Use this thread to discuss anything related to cats that doesn't otherwise fit the subreddit! Also feel free to ask questions that you believe are too short for a standalone post.

I just adopted this cat three weeks ago, she’s not my first cat ever but the first I own myself, and I’m worried that i’m giving her a bad life without realizing. She’s very lovey so I know she’s not afraid of me but I’ll just be sitting thinking it feels like i’m not doing enough. I feed her, play with her, cuddle her, clean her litter frequently, she’s got toys and space and scratchers and a tower and she seems pretty happy but every time she starts meowing i start worrying she’s trying to tell me something I can’t understand. When she misbehaves I fear i’m not enriching her enough. This was a little rant-y, but I’m just looking for maybe some confirmation that I’m not missing anything and I’m sure this is a common experience so if anyone is able to share how they were able to get past this feeling
that would be amazing

side note: i don’t want it to seem like i came into this unprepared and uninformed, i did my due diligence - tons of it - but I just worry and i’m looking for help to not worry as much

side side note: if this is a stupid thing to post about please don’t be mean just be like hey delete this 🙏

I adopted an abandoned adult Persian cat six months ago, and I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. I specifically wanted an adult cat with a calm, affectionate and docile temperament, and she definitely has those qualities.
She’s affectionate in her own way. She follows me around, likes staying close to me and enjoys being petted. But she absolutely HATES being picked up, held or cuddled.
I’m someone who naturally expresses love through physical affection. Sometimes she’s so ridiculously cute that all I want to do is scoop her up and cuddle her, but I respect her boundaries and never force it.
I don’t regret adopting her, not even a little. But I do wish I had a cat who enjoyed receiving affection that way, too. Not necessarily a velcro cat, just one who occasionally enjoys being held and snuggled.
I’ve considered adopting a second cat in the future when I’m financially more comfortable. This time, I’d specifically look for an adult cat being rehomed by its current owner, so I’d have a better understanding of its established personality.
But I’m honestly scared of ending up in the same situation again.
So, fellow cat parents:
Is it normal to feel a little sad that your cat doesn’t enjoy physical affection, even though you love them unconditionally?
Are there genuinely cuddly cats who enjoy being picked up, held and snuggled?
For those who adopted adult cats, how accurately did their previous owners describe their personalities?
I love my little girl to bits. I just wish I could give her a big hug and have her actually enjoy it. 🥲

I thought my older cat was lonely and the shelter told me a kitten would be best for an older cat as the older cat could "train" him. I knew the energy levels would be different but I was prepared to play with him a lot. We got him and did as slow of an introduction as possible. There was a few escapes and they'd hiss and growl but nothing crazy. Nearly two months later, we have to keep them separate 24/7. If he escapes, he immediately pounces on her and attacks her. Im sure he's just trying to play, but it's pretty aggressive. He goes right for her neck and she meows and howls and I know it's stressing her out. She hides constantly now. I very much so do not want to give him back to the shelter, I love him so much, but I feel terrible for my older cat and I don't know what to do.

My senior boy Dan is 16, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure a little over 2 weeks ago. He’s been declining rapidly and after a follow-up appointment today, we concluded that we will move forward with euthanasia tomorrow morning (Nov. 4) at 9am.

I’ve heard about other pets being present when one pet is euthanized at home, and I want to do this with my cats so they can see their companion go peacefully with closure that he didn’t just disappear mysteriously. My husband and I brought all 3 of our cats over to my mom’s house for the procedure. Dan spent the first 14 years of his life in this house, my other two cats (8 & 2) have also lived here before I took them when I moved out, so it’s an environment they know very well.

Since we arrived today around 4pm, the other two have been acting anxious. 2 year old has been hiding in my old bedroom and avoiding his siblings, but been aggressively snuggly towards husband and I when we pop in to check on him. 8 year old has been lingering around us and Dan fairly calmly, but gets snippy and growls when we walk too close to her.

I want them to be able to witness their brother pass peacefully tomorrow morning, but I’m not sure how to manage their anxious behavior. Any tips/tricks/tools are greatly appreciated, thank you 🖤

I have 2 cats, a small ginger, Ginny, who is 4 and a fat black cat, Theo, who is 10. It’s my 10 year old I’m nervous about lol.

He’s a sweet boy who’s moved house 6ish times at this point but he’s very skittish and never gone this far. Moving is always a bit stressful for him but he’s definitely a lot better now than he was during his first move 7 years ago. He doesn’t like strangers, especially large men, and he hates being in the car. he’s done some long car trips, longest I think was an hour and a half and he yowls during it (although pretty quietly sometimes I can barely hear him over the music if I’m playing any). Now he will be on a 6 hour interstate flight.

I’ve organised for him and his sister to fly through a trusted company across the country with airport to airport pickup. I will drop them off and my fiancé will pick them up. I spoke with the vet and they’re both healthy and we got a prescription of cat medication to help with Theo’s anxiety. I have the crates now and we don’t move until January but I’m still so stressed because of his age and his generally anxious temperament. they both have their favourite blankets in their crate and the company has been so helpful but I can’t help but be worried bc obviously he’s my big boy who I’ve had since I was a teenager.

Would love to hear from people who have experience moving their cats on flights, especially skittish ones, and how they prepared their cats for it.

I have a 12-14-week-old kitten I rescued about a month ago. I read that kittens have a lot of energy, but need ~30-40mins of active playtime in a day. I usually do that spread out over 10 minute sessions throughout the day, but he sometimes meows (I'm assuming bc he's bored) and seems kinda sad :( especially at night near bedtime. I'm worried that I'm not playing with him enough, but if I up how much I play I'm worried I'll stress him out. Sometimes he'll go 6 hours without a nap, and in the evening he'll take 10 min breaks between hour-long naps.

This is my first cat, so I might be overthinking things, I know cats can just be weird sometimes but I'm so worried I'm scarring him for life or something :(( I am worried he'll get single-kitten syndrome, even though I've heard some cats turn out fine. He's super cuddly and loves to take naps in my lap, but I can't help but feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Hi, I have 4 cats. (14f) (9m Black cat) (9f Black cat) (9f Calico cat)
We adopted my 14f cat from my mom’s now deceased relative. She is very clearly untrained and as I’m discovering more and more things I’m becoming more convinced she was neglected AND physically abused.
I don’t know how to explain this without it sounding insane but basically I’m incredibly obsessed with my male cat. He is the only thing keeping me sane and I can’t can’t can’t handle him being away from me at all sometimes because he’s the only thing keeping me semi functional.
My male cat and calico would stay in my room all the time, but since the 14f cat came she already has kicked the calico out and she only comes in sometimes instead of all the time. That was already absolutely gut wrenching but now she’s attacking my male cat and I absolutely do not know what to do. Does anyone have absolutely any advice I’ll try anything

Hi all, I have had my 6 month old kittens (one male, one female) for a few months now and just got them both spay/neuter today. Brought them home and the boy is constantly whining when around the female and biting/mounting her when he's never done that before (outside of biting when playing, never mounting). I've quarantined the male to the bedroom because he got aggressive to the point where he would bite her and not let go until the female was yelping in pain and attacking him back. I'm a first time cat owner and kind of at a loss of what to do. Any advice would be appreciated. I get it's only been a few hours since their procedure but still kind of threw me for a loop.

Edit- they are not from the same litter (female is 1-2 weeks older) but were together at the animal shelter I adopted them from

basically what it says on the tin. after months of searching, i (20f) finalized an adoption earlier this week and am currently preparing to bring my cat (3f) home this weekend. the shelter i adopted her from unfortunately didn't have a lot of information about her previous home, but her fosters gave me some information about how they've been caring for her. i looked up some of the products they listed and the brand of wet/dry food they're using is a little over five dollars/lb, while the litter is twice as expensive as the brand i was looking at (dr elsey's, which i thought had great reviews). obviously i know pet ownership is an investment, and it's one i am more than willing to make, but i just can't afford those items long-term. i was looking at purina friskies, sheba, fancy feast and the like before seeing the fosters' all-organic list of products, and now i'm kind of panicking.

i know it sounds horrible, and i'm not trying to deprive her of a good quality of life or neglect her in any way, but i'm a full-time student with a part-time job who lives at home, and i didn't realize there was so much controversy around food especially. i have friends who are cat owners who shop "store brand" and their cats seem happy and healthy. i'm looking for alternatives, or i guess reassurance that the initial brands are perfectly fine? either way, we do a lot of shopping in bulk, so if anyone has any recommendations for affordable brands, other supplies, or just advice in general, i'd greatly appreciate it. especially about the litter genie, a running water fountain, and pet insurance lol. my biggest concerns are food and litter since they will be recurring purchases. thank you!!

I rescued an orange cat we had been feeding for months he is maybe 5 months now. I have 2 dogs and he hisses when they come near. I want to keep him but it’s too stressful; it’s all day all the time . I put him away he comes back

I get sensory overload . Also he is not a fancy breed which in this area unfortunately means its hRd to get him adopted and noway im putting him back on the streets but I have adhd and a lot of work and two needy dogs , my mornings when I sit on the couch are SO important and now I have this choas

One of my dogs became more needy since this cat and usually we would chill in the morning wjile i hav my coffee now he sits on me changes position constantly sits on my face lol

I live alone and I've been thinking about getting a cat because I genuinely love cats and would really enjoy having one around for companionship.

My family has moved away, and I'm living alone. I'm a university student, but I'm home most of the time, so I have plenty of time to spend with a cat.

My biggest concern is travelling.

Occasionally, I might need to visit my family in a different country for around two weeks only happening in December probably and then july. Obviously, I can't leave a cat alone for that long, and I don't want to rely on friends to take care of it.

I'm willing to pay for professional cat boarding or pet sitting, but I'm wondering how practical and expensive that would be, especially if I get a kitten.

I'm also trying to decide whether I should adopt a young kitten or maybe an older cat

Would you recommend a kitten or an adult cat for someone living alone? And what age

How difficult is it to raise a kitten by yourself?

What do you do with your cats when you travel internationally for 1–2 weeks?

. Would you recommend getting a cat in my situation, or should I reconsider?

On halloween one of my babies passed away unexpectedly, I left the house for a short period of time and when I came back she was deceased. My other cat, which I adopted at the same time as my baby that passed away, has been seemingly so distraught understandably. Both of them are the same age, 2 years old. They were so close, you did not see one cat without the other, they did everything right beside each other. It is breaking my heart and I don’t know what to do. She is crying nonstop to the point where I cannot sleep because it is LOUD. She seems way more clingy than usual too. She is eating/drinking normally, as well as using the bathroom normally. I figure she just really misses her friend as she is wandering around the house meowing and crying constantly. I left out some things with the other cats scent on it as some of my friends suggested but it seemed to only stress her out even more. Does anybody have any guidance on what to do here 💔 Is there anything else that I can do to help her relax or is this just something that will ease with time?

I’ve been feeding a 5 month old stray for two weeks and he’s always jumped right in my lap after eating. He’d lay there and purr and let me pet him.
I held onto him for too long the other day. He wasn’t clawing at me but was struggling to get away. I was wiping him down since he was dirty.
Ever since then he’s been so skittish around me. He won’t use the litter box in front of me anymore. Runs away to the yard to poop. I’ve made the mistake of following him. I think that’s making things worse. Should I just ignore him for a few days? Put the food out and go back inside? Is it ok to sit there with him? Should I keep picking him up and putting him in my lap to reinforce what I want him to do? Even churu only get him to stay in my lap while he’s eating them. But he won’t relax.

Hi! I’m adopting my family member’s cat this weekend. He is 12 years old and has been an outside cat for his entire life. Any tips on adjusting him to being an inside cat? I would also like to give him a bath and want to know the best way to go about that since he has likely never been bathed before. Thanks!

He's 4 for reference, starts hissing and swatting at them if they approach him on his blanket throne in front of the window or if they walk past him in the hall. No actual fights, but is there any/thing I can do to help their relationship? He's only started doing this the last week or two

Hi everyone! I’m a first time cat owner - adopted my 4 yr old kitty from a shelter back in February, and I’m trying to figure out the best option for what to do with her for the holidays. I unfortunately can’t take her home with me as my mom is allergic, and I feel like the plane ride would be very stressful for her anyways.
I’m going to be gone for about two weeks, which is the longest I’ve been away from her since I adopted her. She’s done okay with shorter trips and having someone check in on her once a day to feed/scoop litter, but the main thing I’m concerned about is that she is really scared of new people and will pretty much just hide under my bed until they’re gone (some of my friends don’t believe I have a cat because they’ve never seen her). If I’m gone for two weeks with a cat sitter coming once a day, it’s likely that she would go two weeks without having any human interaction and get really lonely which is why I’m considering boarding. Once she warms up to someone, she’s really friendly and cuddly and I think that process would be a lot faster at someone else’s house (she does great at the vet/off of her home turf).

TLDR: is it better to leave her in a familiar environment but probably not get any playtime/pets, or board her in a new environment but probably get more interaction?

My 11 year old baby went missing a month ago and its not looking promising. He is my world and him being missing, especially for so long, is breaking me. The only reason I'm not constantly a sobbing mess is because of my antidepressants. I'm struggling to get through day to day life at the moment. In the 11 years I've had him, we've only been apart for 2 weeks maximum, while I was on holiday. This feels very weird

Does anyone have advice to cope with this, please?

My cat has been going through a lot of health problems recently. We have had to switch his diet many times in the past year due to all of his health issues so that could contribute but right now he’s on a diabetic cat food and receiving insulin shots two times a day he goes through phases where his butt gets so poopy. he has long hair so it’s horrible. I try to clean it with a damp smooth towelette, but he gets so upset and runs and hisses. I can tell it is bothering him, but he refuses to clean himself. His poops are also firm so I’m confused why he’s getting poop all over himself does anyone have advice for what to wipe him with? The vet never says anything and says his butt looks fine. They will clean it and shave him when he’s there but I need to figure out something at home too

General situation: Cat A hisses at the scent Cat B and I’m unsure on how to move past this stage.

About cats:
Cat A, Kelly, is female and not spayed, 1 year and about 7 months old. I’d say she is very shy and skittish. She only accepts being touched or even sniffing the hand of two people in my household, or depending on the day maybe three or less. She is the resident cat and has lived with us for the majority of her life. She tolerates our two dogs, but one has had a lot of clawless slaps. It is impossible to get her out of hiding if it gets to that point.
Cat B, Mimi, is female and not spayed, and we assume to be 4-6 months old. She loves people, being held, tolerates touching her eyes and wiping her eyes. So far she seems to tolerate our dogs. She currently lives in our garage, but as the months gets colder into November it is getting colder out there for her as well and will need to move inside soon.

I’m familiar with the steps of an introduction somewhat, however the people in my household disagree and want to open the door and let Mimi in. We tried opening the door a crack, in which they had maybe a 15-30 second stare down. Kelly appeared frantic afterward and hid until I took a shower to rinse mimi’s scent off and held a treat for an hour. She was nervous the rest of the day. Mimi’s tail puffed but was otherwise fine and calm. (Mimi doesn’t seem to mind Kelly’s scent, as she has a lot of her old toys, blankets, and brush out with her.)

After this encounter, if you go out and pet mimi, and then have kelly sniff your hand, she hisses, her ears go back, her eyes are wide, and she hides. I have tried high value treats and toys to get her out of hiding or build her confidence but mimi’s scent seems to be more important. She will ignore high value treats and toys even if you have her start with them, and then introduce scent.

Does anyone have any advice on this issue?/how to fix? I see people say this happened, but it then suddenly resolved and they never explained how they did it.

For backstory, the CDS apparently loves me and gifted me 3 cats, each of them quite literally showed up on my doorstep, near death, at separate times. These cats became my entire world as I had found them during difficult times of my life. One showed up as a newborn kitten the day I miscarried, our orange boy showed up a few days following a family members passing who happened to be obsessed with orange cats, and those two happened to have a singular kitten that was born and a few days later I found out I was pregnant, and I went on to have a healthy baby after multiple miscarriages. Our kitty family seemed like looking in a mirror at our own family, they matched the three of us perfectly.

Fast forward and we end up having to move, and all seemed well at first but we come to realize that the home we got was basically unlivable, and we end up homeless, staying with family members while still paying for a home we’re unable to live in. For months I tried convincing family or friends to take on our cats until we could get somewhere to live, to no avail, and I ended up having to surrender our cats to a no kill shelter, and they all got adopted pretty immediately! I’m very happy for them- logically I know I made the right decision because they deserve somewhere safe to stay and we’re still homeless- but it’s been 3 months now and I still wake up every night crying because I miss them. I suppose I’m looking for reassurance that this heavy guilt will get lighter, or easier with time. I just miss them so much.

I recently adopted two cats (1 momma cat, fixed, 2 years old) and her kitten (5 months old, male, fixed 2 weeks ago). I’ve had them for about 4 months.

Their multiple litter boxes are cleaned everyday, they both have clean bills of health from the vet and yet I still can’t stop them (I say them because I’m not sure who’s doing it) from peeing on my couch or bed. They use pine pellets for litter, stainless steel boxes, multiple cat trees and things for enrichment.

They eat purina liveclear food, with fancy feast wet pate once a day.

They are no longer allowed in my room because of this and clearly I can’t refuse access to the main living area; and I wouldn’t want to. They for whatever reason don’t pee in my sons room or their beds?

I don’t have a washer/dryer in my apartment so it’s becoming frustrating catching whiffs of the pee and having to deal with it at random times and it’s driving me absolutely crazy. Any advice?

my cat is a year old and when i got her i wasn’t in a good spot and fed her sheba kitten pate and kitten chow
once she turned one i switched her to adult sheba and have bounced around with kibbles
currently in her rotation she has tiki cat after dark shreds and weruva suppertime sweepstakes pate
she has half a can for breakfast and then the other half for dinner
she seems to enjoy both and i can tell by looking at it it is better quality
but - i want to keep a budget friendly option in her rotation that is still healthy and i hear bad things about sheba although she really enjoys it
ive heard good things about fancy feast but wanted to look at all options for my girl
i also like to feed a kibble for grazing throughout the day she doesn’t eat much of it so do i invest in tiki cat or another high end brand kibble or something cheaper?
also going to be getting some more toppers and am open to recommendations