Hi there fellow indoor cat owners,

My very pleasant princess Momo, is a small black cat and has, for her entire life, been an indoor cat. She gets several supervised or leashed outdoor sessions a week in the yard. She’s generally a very well behaved cat and doesn’t run off, sometimes she jets out the door but doesn’t run away, will just go eat grass or roll in the dirt.

ANYWAY. I write this because she has started running out the door of an evening and CHASING a wallaby that comes regularly into our yard. I mean full prey drive FERAL chasing at an absurd speed this poor little creature. I simply do not understand where this is coming from. The wallaby would wallop her instantaneously. It’s happened twice. The wallaby returns as normal and is okay throughout the day so I don’t believe any harm has happened there but I want to know WHY???

Is she getting territorial over the yard because I’ve been taking her outside more??

She gets played with throughout the day and is generally a very calm cat, and this behaviour is so unpredictable.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Or thoughts? I live in Australia and am very aware of the cat/wildlife politics so am not needing any input in that regard please. Have I turned her EVIL by taking her outside????

Here's my cat enjoying the outdoors and staring at some Halloween decorations. I love taking my baby out on nightly walks in her stroller! She's safe, stimulated, and happy. I know a lot of people judge me and think it's ridiculous to have her in a stroller, but I always saw it as a win-win because not only is she getting enrichment, I get to hangout with my cat! Also, for those who worry it is too late for them to harness or stroller train your cat, I learned she is roughly 12 years old and I've had her for a bit over 9 weeks. It can definitely happen if your cat is interested in the outdoors.

I have one that I thought was a friend I made a suggestion that when he moves hiuse to keep the cat indoors for a couple weeks and he made openly hostile comments towards me since then. Then when I say there is no need for that since we are friends i got the "I am just straight forward and honest" response while he is openly attacking me. But this is extremely common way outdoor cat people react here in New Zealand. To the point where they got a political party leader to step down because he said he would make a law to keep xats confined to their properties. It's really horribly hostile then they just get nasty if you question it. Does this happen in other countries?

I think we can get some tips from each other WHILE also showing people debating keeping their cats indoors how we keep our cats happy and satisfied.

I adopted an adorable kitten two weeks ago. She is nearly 5 months old. I planned the adoption around being away (going to Canada from Connecticut for a wedding) and picked her up afterwards so I wouldn’t have any weekend plans or be away again for many months and could focus on bonding my kitten with my resident cat.

The bonding has been great! She has her own separate room and they did scent swapping and introductions for about a week. Now they are together with doors open whenever I am home. It’s been wonderful (love Jackson Galaxy on YouTube as a resource!)

Sadly, my cousin whose wedding I attended very tragically and suddenly died not long after his wedding and I now have to return to Canada very unexpectedly for his funeral. I am planning to be gone for 48 hours. I have an auto litter and feeder for my resident cat and she is all good, I sometimes get a friend to come in and give her wet food and play (if she will allow them lol). She’s all good. But I’m trying to figure out how to navigate the kitten.

I will keep them separate for the duration I’m away for safety. They’re doing great but not there yet. Kitten is also still too small to be given the entire house to roam around in during the day. She’s doing great when I am at work and I have camera set up to keep an eye on her.

My neighbor has volunteered to check in on them in the past but the issue I’m struggling with is that anyone coming and going has to deal with:

- kitten is in the front room of the house and could technically get out if not paying attention to the door opening and closing (it doesn’t always close properly)
- if they come to play with kitten, they should probably open door to check in on resident cat, but she will likely want to get into kittens room and play, and I don’t trust anyone picking her up and having to move her
- they’re bonding well and I’m not sure if someone else coming in could throw them off

Honestly, because of these reasons I’m leaning towards leaving them with cameras and lots of food and water and their litters .. obviously it’s not ideal and the sudden death in my family has made this all very unexpected and fast. I can absolutely get neighbor or friend to check on them .. I just worry that the door will open and it will be hard to wrangle the cats back to where they belong …

Thoughts?

I was thinking about getting a cat. I’m wondering what’s the hard challenges or unseen costs of owning a cat for the first time. I’d like to be really well informed before making a decision. I do have a Large fish tank and a couple Large outside dogs but the cat would of course stay inside.

My cat is confined to a bathroom. overall fine just crying a lot. I hope she doesn't hate me.

We had a long weekend so I stayed with her for the first 3 days. now I have to go to work so I confined her for 2 days. Should I let her out after? I do go and check on her. I let her out when I'm home. But if I'm not she stays in the bathroom....

Sharing this here in case anyone else’s cat is an expensive little munchkin with medication requirements 🤪

I’m so jazzed about finding something that works - I feel like at this point I’d introduce myself to people to tell them that I have (mostly) solved my cat medicine issues (family members/sharing might actually bring me to tears if it gets added - and yes I’ve suggested it)

Howdy folks! I have an indoor-only void (cat tax at end of post) who enjoys burrowing. She likes diving between cushions on the couch, enjoys sleeping inside her tent, and tries to tunnel into my blankets at night. She likes being inside of things - sometimes I put an empty laundry basket on its side so she can explore it and then take a nap inside. She gets plenty of other enrichment from playtime (string/feathers/mice) and birdwatching, but I'm not used to burrowing cats so I want to give her some extra enrichment to maximize her happiness.

If you have a burrowing cat, what has worked for you to provide enrichment for this behavior? If you don't have a burrowing cat - do you have any ideas?

Cat tax:

So. A week ago today. I adopted boo. Many of you will remember the pumpkin picture. A week ago already is nuts! Well so it seems. Is she 😂

We have vets tomorrow as she came to me with fleas (got told she was de-flead and de-wormed.

But anyway. I have to mash her wet food up and mix some complimentary tuna into it for her to finish her meal

Safe to say she’s got me trained 😂

Hey everyone so I have a question does anyone have some tips for travelling with an anxious cat we are going on a trip in 3 months and idk what to do with our cat. I would like to bring her but im scared she will vomit or something else any recommendations?

It would seem they didn't like me suggesting to someone to turn their stray cat into an indoor only cat!

Saw someone post why they were banned from r/cats. I was perma banned for my first comment in ukcats, not a timeout, a PERMA ban😑

There was a post of someone saying that they found a cat, belongs to someone but is neglected, outdoor, needs vet help, and they were unsure whether to leave it for the owner to take care of, or take it in and then take it to the owner.

A comment said "check with the vet for a microchip and find the owner that way" i commented saying "its illegal in england not to have it chipped, so if she isnt, youve earned a cat!"

I got downvoted to hell, so clarified and said "if she IS chipped, then sure, find the owner since it could've escaped, got lost, or just was all an accident. If she's not, the owner couldnt be bothered to pay £20 for a chip, so theyre not responsible enough to pay vet bills either.

I dont think im wrong, because i dont agree with outdoor cats full stop, but ESPECIALLY not when theyre not even microchipped. If the cat dies, gets lost, litterally anything, the owner will never be contacted because they dont have a chip. And if they wont pay £20 for a chip, theyre probably not paying flea and worm treatment, annual vet trips, taking proper care of them etc (which was proven by the state the cat was in when the op found her anyway)

A lot of people got triggered lol, and i even got one response from a woman in scotland that responded "my cats outdoor and shes not chipped, its only illegal in england, so dont assume" LIKE THATS EVEN THE POINT.

i’m vehemently anti outdoor cat.

I grew up in the country, and although we didn’t need barn cats my parents never kept them inside no matter how much I screamed and cried about each one being plucked off by outdoor living (coyotes, and who knows what else) they never ever listened to me.

then I got two cats of my own and had to return to college so I asked them to take care of my cats for a few years, under one condition: that they kept my cats indoors.

spoiler alert. they didn’t. and my favorite soul cat got run over by a car. they lived next to a busy street.

I unleashed hell on them and screamed murder. literally, I was screaming “YOU’RE CAT MURDERERS!”

sufficient to say, they finally kept to their word and the other cat stayed indoors for the rest of her stay with them and she is now 12 years old living happily with me.

not long after I took my cat back after graduating from college, their tomcat got hit by a car and he died in my mother’s arms.

I think this really changed their perspective on outdoor living for cats and they now have two cats that are indoors only. before they got those cats though, I threatened theft if I saw them even letting one of their babies step a foot outside. I literally told them that I WOULD take their cats without any guilt if they tried to make them outdoor cats even if only part time.

I think it was easy for them to stay ignorant since our country cats just “disappeared” and they didn’t have to witness any of them die horrible and brutal deaths until the two cats I mentioned (this was after they moved to the city).

anyway, i’m banned from at least a couple of subs for reprimanding people for allowing their cats to roam outside.

f all of em id!ots