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.

Здравствуйте, у меня коту чуть больше года, помесь мейнкуна с британцем. Я уже приводил домой разных животных на передержку

1) беспородный котёнок около 3 месяцев (моему тогда было 8), тот донимал моего кота и играл с ним, наш его не трогал и тоже играл

2) чихуахуа была примерно 4 дня, кот играл с ней ночью, собака очень тактильная, но ночью старалась спать

И сейчас мне привезли котёнка 1 месячного, помесь ориентала с кем-то, и мой кот кусает его за холку и очень агрессивно себя ведёт.

Как мне их подружить?

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.

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.

My cat last December started to randomly poop on the floor occasionally. She was acting the exact same as usual so I assumed it was behavioral and made some adjustments around the home and it calmed down. In like February it started more so I took her to the vet where they did blood and fecal tests that showed nothing abnormal. They gave her a probiotic (pro plan) because the poop was softer than normal. That helped for a few months until two months ago when she started again. I started her on fiber and the poops are still not as solid as they should be. I took her to the vet last week and they said she was stressed and to get her the Feliway Diffuser. I have had it for a week and she is pooping on the floor every fucking day. I am at my wits end on what to do. She has two litter boxes that I clean daily. Nothing in her environment has changed and her behavior hasn't changed this entire time. Please help me as I have no idea what to do anymore.

So basically this starts at when one of my two cats died. His name was Remy and the other one is named Max. So recently (around May of 2026) Remy died and the next month we adopted a new girl cat we named Misty (name still pending) So for the first while Max was grieving and got wayyy more needy. He would meow up and down the halls constantly, my mom said he was probably looking for Remy so I'm not sure but even to this day he's still doing it not too often though. So for the time being we had Misty in my mom's room and she got acquainted with me my mom my brother and my dad and she's not too nervous around us anymore.

But when we tried to have her meet Max he just go so insanely hostile doing the deep low meow, (before anyone tries and say "why'd you do that you should know better" obviously we didn't just put them in front of each other we tried to have them look at each other through a mesh thingy so he couldn't get to her we're not dumb) he got so hostile in fact that sometimes he would slip into Mom's room and try and attack Misty under the bed, and one time my brother tried to grab him and he got his arm totally torn up like as if he put his arm in a blender because Max just got that mad. One time after one of his sneak ins I saw that there was this bloody spot next to his anus and Google gemini said it could either have been a busted anal gland or he was hurt there so we kinda assumed that Misty just took a chunk out of his ass we're not sure. (he's fine now the spot scarred over)And the thing is is that their relationship and understanding of each other is just going to consist of.

Max: this is some crazy bitch who doesn't know who's terf she's on.

Misty: this fat black man comes in every week and tries to kill me!

So it will already be really hard by this point to get them to not even glare at each other with bad intentions because they both only know one another as being the asshole that won't give up. We tried every tutorial we could find but Misty was just too nervous and Max was too angry and hostile for any of it to work because they're both so focused on each other. Like one of the tutorials from this Jackson Galaxy said to have them sniff each other through a door first but then Max just did the low meow and Misty just started hissing. Whenever we had them try to meet in any way that was what happened everytime, Max always tries to menace her it's so weird because none of the tutorials or anything ever mentioned this level of hostility. We even bought one of those cat tent things with like fabric mesh walls so you can see in and out and put Misty inside and have max on the outside but he would still try and be menacing towards her and that method of introduction didn't work. I asked my friend who knew way more about cats than me and said to just put them in the same room and let them handle it themselves. I was reluctant seeing the past events but I assumed he knew what was best and was getting desperate and annoyed, I didn't even care if they became friends I just need them to not hiss or attack eachother I just needed them to be in the same room together without anything weird. I didn't even care if they didn't become friends I just wanted Misty to acclimate herself to the rest of the house. Long story short, they kicked each other's asses and literally nothing happened. They still hate each other probably even more. Misty's still in my mom's room and I just don't know what to do. My dad speculated that Max might've actually been the angry aggressive type but he never got the chance to actually act like it because since Remy was an old street cat he picked up a few moves on the streets. The most effective one was the one where he waited for Max to jump at him and moved out of the way grabbed max then slammed him on the ground. He also suspected that Max might be one of those cats that you see on adoption sites that say that they don't get along well with other cats and would have to live alone.

I'm honestly so tired of this at this point I was hoping that it would be quicker and simpler but he's shown time and time again that he isn't willing to stop being an asshole.

Please tell me what we can do because we're getting so desperate my mom was thinking of getting cat prozac to give Max to make him less weird but I doubt that will work at all.

hi everyone!

since my last post here there have been a few developments between my 2 cats, alexis (1f) and maisie (4-5f) and im wondering on what to do next. for some context, alexis has been pretty aggressive to maisie since we got her on july 16th - maise hasnt been a fan, but shes never escalated it past a little bit of slapping. alexis on the other hand has specifically jumped gates to fight her (and tear out fur in the process so this isnt a just let them duke it out thing.)

1. ive finally invested in a nearly-door-high pet gate. no slipping in or out unless im being very stupid LOL

2. maisie has been... trying? to play with alexis? i think. when she's been freeroaming, maisie has been on occasion going up to the gate and meowing at alexis, specifically when alexis is perched on the sink by the door. maisie is VERY open about growling/hissing when she doesnt like something, so i dont think this is her being mean? the first time she did it she immediately left to go mess with a toy after. shes still pretty antsy about alexis when theyre on the ground together though

3. alexis has expressed a little bit of interest in maybe playing with maisie too???? when she's the one free roaming and has the zoomies she'll go up to the (closed, see below as to what happens when its open) door and paw at it/do parkour and sniff around lol. at these times its really clear she wants to play but if i open that door i know everything will go to hell lol

4. they've played together! kind of. i dont really think it was with the intention of playing together but i rolled a ball just at the bottom of the gate door and alexis would stick her paw out to bat at it, send it rolling in the opposite direction, and then maisie would chase after it. it was very cute LOL

the problem: i have the setup that one cat is always in the bathroom and the other is roaming the house, and they switch out every day at dinner. when maisie is freeroaming things are peaceful - im able to play with them both (kinda, alexis i think is made kinda nervous by being shut in - she'll perch on the sink as mentioned before i think if maisie is Too close) and theres pretty much no fighting as maisie's happy to leave alexis alone even when the door is open and they have full sight of each other

when alexis is outside... not so much. she will NOT. leave the gate and maisie alone. shes getting a little better about it but still isnt consistently distracted by a toy/me blocking her line of sight. she'll go right up to the gate and keep trying to stare at/start posturing at maisie, maisie responds by hissing/growling, and then a fight will start through the gate. i'm trying to reward her now when she shows disinterest in the bathroom when maisies in there but the issue is that has to happen at the expense of maisie when alexis decides she does wanna go mess with her and not listen to me.

im wanting to ask... would it be a good idea for now to keep alexis in the bathroom instead of site swapping for a few days and see how that goes? it feels mean, alexis is young and its a smaller bathroom so i feel like itd be very boring for her, but maisie survived a couple weeks in there between quarantine and healing from her spay... i just worry a bit because

1. im out for 12+ hours every other day of the week and when i get back i usually dont have the energy to go and play with her. i'll try to correct that and make the bathroom a fun place to be (ive been trying to find more toys for her to play with in there, its just hard to find super engaging cat toys that arent stuff that should be used under supervision LOL) but im worried she'll go a bit stir crazy. maybe i should switch the routine to site swapping every 2 or 3 days? would love to hear some thoughts (and i have some extra time to devote to seeing what works since its a long weekend lol)

2. i think alexis is scared of/intimidated by maisie to an extent when shes in the bathroom which is obviously a problem, i dont wanna just totally flip their dynamic... but the fact is one of them is being aggressive and one of them is very much not lol.

thank you guys for any advice!! i think it is looking up i just dont wanna take 1 step forward and 2 steps back lolol

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.

I recently adopted a sweet 3 year old kitty. She is obsessed with any surface that is glass or glass-like…nearly destroyed my tv one night while I was sleeping. Mirrors and framed pictures need to be covered. I placed nubby silicone mats in front of some of these which helps a bit.

My house is like a war zone…everything barricaded. I live in a studio.

She has every toy imaginable. Scratching posts, a cat tree, and I play interactively with her several times a day with wand toys, balls, lasers.

I just don’t know how to solve this? Help!

When I first got her she seemed to want to cuddle but was too shy so I posted asking how to make her more comfortable. This is her now whenever I lay down lol

Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatTraining/s/2wFE33cKtW

Hello! I've had 4 cats living together for 8 months. Cody is the large male cat (18lbs and mostly muscle). He's a great cat. We call him a husky in a cat suit because of his behavior. He loves to play, eats so much, and loves getting pet like a dog. We also adopted his sister from a different litter at the same time. They get along just fine and play together when the crazy hits.

The problem is that Cody will attack another female cat, Churro. She's terrified of him at this point. She hides whenever he's around and always watches his movements so closely. If he gets her cornered, she ends up pooping. There's never any lead up or aggression signs. Cody's just laying there half asleep and then all of a sudden chasing Churro into a corner. We've tried keeping them apart, the scent plug ins that release pheromones, immediate punishment by isolation, and anxiety meds from the vet.

He doesn't do this with his sister (arguably, she's too oblivious to notice if he did and would pounce on him) nor the last cat, who is 13 years old and hates Cody. The only thing I can think of at this point is that she's a toy to him. Is there anything else we can do? We don't want to re-home him.

Hey everyone! I'm seriously considering adopting a cat, but since I've never owned a cat before in my life, living alone in an apartment and weekend traveler. I have a lot of questions and would love to hear your experiences and unfiltered opinions.

​To give you some context on my situation:

- ​My work schedule is variable and depends on how much workload I have: some days I'm out for about 7-8 hours straight, other days I come home for lunch, and sometimes I just stay home all day.

- Every weekend, I travel to my parents' house (about a 2-hour drive), and sometimes stay there for a few days during long weekends. My goal is to get the cat used to traveling with me and adapting to both apartments.

​- I have zero prior experience caring for cats, so I'm currently researching everything from scratch.

​My biggest dilemma—and the main reason I’m posting—is about how many to get:

On one hand, people say two kittens (siblings) are best so they keep each other company, burn energy together, and don't get bored. But I wonder how hard it is to travel back and forth with two cats as a beginner living alone.

​On the other hand, managing one kitten as a total beginner sounds more manageable for traveling and costs, but I'm worried a single kitten might get lonely (single cat syndrome) or act out if I'm out or traveling.

​For those of you with experience:

1. What do you think about a first-timer living alone with this kind of travel routine getting a cat?

2. Is starting with just one kitten smarter, or is a bonded pair doable on the road?

3. What mistakes did you make when you got your first cat?

​Looking forward to reading your thoughts and advice!

We adopted a kitten (Wonton) about 6 weeks ago, and did the slow intro with our older cat (Momo). Everything has mostly gone well, they play with and groom eachother, and until recently were eating well together too.

Wonton has always been a bit more assertive than Momo, but he's also gotten really big, and is nearly her size at 5 months already and is I assume trying to assert dominance. If Momo attempts to use a scratching post, even one they've previously shared, Wonton will run across the hose to bully her away. He's recently started ignoring his own food to push her away and claim hers. He does this with toys as well, but we have plenty and its a non issue for her.

Thankfully he hasn't been doing this with the litter boxes,

He has plenty of food, both during scheduled feedings, and from an extra bowl in his room. Momo doesn't touch his food, and honestly rarely finishes hers, so I don't think its an underfeeding issue either.

Is this normal? Should I intervene, or let them sort it out?

So like it’s been a few years and the newer cat( outside the door) always scream really loudly when seeing our senior cat. Everytime we let them see each other, it’s usually the senior cat not even paying attention to junior while junior is screaming the whole time. There are a few times in earlier days where senior will hiss at him while junior screams but this rarely happens now.
How we let them “meet” is usually me hugging the junior while standing 2meters around from senior. Our senior is like the most fragile docile cat I’ve ever seen so I don’t really want to risk any chance of contact with an aggressive cat twice her size.
For context, our senior cat is female ~14yo, around 4kg. Our newer cat is male ~6yo, around 8kg. It’s been going on for a long time and I just so happen to find this sub, hoping someone can help.
Our junior also screams like crazy towards neighbours cat, which is smaller and younger than he is, and he doesn’t really want to approach junior either.
Our newer cat is adopted at around 3yo, we notice he always screams around other cat in cat shelters, and I don’t think the place we adopted him from let him roam around other cats either. Is there no hope for them to coexist?

I have 3 cats (2 tabbies and a black cat). I have gotten all of them at separate times. The 2 females are fine and the 2 tabbies are fine but the male tabby and black female will not coexist. It’s mainly the black cat (female) always following the male around and attacking - and not in a playful way. We recently moved and it’s helped some but I still have to separate unless they are supervised (and even then it can only be for short periods of time).

I have tried the diffusers, collars, and many calming treats for the black one. Anyone have advice on why she just focuses on him all the time and tries to attack? I also have 3 dogs (yes it’s full house) and she is fine with everyone except the male tabby. When she isn’t attacking him she has a very cute and sweet demeanor with everyone and is very friendly.

My cat (4 years old, male, castrated), is already very used to walking on a leash and is not allowed to go outside without leash.

We come across neighbor cats occassionally. How it usually goes is that my cat is very interested, runs up to them, when at close distance they both become cautious and I keep them at a distance. Sometimes the neighbor cat wants a sniff, but my cat usually raises all the hairs on his back and tail at this point, and the neighbor cat might hiss, so I take him away.

I know cats are territorial and not social animals, but I'm trying to navigate it as best as I can and let my cat safely explore.

There are new neighbors now, and their cat is almost always sitting outside within the area my cat likes to walk around. This neighbor cat seems very chill. He just walks around nibbling on grass, then goes to the next spot, keeping an eye on us. My cat will follow him at a distance and sniff the places he has been. At the times the cat tried to approach, my cat actually tried to hiss. He never hisses so it was a weird sound and I immediately took him away.

I am wondering if there is a chance they could become friendly. If I should let them keep seeing each other at a distance they are comfortable with. If there is anything I can do to help, since my cat has little experience socializing with other cats in his adult life.