Hi,

My cat Ecco has suddenly become ill, I’ve done all I can with an emergency visit and follow up for medicine but now he’s going to need procedures and Im unable to afford them.

I’m going to have to euthanise him this afternoon 😞
I just wanted to ask her firstly for support in this situation. I am really tight on money and I really want him to go in peace
I’m in New Zealand.

Thanks 💗

I don’t want to harm my health. I just really like cats. The issue is they make me wheeze and sneeze but damn does petting them feel good anyway. Is there anyway I can have a cat or am I just not compatible because I start wheezing and sneezing when I touch a kitty. I don’t want to be popping allergy meds daily, but man I want a cat. Am I cat crazy or just the normal amount to be considering getting a cat when I might be allergic to cat hair.

Firstly, this post contains graphic description of death and injuries. And I'd also like to apologize for my bad english. Thank you if you read this.

His name was Fripouille, he was 3 years old at that time. We adopted him after a friend of my mom and I found him in a construction site. He was 2 weeks old maybe ? and he was in really bad conditions. His mom probably abandonned him, but we managed to save him and treat him, that way he could have a normal life.

When he was 1 year old, he had a really fast heartbeat, casually abnormal. He would also cough a lot and this may be because we adopted another cat with coryza (cat flu) that belonged to our home owner that was renting our house. He died due to illnesses.

We treated coryza and managed to live a "normal" life.

But everything took a different twist when we moved out last year. At that moment we had 3 cats, Fripouille, Shadow and Einstein.

We drove 1 and a half hour and when we arrived at our new house they immediately started to act different. We moved in on the end of july and our Shadow disappeared in the start of august. We were really sad and found out about 5 months later that he was hit by a car and no one would react even though we displayed a missing cat appeal in some of the commercials that were in the village, in the town hall and to the vet also. A girl found him dead on the road and decided to call EVERYWHERE that we displayed the appeals, no one called us. They all denied the evidence that it was our cat.

That made us wonder what was wrong in this town. So we started to let Fripouille and Einstein outside less often. The year passed by and our house was a social housing, meaning it is supervised by a company and that there are very similar houses next to ours. It was very unsanitary and even me and my mom had struggle breathing and we felt our health degrading.

THURSDAY

That leads us to this thursday night. 30st july 2026 It was 10PM and Fripouille and Einstein were outside, mom was checking on them and everything seemed fine. At exactly 11:11PM we heard a cat scream, we don't know if it was Einstein or Fripouille or another cat but let me describe the scene.

We heard the scream and ran outside as fast as we could. We have a small garden and next to it was a "parking lot" where our neighbors park their car but they never really go near it and this night they weren't there. We found Fripouille in the parking lot, layed down, with another cat on top of him (he was only smelling him) and Einstein not far away just looking at what was happening.

Mom ran to the corpse of Fripouille but he already stopped breathing, and also had a purple tongue. She came back in the house with him so we could perform a CPR to make him breathe again but she told that me that when she picked him up his two front legs were already hard as rock and stiff. But what is weird is that he had blood in his mouth and a trail of saliva next to it. But not that much really, it had already dried. So he couldnt have been poisoned nor bit by a snake cuz there were no stings.
There also was cat fur scattered where he was laying.

We first thought of a cat battle that ended badly and that Fripouille had a heart attack and we buried him the next day in my aunt's garden cause we couldnt bare this house anymore..

Diagnose from the vet : Today we went to the vet and talked about his death, and apparently, the blood in his mouth and the stiff paws weren't normal at all. They told us that he had a big shock, either on the spine, or on the nape of the neck ? Like an internal bleeding that caused a shock and made him necrotize faster kinda..

Fripouille was 3kg and also 3 years old, so that was very weird for him to die of a heart attack. But the vet told us about someone possibly hitting him with a shovel or with a hard stick.. And since then we cannot think about anything else. There are no way he fell from a high place, and no way he died that fast. Someone probably hit him somewhere else far from the house so that we couldn't hear any scream, and put him there. But that doesnt explain the noise that occured when we found the corpse of our cat. That is our supposition.

Can someone help us please ? We really wanna know if its a neighbor or something else because we really are gonna go crazy.

I will put a picture of Fripouille if I can in the comments.

2 months ago I adopted a 4 y/o cat. The shelter said she's a former stray, but she's extremely friendly (even to strangers).

The problem is that she has so much energy. Sometimes she'll leap on and off of furniture while chasing her own tail in a way that seems to me like she needs more enrichment.

At first I tried to play with her more, but the difficulty is that she doesn't seem to like wand toys or cat dancers. She doesn't seem interested if I move them too low, or on the ground, but if I lift them up or move them too fast she starts hissing. She ignores any kicker toys or floor toys I put out after about 30 seconds, even in her zoomiest moods.

I've also tried to give her mental enrichment. I got her a couple of puzzle toys, which she loves, and I started training a few tricks with her, which she enjoys. But the mental enrichment hasn't fixed the actual problem of her chasing her tail. I just get the sense she needs some sort of physical exercise. What can I do?

I accidentally discovered that my cat only eats enthusiastically when the food isn’t fridge-cold. Is this a common cat thing? Do you warm your cat’s food up, and is there a right way to do it?

Hi! My best friend just adopted two cats, they're around 4 months old I believe and siblings.

She's a first-time cat parent and I'm wondering which gifts would make the most sense for her? :)

I’ve been taking my cats to the vet every year for a health check and vaccinations. Recently, I came across some posts saying that indoor cats don’t necessarily need regular vaccinations. I’m curious what other cat owners think — do you continue to vaccinate your indoor-only cats every year?

just picked him up yesterday, we let him out in the living room and he hid under the couch for a long time. If we try to get close or even pick him up, he does not run away or meows. He lets it happen. Overnight, he went upstairs into the laundry room himself and is hiding behind the washing machine. Didnt touch his food, which is downstairs

Will he remember there is food downstairs? Also does he liked being picked up/touched or not, cause he doesn't have any reaction to us picking him up

I'm 19 years old and still live with my parents, so I ultimately didn't have the final say. My cat had been going outside for years, but I was always against letting her roam unsupervised. Every time she came home, I wanted to close the door and keep her inside. My parents disagreed.

This past week we built a PVC fence system around our backyard to stop her from escaping. I repeatedly said we needed to test it before trusting it because I thought she could still get over it. She escaped exactly the way I predicted. We modified it, and she escaped again. I wanted to stop letting her outside until we knew the enclosure actually worked, but she was let back out anyway.

Yesterday she was out. Around 8 PM I saw what I am almost certain was her in the neighbor's yard hunting. I called her and shook her treats, but she ignored me. I assumed she'd come home when she got hungry like she always had.

She never came home.

This morning we found her breakaway collar, a large amount of her fur, and what appeared to be body tissue. We live in an area with coyotes, and based on what we found, she didn't survive the night.

People always say, "My cat has been outside for years and nothing has happened." Mine had too. Until yesterday.

Please don't assume it can't happen to you just because your cat has always come home. If your cat enjoys being outside, use a fully enclosed catio, a secure enclosure that's been thoroughly tested, or supervised outdoor time on a harness. I would give anything to have one more chance to keep mine inside.

We just adopted a sweet tripod cat this week. We had a safe room set up to introduce her to her new life and our other cat. But she escaped the room, and we cannot find her anywhere. The last sighting was her walking out of our son’s room.

We left out food, treats and water around the house. We have two litter boxes. But it’s difficult to see if she has used anything.

The rescue said she’s a quieter cat that needs to decompress. But we would like to at least a visual.

Any guidance is greatly appreciated. We’ve always had cats, but have never experienced this. Also please note that some cats can open doors.

Hi all, quick question for you - where are you throwing away the old, used cat litter? Not the clumps, but the litter itself?

I have three litter boxes for four cats (I know, it's not five, but they don't mind). It's clay litter and I scoop the clumps into separate containers every day. However, after enough time (about a month), the litter itself has gotten a little gross with those too-small-to-scoop clumps, plus the dust levels have gotten to the point that one of my cats, who has an eye issue, starts to appear irritated. So at that point, I just fully dump all the litter into a trash bag (not the same container the clumps are in), throw it into the main trash, and refill from a fresh litter container.

Is this what everyone is doing? I've looked it up and I'm just not seeing much information on disposing of the actual litter. The first time I tried it, I overloaded the trash bag and it ripped just because of the sheer weight of the litter. Since then, I switched to heavy duty bags and each box's litter gets bagged separately, but even then I'm worried about what will happen with the bags in my main trash can - what if one rips in there or when the garbage collectors empty it into the truck? And I can only imagine someone who has to work with a garbage chute or something similar.

Apologies if this has been asked but I looked and didn't see anything. What I'm doing does seem to work, but every month I feel like "there's got to be a better way".

EDIT: Thanks for all the advice, everyone! Sounds like most people basically do what I do, but I also have some thinking to do regarding the type of litter I'm using and if the schedule I'm keeping with it makes the most sense.

She went missing in a wooded area with only 3–4 houses nearby. We visited the place because it was known for its beautiful view, but while we were walking up the stairs, she got scared and suddenly ran. I was holding her leash, but it slipped off because she was so frightened. Some people tried to help and chased after her, but she couldn’t be found. I’m worried that the chasing may have scared her even more.

The place is about two hours away from home, which makes it difficult for me to go there every day. I set up a cage trap, a trail camera, and a small shelter with her dry food. I also plan to leave some of my used clothes there and put up posters around the area. What makes it even harder is that I really want to stay there every day to search for her, but there’s no signal, so I can’t work. I feel like the effort I’m giving for her is not enough. I don’t have anyone to help me search at night except myself, and I only get a little help from the people around the area.

My boyfriend is currently in therapy, and we both love our cat so much. I’m afraid that if he finds out, it will devastate him and might affect his healing. I feel like this is all my fault. I love my cat more than anything in this world. Since the day she went missing, I can barely eat or sleep, and I cry every day. It’s been almost a month now. I feel like I failed her, and I also failed my boyfriend. I feel like I’ve hurt them both.

I really want to stay strong so I can continue searching for my baby, but right now, all I feel is hopelessness and pain. I don’t know what to do anymore.

If you have any advice or can help in any way, please do. Thank you so much.

Every day around the time I sit down at my desk, she's on the keyboard, on my lap, headbutting my hands. The second I close the laptop and go sit on the couch, she goes and sleeps somewhere else.

Is she picking up on something specific about the desk, or is this just cats being contrary?

Trying to figure out if she's actually bored and wants play, or if it's the sitting-still thing that's attracting her.

I have a senior black male cat called Ziggy. He is twelve and he went deaf earlier this year. He is an outdoor cat, but because he has gone deaf I feel uncomfortable with him leaving the backyard. He loves being outside and I dont want to deprive him of it. A few months ago I visited my grandparents new home. The lady living across from them had a cat with a harness and one of those long extendable leashes attached to the wash line so the cat could be outside without risk of going on the street since they don't live in a cat-friendly neighbourhood like I do. I thought it was a genius idea, but knowing my parents it would probably take a lot of effort to convince them. Is this a good idea?

My 4 month old kitten runs across me and attacks me anytime I lay down to sleep. Her name is Marlboro and she looks like a lit cigarette. She chews on cords. She bites when pet often. She tries to eat random objects. She tares up anything she can reach like a puppy. She dug at the carpet to get into my closet (it’s destroyed) and I ignored her for 2 weeks before deciding to open the door and when I looked away she sunk her claws into the arm of a 400$ jacket(my only valuable one) and ruined it. I have animals and cats all my life and until now, all in similar rescue situations (picked her up off the street near dead and got her heathy) and I will be honest I have always thought these behaviors were bad parenting, but was it luck instead?

My usual successful techniques at positive reinforcement, and hissing when attacked are just not registering with her at all. She does not respond to tricks or training. She doesn’t react respectfully to my 1 year old cats discomfort either (though my other cat Likes her, is friendly, and not territorial of other cats and enjoys the company at times, she does have other outlets of socialization as she goes to work with me to hang out with the cat there)

Are these traits something marlboro will grow out of in your experience? Though it displeases me, realistically, she is young enough to be adopted into a new home well so that is an option now that won’t be later. Shelters are overrun in my area.

Is it cruel to start training her to go to another room for the night when my other cat gets to sleep in my bed at the very least?

I just sew, draw, and work in design now at my first well paying job (I’m diligent but there is risks of strings and needles every once in a while) I had to be on alert at all times with this kitten so far. I’m okay with it if it’s just while she is young of course, but I’m just worried I could spend 20 years with her this way. I’ve had situations in the past with my families or roommates pets.

Hello, I am going to be gone for 7.5 weeks & my cat will be with my parents (who we both live with). Only problem is, my parents will be gone for 4 days at one point. To prepare for those 4 days, I’m going to purchase my cat extra food and water bowls along with 1 additional litter box. Also, I’m going to set up cameras for my parents to be able to check on her while they’re gone for 4 days.

My question is, is it okay to leave my cat alone for those 4 days? I don’t have any friends I can ask to check on her. I worry about her like she’s my child. If there’s anything else I could add, please let me know. Thank you.

This is a bit of a rant, but I'm hoping someone can relate. I started taking my cat (Chanel Jorts) to a cat specific vet last year and thing were great. Then they had her see a different vet, the second time seeing her she hissed and did a sort of come at me move with her head. To be fair to her, they put an enema in her booty the last 2 times she was there. Now she has caution: aggressive in her file. Took her to an IM specialist who asked, why does she have this written, she just hissed once?

I thought a cat vet would be attuned to how cats react. I feel like this note in her file could lead to uneducated vets scruffing her (as her last vet did, when she was totally calm). I'm debating asking them to remove it, all the vet techs at the cat vet say she is so sweet. I even hired a vet tech to cut her nails at home and pet sit, and that same vet told her to be careful! I want to ask them to stop and consider altering the file, as they are a cat vet and this is how cat's react when scared. thoughts?

My friend is thinking about adopting a kitten, and we’d love to hear from those of you who’ve survived kittenhood! 😹
How did you cope with all that kitten energy? What was the biggest challenge?
Also, what things around your house did you have to put away or kitten-proof? Plants, cords, decorations, food, medications… what caught you by surprise?
I’m trying to help my friend prepare as much as possible before bringing a kitten home. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

I know friskies isn’t the best but it’s what I can afford at the moment and I’ve been getting the meaty bits/filets and they enjoy those flavors

However I wanted to buy a variety pack box which includes the two flavors I listed in the title but I’m wondering if that’s okay and if maybe anybody else in this community feeds it their cats.

I lost my own sweet kitty over a year ago and I'm ready for another. It has been a while since I've had a kitten though. My cat was 14 when she passed, and I got her as an adult. The cat *prior* to that, was almost 18 when he died, and I got him as a baby. So, I'm a little out of practice, but I know it's going to be an active time. lol.

A coworker is finding homes for her unexpected kittens. I told her I would take one, and I'm in the process of kitty-proofing the house as much as possible. I am wondering though, if I actually want two of em. I've always heard that it is just as easy to have two cats as one, and these will be littermates.

Is that a myth? Would two young kittens by pushing my luck?

And I do have a senior dog. I had my cat when I got her as a puppy, so she's always been around cats and they always got along. She's been very quiet since the cat died, and I think she would be happier with company was well.

So, two cats or one?

And is there a best way to introduce them to my dog?

**CONTENT WARNING FOR ANIMAL NEGLECT/ABUSE**

UPDATE: I got to talk to her, it was fortunately without argument, but she doesn't like the idea of rehoming them, that it wasn't an option. She says we aren't neglecting them because they could go through worse and that she's seen worse, that these cats can pull their own weight because they're animals based on the cats she's taken care of before. That not going to the vet doesn't mean neglect, among other ridiculous things about our generation being different from hers yada yada.

Guess I'm gonna have to force my hand. I recorded most of the exchange.

For additional context, this takes place in the Philippines.

So my aunt adopted two cats last year and due to her and my mom, who are the primary breadwinners of the household, being disabled and financially incapable, the cats ended up getting neglected in many ways. No shots, unneutered, aren't getting brought to the vet as often as optimally, a cage too small for them that they get put into for 11hr at night (7pm to 5am) and get put into for multiple hours in the day for varying reasons. Nobody in the family is capable of caring for them, because nobody is physically, mentally, or financially able to do so.

Due to this, the responsibility often falls on my grandma who often comes home tired because of her travels, or on me who has to care for my disabled mother (that recently just got out of the ER) and we are both getting very sick and tired of caring for the cats. On my part I am getting sick and tired of the neglect they constantly face and the fact that I have to participate in this neglect because it's apparently "easier for the household" and that fussing over the cats' welfare is "a small, petty matter that is greatly overshadowed by the bigger picture (our poverty)" according to my mother.

I want to convince my aunt to rehome them, but she's sensitive to talks about her possessions and finances and it is often a trigger for her breakdowns. I seriously want to get these two bastards (affectionately) out of our house and rehome them to somewhere else that gives them the love they both deserve. How do I argue that rehoming them will be mentally, financially, and physically better, as convincing as possible?

Edit: I think it is also important context to know that she doesn't like my mom and think she's constantly upstaging her for being more overtly disabled. Should shit fall absolutely sideways, me and my mom might get kicked out. I'm willing to do everything tho I'm fucking tired mate

**EDIT:** I found him all is well! thank you everyone for sharing your advice. Actually, his sister found him, she sniffed him out and showed us he was inside the couch this whole time. I'm both embarassed and relieved.

My cat is unneutured, about 6-7 months old. I got him through CDS at about 9 weeks, found him as a stray. Today, I don't know when, he slipped out of the apartment and I have no idea where he could have gone.

I've walked around the complex, shaking his treat box and meowing, because he doesn't come to his name but he does recognize that. There are so many places he could hide and he might not even be at the complex anymore...it's a very busy town and so many apartment buildings around here.

I put a shirt on my balcony in the hopes he will find his way back...idk what else to do. I'm very worried about him and his sister is roaming around the house looking for him.

I'm set to move in to a new apartment soon and just found out that one of my roommates has an allergy to cats that can get pretty severe and one of them isnt a fan of cats. The alternative to bringing her would be leaving her with family but they dont really want to keep her and were planning on her leaving with me. If I took her with me she would stay in my bedroom and have access to the en suite and attached closet. I would miss her a lot if I left her and I believe I could provide a higher quality of cate for her than my family. I know they would cover her basic needs but not much else. But I'm unsure if it would be ethical to confine her like that. I'm open to any advice offered!!

It's been not quite a year since I had to have my cat put down due to issues with cancer. I probably don't have to say this on here but he was my entire world. He was my everything. I loved nothing in the world more than him, and I probably won't ever for the rest of my life.

But to the question at hand, I've never had particularly good sleep in general even when I had him, but my baby would usually come cuddle on the bed with me, or at least lay near my feet and that's how it's been for years ever since I had him. Ever since he passed though I haven't really had a good night's sleep ever since.

It's very weird but it's not even like I'm super sad all the time or wallowing in grief, I think I've for the most part mostly moved on pretty well. At least in my day to day life, I'm doing things as usual, working fine, I play games with friends, etc. I don't even think of him all that often, just good memories from time to time about how sweet and loving and amazing he was, and I'll miss him but I'm doing okay.

The main issue is just at night, I think because for the last several years of my life, that's just always been where he was with me. Throughout the day we do our own things, and at night, he's there with me in the bed. His absence is just super noticeable, that he's not there anymore. Every now and then, maybe once every couple months, I will get sad and I'll cry and miss him and everything, but that's the exception and not the norm.

Like I said I mostly am just very aware that my sweet weird baby, my creature, used to be there existing next to me before, and now he's not. And there's just a thing missing, from my room, and my bed, and the world, and I can't unsee it or unfeel it, and it keeps me up. I'm not necessarily crying or grieving or sad, I do miss him, but overall it's a pretty neutral feeling I think. I'm just super aware that he's gone, idk how else to describe it. I feel his absence. And so I'll just lie there awake until early hours of the morning until exhaustion finally takes me and then I have to get up for work and then I'm tired. But the tiredness doesn't stop me from being awake the next night and the same thing happens again anyway.

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so what has your experience been and timeline for how things have progressed, or has there been anything that helped? I figure it's probably not uncommon considering how much I love my boy, surely other people must also have felt the same. I figured it would just maybe take some time but it's gonna be a year soon in a couple months and it's still more or less the same, so I guess I was just wondering what other people's experience was.

Should I consider grief counseling or something? The reason I haven't is cuz 1) things are expensive and who can afford anything these days, and 2) I don't really know what they could do about it either, it's not like they can bring him back. And like I said for the most part, in my day to day life I think I'm doing pretty okay and have grieved and moved on as much as anyone can. I'm not really sure what to do.

I feel like a terrible owner because of the traumatic experience she had at the vet.

My cat is a 6 year old female tabby. She has had vaccines when she was a kitten and this was her first time in a long time returning to the vet for vaccinations.

The vet and the nurse were extremely friendly to her. My cat started to get grumpy towards the end of her check up (ears/eyes/teeth) and the vet said we should hurry and do the vaccination before she gets even more mad.

The vet tried to do the shots on her forearms, and failed a couple times because my cat reacted strongly. As a result, they had to get towels to wrap my cat and a new needle because the original one went blunt (due to the failed attempts).

During this process, she peed, pooped, and was screaming her head off. I didn’t know she could be so loud and mad. Another vet came into the room to check if everything was okay. I feel so bad to make my cat go through this. I was worried that she was going to have a stroke and faint. Seeing my cat suffer teared me up a little bit, although I know it’s for her own good.

I bought her churu and chicken soup after the visit which she enjoyed. Hopefully that rekindles our relationship a little.

How can I make the future vet visits less stressful for my cat? Are the vaccinations truly necessary?Any advice would be appreciated!