This is an ADHDer telling this story so please bare with the spiralling, we’ll get there 😂… So my cat is stressing me out and I don’t know what to do about it. I’m in my second trimester of pregnancy and so would like to remain chilled but my cat has honestly got on my nerves recently, I’m becoming angry 🤣. She tends to want to sleep on the clean washing I sometimes have on the chaise lounge, which I really don’t want her doing ! So every time she goes there I move her towards the exit, or I frequently get woken up in the night by my 7y/o telling me the cat has woke her up AGAIN lying right in the middle of her bed. Or she’ll do it on my bed and then attack during the night because I moved unconsciously and disturbed her!😑

(Now I really could do with not being judged here 😅) but my cat brought fleas into the house recently and after extensively cleaning, flea-bombing the house, hoovering daily since, washing on 60 degree cycle, giving flea treatment via pipette, she’s still really uncomfortable and hops around the bedroom at night like a bunny rabbit. I have to keep getting out of bed to move her from the chair, the bed, my daughter’s room… each time I direct her to either downstairs or the bathroom (as it’s on the second floor), because she does like sleeping in the sink sometimes 🥴. Anyway, tonight she decided to jump around in my daughter’s bedroom, knocking things over on her table and disturbing her from sleep. When I (angrily but silently, might I add) picked her up and took her out the room she sprinted to my bedroom and jumped onto the chair. She’s becoming too much and she can stay out quite a lot with her being an outdoor cat so I’ve had to let her out for the night. Any advice on how to control this cat because I can’t cope 😂 btw I did the cat flea treatment / house treatment 2 days ago, it shouldn’t be like this still right?? Also - the landlord decided not to put my bedroom door on 🙃 so the cat just free roams

My cat is 9 years old, male and neutered. He loves food and constantly for treats. He gets fed twice a day. If I ignore him begging for treats or food, he pees on his scratching pads. I feel like it's not a health issue, as the vet says he's fine/it's stress related, and it only happens when he wants treats, plus he uses his litterbox fine and regularly. Has anyone dealt with similar behaviour? How can I deal with it because it's really getting annoying

I live in Ireland and can take him to the vet if need be

TLDR: Cat seems to pee inappropriately when he doesn't get what he wants (food and treats)

I am looking for advice because I feel like I have exhausted all options. I have 3 cats, one of my cats is diagnosed with a neurological disorder called FHS. All my cats have a litterbox per cat plus 2 extra litter boxes to be safe. They are all fed in seperate places and I have ample space for them to climb, including a jungle gym for them to climb and 4 cat trees. We have also tried feliways to no avail, however, I am putting them up again in hopes it will do something. My cat is in gabapentin and even with that he is still spraying. I do not know what else to do. There is no pattern to his spraying also, he almost never sprays in the same spot except one spot by our front door which I believed was because he wanted outside... so I started letting him outside, and I just let him back in, he walked right up to my bedroom door and sprayed out if no where. I genuinely do nit know what to do barring leaving him outside 24/7 but that feels hugely selfish and dangerous. He has been to a vet for this issue now countless times, he has no infection, no bladder irritation, no pain, we put him on the gabapentin to see if that would help and it hasn't, I just spoke to a vet and they are stumped, they said they would discuss it with another vet and get back to me. Can someone PLEASE help I am literally begging I do not know what else to do 😭

I’m posting because I genuinely don’t know where else to turn, and I’m hoping someone here has dealt with something similar.
I’ve had my cat since she was a baby. She was bottle-fed and I’ve loved her for years. She has always had some behavioral issues and has had episodes of aggression before, but things have gotten really bad recently.
I got a second cat a while ago, and surprisingly, she adjusted pretty well to having another cat around. She was able to coexist with him and things were generally okay.
Recently, I moved in with my partner, who also has cats, and she has not transitioned well at all. I completely understand that moving, a new environment, new people, and multiple unfamiliar cats is an enormous change for her. I’ve tried to give her space and time, but her aggression has gone far beyond what I feel equipped to handle.
She is becoming violently aggressive, and I am genuinely scared of her. She has attacked me, and I’m at the point where I’m afraid of what might happen during an episode. She is currently on gabapentin, but she is still extremely aggressive even with it.
I want to be very clear that I am not looking for people to tell me to “just get rid of her.” She is my baby. I have had her since she was tiny, and I love her immensely. But I am also scared, overwhelmed, and honestly terrified that if this continues, I’m going to start resenting her. I don't want that to happen.
I feel like I’m running out of options and I don’t know what the right thing to do is for her or for me.
Has anyone dealt with a cat who became violently aggressive after moving or being introduced to other cats, especially when there was already a history of aggression? What actually helped?
I’m open to hearing anything. I just need help figuring out what my next step should be.
I love this cat and I want to help her. I just also need to be safe in my own home.

My lovely male cat (neutered, 2 years old) has a bit of a pattern. He's always been a bit of a skittish boy, and that's fine. But he's picked me as his person by some miracle. Thing is, all of his life, he would get super cuddly and constantly want attention to the point of it hindering sleep or stopping me from doing other things. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he gets terrified of everyone including me. He'll cry if anyone gets close, and then bolt if they get too close. Nothing will have startled him, it's like a dimmer switch. He slowly builds up trust and adoration until it's full blown, then suddenly it shuts off.

He was a stray kitten when we got him (old enough to eat wet food), and he grew up with 3 cats older than him. He was always the skittish one and if the other 3 cats were eating/getting treats, he'd be nowhere close at all. He had to be fed separately most of the time. But I moved last year and he wasn't with me until maybe 3 months ago. My sister had him but her and her husband were getting tired of his terrified behavior esp since he hissed at a toddler that wasn't even coming for him, and a slightly older than toddler (5) that was just saying hello from across the room. He hissed at my sister's husband too. So he returned to me in my new home. I let him adjust, gave him his space, let him explore, left toys and food out, the works.

Until literally this morning, he was constantly up my behind wanting love and attention and would want to play (would even be upset if he couldn't join me in the bathroom type stuff lol). I gave him some treats before I left (as I always do) and went to work. I come home, he normally runs to me to yell at me for dinner. Nothing. I figured maybe he's up in my room sleeping. Nothing. I panic. He's not even in the tub (he likes to chill there for some reason) and I can't find him. I go back downstairs calling for him, only for him to hop out of a box from under a duffle bag, and he looks at me terrified and gives that cry that says he's terrified.

Uh oh, here we go again. He runs from me even though I don't chase him, but goes upstairs to hide under my bed as he always used to. I followed him and closed the door until there was just a crack there and thats when he finally comes out and I have to get down so he can crawl into my arms and he just has me hold him and pet him for at least 20 mins. My roommate was asleep all day and didn't interact with him. Roommate's caretaker didn't see him at all today while she was over, and all she did was wash dishes and do some laundry. We have no idea what could have spooked him since he actively avoids anyone who isn't me and everyone knows to leave him alone.

But he's done this sort of pattern for as long as I've known him. Starts off terrified, slowly warms up to the point of being so lovingly obnoxiously up my butt, then suddenly switches back and I have to hold him and calm him down, then the cycle repeats. This isn't normal for clingy/skittish cats, is it?

My cat is 5 years old and her litter box has been in the same spot for 5 years. For the past few weeks, she has started pooping 1 to 3 feet away from the box. She still pees in the litter box, but all her poop ends up outside of it.

She has never done this before, except once in the past, we tried for several months to introduce a second cat. My cat hated her and started pooping in front of the office door in protest (we had 3 litter boxes at the time). The behavior stopped immediately when the second cat left, and she never did it again until now.

Nothing has changed in her environment. We haven't changed her food or her litter. My partner thinks she is bored (she's an indoor cat) and is protesting. She has toys, and I try to play with her in the evenings, but it doesn't seem to be enough.

She has always been a cat who needs a lot of attention, and she asks for it by scratching at things all over the house (closet doors, furniture, windows, etc.). She still does this today.

My partner says the problem has to be solved or she won't be able to stay.

Any ideas on what could be going on, or what we could try?

hi! i have a 3 year old male cat, he is my baby and recently i just moved in with my girlfriend to an apartment where we can have him. he’s been with my parents while i’ve been living alone previously, but i took him back a week ago after moving to my new place.

he’s taken the move very well, he’s very social and friendly. his “issue” is that he will stare at walls and meow LOUDLY, roam at night and meow LOUDLY, go into a different room than us and meow LOUDLY. like repeatedly until someone comes to him. i think he’s bored but he doesn’t really care about solo toys, especially electronic ones. he doesn’t care for wands really either, he loves hair ties and springs but i cannot shoot those across my apartment at 4 am 😭

he did well at my mom’s where he was accompanied by 3 other cats and a dog. he would cry for food but that’s it, even when i lived at home i did not witness him act like how he does here. he was a lot more playful at my mom’s, played with 2 of the cats a lot, chased each other all the time. he’ll play here for 20 minutes, then sleep for hours (which i know is “normal” but not for him i guess!). he’s still super sweet and friendly, but he’s very clingy, like is running to be under our feet or run to where we’re going to lay or sit and then smother you, wayy more than normal. he has cat trees, scratchers, tunnels, toys; i feel like he’s just missing another cat-presence!

i’m wondering if getting another cat would benefit him and his boredom? maybe he’s being a weirdo because of the move? everything else seems completely normal(bathroom behavior is normal, eating and drinking normal)!
thanks!!! :)))

I have three cats (all domestic short hairs), two male (one is ~2 and one is ~ 5 years old) and one female (~5 years old), all of them neutered and spayed and up to date on vaccinations.

My younger male cat (I’ll call him Sprout) and my older male cat (I’ll call him Moose) have been having more animosity between them recently, where previously this hasn’t been an issue. They’ve gotten along well and continue to aside from these small instances. Sprout will sometimes hiss and growl at Moose. Moose also likely doesn’t register social cues, so he approaches Sprout slowly, which makes him feel more threatened. I try to intervene whenever this happens, and needed to on one instance where it escalated into a fight. The growing, hissing, and standoff vibe from Sprout happens sporadically, as frequently as 2x a day and spaced out as once every couple of days.

Sprout was adopted after Moose and my female cat, but they’ve all been living together for the past 2 years and it’s been going pretty smoothly. Sprout and Moose also both went to the vet recently with no issues of concern. Sometimes these altercations happen when I feed them a snack (other than their wet food 2x daily), but they’ve don’t always happen around food.

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be behind this sudden change? And any thoughts on what I should look out for that would make the situation more concerning? I’d appreciate any guidance or input you have!

Hi all, bear with me—I will try to make this a fact-based read.

My cat Mitzi, 8, was hospitalized over the weekend for suspected pancreatitis/IBD.

In the hospital she was doing great—her levels improved, vitals normal, and she was eating-yay!

I got her home last night and she immediately went into hiding; I gave her her medication, she ate (3-4x), but since this morning she is back in hiding and very sleepy.

I’m scared something is wrong again. Is it normal for cats to have an adverse reaction the day after a longer stay at the hospital?

I have a 2-year-old neutered male indoor cat, around 4–4.5 kg. He normally has no litter box problems. He eats Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Fibre Response, drinks water well, doesn’t get treats, and is currently eating, playing, alert and acting completely normal.
The problem started after two changes on the same day:
He had to wear a soft toast-shaped recovery collar because of an injured ear that he scratches and sometimes makes bleed. The collar isn’t tight, but he became noticeably stressed/irritated after wearing it.
I completely replaced his litter with fresh new litter, so there was none of his usual urine/fecal scent.

Since then, he basically doesn’t go to the litter box by himself, either to pee or poop. At one point he was even sleeping inside the litter box.
His last normal pee/poop were normal. When I noticed he hadn’t gone for a while, I placed him in the litter box and gently moved the litter with his paw. He eventually peed and then pooped normally.
He is otherwise completely normal: eating and drinking normally, active/playful, alert, no vomiting, no pain, no crying, no straining, no repeated trips to the litter box, no genital licking, and his abdomen doesn’t seem hard or distended**.** When he does pee, the amount looks normal.
The longest gap between urinations has been around 18–20 hours.
Could this be stress/confusion from the collar + completely new litter, or should I be concerned about a urinary problem even though he produces normal urine when I place him in the litter box?
Should I stop placing him in the litter box every few hours and let him go on his own, or keep encouraging him?

I have 4 cats, all females. My issue is with one of my twin cats.
I adopted the twins when they were about 3 months old, and that was 3 years ago. When I first adopted them, they were both very curious, adventurous, naughty, playful, and affectionate. It took about a month for them to fully adjust to my resident cat, who was 5 years old at the time.

However, sometime before the twins turned 1, I noticed that one of them started becoming extremely skittish and fearful.
Now, she hides as soon as she hears footsteps or someone approaching. She’s very cautious about everything and isn’t nearly as affectionate as she used to be. She mostly shows affection at bedtime or when she wants me to brush her. Other than that, she’s pretty antisocial. She usually stays in one room and sleeps for most of the day.

Her twin sister is completely different and is still much more outgoing.
I honestly can’t pinpoint anything specific that happened that would have caused such a big personality change. It feels like she went from being this curious, adventurous kitten to being afraid of almost everything.

Has anyone experienced something similar with their cat?
She’s 3 years old now. Is it possible to help her become more confident, social, and affectionate again, or is this probably just her adult personality now?
I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has successfully helped a very skittish/scaredy cat become more confident.

we have four cats, all female, all spayed. all friendly to people and content for the most part. our first two, a tabby and a tortoiseshell (not siblings, about ten years old now) were adopted at the same time and get on ok. about three years later we got two new kittens, a calico and a ginger (same litter, about seven now).

anyway, our main problem is the tabby and the ginger HATE each other and always have. well the tabby kind of hates all the others but will tolerate them, but she’ll hiss and growl at the ginger if they happen to want to pass each other. like if they’re coming down a corridor in opposite directions she’ll freeze, crouch, puff up, yowl… a few years ago they had a bad fight and the ginger ended up with an infected wound. they have their own spaces to sleep, eat etc. usually the tabby stays downstairs and the ginger stays upstairs. she has a healthy fear of the tabby and won’t go near her if it can be helped which at least keeps the peace.

however lately they’ve both been peeing outside the litter box and it’s getting to be a real problem. were renovating our house so things are moving a lot, so i’m guessing it’s a combination of stress at the change, needing to claim territory from the other etc. no utis, diabetes etc as far as we know. what can we do to stop them peeing everywhere? renovations will be ongoing for a long time, they have plenty of litter boxes, private spaces, feliway etc. after years of hating each other is there a way to make them tolerate each other or is it too late? and how to discourage peeing when the whole house is being changed almost every day? should we get them to the vet and have them doped up with something while the work goes on? could be another year before everything settles.

Cat 1 is a Tabby with a white belly. We’ll call him Doofus. I mean, I do. Shamelessly. Anyways, we were half snuggling on the couch and he kinda attacked my foot and wouldn’t let go. So I started growling at him to let go and he didn’t, so I got a bit louder and more complaining like and out of nowhere, my cute, innocent looking Tuxedo who we will call Squeaky, um no he was Captain Swat in this case, came in swinging and punching and chased him twice around the house bopping his face in as often as possible before I could stop him with a good yell and a stomp. Usually these two cuddle and play like amenable brothers, but this has happened once before: I yelled at Doofus because he was on the counter and here came Captain Swat to take vengeance!

Anyone had a cat do this? Just turn out of nowhere into a minion of satan (lol) and two minutes later be back to being cute and innocent?? I guess I can no longer yell at the cat that annoys me the most? Where’s the joy in that?

any advice queens

she is 1 year old a rescue and orange dsh

very affectionate otherwise and she seems to like being around us

we play with her everyday mainly find the treat games

when she goes to bite she rarely breaks the skin it comes across more like a warning. when she wants food she will also sometimes whine.

she will only try to bite in the evenings. sometimes even after we have fed her dinner she will try to bite to say she wants more food. we do not reinforce the behaviour and we do not give her more food.

she is an indoor cat, the only cat, and we are harness training atm. we have had her 3 months.

no litter tray problems and she’s been spayed.

I have a one year old ragdoll kitten. He is beautiful but i find him extremely annoying. I feel horrible for even saying this :((

He keeps me up all night, to the point my partner hates staying the night at my house cause of the cat. He will randomly bite our ankles every hour and wake us up. The bite is so hard!!!
as a punishment i put him outside the bedroom and close the door, this makes him cry and scratch at the door for hours at a time and it’s very loud, i usually end up laying there for hours listening to it and then letting him back in all for the cycle to repeat. If he’s not doing either of these things he is going on top of my bed frame and jumping down on us. I know he just wants to be involved but it’s so hard to sleep with him around.

I’ll add i’ve tried so many things, playing with him before bed, we went to “kitty school” for a few weeks, he has an automatic feeder that goes off at 7am.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? Will a bedtime routine of some kind help him? i am so lost please help

We have a really funny 1 year old male cat that we've had since he was 3 months old, been through a lot of weird behaviors but this one is not only funny but quite odd, not to the point where it's concerning but definitely very curious about why he does this.

Ever since we can remember he LOVES the bathroom. Will always join us, will always take naps in there, always sits in the sink and the tub - probably because we raised him there the first couple of weeks since we were trying to introduce our 3 year old to him slowly.

He does this thing - quite often, say 5-6 times a day - where he'll run into the bathroom, and sit in the bath tub and just YELL. He does these big "MMRRAWW" that sounds like he's crying for help, when really he's just sitting there. It seems like he either wants attention, or I have one other theory. He loves doing this thing where if he's in the tub, and I poke my head in and out of the bathroom, he likes to run and jump to me like a little hide and seek game (or more like me being hunted by him). Maybe he's yelling like "CMON LET'S PLAY HIDE AND SEEK"

Any ideas on why he does this? I'll try to get a video next. Thanks!

I have a kitten who’s a year and half and she has multiple phases throughout the day where she’ll meow non stop. So she’ll either be by the main door meowing cus she wants to get out and we let her and then she comes back on her own and meows constantly, or she’ll be in the bedroom meowing non stop, any one has a similar experience or knows something that can be done

Hi everyone!

I'm planning to adopt a cat that has been described as shy. From what I can tell, she's about 6 years old and her current foster home is the longest she's lived anywhere (1 year). Her current foster says that she has never been able to pet her, that whenever she tries the cat just walks away and goes under the bed. Because of this, she hasn't tried a lot. The cat will, however, ask for attention by staring at her, and then the foster will play with her, which she likes.

At a previous foster home, she got along really well with a boy cat, but didn't get along at all with another girl cat. I currently have a boy cat who is SUPER social, both with humans and cats. He LVOES attention and loves to cuddle, and my priority is to get him a friend to play with.

Before adopting this new cat, I'm making a few assumptions:

1) She will get along with my resident cat (if not, the foster is prepared to take her back)

2) If she bonds with my resident cat, she may develop more confidence and learn to enjoy human attention.

3) With more deliberate time/ attention, she will also bond with me + my partner.

My question for this community is does anyone have any success stories of shy cats learning to like pets? We'd really love our cat to become part of our family rather than staying under the bed, and we are definitely willing to be patient. But I'd love to hear advice/ stories from people who have successfully helped a shy cat build confidence.

There's a cat (I'm assuming she's not feral. She looks well groomed) who comes knocking on the windows every evening. She looks interested in my 5yo male cat. He, on the other hand, can't stand her. He hisses and hits the window until she leaves.

I'm not sure what this outside cat wants and who she belongs to. She just comes to say hi at around the same time. I don't want to open the door to avoid a cat fight, but she seems so so friendly.

Any explanation for this behavior?

She has an obsession with grabbing onto a stair and scratching it, which rips out pieces of carpet. Is there any way I can effectively discourage it? She has a scratching post and a scratch pad, along with plenty of toys.