Hi fellow cat lovers,

I've had my two babies, a brother and sister, for 2 months now. They are over 4 weeks post sterilization, up to date on jabs, worms and tic meds. They just turned 6 months.

I am keen to let them outside. I know there's risks, but they both stare outside longingly, and I think overall the risk is worth it, especially as you will soon read, at least one loves the outdoors.

Today and yesterday I let the door open. Boy was surprisingly nervous and just had a little wonder before scrapering back in. Girl on the other hand has turned out to be a right outdoorsy type, ended jumping over the 7 foot fence despite being a tiny 6 month old, getting trapped in my neighbour's incredibly overgrown garden, got stuck there for a couple of hours but then had an explore around surrounding gardens while I panicked. She is tiny and I think vulnerable. Said neighbour has also informed me he will soon get a pit bull. (No hate, but dogs make me nervous in general)

Eventually she wondered back in.

Any suggestions for what to do? Catio? Cat proofing? She seems to love it outside, was rolling in the grass in joy, and in a great mood after, but I dont think my anxiety can take this every day!

(Obligatory cat pic for tax, this was first time I opened the door to outside world...no prizes for guessing who is the escape artist)

The title sums it up really.
We currently have two cats/kittens. Ingrid (grey and white) is just over 1 year old, and goose (flame point) will be 1 in December. They took around a month to be fully happy around each other. I wouldn’t say they were very closely bonded, but they both sleep near each other and on the bed with us, they groom each other and play with each other, so they definitely like each other.

We are thinking of getting a third cat and have found one whose personality sounds like a good match for our current cats. Ingrid is very chill, likes her own space during the day but can be very affectionate on her own terms too, and is very cuddly at night. Goose is absolutely nuts and super clingy, he meows for attention, rubs on our legs and headbutts almost constantly. The cat is described as chilled out but affectionate, likes to follow you around but isn’t super playful.

We’ve thought about getting a third before but have been hesitant because we don’t want to upset the dynamic with our existing cats. Ingrid did get a bit less cuddly with us after we got goose, and has started being a bit more affectionate with us recently and we don’t want to change that. We think that this cat, being a bit more chill, wouldn’t bother Ingrid as much by wanting to play all the time like Goose does, but we wouldn’t want Ingrid and Goose’s bond disrupted.

We have a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 cat trees, some window perches, and lots of hiding spaces so I don’t think that would be an issue. We also have room to add another litter box and would feed the new kitten separately even after introducing them to Ingrid and Goose.

Has anyone got any experience introducing a third kitten? Is it a bad idea? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!

On the day the profile picture for this sub changes I thought I'd share some more pictures of my beautiful dark tortie, Kestrel.

Thanks for having her picture pride of place, and best of luck to everyone else in the random draw.

So my main confusion is how the numbers seem correct? If I have been told to go for 80% if possible am I trying to read the numbers (example image 4) 14% of which beef 4%?

Also, I have tried to google the highest meat content brands on google but the answers are always non shop brands for a much much higher cost.

We found a young black cat, probably around 20 weeks old, trapped inside a school.

We have no idea how long she’d been in there or how she got in. She was absolutely terrified when she was found and is still very wary of people. She won’t let us touch or pick her up yet, although she will sit in the same room with us and is gradually getting a little more confident.

We’ve had her scanned and a microchip number does come up, but so far it hasn’t led us to an owner, as it is unregistered. We’ve called all the local vets and rescues we can think of, checked lost pet pages and actively posted in local community groups. We deliberately haven’t posted clear pictures of her because if someone does come forward, we want them to be able to identify her properly rather than just saying she’s theirs.

Nobody has contacted us looking for her so far.

She clearly has some experience of being in a home. She knew immediately how to use a litter tray, she eats extremely well, drinks normally and generally seems physically okay.

Her behaviour is a bit odd though. During the day she mostly hides, sleeps or watches us from a safe distance. Then at night she apparently decides she owns the place and wakes up to terrorise us. 😂 I’ve actually been sleeping on the sofa in the room she’s in because I didn’t want her to be alone while she settled.

Then, from around 5am, she sits at the window and meows incessantly. Not distressed screaming, just constant little meows while staring outside. It makes me wonder whether she recognises the area, is looking for somewhere/someone, wants to get out, or is simply a young cat who has realised there is an entire world beyond the glass.

I’m really torn about what to do next.

I would genuinely love to keep her, and if I’m honest it’s obviously starting to lean that way. But I work full time and I also care for my mum, who is quite ill and is at home a lot, so adding a young cat into the mix does feel like quite a lot.

At the same time, I couldn’t see her left where she was. And now she’s here, safe and slowly settling, the idea of moving her again or sending her into rescue feels awful unless that is genuinely the best thing for her.

Obviously, if she has an owner who is genuinely missing her, I want to find them.

But if you were in this situation, how long would you keep actively searching before accepting that nobody may be coming forward? Is there anything else you would be doing to try to trace an owner?

And for people who have taken in frightened young cats before, does the hiding all day / chaos all night / shouting at the window at 5am sound fairly normal for a cat settling into a completely new environment?

Thank you in advance for your help.

General Yellin just standing there for ages watching the world

Couple of scenarios and questions~ hopefully someone can relate?? 😭

We love our 13 year old cat Misty, but we've been having increasing trouble with her. She has been having ongoing digestive and skin issues for over a year now that we are working with our vet to fix. This manifests in her often having loose stools which we have to clean up at least twice daily from her tray. In recent weeks she has been positioning herself so that her whole body except her butt is in the litter tray resulting in poo outside on the carpet. We already have 2 of the largest litter trays (upstairs and downstairs) we can find that fits our space but she just doesn't seem to want to go in fully. Any advice on that? And best tips for getting the smell out the carpet?

The recent tipping point has been her discovering that she can jump on our kitchen counter tops which she has never done in the 4 years we've had her. This resulted in her licking some raw frangipane and having literal explosive diarrhoea all over our stairs and walls. Vets have given the all clear. Any tricks for keeping her off the work tops?

She has generally been okay with our 5 month old being around. We thought she would be scared of the new addition like she has been in the past with guests, but on his first day at home she was all over him. Sniffing and head nudges, the lot! When he has cried out she has simply just moved to a different room. We don't necessarily think she shows that she's stressed about there being someone new here but are we wrong in thinking that with this new behaviour? As a new mum I feel overwhelmed by the increasing bio hazard of it all, especially as baby is soon to start crawling. Hoping someone has been in a similar situation and can ease my dread.

I currently have an NPET WF100 cat water fountain that I’ve had for 2 years but today when I went to clean it I noticed that on the side you can’t take apart that it’s really discoloured and now I’m worried. Annoying you can’t get a new filter that is the right one. I also realised that because it had a light it gets a lot more algae growing in it.

Can anyone recommend a not too expensive fountain that doesn’t make too much water splashing noise (I’ve taken the shell part off mine so it doesn’t make so much noise) has a quiet pump, does not have movement activation and the replacement filters aren’t too expensive?
Thanks