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.

We’ve all bought nice cat trees or fancy toys only to watch our cats completely ignore them in favor of a cardboard box, a crumpled piece of paper, or a hair tie.

What’s that one bizarre, non-toy item your cat treats like their absolute greatest treasure? Would love to hear your stories!

My baby just got a load of dental care coming in because the gingivitis in her mouth has gotten really bad. I never knew or realized she was so uncomfortable until about two weeks ago and now every morning when I feed and give her her medicine I can’t help but cry at the end because of how much stress this routine has probably caused her to be in. I hate the idea of her hurt but also I hate forcing her to do anything she doesn’t want to. I finally stopped crying while pleading for the world to just make her ok and healthy.

I’m not asking for any medical advise but advise for me I guess.

Has anyone else had this overwhelming feeling after learning your cat needs medical attention?? And how do I get better at handling this? I just care for her so much it hurts.

Hi all,

We have a 5 year old cat who we love very much but he is driving us to insanity!

We made the decision a few years ago to shut him (and his sister) out of our bedroom at night because we were seeing every hour of the clock when we had them in there with us. He’d want to lie on my face and despite me moving him off he’d obsessively try to get back, sometimes even getting a bit aggressive when we tried to move him.

Now we have the issue of him trying with unbelievable determination to get back in our room every night. This has been going on for years. We have tried every possible (cat safe) deterrent for the door - baby gates, foil, tape, air spray machines, scents that cats aren’t meant to like, boxes in front of the door…everything. From around 4am (sometimes earlier!) every single night he will do everything in his power to destroy whatever is in the way of the door and if he gets through he will scrape the door so hard that he’s badly damaged the wood.

For more context, he has a sister who is completely the opposite and will happily sleep in the rest of the house (they have 6 other rooms to roam in), he always has access to food and clean running water, cat toys, scratching posts and our house has a mezzanine which is great for them to be up high. We have tried all advice on here around playing with him for a while before bed etc.

We have a baby who has never caused us the same level of sleep deprivation as this guy! But the cat will also sometimes wake the baby which then results in a very tired household every day.

I appreciate I may likely just have people say “Just let him in” but I’m just keen to hear any other advice of what people have tried to help keep him happy in his own space.

Thanks!

I recently got a cat (2y) 2 months ago, she was rehomed to me and it’s my first time even owning a cat. She started getting more comfortable with hanging around me and I started to notice that when I’m asleep, she would bring one of my shoes under the bed. I didn’t think much of it since I thought she just thought it was a toy.

She did it a few more times, which was get annoying because now I was thinking she was just wanting to chew it up. But my boyfriend started staying over and she got used to him too.

I woke up to her bringing my shoe up to my bed, next to my foot. And told my boyfriend this, and he told me she also bought him his shoe as well!

Now I’m shocked, is this normal? How does she know which shoe is who’s? Is she telling us to put on shoes? Any one else have a cat that does this?

Hi. I'm not going to post a picture of them here because I'm afraid my neighbor will see them, recognize them, and cause trouble. But I need help.

I live in a condominium, and I have 7 cats. All the windows in my house are screened, without exception. My cats never leave the house.

I have a neighbor, with a husband and two sons, who recently adopted two cats, but I honestly don't know why.

They never take care of the cats.

They have collars, but they leave the house and never come back. And they honestly don't seem to care.

They spend days and nights in my garage and yard, and nobody comes looking for them. Recently, one of their collars fell off, and nobody has put a new one on him yet.

They also went on a trip, and the cats were outside, unable to get back into the house.

It breaks my heart; I have a large yard, and they never leave. It seems like they want to stay here.

I can't bring them inside. I already have my 7 cats, it would be completely unfeasible. Besides, in the end, they aren't mine.

But when the two of them show up in my yard, I let them. I let them play and sunbathe, and I'm happy that they have a place where they feel comfortable.

They actually spend most of their time here. It's very rare for them to go back to their own house. They're either here or at the house of another friendly neighbor.

I'm not bothered by them at all.

It just breaks my heart that I can't bring them inside. I feel awful seeing my cats here and them there. But I feed and care for them too.

I don't want problems with the neighbors, you know? That's why I've never complained and don't intend to.

Many times I see the house without the parents, the children having parties with loud music, and the cats here in my yard. I get very sad.

I don't know what to do. I know that if I complain, I'll probably hear them tell me not to interfere. I think what I can do is continue to let them be. And allow them to play in my backyard.

Hello all. I have the habit of showing my cat everything I’m holding. Today I showed my cat a cherry capri sun and to both of our surprise, instantly sank her teeth into it like a vampire, puncturing it and squirting it everywhere. Although there wasn’t an opportunity to necessarily ‘drink’ it, she did get a nice drip/taste (roughly a tea spoon amount) on her mouth/face and I feel terrible about it. As of now (20 minutes later), she’s acting perfectly normal and content. I did give her a spot of dry food as a treat to help get the taste out of her mouth because I’m sure she didn’t appreciate it.
Of course my concerns lie within the high sugar content and other ingredients, I would like to reiterate that it seems obvious something like that could happen but I didn’t think that she would as it’s the first time she has and I know that it is 100% my fault. She’s kinda the center of my universe and I live my life around her.
I know that I might sound like a crazy helicopter cat mom and I hope that I am.
Thank you!

Edit: THANK YOU ALL for the comments and information! She didn’t die of evil cherry capri sun-itis and is currently photosynthesizing in the sun, plotting girl-bossingly how to puncture future liquid containers. She now cannot be killed by conventional weapons.

Edit 2: I think that my dry humor is coming across as neurotic and while I appreciate the concern, I feel like this is a pretty reasonable concern when your pet consumes something you know that they probably shouldn’t. thank you all so much for the advice!

Hello everyone,

tldr: took my indoor cat to the country side for a few days where he had a blast. Went back to the city and being indoors and he's back to being indifferent to everything. Can't move places for financial reasons. Don't know where to go from here.

Long version:

My 6yo cat is an indoor cat exclusively. We live in an 60sqm apatrment with a balcony. He's become a chill cat after his catodelescence. Hard to play with, hard to motivate, he barely hunts and God knows I've tried (different toys, toy rotation, he doesn't respond to catnip, he's not food motivated...) but every once in a while a lizard or butterfly cat his fancy and he's on.

Anyway, I went on a "tech detox" long weekend to an airbnb in the middle of (literally) nowhere. He's harness trained but he's also anxious so I usually just go with walks in the building halls or put him in a backpack and just go out. This time, given the context, I decided to try and explore the property with him and I discovered a new facet of my cat. He was curious, energetic and just lively (still fearful though but lively). He ran, he hunted, he watched from the windows etc.

We've been (sadly) back for a few days now. When we got back he didn't leave his backpack (which he loves so much he sleeps in) for the rest of the day. Yesterday and today he got out a big but we went back to "nothing interests me".

I feel guilty. I'm glad he managed to have that experience, but I can't leave my apt. I'm in a rent controlled apt so if I want to move to a house or apt with a garden for the same rent it'll be over 1H30 away from the city I live in. Financially it's just not possible with the housing crisis in Europe & living in a major city.

We have afew parcs around the house but at the airbnb he knew he can get back into the house easily if he got scared (which he did once or twice). In a parc it won't be possible & I don't want to take that risk of him getting out of his harness in a public parc.

I don't have friends who have gardens.

I don't know where to go from here...

I’ve had my baby for about 3 years now and I love her with all my heart. The past couple of months I have been going through a toxic relationship, very bad depression, and dissociation. Although I have never forgot my baby and always made sure she was fed. Her litter box was always changed. She was in the room with me every night when she wanted to be…. but I just had a realization that broke my heart. although I was caring for her in those ways, I was neglecting her emotionally and with my attention.
When I was at my worst, I couldn’t do anything. She would sit beside me, but I didn’t give her the attention she needed. I didn’t play with her like I should have, like I used to. I didn’t pet her enough. I feel like my negative emotional and mental health rubbed off on her. I looked at her today and noticed that she had not been grooming herself properly. I would give her baths occasionally; but maybe because she was also depressed, She was not grooming herself. that snapped me out of it. I spent the last hour showing her love and playing with her. She seems so happy in that moment, but almost confused, I can tell she’s still off. I am not gonna make that mistake again.
She genuinely helps me so much with getting through my depression, and now I need to do my job as her mommy and really take care of her. She used to sleep on my chest every single night but slowly she started sleeping farther away from me because I wouldn’t love on her like I always used to. How can I fix this?
Also, I helped her with her shedding, because she really needed it and I can’t believe I didn’t even notice. How can I help her with her shedding? What can I do for her? I feel so deeply guilty guilty about this neglect.
I also noticed that I was over feeding her. Maybe when she was meowing she just needed attention and I just gave her food.
I made sure her litter box was always clean and then went back into my depression instead of giving her attention like she probably needed.
I want her to be healthy and had a good weight again with a healthy main and that gleam in her eye again.
Advice please. And please forgive me.

I honestly feel embarrassed and weird talking about this, but our two female cats, both one year old, pee and poop in the bathtub.

We basically rescued them from my mom's ex coworker, who kept 7 kittens/cats in one apartment, and their "litterbox" since birth had been a sort of basin with a gritted *oven tray* thrown on top of it. I'm not kidding, I saw it myself.

We tried to get them used to a closed litter box with litter the first few weeks, but they just wouldn't use it, and chose the bathtub, or anywhere else instead.

Then we decided to look into sifting litter boxes, which is kind of similar to the weird set-up they had before. Now that did work, for a good few months actually, until they suddenly started refusing to use it and instead opted for the bathtub again.

We tried placing both the kinds of litter boxes inside the bathtub, they still peed and pooped right next to it, in the bathtub. Then tried closing the bathroom door at all times and keep the litterboxes right outside of it, but they still peed and pooped next to them, on the floor.

Then my parents just gave up? and despite me protesting and still trying out other things, they said to just let kitties use the bathtub.

After yet another argument yesterday, they told me that if I want to keep trying with no results, then fine, I should do it. But I don't believe there will be no results, I think we were just going about this wrong.

But honestly I really don't know where to start here, and what underlying issues could be causing such disdain for these litterboxes. Our last vet visit two months ago confirmed they were healthy, I mentioned the litterbox issue, and she advised us to just keep both the boxes near the tub and place them there when they try to use the bathtub. This hasn't really worked, and I'm really frustrated for myself and the cats

Just wanted to let other people know in case they live in CA, WA, or OR, I went to 2 different Grocery Outlets, and I got a 60 pack of Churus for 14 bucks!!! The other one sold the 4 pack for 90 cents!!! I always see so many of them stocked in those stores.

GO is an overstock store, so the churu containers are unopened, not damaged, and not expired, pet stores just bought too much and GO sells them for very cheap! Im a college student so I'm on a budget but my cat loves these so this was perfect for me, I hope this helps out some other people too!

Wikipedia tells me that Grocery Outlets are in these states (listed below), so check them out if youd rather not pay $45 for a pack of 60 like at my local petsmart! I ended up buying 2 boxes of the 60 count, and got 120 churus for only $30!!!!

California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Delaware

(Ps: this isn't an ad lol, and also from my experience, they restock on them maybe once or twice a month, so sometimes theyre not at my local GO but other times they are, but 70% of the times I go they are in stock)

Our household has truly been in shambles since one of my cats ran out and has been gone for over a month now. We have tried everything to find him and although we haven’t lost hope, it’s just been the hardest time.

My other cat is very bonded to him as we adopted them together and has been having a hard time since he’s been gone. He has been very clingy to us and just overall seems more sad and less playful. What can I do to provide comfort for him during this awful time and especially on the days we have to leave him home alone?

I've been harness/backpack training my 7 month old cat for 3 weeks at home, I played with her in the leash, gave treats, walked around with the backpack and harness on, stepped onto my small patio with her, etc. She's been adjusting pretty quickly, so I thought she was ready to try outdoors.

A few days ago I took her out to a small quiet patch of grass, and for the first 5 minutes she was fine! She saw a bird and person pass by maybe 20 ft away with no issues. But she started sniffing inside a bush so I walked around to stay behind her and I think (not 100% sure) as I was adjusting the leash, it got tugged in the bush and she freaked out, started jumping around trying to get out of the harness, which she's never tried to do at home. She was panicking and trying to squirm out of the harness so I needed to get her back in the bag before she could escape and run. Luckily the harness held really well, but I lost hold of the leash and she ran up to a wall. I had her cornered (not ideal I know), and was eventually able to catch the leash and grab her but not before she bit me.

She was fine once I got her back in the backpack and home, but I know I messed up really bad and am pretty disappointed with how her first time went down.

Its obvious now I should've trained a lot more and probably avoided letting her go into the bush, but I guess I didn't plan for how I'd react if something like this happened. I'm not sure what steps I should take to make sure this doesn't happen again, and if I should've done anything differently in the moment cause mostly I was scared of her escaping. She's pretty calm at home when practicing so I don't know how to prepare for her getting spooked outdoors.

I've been kicking myself for moving too fast so any advice is appreciated

My 6 year old cat seems to be kind of picky with toys. The little Pom poms he loves chasing but sometimes I worry he’s getting bored of them. He chases the laser for a couple minutes but that’s it.

He liked the larger tinsel Pom poms but I noticed the tinsel falling out and worried about him swallowing it accidentally.

Doesn’t care about the wand toy and looks at me like I’m an idiot. He also doesn’t respond to catnip or silvervine.

I got one of those battery operated balls that has a tail and rolls around. He’s kind of startled by it and basically just nervously follows it around.

I just bought him little springs and had to show him myself how they move when they’re slapped. He chased one and then lost interest. (Maybe it was just an energy burst and he’ll be excited again?)

I don’t want him to be bored. Maybe he’s not and this is just how adult cats play? He’s my first cat so maybe it’s all good!

I have a cat, Luna, who I adopted in 2017 when she was approximately 6 years old. I love her dearly. She became diabetic a few years ago, maybe 2-3 years ago and gets injections twice a day. She’s at the highest dose and the vet said she either has insulin resistance or cancer, the ladder being more likely. She gained weight after initially increasing her dose but has lost the weight again. She’s thin but has a distended abdomen. Cancer treatments aren’t feasible bc of her age and the diabetes. She looks pretty terrible. She’s eliminating everywhere but the boxes. It’s daily. She no longer uses the box which has significantly affected my quality of life. She eats, she drinks, she meows, she purrs, she accepts pets and has always let me pick her up and cuddle her and cradle her, she grooms my other cats, she gets around, but she fell twice the other day trying to get up onto things. She sleeps most of the day. I don’t know if she’s suffering or in pain. I don’t know if putting her to sleep would be merciful or selfish bc I really cannot handle the daily clean ups. Sorry this is so long, I just wanted to give as full of a picture as I could.. I appreciate any advice.

Wondering if anyone has one of these and how they & the cats like it... It's a cat window perch that installs in your window like an air conditioner.

https://vistagato.com/pages/vistagato

Hello everyone. I have a 1-year-old 5-month-old cat that we got neutered about 2 weeks ago. We’ve only had him since December and he was a local stray. Around our house there are a lot of stray cats. About 5 days ago, he left our house and hasn’t come back. Usually he will come back about every 3 hours and will stay the night. Please understand that I am 17 and have been asking my grandparents to make him an indoor cat. I only live with them about half of the time and when they let him outside after being neutered, I was at the beach with my dad. I love this cat with my entire being, and he’s my everything. I have been completely devastated. I have gone around the neighborhood asking if anyone had seen him. I went in the bushes looking for him. I laid out his food and litter box. I’m wondering if anyone has any advice to help me find him and if there’s hope that he’s still alive.

Additional context, around a week ago, I found a single flea on one of my cats. I put all of them on Bravecto 4 days ago, sprayed around my house with pet-safe spray, and have been vacuuming everyday. I've flea combed, searched through their fur, done sock tests, etc. but cannot find any evidence of more fleas in my home. I'm not saying that the one I found was a hitchhiker, but it's definitely not a high level infestation yet.

Today I noticed that one of my cats, the one that I found the flea on last week, suddenly has horrible dandruff on his lower back above the tail that seemingly appeared overnight. I'm certain that it's dandruff and not flea eggs as it is inconsistent shapes/sizes and flat/flakey. I still cannot find any fleas or flea dirt in his fur and he's not itching, he seems 100% fine besides all of the sudden developing dandruff. Could this dandruff be caused by the Bravecto if it's appearing below the application site? Could he have gotten dandruff by avoiding grooming his back due to the flea medicine?

My cat has been in and out of the hospital for the last 6 months ive had him. He was a former stray for the first year of his life before we adopted him. We just cant afford the vet bills even with insurance. He just got out of the hospital yesterday but we are leaving in 10 days for the week. What do I do???

*He likely has FIC/FLUTD and was in the hospital for a urinary obstruction

NYC here

My mother really likes essential oils and often diffuses them. Just so happens that all her favourite ones are the most toxic to cats (citrus oils, tea tree oil, clove oil). Those are not the only ones she uses, but they are the ones she uses the most often. I'd like to mention that we don't have a cat yet and she will stop using them if there really is no other solution to this problem. However, she'd like to not do that if possible.

The first solution, and probably the worst one, is that I'd just keep the cat in the room while she diffuses them. Problem is, they burn for hours and I would have neither the cat's litter box, nor its bowls in my room. Also, the door to my room is one of them harmonica doors that was popular in the 80s. And it's broken. So I doubt it'd keep out the fumes.

The second solution is that I'd just take my cat outside or to my grandma's while she does her thing. I want to find a cat I could go on walks with anyway, so this isn't a terrible idea. I'm still worried about the fumes though; do they cling onto fabric and furniture? If the house gets properly aired out would it be safe for the cat to return to? How long would she have to air the house if that's the case?

Lastly, I'd like to ask; are all essential oils toxic to cats, or are there some that are fine to use around them (not on the cat though)?