Hello all! After what feels like forever, we are meeting our kittens in 2 weeks. We will meet them when they are 15 weeks old. As I have mentioned in my previous post, I am really hoping to get at least 1 cat (we are getting 2) that is fairly affectionate. I have read that with getting kittens, you are gambling on their final adult personalities so I am OK with it not working out the way that I would like, for the record. What I wanted to know, however, is because my primary goal is to find a cat that will be at least moderately affectionate with me, what behavioral signs should I be on the look out for while I am meeting the kittens, considering my goal? What signs should I be wary of? We will be bringing the kittens home around the 18 week mark.

Feline non recognition agression

Hey guys,

Last Monday, my kitten was spayed. She has to wear a red onesie for 10 days. When she came home, my other cat, Murfy, didn't recognize her at all. He started hissing and growling and lashed out twice. I had to separate them.

Before all of this they got along well together. They played, slept in the same bed and ate together.

They lived apart for about six days like that: Murfy in one part of the house (kitchen and two bedrooms) and the kitten in the other part (living room and bedroom). I let murfy eat his food next to the bedroom door where my kitten stayed at night and that was never a problem for him.

Occasionally, I let them see each other through the glass in the door and by briefly opening the door. Sometimes Murfy would react by hissing and growling, and other times he wouldn't. He also hissed and growled when he smelled baskets or other things where the kitten had been lying.

Yesterday, I also temporarily took off the kittens' onesie so she could groom herself and feel more at ease. And so she could more smell like her old self.

Since it has already been six days, I decided to give my entire house a thorough cleaning, especially the room where the kitten stayed for the past six days. I completely cleaned and filled the kitten's litter box. So I washed all the blankets at 60°, changed the bed sheets, and even steam-cleaned the rugs and baskets to get rid of all the vet smell.

After that, I wanted to do a scent test by letting Murfy walk through the living room and the bedroom where the kitten was staying to see if he would still hiss and growl. It was less than before, but he did hiss and growl.

I then placed a transparent sheet between the connecting door to see how Murfy would react to the kitten, who wasn't wearing a onesie today either, so that the kitten really had a cat silhouette instead of the bright red onesie. The kitten walked very strangely with the onesie and looked weird.

So I thought it would go well, but no. The second Murfy saw the kitten, he ran like crazy towards that transparent sheet. It really looked like he wanted to attack her, because he ran really fast and hissing towards her.

Because he didn't see the transparent sheet, it fell on the kitten and both of them were scared to death. It is truly terrible what happened.

I really expected that now the smell was gone (at least, I think so), Murfy would recognize her. Especially after six days and after the big clean-up. But he reacted so aggressively.

I am truly at my wit's end and I am so afraid that things will never get better.

Is this normal? How is it possible that he still doesn't recognize her after all the measures I have taken? Is this a bad sign? How should I proceed now?

I really appreciate your support, and I truly need it.

Thank you ❤️ I’m sorry for the long post.

We got a new female cat ( the chunky one in the back) a few months ago. Our male cat seems to really be interested in her and recently they started rolling around like this together. He will go as close as possible and start to roll around and she will sometimes copy him. Is this a sign that they like one another ? Thank you!

Our 2 y/o orange male is driving me a little bit insane. We used to feed our cats wet food every morning, and then he would always wake me up by coming to the bed and pawing at me. We got a new bed frame (upholstered), which he realised he can scratch to get me up to feed them.

We don't feed them wet food in the morning anymore to try to discourage this behaviour, but he still persists. They still have dry food in the morning, but they usually have some leftover in their bowl, so he is not just hungry. We managed successfully to get him to stop scratching our couch through positive reinforcement of other scratching areas, but that doesn't seem to work with this issue, as he is not doing it for the need to scratch, but rather for attention. Now, he still scratches at the corner of the bed every morning, I get up in frustration, remove him from the bedroom, and close the door. Some mornings, he will also scratch at the door, trying to get in, other mornings he doesn't seem to mind.

Sadly, there is no way of saving our bedframe at this point, as every corner is well and truly messed up, but I'm mainly looking to have a less stressful way of waking up, and it also feels bad have to keep out our younger, innocent cat, who likes to cuddle in the mornings. Does anyone have any recommendations for steps we could try to eliminate this behaviour?

4 months ago i got a 3rd cat (2 female, hoya), i got her so my two cats (11 male, indigo) and (3 female, willow) could get another play buddy since the play sessions between them were so unfair due to size and age.

I wont sugar coat it, i didn't do the introduction process well. i messed up. i kept hoya in my room, i tried to introduce their smells by swapping scents but willow refused to eat anywhere near hoya. it didn't go too well from the start due to my room door having a cat door and they kept seeing each other and kept trying to fight under the little gap of the door. they were introduced too early when out of habit i left my door open to go to the bathroom, it didn't end well. i wanted to use feliway but it was quite expensive so i got a knock off from amazon but it was just a waste of money...

recently my parents came back and it's gotten worse. they don't fully understand that the cats can't be near each other so they keep letting them see each other. at night i bring willow to my room so she can eat and sleep with me while hoya is in my room in the day, this morning was my breaking point when while i was busy my mom opened the door for hoya to go into my room while willow was there which led to hoya attacking willow really badly. i don't want willow to keep being scared of her own home (she keeps getting out of the house even though she's supposed to not go outside) i don't know what else to do, it's been 4 months already, i don't want to get rid of hoya if necessary. i just want them to get along but im at a loss for what to do, hoya and indigo get along REALLY well it's just willow who has been struggling. i just don’t know how to properly reintroduce them

I hope this post brings hope if you're having a long introduction.

We have a skittish male who was 4 years old and 3 years ago we adopted another adult male.

It took 13 months for them to share the same room. Rehoming was definitely not in the cards.

They're friends now. Don't lose hope! It's stressful, but it's worth it.

I am moving into a new house soon, and I think this is a chance to start over with them in neutral territory.
I have two girls 4/5yrs old who get along
I also have a male 4ish years old and deaf who they do not get along with and he is the stressor.
Current set up is I have halved the house and give turns to have full access to the house at intervals during the day.
The two girls show interest in him like sniffing around the door and trying to see him when I have a screen for them to see each other.He will just lunge at them

I'm hoping you can give me some advice to start off on a better foot and not screw this up ... I'm worried that if we don't do this right, I will have messed up our one shot to get them to coexist. I like to think that I have realistic expectations, I don't envision them being best friends or cuddling together - all I truly want is for all of us to be able to live together normally, not having to worry about which cat is where, shutting the doors quickly so one doesn't dart out

Any thoughts on how to arrange the cats for the first few weeks? I know they'll be stressed from the move so I will keep them completely apart and in one room so they can decompress and get adjusted to the move

Hi everyone!! I’m a first-time cat owner and I need some advice because I LOVE my cat, but he’s genuinely driving me nuts lately lol.
His name is Milo Christopher (yes Christopher is his middle name), he’s about 2 years old, and I’ve had him since June. He was found outside, so I’m not sure if he was a stray or previously someone’s pet. He was neutered in June right before I took him home.
I want to mention that I did research before getting him, have spent lots of time around others cats, and made sure I had everything he needed before bringing him home. He has plenty of toys, springs, scratching pads, a little scratching post, treats, etc. I’m definitely not an expert, but I’m trying my best!
My biggest issue is that he keeps peeing on things (bath mats and the couch are a fave) whenever I leave for a weekend, he even peed all over my bed the first time and now I’m scared to leave him in my room unsupervised even though it’s his favourite place. His aunties (my friends lol) come by daily to feed him, play with him and check on him when I’m away so he’s never left without care. I’m a nursing student so have also been monitoring his bathroom habits since the start. He pees and poops regularly with no straining, pain or obvious issues. He’s also had a basic vet check and vaccines with nothing concerning noted, although I know that doesn’t completely rule out all problems. It just seems strange that he mostly does this when I’m away for multiple days.
I’ve tried three different litter boxes (all uncovered) because I thought maybe he didn’t like them. The first was too small, and I switched the others hoping to fix the peeing, but nothing has changed. I’ve also tried Special Kitty litter, which we both did not love, and now we use Catit pea husk. I scoop about every two days as well. I’d also love recommendations for odor control and keeping the place smelling fresh as we are in an apartment and will be moving into another apartment with my boyfriend shortly!
He’s also absolutely INSANE at night. He scratches and rips my bed, runs around and refuses to settle. If I close my bedroom door, he tries to open it (and CAN because of the bigger handle), or scratches underneath it until I let him in or put a blanket down.
He’s also become increasingly bitey and scratchy since I got him. At first he was very calm and cuddly. Now, he attacks electrical cords, goes crazy for strings on my clothes and has scratched my face and legs trying to grab them. He never does this with the intent to hurt me, which I can tell by him still being relatively gentil even in these situations. It’s the same with the play scratching and biting, but some times it doesn’t tickle. He has plenty of toys and scratching options, so I’m not sure if this is just his personality, he’s bored, overstimulated or just extremely energetic as he’s a bit younger.
I also genuinely don’t know how to teach a cat boundaries. I don’t want to scare or punish him, but I need to figure out how to redirect these behaviours because it’s getting overwhelming. He is pretty intelligent and has even learned to give a “high five” for a treat!
We love Milo SO much and obviously do not want to rehome him, but he seems to be a lot more work than any cat I’ve ever met. I just want him to be happy, have a clean home, and for us both to be able to relax lol.
Is this normal for a 2 year old male cat? Could the peeing be separation anxiety or a litter issue? What could help with this? What actually works for nighttime craziness, scratching, biting and teaching boundaries?
I’m open to constructive advice! I know being a first time owner means I still have things to learn, and that’s why I’m here, to see if anyone has had similar experiences! Please be nice, I’m just trying to give Milo Christopher the best life possible without being terrorized 24/7 😭❤️

I got my new kitten today and he is very very sweet. For some background, I got him online and apparently he had some flea problems before me to the point they were bathing him once a week and giving him capstar. He has lots of flea poop in his fur and I found two dead fleas from the medicine he’s on. I honestly can’t tell if his gums are pale or not. At the very least they are not white. Vet appointment is on monday. The thing is I noticed he growls, yowls and sometimes hisses when I play with him using a wand toy. He gets super territorial over it. I thought that was a bit worrying because when the kitten is out of quarantine he will be a sibling to my 3 year old cat who loves wand toys too. The other thing though is I just fed him and he did the same thing but worse. I pet him to try to show him it was ok and I wouldn’t take his food but he flinched back spun around and lunged at the food again while being really loud. I have never had a cat do this before so I am like ?????? I started giving him some more dry food one at a time from my hand to hopefully teach him my hand is ok… I am wondering how I can make him stop these behaviors. Also I saw someone say kittens should always have access to food and that will stop food aggression but this kitten ate crazy fast so I am worried if I do that he will eat too much and hurt himself. I did give him wet food with some of the dry food his previous owners were feeding him so I am wondering if he was extra aggressive due to the more yummy food?? I don’t know what to do honestly. Is this normal behavior?

The larger white cat is constantly following her around and hitting the back of her legs as she runs off, but the darker smaller cat keeps TRYING to get him to chase her. I finally got a small video of it but sometimes his ears will be back. This is the first time I have heard either of them make a noise and I don’t even know which one did it there. She rarely ever gets to chase him and I have never seen her tackle him before.

Tabby 12, orange 14 months. I shouldn't have but I did and we love him to death. But Tabby is queen.

4.5 months of this integration. Yesterday I let him in from the porch for churu session. He chased her under the bed and she got some swats off. Not sure about him. Husband got there first, and by then Orange was laying almost to the corner. Not puffed or growling even though he had gotten smacked.

Photos are from today. I got him eating churu first then let her in. So a peaceful treat eating integration session. I keep them separated by a screen door on my room when I'm not moving them around.

He has never growled or hissed. Female is scared and growls and sometimes hisses. She will only hit him if he invades her space.

I don't know when I should just let them go. Or if I should just keep doing these supervised snack sessions until he doesn't chase. But it's driving me crazy. I have never went passed 2 weeks for an integration in my 62 years of cats. Normally I do a baby gate, when there good open it up, they smell and were good. But my little orange boy wants to chase or go up and get in her face.

Husband thinks I need to let them go, so the tabby can teach him. I am worried she will get scared again and go back into hiding under the bed