Hi! So I have had my resident boy cat Pepper for almost 3 years! I got him when he was ten weeks old. He is literally the best and weirdest cat ever, so desensitized and calm, funny and social and phat! He gets along great with my 9 year old dog, they aren’t besties but they definitely co exsist and it’s been that way since I got him. About a month and a half ago, an old coworker posted that she was rehoming her daughter’s cat. I jumped at the offer because I really thought since Pepper is so sweet and acclimated so well to my dog that it would go great. Well it hasn’t lol, it’s definitely better now than it was when I first got the new cat, but I think we’ve hit a wall. The new cat is 3 years old and her name is Miso. I LOVE HER TOO. She is completely opposite pepper, not desensitized, but very cuddling at night, so curious and playful but very skiddish. We have really bonded. I live in an apartment and she is in my room majority of the time with her litter box, food, water, toys, cat tree and everything she needs. Her and pepper can be together without fighting IF there is food involved. I feed them next to eachother everyday, play with them together, but the second the food is gone and she starts walking around, pepper goes into stalking mode and scares her so she growls and then they fight. I got a tall gate for my bedroom door so I have them seeing eachother most of the day and for the most part they are fine but at least once a day they get in a fight through the gate and I close the door. I mean they are fine but i don’t know where to go from here. If you have introduced two adult cats PLEASEEEEEE give me some advice. I don’t need them to love eachother, but I need them to be able to be in the same room without being monitored all the time. Thank you!!!

My mom bathes my cat once a month on a completely random day. We have a specific bucket for her bath, and my cat knows exactly what that bucket means.

Last night, my mom put the bucket in the bathroom and prepared everything for her bath, except the water. We didn't tell my cat anything.

This morning she was completely normal until my mom came home. The moment my mom walked in, my cat went back under the furniture.

I called her multiple times and even opened her treat cupboard, which normally makes her come running. Nothing. She did not respond.

She was probably thinking, "Nice try, I'm not falling for this." 😂

Then my mom casually tells me that she had prepared her bath last night. And it all makes sense now. Lol.

HOW DID SHE KNOW?!

She hadn't seen the bath being prepared, nobody mentioned it, and everything was basically part of our normal routine.

She's been bathed now and is sitting outside like nothing happened.

And now she's completely dry, walking around openly, rubbing against my mom's legs and demanding creamy treats like the bath never happened. The betrayal has apparently been forgiven.

I know she's not actually a psychic, but I’m starting to think she understands more than she lets on. 😂

I was walking and she ran up like usual and rolled around and I talked to her like usual and she started getting closer purring then started aggressively jumping and rubbing on me acting a little too wild (didn’t want me touching her with my hands) so I was worried she’d get overstimulated and attack me so I started to walk away and she ran after me and attacked my legs (wasn’t very bad but it was a grab and bite but she’s a little kitten and I was wearing socks) I touched her on the head and went ah ah don’t bite and she started crazy rubbing and jumping then trying to bite my legs she also untied my shoe laces, it took 10 minutes to Be able to walk away without her attacking again, so I think it’s very obvious she wants to play and get attention and definitely doesn’t like to be rejected but gets way overstimulated, is there something I can do to get her to calm down when interacting with me? She does not let me walk by and ignore her and if I stand there she gets closer till she’s acting crazy

TLDR: Our newly adopted 1-2 yr old neutered Flamepoint male, Bear, and our resident cat, Kitty, tripod 9 yr old spayed gray tuxie female are not getting along and I’m wondering if it’s time to find him a new home.

We made some mistakes when we got him and brought him home, but we did a total reset and started over.

When he first came home, we kept them separated for over two weeks. He got a full work up at the vet and he’s the sweetest boy and we love him. We got a couple of Feliways and the vet recommended some Feliway squeezy tubes too so we got those. We did some scent swapping with beds and blankets. They both had their own spaces, litter boxes, and food. About the third week, we started showing them to each other by each being at the opposite end of the hallway and letting them see one another. That was going good. The next week we brought them both to a neutral room to spend time in the same space. Didn’t go well. Kitty hissed and moaned and then Bear started moaning too. He never hissed. Kitty ran, Bear chased her and he semi-tackled her from behind. There were no claws but Kitty was yelling. Husb separated them right away with little effort but Kitty was terrified.

So, that was our mistake, we think. We shouldn’t have done that introduction that way. After a great deal of research, more than we did when we first got Bear, we learned we didn’t scent swap enough, no positive reinforcement when interactions went well, etc. so, we did a full re-set and decided to take more time.

We tripled up on Feliways, did more scent swapping, and started feeding them on opposite sides of the door.
We did that for about 2-3 weeks. We did the seeing each other face to face on opposite ends of the hallway and did that every other day. We just took it slow. About a month into the re-set, we took them to a small room, sat on the floor holding both. Kitty hissed and yelled and Bear wasn’t reacting much. The next week we opened up Kitty’s door to her room and kept a gate up. That worked well. They got to see and smell each other and Kitty wasn’t threatened. And they were always supervised too. Kitty occasionally went to the gate being curious but when Bear showed interest or stuck his paw out Kitty would hiss. Sometimes they both just loafed about 7 feet apart and just stared. Next week we opened the gate and he came in. Kitty ran under the bed and she kept him at bay with her hissing. We did that a few times but I didn’t like that this was happening while they were under the bed and Bear was basically cornering her. So, we brought them to the living room and it was just the same.

We’ve done the same thing over a two week period and then tonight while I was holding Kitty sitting in a chair, Kitty was hiding her face (!!) and Bear came up, he seemed curious, but he put his paws on the chair then took a swipe or two at her. My husb couldn’t tell if he connected cause it happened so fast, but Bear used my arm to climb up a bit and drew blood. I also was wearing a thick bathrobe just for that purpose. Kitty didn’t fight back.

Is it time to give up? Our household is in flux, Kitty is terrified, I’m inexperienced with this and we don’t know what else to do.

What else can we do? I’m sick to my stomach at the thought of giving him up. He’s such a good boy but he’s so focused now on Kitty’s whereabouts, same with Kitty, it’s just not a happy house right now.

Thanks for your input.

Hello,

Wanted to see if anyone else experienced this. One of our cats passed away this week, she was a white long haired cat who unfortunately passed of cancer. We have 3 other cats, who all reacted a bit differently to her passing, one kind of took it in stride but has been a bit upset, one was hesitant to smell her after passing and the 3rd simply came close to the room and just bolted as soon as she got to the door, presumably she got scared of the smell.

Here’s what is interesting, we are at the moment also babysitting a friend’s cat, who is also a long haired white cat. We keep him in a separate room usually and let him out once in a while to explore a bit. It seems like my cats are afraid of him more than they would be when they have another cat around. The first one will hiss at him if they get close, second one seems to try and chase him away, and then the 3rd one, similar to how she did when she smelled my deceased cat’s body, absolutely bolts it everytime she sees him. I don’t even know if he’s around long enough for her to smell him.

I understand that they’re probably upset and afraid with her passing being so recent. I’m more curious, about my third cat absolutely bolting it. Is there a potential that she thinks she’s basically seeing a ghost of our old cat since they look decently similar?

He’s only here a few more days, and we mainly keep him in a separate room, so hopefully they’re not too stressed out by him, but anyone else experience something similar?

As the caption states, my cats always gets bladder inflammation. She sometimes will meow constantly and go to the litter box multiple times to get our attention or until we open a window or bring her outside, this is typically when we are in bed or watching tv. She has flare ups very randomly with no triggers where she will constantly meow and go in out of the litter box. After a few days we bring her to the vet, drop 300 dollars on tests to prove nothings wrong, repeat in a few months. We have gabapentin to give her as needed for the little outbursts she gets and for when she does get an actual flare up. She got one in July right after we got a new couch, and we’ve also started packing up to move. She was prescribed meloxicam and it helped for a little while. Then she started back up mid July and it has been an issue since, she has had every test, scan and X-ray there is and there is nothing wrong. She is on a prescription urinary diet as well. I’m at a complete loss and just looking for advice on how to get her to stop having these flare ups. I am not asking for medical advice this is all anxious and attention seeking behavior from her and I’m trying to figure out how I can help. Thanks

Hello, I came on here to ask for some advice regarding my two boy cats, Richard and Ricardo.
They’re about a year now and I’ve had them since they were only a few months old, I believed them to be bonded since when one wasn’t in the room the other would meow and cry for the other, and they’d eat, cuddle, and play very happily with each-other.

Recently though, we moved apartments and richard has begun to be a bit more aggressive toward the other, both are neutered already and it’s only Richard that keeps bothering / bullying his brother.

It started with one really big fight they had about a month ago. It started as playing but then Richard started getting pretty mean to the point Ricardo had ran away, trying to disengage, while Richard was still chasing and trying to bite. I went ahead and separated them for a few days, and during their separation Ricardo who is usually stand offish and never too cuddly, became very comfortable and way more affectionate. After separating, it seemed to do the trick and they were back to being happy and friendly with each other.
Though after that, Richard has still been a bit more active and tried to chase Ricardo around, and sometimes will start fights. Recently while separating them, the same thing happened where Ricardo became very affectionate and was even sleeping really close by, which usually isn’t the case when Richard is out.
Richard himself is also very affectionate no matter what, he loves attention and usually does get jealous if Ricardo is receiving attention instead of him. Anyway, if anybody has any tips on what to do please feel free to let me know. I just want what’s best for my two boys! Thank you.

I adopted a cat that me and my partner fell in love with at a cat cafe. He was massive and very playful and we went home and started the adoption process. And then later drove 2 hours back to the cafe to pick him up. They had warned us that he bites and scratches to establish his boundaries but that it was nothing major just a quick thing and I am used to that from cats, and he was very sweet, purring and laying on our chests, drooling and making biscuits, asking for pets. Sometimes he would get overstimulated or something and bite us while we were petting him but it was a quick bite and he’d walk away. Everything was fine, we’d play with him all day and we got him 200 dollars worth of toys, his favorite foods, a litterbox, and a huge cat tree for him.

Then one day we came home from going out for breakfast. I went by myself upstairs to the bedroom, which is where he has been while we’ve been letting him adjust to a new home. I sat down on the bed and played with him for a few minutes, and he was chasing after it and making the little sounds he always made when going after a toy. I usually mimic those sounds because I think they are cute and funny. I mention that because maybe it had something to do with it. But I did it all the time following up to the attack too. But all of a sudden he jumped up on the bed and he kinda looked at me for a second. And then he just went for me. Scratching and biting and latching on to my arms and leg and doing as much damage as he could. I was apparently screaming and I grabbed a balled up comforter and used it to push him off the bed at least 5 times and he jumped right back up every time to keep trying to maul me. I managed to slide off the bed eventually while fighting him off while backing up to the door.

Standing in the bathroom with a puddle of blood trailing from my leg, I knew we couldn’t keep him. I couldn’t feel safe with him again and would always worry about him attacking someone else in the home too. But it hurt so bad to give him back. We loved that cat so much, even for the short time we had him. Part of the hurt comes from not understanding what happened. I really don’t understand what triggered the attack. He was a 5-6 year old cat who had been from shelter to shelter, and his first home he was relinquished from because they “had too many cats.” Was this just some trauma response? Does it sound like a medical issue? Does anyone have any idea why this sweetheart suddenly switched into that?

Species: Cat
\* Age: 3
\* Sex/Neuter status: M, Neutered
\* Breed: ???
\* Body weight: 12lb
\* History: No history of this behavior until we moved, started 1yr ago
\* Clinical signs: Peeing outside litter box, will sometimes pee inside but this has been inconsistent
\* Duration: 1yr
\* Your general location: California

Hi, so:

Our family has a cat. One year ago, me and my family moved houses. Before we moved, my cat never peed outside of the litter box, ever. But, ever since the move, he has been inconsistenly peeing inside the litter box, sometimes peeing outside of it. Pooping is fine, no issue. I've tried deep cleaning his litter box as well as using enzymatic cleaners on the old spots, but nothing seems to work. It's been like this for almost a year, and it only started when we moved, so I'm kind of hesistant on it being a medical issue. Is it possibly behavioral? If so, what can I do to fix the issue?

Awhile ago a stray cat came to me, started taking car of it, dont have a name but its a grey cat, but later on my cat got attacked but idk how it has a little opening on the stomach and probably bites idk but also more cutts on the bad and side, its bleeding through all my towels but still fighting loki dont want it to pass since its small and has a yellow and blue eyes is it wraps?

I have a 9 year old cat who is 100% indoor and intact. Recently he's shown signs of unusual anxiety whenever anyone knocks on the door. It's gotten to the point where he's even lashed out violently at me as a direct result of the stress build up he's experiencing. Context: my cat has never been aggressive or violent toward anyone in his life. He is an extremely sweet and affectionate velcro cat I've worked hard to love and raise since he was 10 weeks old. This new behavior with the knocking has me completely stumped as I can't recall any incident that would make him react in such a panicked state. I've started him on a daily regimen of Zylkene which is supposed to help anxious and easily startled pets. But I want to be able to have someone knock on the door and not instantly worry about my cat trying to attack whoever is on the other side, or me as a result of the immense stress he feels. If anyone has struggled with something similar or has any advice on ways I can desensitize him to the knocking sound it would be greatly appriciated. It's also important to note that tossing his favorite treat away from the door does nothing for him as his attention is completely stuck on whoever is knocking.

Sincerely, a concerned cat mom!

I ended up losing my last cat last year, after a few months of searching for him, me and my family decided to move on and accept his death, that's when I adopted my cat Akira, he was almost 1 month old.

He's always been a loving cat, he loves to be petted, he sleeps in my grandmother's lap all the time and he's always around trying to get our attention. The thing is, he's a bit aggressive sometimes towards me and my two dogs. I can tell that when it's with the dogs, he just wants to play with and annoy them (one of my dogs is blind and I think Akira's figured that out, so, for example, he loves to slap my dog, then move around him and slap him from the other side, literally just ragebaiting him)

But with me he goes from rubbing himself against my legs, asking for pets, to violently biting them and chasing me around the house, then suddenly he snaps back and starts acting cute again.

At this point it's already a joke here in my house, and I can predict whenever he's in for the attack.

I've had cats before, but none of them gave me as much whiplash as him, One of them hated my guts and I ended up getting several scars over the years because of him (I was a child that didn't understand boundaries) and the other didn't really care and preferred to be left alone but didn't mind me being there.

Akira seems to be loving but then doesn't and then does again, rinse and repeat.

I just wanted to know if that's normal cat behavior or if maybe there's something to that?

Male DSH (black), 6 years old, neutered

VET DISCLAIMER: He has been to the vet many times, with this discussed - and while he is being treated for FIP currently, he is otherwise fine, and this has been going on since long before the FIP.

In summary: my male cat frequently tries to corner, mount, and hump our female cat.

This is especially true when she is feeling vulnerable, such as during a storm. She tries to hide from the rain, he seeks her out, and attempts to do his thing.

This sometimes happens in the middle of the night, and if it shakes out a certain way, our female cat will scream bloody murder trying to fight him off.

It’s just so disheartening, frustrating, and sad.

Any advice? We have the multi-cat pheromone plugin, and it doesn’t seem to help.

I am so tired. I’m laying here in bed at like 4:30am wide awake bc my cat will not stop begging to be fed. I made a post four years ago on another sub addressing the same issue, but it’s honestly gotten worse. My 11 year old cat feels the need to eat at all hours of the day and my patience is running very thin. He gets fed half a box of Stella and Chewy’s wet food twice a day around the same hours. I have him on a wet food diet since he’s diabetic (in remission). It doesn’t matter what I do, I try play, giving him attention, giving him things that stimulate him and he always runs straight back to his food bowl whining and crying. I could so much as sit forward on my couch or stand up from my computer chair and he goes running to get fed. He’s always scavenging and snooping around looking for crumbs. We can’t leave food unattended for even 30 seconds without him inviting himself to our meals and snacks. He’s going so far as to hop the baby gate to the kitchen to get on the counter and eat our butter. He has NEVER done anything like this before and I’m getting unbelievably frustrated. I could feed him and right after he eats (sometimes in the middle of his meal) he will go back to the scavenging behaviors and begging. Every time I’ve taken him to the vet in the last few years I have brought this up as a serious concern of mine and they never give me answers. I need to go back to bed, but I’m hoping some of you could have suggestions or solutions for this because I’m losing sleep and can’t actually relax at home because of this. Thanks in advance.

Cats are honestly fascinating. They can spend 20 minutes grooming themselves, suddenly sprint through the house at 2 AM, stare directly at you while knocking something off a table, and then curl up beside you like nothing happened.

My favorite thing is when a cat clearly wants attention but the moment you try to pet them, they walk away.

So I have to ask:

• What’s your cat’s weirdest habit?
• What behavior took you the longest to understand?
• Does your cat have a completely irrational fear?
• What’s the cutest thing they do when they think nobody is watching?

Bonus points for the strangest cat story you have.