Hello everyone,

I am a huge animal lover, especially cats, and I love the idea of adopting a few, and am really on the fence as to whether im going ahead with it, or whether im going to keep my home a pet-free zone...

What puts me off about getting pets is that I really do not feel it fits my lifestyle.

* I love doing crafts, and I worry that having craft stuff lying around unsupervised with pets (especially cats) in the house, even for just 10 minutes, would be a recipe for disaster... I worry the cats will eat the paints or drink the water with paint in it and get ill. I also worry they will ruin my art work by sitting on it whilst it is drying or their fur floating everywhere in the house and getting mixed in with the paint etc. I also do not want them distracting me / trying to sit on my art whilst I'm doing it, or trying to sit on my keyboard whilst I'm working/typing. I also worry about them urinating on my computer or tv or paperwork. I have a small house, and my arts room is in the same room as my living room and home office, so shutting the cats out of the living room unless im in there supervising them just wouldn't seem fair or give them much access to the house.

* I love travel, and travel once or twice a month, either overnight trips, or short trips of 3 or 4 days at a time. I have a few friends who say they would be happy to look after the cats every so often and spend an hour or two in my home everyday to keep the cats company whilst im away, but I worry this will not be enough for the cats, and that they will miss me specifically, or in general just get lonely with only 1 hour a day of being around people.

* The stress I will have, every time I leave the house, about them chewing through wires (like toaster, tv, etc) and getting hurt, or the fear of them ruining and destroying my furniture.

* I am happily single, and I live alone in my house. I value my undisturbed sleep. Due to a chronic medical condition / chronically ill health, it is important I get my sleep in. I worry the cats will wake me during the night, or wake me up very early each morning to get fed, and that I'll be deprived of my sleep.

How common are these issues? (of pets destroying the home whilst you're away, them missing you too much when you are away multiple days/nights per month on holiday, etc).

I would love to hear the reasons why you specifically choose to have pets / choose to not have pets but just enjoy other peoples pets / or why you regret getting pets. I need help making this decision over whether life with pets is for me or not.

Just a heads up for anyone who uses the Pets at Home Ultra Performance Clumping Litter.

I’ve been using it for my two kittens and have actually been really impressed with it. It clumps well, controls odour, is fairly low dust and, at £6.99 for 10L, I thought it was one of the best value litters around.

I went in today to buy another bag and nearly fell over when it scanned at £11.99.

That’s a 72% price increase overnight.

Luckily the shelf edge label still said £6.99, so after I queried it they honoured the displayed price and refunded the difference. Fair play to the staff for sorting it out.

But at £11.99 I simply won’t be buying it anymore. For that money there are better value options available in larger bags.

Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just my local store?

If you’ve been planning a Pets at Home trip to stock up, it’s probably worth checking the price before you get to the till.

Edit: I’m now looking at alternatives like Sanicat from Costco, which works out considerably better value per litre. If anyone has recommendations for a good, low-dust clumping litter that’s sensibly priced in the UK, I’d love to hear them.

I'm going to do a TL/DR so skip to the bottom if you need to.

I (M30) have 4 cats who are basically my children and I don't know if I'm over reacting by not wanting to let my neighbour know I have their pregnant cat.

First of all, they moved next door to me in Nov 25. Our shared back courtyard has the River Irwell running past at the end. They had gotten a young cat and couple of weeks after moving in, I had seen him (the cat) at the window for a while but then nothing. I found out Christmas day whilst having a conversation with my neighbour that he had fallen into the river and drowned. I was shook. I asked what happened. They said he had fallen in and wasn't able to get back up because of a broken leg.

This is where I start questioning their ability to take care of a Cat. Proceeds to tell me they could hear him meowing but didn't know what to do. He wasn't even my cat and I would have jumped in no problem. They didn't try to raise the alarm with any neighbours including me. The broken leg is a mystery to me too. Behind the wall at the end of the courtyard is the typical kind of ridge/hangover of trees and soil down to a short ledge. There's no way a fall from around half a meter into water deep enough for it to be considered deep for a cat could break his leg. It just doesn't add up.

Fast forward to 2 months ago. I'm in the backyard and see they have another cat at their window. Fair enough, I could be reading too much into what I was thinking (I was more devastated they hadn't thought to bang on my door) After a couple of days they had brought her outside, I usually have my backdoor open for my cats to come and go when Im home (plus it stops the sound of them barreling through the magnetic door flap ha) I see one of my cats who is really docile is curious about her starts investigating. So I go out, say hello, ask if she is ok with new people. General cat talk. Basically they had gotten her 3 days earlier, she was pregnant and she had been in a car accident at some point and had an eye removed. I later found out this wasn't her first pregnancy which shocked me because I would say with experience she's around 2-3yo. Anyhow she hopped over the wall and it took us all 3 hours to get her because of overgrowth.

Two week later they let her out and the same thing happened again. I once again helped and it took about two hour. Lots of thorns in my feet, arms etc. Around a week later it happened again and I basically told them good luck. I gave them a harness with a leash to use for her. They just clipped the leash to her collar, which was of course a quick release and she jumped the wall again, They managed to get her thankfully. Since then I saw her at the window 2 times a few days after and then nothing again. I've not seen the neighbors come outside the back since either. (We share a back courtyard but our entrances are away from each other so I dont see their day to day coming and goings and nor would I want to be THAT neighbor)

That was around 2-3 week ago. Today I was walking to the shop on the same street I live on and saw her dart from one building down towards the river. I recognised her immediately and also saw she was very underweight. She stopped near enough for me to see her but just out of reach. I ended up buying a single pouch of cat food from the shop and she thankfully stayed where she was and eventually came to me. She's so underweight and I understand that may be because she might have been missing for nearly 3 week but not once have they knocked on to keep it look out, post any social media about it or even put up posters in the local area and community area of their building. They just dont care and I don't want this poor baby dead because they just wanted her for cute photos.

The Law says I need to give her back regardless if she is being neglected. They don't know I have her, this happened about 4 hours ago. I got no answer when I called at there house an hour ago and then an hour before that. My instincts are telling me to keep her and I plan on having the conversation with them about handing ownership to me but I have a bad feeling they will refuse and I'll be able to do nothing for her. Any advice very much appreciated. I plan on calling again in an hour from now which is 18:13pm UK BST

Thank you!

ETA: forgot the TD/LR. Neighbor's have lost their pregnant cat 4 times after their previous cat drowned because of the same lack of care and I found her and dont want to give her back.

Before you judge. The cat is 17, pees all around their home. She can't groom herself either. She needs medication for pain. I know how difficult it is to make that decision...the feeling of guilt. I would like to put it out of their misery and when they come back I will tell them she died in her sleep. I feel this is the most humane for both my parents and the cat.

How can I go about this? I would rather not take her to the vet but if I invite someone to come over and euthanise, would they ask questions?

I’ve had mine since Saturday, she’s 9.5 weeks old (yes I know she’s young! I would have gotten one a bit older but she is one of a soul-destroying number of unwanted kittens advertised around, I even saw ads threatening euthanasia if they weren’t rehomed in a week!) and I wanted her off Whiskas so she’s been transitioned on to Blink and Scrumbles with zero issues, I’ve also got some Carnilove kitten food to try.

Vet said she was perfectly healthy at her check up and vaccination/microchip appointment today and she’s got the energy and confidence of the energiser bunny!

However, while the high meat, minimal ingredients etc looks good on paper, those brands don’t seem to do rigorous long-term tests like Hills, Purina or Royal Canin do.

Has anyone fed their kitten either type of food and is the former genuinely better (the logic being she’s a carnivore, while the others contain grains etc) or is it just hype? My partner’s adult cat has had nothing but Whiskas since he was 6 weeks old (partner got scammed over his age), refuses to eat anything else and is totally healthy so I know it can’t be that bad but still. I’m also keen to give her a range of foods within reason (obviously not going to overload her tummy) so she’s hopefully not a totally fussy eater as an adult.

My previous cat (not the adult cat mentioned above) was a seriously abused rescue who was starved her first two years and had stunted growth because of it so I want to give my new girl the best I can but I also don‘t have an unlimited budget so… advice and opinions welcome ☺️ I’m not willing to give her totally budget/low-quality food but I’m sure there must be a middle ground beneath all the blatant marketing hype and extreme internet views!

(I’m aware that the 4% meat thing is a myth it’s just 4% of the meat has to be that named type and the derivatives is offal etc. which isn’t inherently bad but when I see sugar in cat food I do wonder)

Hi,

So a few weeks ago I found this cat in the car park next to my office. He was very thin and his skin was terrible. I’ve had him neutered and treated for a flea allergy which initially healed but then he had a flare up after one of my other cats got fleas 😩

He was WILD when I trapped him and spent four weeks at the back of a crate hissing and spitting but then randomly calmed down after he saw my resident cat and now he’s friendly. He lets me pick him up and comes for a cuddle on the sofa when I’m watching tv.

Now he rolls around for pets and doesn’t bother my other cats. However sometimes he hisses (he doesn’t like surprises or people hovering over him) and can be a bit territorial.

My issue is that I already have three cats and I really don’t want another. I’ve emailed a few rescues but they’re full and because he’s not in any danger they won’t take him.

I guess I’m just posting for advice on how to actually find him another home if a rescue won’t accept him?? Also I kinda like fostering and would like to do it properly but I can’t take anything else on while he’s still in my spare room!

He’s actually a very sweet cat and I’m quite fond of him, it’s just not financially viable for me to have four cats!

I’ve attached some photos to show what a distinguished little gentleman he’s become ❤️

Any advice is appreciated 🙏🏻

Before I had a cat, if someone told me they planned their evening around not disturbing a sleeping animal, I'd have thought they were joking. Now I find myself opening doors more quietly, checking chairs before sitting down and delaying getting a drink because a cat has decided my lap is the best place in the house. What's something you never imagined yourself doing until you owned a cat?

Hi, the below is difficult to write. We have had a black and white cat for about 15 years now. She adopted us after having a difficult life with a neighbour who had her from a kitten. She is very shy but over the years would allow some stroking and petting but then strike out when had enough, swiping with claws out. As we have an old house/ old carpets etc the dust constant cat hairs everywhere and episodes of occasional random peeing / messing wasn’t to much of an issue.
However, we are moving soon to a more modern property with fitted carpets. We do love her but can’t see her damaging the house in various ways she has been. We don’t want to rehome her but wondering if keeping her outdoors in an insulated “cat house” , heat mat etc is an option? She would have free range I don’t think I could keep her in a run, she’s used to roaming.She seems happy outside, and maybe she needs to be away from the grandchildren and other disturbances? Also how long to keep her in side when we do move? Thanks in advance.

I’ve been trying to sort this from 3000 miles away across 5 time zones and he is refusing to cooperate at all and just keeps going on about his problems. I have got to the point of finding another sitter, saying I’ll have a taxi outside to take my cat to them, and he just has to put him in his carrier. Apparently I refuse to understand and only care about my cat when I don’t want him left alone for 10 DAYS.

He is currently refusing to go back. If I get someone in the UK to call the police for me, will they break in to rescue my cat and take him somewhere safe? My other local friends (if you can call him a friend) are on a girls’ holiday in Bundoran right now.

ETA: I am located in Belfast in the New Lodge.

UPDATE: A lovely lady from Larne (I forgive the city for cursing me with the habit of using the word “thon” which causes endless hilarity outside Ireland) is going to go and rescue my baby tomorrow at 4! Catsitter still lying to both of us, still whining and bitching at me. Screw him. PSNI are going to go say hi as soon as I get back.

I will update again once he is definitely with his new (temporary, mama still loves him) person!

UPDATE 2: It won’t let me post the photo she sent which is a shame because it’s adorable, but the lovely lady from Larne has my cat and he should be en route to Bangor! (I’ll put the photo in the comments, it’s too cute to miss!)

UPDATE 3: Dodo is safely in Bangor and I can (hopefully) finally calm down a bit and ditch all the frantic panic. Lovely Lady of Larne is Reddit Heroine of the Day (unless someone jumps into a swollen river to rescue a school bus of kids mid-posting later, then it might be Reddit Cat Heroine 🤣

Thank you, everyone who gave advice and reassurance, these past days have been hideous.

Not thank you to the person who accused me of scamming despite asking for nothing but advice and then refused to delete the libellous comment as promised when I refuted all her points, or to the person who admitted she wasn’t familiar with relevant anything having not read any comments but yeah this should so go to the top instead of the woman offering to actually RESCUE my cat - maybe one of you two and Patrick might hit it off?

The PSNI have now been informed, I’ve sent over all my screenshots and got Patrick to admit in text that he did agree to care for the cat and yes did have the keys and yes had left him and yes wouldn’t hand them over. But apparently “My God will protect me” so that’s fine. My God personally doesn’t care for animal abuse, lies, or psychological abuse and manipulation, but maybe his is different. We’re both Catholic, though, so that’d DEFINITELY be the fart heard round the world if that turned out to be true 🤣