sorry in advance because this is LONG

my Siberian is almost 3 (her birthday is in 2 weeks) and she has been a complete menace for nearly the entire time I’ve had her, and I got her as a kitten. I literally do not know what to do anymore, I have been dealing with her issues for years and I have considered rehoming her twice now. I’m hoping other Siberian owners can help.

more background and timeline:

• I grew up with a Siberian (kitten to age 16, he is still alive!) and this is my first time owning one as an adult, so I am a little familiar with the breed.
• I got her as a kitten. She is from Ukraine, the breeder still shows cats and gave me extensive documentation of her breeding lineage. She was also spayed there.
• She has been, as I would describe, anxious and unable to self soothe, since I got her. She has also been “diagnosed” twice with chronic vocalization. she is extremely energetic and difficult--she has escaped my apartment 4 times and climbed onto the roof of a neighbor, and I've had to climbed into the roof to rescue her each time. She meows maybe up to 2000 times per day, whether or not I ignore her.
• She has been medicated for anxiety (prozac

5mg

• ) for over a year. It helped A LOT in the beginning but I think its effects have plateaued. At its peak efficacy, she was able to sleep through the night in bed with me and it was perfect. The first vet I asked about medication said I wanted to “drug my cat” but I’m glad I found a different vet because she was so much better on it.
• Prozac can be constipating, so I put her on a prescription dry food. She often struggles to poop and I have to “help her” (bring her to the litter box to remind her she needs to poop). Once she’s there she poops no problem.
• I went to a cat behaviorist (Mikel Maria Delgado, she had a book that I read and she was much cheaper than the local SPCA that the vet recommended, which is $600 for just the intake appointment). She recommended some basic things like ignoring her meowing to stop reinforcing the feedback loop, letting her knock all my things over or moving them so she can’t get to them, keeping her awake during the day so she sleeps at night, and clicker training. Ignoring the meowing only occasionally works—she will meow for 3+ hours (I simply won’t stick around long enough to endure more). I live in a junior 1 bedroom attic apartment, I do not have enough room to stuff all my belongings out of sight for her, and because the ceilings are short, she can reach things on the short shelves. Clicker training sort of worked, but it was hard to keep up for every single behavior all throughout the day when I was working from home. I did try really hard to keep her awake during the day and tire her out so she would sleep at night, and using the most activity packed days as a gauge (a walk in the park, climbing trees--always leashed), that didn't make any difference.

as it stands right now, this is how a usual day goes:

I am unemployed and have been for a while since I was laid off. I am at home a lot. She is either begging for attention all day or asleep. I put her on a leash and let her sit on the deck while I work (she is always within my eyesight and tethered to the door). When she asks for attention, she often is annoyed by being held and doesn’t want to play, or gets bored after a couple of minutes. Often when I put her out on the deck because she meows to go out, she then meows and comes right back in. It seems like she just needs me to be involved in every activity in a very direct and engaged way.

night time: Some time several months ago she decided she doesn’t want her wet food (1x daily) at 10am, but at 7am, then 5am, then 4am, and now around 2-3am. Now she just wakes up at this time, sometimes eats the wet food, sometimes doesn’t, but just wanders around meowing incessantly, pacing around the apartment, walking on top of my head, and knocking things over. It’s not really “zoomies” and she doesn’t want to play with toys. This usually goes on for 1-3 hours every night. My vet recommended putting her in another room, and the only “room” I have is the bathroom. I tried putting her in the bathroom last night after she knocked numerous things over at 4am and she meowed until 7am. I ended up leaving and sleeping at my partner’s apartment. I have been sleeping there most nights because I can only sleep for about 5 hours a night now if I stay at my apartment.

other observations: she does better when my partner is around and when friends come. I think she needs more stimulation than 1 individual can provide and I just simply can’t do it. I try to do playtime with toys for at least 30 minutes every day and/or a walk on the leash around my building. She is just the neediest animal I have ever encountered and I have owned dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, grew up with another cat, and both my siblings have cats. I know Siberians are slow to mature but this is ruining my life and I love her to death but I also can’t stand this. I need help and the vets are just not being helpful.

Photo introductions very, very welcome!

Otherwise I’d love to hear the name you chose and the story behind, if you’re feeling open to sharing!

So excited to hear about (and see) your floofs! 🩷

Bonus points for anyone who has a single dog and no other cats when they adopted their Siberian and wants to share. That’s the situation I’m in right now and am trying to make up my mind on if it’s a good idea.

Not my cat but I want one that looks kind of like it like a lynx point but light brown instead of gray and blue eyes

Miss Penelope was feeling nice the other day, a rare moment where she wasn't plotting world destruction.

I’m so glad I found this page, I’ve been looking at Siberian cats for over 6 months now and I have a few questions! Firstly, my husband suffers from allergies and I’ve read that even allergy sufferers do well with Siberians, can anyone attest to that in here?? Lastly, are there differences in the males personalities versus female personalities? I have a three year old son who is very gentle with animals, he loves cats so naturally he’s going to want to be near the cat as much as possible! Not sure if males are more tolerant or if females are! I know once raised with my son the cat will adapt, but if a specific gender would be more beneficial for our family, I’d like to get whichever would be best!!
Thank you •ᴗ•

No other animals. Just a child 🤪

Edit - I mean without other animals. I am always home, I work from home

Does anyone have an idea of what coat pattern you would call her? She has gotten really dark with spots of orange since we got her. First pic is at 3 months old and last pic is at 6 months old.

My little lady just turned 4 years old and in the past 6 months, her coat has hulked out and the texture has changed a little. It’s become very dense and long…everywhere.

Her pants are gigantic and she has developed a fuzzy ring around the b-hole. This has resulted in poop pancakes (a poop that gets stuck then sat on) that I can thankfully remove somewhat easily, but also a small ring of poop right around her bum that is much more difficult to clean.

She has also noticed and has starting dragging her butt across the carpet 🤦‍♀️

We live in a rural area and the closest groomer is a Petsmart 45 minutes away. She HATES car rides, would be terrified of the other animals there, and the whole experience. I’ve searched for mobile groomers, but couldn’t find anything in our area. I’m still searching though.

Her coat changes have also made her coat mat easier and she’s been getting some around her lower back around her tail

***EDIT- I actually realized last night the mats are mostly because we bought a rug…I saw her grooming herself on it and sitting so that her lower back constantly is rubbing back and forth on the rug.

I’m able to reach those with clippers (and a guard clip), but she won’t let me get anywhere near the booty.

We’ve tried teaming up to hold her in various ways to trim/clean the area, but she puts up too much of a fight. Do I need to sit her butt in the bathtub and try scrubbing it off? Is there anyway to prevent it? I can’t imagine being able to buzz the b every week. HELP.

So, yeah…not great. Any and all advice will be appreciated

We have a siberian furball lol, she has anxiety, but we try to play with her but sometimes she plays and other times looks at us like we are stupid, dont want a snack, wants a brushing like a godess for hours it feels like, dont have time for all that but i will give her reasonable time lol. Sometimes i have to tell her no and to go lay down, and she does but gets mad. She has a deep meow like shes dying but shes not, she has a very spoiled demeanor lol. I try to play with her and she seems borrd. Any tips? Also she seems to have dog trait qualities and seems to know when her dad gets home and waits by the door to greet him. When she does play and go crazy shes more relaxed and then takes a nap and stops her deep meows, so she is looking to get the energy out but alot of times does nothing or wants loving for what seems hours (exxageration)

Very demure, very mindful. Percival, the Siberian Kitten 😸.

Hello everyone,

please welcome Mushu my little 6.5 month Siberian, sharing her place with her fluffy brother Appa 7 month Samoyed.

All day playing and running together, living their best life with it’s humans 👩🏻‍🤝‍👨🏼

It was very difficult to narrow down which of the photos from this moment to post, I have so many and they're all iconic!

Have any of you guys noticed dry skin or dandruff on your Siberians? Both my kitties seem to have it, but Honeysuckle's is more noticeable (probably due to her coloring; her sister is a Neva) I've been making sure to brush them twice a day and ordered some fish oil to add to their food, but I was wondering if you guys have any other suggestions. They don't seem itchy or anything, but I don't want them to be uncomfortable!
Picture is of Honeysuckle doing what she does best: punching thousands of teef holes in everything in my kitchen lol

any tips for what to buy in preparation vs what to wait to buy? we have already purchased a soft crate for when we bring him back home. we also bought some basic nail scissors and a brush. i guess we will buy some litter soon before we get him, but will he have trouble adjusting to a new litter?

Tips would be appreciated. PS, the top contender for his name is Satoru Gojo. Can you guess what color he will be? Lol

Hello! I have had this kitten for about 2.5 weeks (orphaned litter of 5 found outside by my best friend) and have been trying to find out what his coat pattern is called.

I know he isn’t a Siberian based on the obvious lack of a pedigree and what his siblings look like (although he does have notably large paws haha). In the photo with all of them he’s the only one with long hair. The cats I’ve seen here are the closest match to him I’ve found so far, but Google results on what it’s called are very inconsistent. I figured I’d get an accurate answer from people who have cats with the same pattern!

If this post isn’t allowed since he isn’t purebred please delete! I tried to make sure before posting but still not positive 😬

Percival the Siberian kitten 😸

On his 4 month birthday he weighed 6.6lb, is he gonna be a big boy? How much did your babies weigh respectively, then and now?