip since it’s placed further back. Is there any solution that won’t cost an arm and a leg? Would the SureFeed even work? Do I need to train them to only eat at set times? How would I even do that?
Any advice is appreciated. And if you have a microchip feeder I’d love to know how that’s working out for you! Thanks!

Looking for ideas of how to get my (40f) cats to not wake me up at 5am. They both paw/meow at my door. They are indoor/outdoor cats and want to be let outside. That is not happening at 5am. I don’t like to let them out until the sun is up. They free feed and we give them soft food at night only to bring them inside.
I have tried putting a futon in front of our door to block it, but they move the futon and then paw anyway. I have tried letting them sleep with me but then they wake me by scratching my furniture.
I have tried putting them in the garage which works the best but it’s getting cold and they get so mad at me when I do that so I stopped but being woken at 5am is not working for my sleep. I have considered seeing if I can just ignore the pawing, basically let them cry it out but not sure how many nights that will take. My husband is in my room too and doesn’t have the same patience to let them cry it out. He was fine with the garage method but the cats seemed really mad when I put them in there so that’s back off the table. I’ve also tried letting them sleep with my kids in their rooms but they also wake my kids. The cats are brother and sister (spayed and neutered) and they are about 2yo. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

My girlfriend met a cat outside our house when bringing a pizza home, she decided to stop and stay hello but then while leaving it to come inside she had her hands full and the cat ran inside, we entertained it for 10mins then kindly kicked it out, it then decided to stay outside our door for 2 hours so we gave it some water (no food) after a bit longer i decided to give it a box with a towel which it almost immediately went into then i left it for another 30mins its now 11pm the cat has no collar and wont leave should i bring it inside and put it in my utility room?

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.

I hate that where I live, there is NO walk in emergency vet.

If your cat has an emergency, you have to call the triage line, (which you have to pay for) (takes 30 minutes just to get on the phone with them to set you up with a vet who you have to wait for) then you wait another 30- 1hr for a video call for them to give advice, and determine the state of your cat, and if they believe your cat is in an emergency, you THEN are directed to the emergency vet (which changes every single day depending on which vet is doing it).

God help my cats

I called my local vet, and they said they’re booking into November and if it’s an emergency call the triage