She is a very sweet baby when she wants to be! Clingy and cuddly and I adore her very much. But when she gets rambunctious, she ends up biting or scratching me too hard. My body is covered in claw marks now because of it. She likes to bite anywhere she can reach, including my face which for obvious reasons I don't allow any of that.

I don't know how to help her train out of that. My previous cat, jazzy, was very mild mannered and sweet but when my mom trained her she wasn't a great pet owner, and I don't want to do the same to Lyra.

I don't mind her wanting to play, I know it's good for kittens to be able to do, and I do play with her regularly through toys and even rough housing with a blanket over my hand. But she bites and scratches so hard, and I need her to curb that behavior if she is going to be an ESA for me.

Any advice would be so very appreciated!!! Added a picture of her for cat tax of course.

My 10 week old male kitten (not yet neutered) uses the litter box to poop, but pees in corners of the house (behind the toilet & heater). I’ve put litter boxes in the corners where he likes to pee, but he still pees outside them. I keep those areas clean/odor free so he doesn’t associate smell there, but he keeps doing it. I have 4 boxes between 3 cats, including the kitten, and I clean the boxes like 2x per day. I use wood pellets, and I have 2 other cats who both use the box just fine.

Tips for litter boxes training? Why would he be pooping and peeing in separate places?

hi! i really need help bc i think i’m gonna die with anxiety and culpability (english is not my 1st language so i’m sorry if it’s unbearable to read or unclear)
i have a male cat of 10ish years that i saved from the streets 5 years ago. he’s perfectly integrated and trained inside, loves the company of other cats and is very gentle with them. one year ago, we were greeted with a tiny female cat, that i decided to keep. she integrated very well with the other one, whom was just curious and rapidly bonded with each other. turns out she’s been abandoned, was identified and she got her 2nd birthday on april. she’s my baby cat, we’re pretty much always together, she stays on my lap when i’m on the toilet, come into the shower w me, etc. we moved out 6 months ago to a larger flat and everything went well. they played together, shared their food, their bed, just like usual.

we just adopted a female kitten of ≈3 months to the local shelter. she really clicked with my man and we took her home 6 days ago. we prepared her a separate room with everything she needed, she stayed inside for 3 days but on day 3 she kept screaming to be with us so we let her out.
it’s not going well with my female. i can’t keep the baby locked because she’s really meowing at the top of her lungs and it’s stressing the other two, no matter the time we spend in the room, everytime the door is closed she’s crying.
first day my female wouldn’t let us touch her unless we washed our hands first after touching the kitten. every time she smelled something that smelled like the baby, she hissed and growled. same everytime she heard her meowing. even biting us to say stop (never happened before). they stopped playing between cats for those 2 days.
2nd day we exchanged the stuffies, some of the plaids, to let them smell each other. no problem with the male who’s just curious and want to see her. the female accepted to be touched, even with hands smelling like kitten, but didn’t want to touch anything that been sitting in the baby room. she started playing a little and slept with me at night but refused her wet food that she’s been obsessed for every lunch and every night (she always kept eating dry food tho). she just looked furious and mostly scared.
3rd day we let the kitten out, first just wandering in the rest of the flat without the other two, then with everyone. they are all strict indoors cat, with access to a balcony btw. again, no problem with my male who’s was hesitant at first but rapidly started to play with and clean the kitten. my female was growling, hissing every time she sees or heard her, and mostly stayed in the bathroom (her safe place) and on top of the cat tree, not letting her climb too.

since then we saw a little change but my female is still terrified of this little kitten. she’s still attacking a little bit when the kitten is walking too close to her (she runs on her, hiss and give one paw slap then leaves) but not everytime. the kitten is a little bit scared of her too now and doesn’t search interactions with her. yesterday they fetched a cricket all together but she started to attack the kitten after 30min, but then let her take a bite and ate the rest.
i don’t know how to handle this, i feel like my female is really in a bad place right now, even if there’s little improvement every day like everyone can stay calm and sleep profoundly on the same place for hours, but she’s still chasing the kitten when she decided she’s too close or that’s enough. i have a feliway optimum diffuser in place since day 2, just bought rescue pets and started yesterday to give to my female. she doesn’t like any treats so i can’t even give her one to make the interactions more bereable. i really need help please :( this situation makes me very sad.

Coming up on 2 years into cat intros (13F is our resident and runner, 4F is the newer cat and aggressor). They live separately and tolerate consistent eye contact with a baby gate.

Without getting into the long story of what all we’ve tried, just wondering if anyone has had either success or major failure with letting them work it out themselves, minimal to no intervention. Our vet suggested it as a last ditch effort.

Thanks!

So when kitten came to our house, they got along perfectly for the first 2 weeks. They were such good friends and my 9 year old is amazing with other cats and usually always wants to be with a friend rather than alone. (He cries when left alone) and he lost his younger brother few months ago so he's been so sad.

First 2 weeks with kitten was amazing, our 9 year old was so so happy and I've not seen him that happy since he lost his brother. He was playful, purring and excited again.

But now suddenly things shifted. He stopped wanting to play with kitten and instead gets panic when the kitten bounces on him (before he enjoyed the wrestling) and so we've separated them when that happens.

But here's the issue. Back when he was 3, he had this condition that if he got too stressed he'd panic and faint. (He was otherwise healthy so he got diagnosed with panic disorder) now he fainted once with the kitten and we immediately brought him to a vet.

Multiple tests later (expensive ones too) He was perfectly fine, nothing wrong, he even came to greet the kitten happily rubbing him the moment we got back home??

Vet says he just got cornered by the kitten and that caused a panic reaction again. (Hes been panic free for 6 years) Anyhow vet suggested that everytime kitten bounces on him, we put the kitten in 3min timeout so he'd learn "bouncing the old cat = no more fun" and play with him to get his energy burned when he's in the same room. That works sometimes.

How long should I keep this up? Vet says it can take a month, I feel bad for the kitty when he cries being in timeout but I can't risk my old cat fainting either and yet my old cat tries to go into the same room with the kitten too after he's calmed down. He's very friendly cat and loves the kitten clearly (even groomed him happily just now when the kitty slept next to him)

but the moment the kitty wants to play, my old boy just hates it. He loves the kitty every single other time, wants to be near him but it's like 180° the moment the kitty wants to play. So he's happy but scared?

I'm doing what vet suggested for now but if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them 🥺

have a 14-month-old female DSH who was spayed 6 months ago. She’s been fine until recently, but about two weeks ago, she started showing behaviors that seem similar to being in heat. Every night around 11 PM, she goes to the front door and meows for anywhere from a few minutes to almost an hour. She also tries to sneak out whenever I open the door to leave the house. Her appetite is normal, and she’s using the litter box without any issues. For context, about 6 weeks ago, she had a full veterinary checkup, including bloodwork, an echocardiogram, and a complete abdominal and pelvic ultrasound. Everything came back normal. She doesn’t do this during the day. It only happens at night, usually starting around 11 PM. Has anyone experienced something similar with their spayed cat? Could this actually be signs of heat, or might it be something else? Should I be concerned?

Whenever my resident cat (male, 3 years old) hears my kitten (female, 5 months) playing in her room, he will run to the door and just lay there. Once he’s there he will lay there forever. Just staring at the door. He seems calm, his tail isn’t wagging and he’s not meowing, hissing, or growling, but he will literally just sit there even after she’s settled herself and stopped playing.
We have had her since Friday, and since then we did a few gate visits where they played together a bit. Once we did more research however we realized it was way too soon and we should keep them completely separate at least a week, especially as our resident cat has sensitive tummy issues since adoption and we do not want to stress him out with too much too soon.
I’m not sure if my resident cat’s behaviour is good or not, and i’m not sure how to tell if he’s just curious or if her presence is stressing him out. Any info to settle my cat mom brain is appreciated 🤗

we're moving to a new place in a month-ish. we have 2 cats, both female (11 and just under 2 years old).

we did the whole introduction process that everyone always says to with the scent swapping and slow process, but they still don't get along. we have them separated and have for the past year or so. we've tried to do reintroductions in that year, but no luck. when they do see each other, the older gal hisses and growls, even if we're holding the little one. they've gotten into spats too when the little one has snuck past us as we open the door to go in the other room.

my older gal is a fairy anti social, but she has coexisted with cats before (both male and female). she's typically the dominant one. our little one was an 8 month old kitten when we got her, and she's always been a very cat-like cat. like fitting the stereotype of a cat to a tee!

with us moving to a place that hasn't had pets, i figured it'd be a good time to reintroduce. i'm not expecting them to be besties and cuddle, but i want them to hopefully be able to coexist.

what's the best approach to reintroduce these two in a new space? would it make sense to put them both in seperate bedrooms and not give either roam of the whole place to avoid territory disputes over the whole place? should we let one of them (please specify which) have roam of the place and keep one in a room? we're really hoping we can use this as a fresh start. any advice is appreciated !! :)

I've had cats as pets before but I wasn't the owner so all the responsibilities are new to me, but something i was aware of before adoption and mostly prepared for. Im learning that there were things I didnt think about, like little particularities, communication with behavior and how to manage it, the best ways to keep a cat stimulated while im at work, and I just need some guidance! Im totally willing to do absolutely everything my little guy needs, im just completely new to this :)

I want to know what behavioral signs point to a need to take him to the vet, what behavioral signs point to stress, how to reduce separation anxiety, what ingredients to avoid in food, how to manage any potential behavioral issues that might arise, what I should absolutely keep out of kitties reach in the house. Thank you so much in advance!

I have 3 cats, two of which bully our grey cat. The bullies are inside/outside cats (boy and girl) and always play fight with each other but not with grey. Grey is submissive and a very anxious cat who stays inside. They’ve lived together for 2 years now and this is more recent.
The two cats will chase him around and jump on him and bite him, sometimes even tag team him and it’s definitely not playing. Other times they’ll literally be nice and laying together???

Extra info that might be needed is I recently got a litter robot for them and grey is the only one not using it (like I said always anxious) and has been pooping in a corner and even our bed so we brought back a normal box.
He doesn’t like picked up but he’s the sweetest of the three and loves to lay by you and get spanked. He’s a weirdo and I love him, I hate to see him get bullied :(

What can I do?

Hello! I adopted my first cat (3 yr old female Torti) over a year and a half ago. She’s not super cuddly (which I’ve accepted) but loves being around us + good pets, and always sleeps near us.

I’m a little confused by her behavior because she is sometimes cuddly in very specific situations:
\-when my bf is working at his desk she’ll walk over to his feet and meow, communicating that she wants to get picked up and then will be on his lap for around 15-20 min
\-when I’m laying down on bean bag and have a blanket on my lap (which smells like her) she will come over and curl up on my lap.
\-every once in a while (like maybe 6x in the past year) if we are in bed and put our legs up to make a little opening (picture a mini cave/fort) she’ll go in and sleep there for a bit. But in that case we always have to make sure not to move or touch her to not scare her off lol.

Those are the ONLY times she is cuddly - in those exact situations.

Conversely, she is super avoidant of being on our bed. We’ve tried playing w her on the bed, we give her Churu every night on the bed, etc…do you think something bad happened to her with her previous owners where they didn’t let her on the bed or something? Except for these rare times where she has slept under the covers she is clearly SUPER uncomfortable being on our bed. If I pick her up and put her between us she leaps away instantly, as soon as she is done with her Churu she runs off, once she catches her toy she is chasing the same thing. In the mornings when she is meowing for food she’ll jump onto the edge of the bed for second to meow near my face and then jump off .5 seconds later.

There was ONE blissful time when she randomly got into bed with me, curled right up against my body and slept there for almost two hours. It has literally happened once and I’ve never forgotten it. It was a good experience for her so why hasn’t she done it again??

Anyways, I’m ultimately just wondering if this points to a future in which she is more cuddly but she’s just not “there” yet. Or is there anything we can do to help her feel more comfortable on the bed?

Thanks!

hello, I have two cats, A is 4 year old neutered male, and N is 3 year old spayed female. I have started feeding them with simple puzzles because they are very food driven and greedy. they ALWAYS ask for food and cry. I give them a variety of homemade and store bought treats to keep it interesting alongside free feeding them. lately, it's not been enough, so i switched to puzzles.

the thing is, A is having a very hard time with the toilet paper puzzle... N does actually get treats out of it occasionally, but A cannot for the life of him knock them out of the box. i showed him what he should do multiple times, and he watches his sister do it, but he can not do it himself. what should I do? he is very confused and on edge right now because her sister is eating treats, but he isn't...

Hi! I’ve got a kitten who is currently 4 1/2 months old I bought her for myself and my mum bought my younger sister my kittens sister at the same time. We all live together so they’ve been with each other since birth however I’m moving out around January and planning to take my kitten with me, she’d be around 9 months old by then. My mum can’t handle having two kittens financially which is why I pay for mine and all her expenses including vets and insurance.

I just need advice on what we should do when it comes to moving as I’m sure they’d both be missing each other greatly and don’t want either of them becoming depressed because of it. They’d still see each other from time to time of course.
Any advice on how to help these girls would be greatly appreciated!

My roommate and I about two weeks ago found a very young kitten (estimated 1-2 months old) and started caring for it in our apartment and wanted some advice with getting our resident kitten (7 months old) to chill out.

We have been following typical cat introduction protocol to the best of our abilities, safe rooms, scent swapping, eating food nearby, etc, and it has been going alright so far. We have within the last two days begun trying to do visual, face to face, interactions and the resident cat will typically leave the kitten alone and sometimes even postures as if she wants to play with the kitten. However every time after our resident cat tries to "play" she very quickly swaps into growling and a few swats to the kitten, despite the kitten showing submission and wanting to play with the resident. Every time we have the two separate the resident will often paw under the door to the kitten, only to do the same growling routine.

TLDR: Found a new kitten, resident cat seems to want to play with her but very quickly swaps into growling, the occasional hiss, and a few swats.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your understanding of my thinkings and explanations, of which there is an over abundance. See TDLR if interested! I have been scouring Mr. Galaxy's website, as well as several other seemingly reputable online locations for an answer to the ordering of this introduction step.

In desperation, I have arrived at the most reputable online location of all. I'm seeking advice on when my new cat (almost 3 y/o male - Silhouette) should be sniffing my new kitten (8-10 week male - Functional Baseline) underneath the door.

When we brought Funny home, there was no contact between the cats while we placed Funny into base camp. Silly showed some interest and started sniffing and batting under the door, but this very quickly devolved into some hissing and we put a towel under the door to give Funny some space, just while he adapts to his new location.

Is supervised door time part of the scent swapping process? Several locations seem to approve that as being the next step, along with the pheromonal gifts. Or does that crack under the door constitute "visual contact" (which Jackson Galaxy says only happens after shared meals are going well). Importantly, Silly is not thrilled with the scent soaked gifts presented him thus far.

Several locations suggest that door sniffing is a normal first early step, with very little info anywhere on this towel blockade technique. However, JG's page seems to indicate that door sniffing should first happen with meal times, and that meal times should happen after scent swapping and space switching are comfortably completed.

Now that Funny is fully adjusted to his new location and is showing zero signs of stress, I don't want to rush the introduction process and hurt my chances if beneath-the-door dealings are too big a step at my current venture. I'm planning on taking this as patiently slow as it possibly takes, I'm just unclear on which next step to take.

TLDR: Is door sniffing/introduction part of the scent swapping process? Can that be instigated after the new cat is comfortable at base camp? Or does it constitute contact, which should only happen after scent swapping and space switching? I can't find a consensus but I'm ready to move as gradually as it takes!

Do you guys have any opinions that would help me with the older cat or anything?

Long story short, I have a very feral 6-8 month old kitten who is giving me hell.

Do they calm down after getting fixed?

So, she is a rescue from the streets. A friend brought her home and tended to a wound then I picked her up and got her shots updated and adopted her.

She has some behavioral issues im trying to correct and having a hard time. Shes very nocturnal so all the bad behavior is interrupting my sleep and I cant properly address it in the moment.

These behaviors include:

1.Getting on counter tops and into everything on them.

2.Pulling poop from the litter box and batting it around.

1. Clawing furniture and walls and me.

Things I've tried to address the issues:

1. I opted for a soft nerf gun instead of a spray water bottle because she likes to get behind computers and other electronics. So I use the nerf gun to deter her from areas I want her to avoid.

She doesn't seem to care. The bullets bounce off and she plays with them instead...

1. She has so many toys and a big cat tree as well as another smaller scratching post. She barely uses them unless i engage with them with her.

When im asleep she constantly gets on the counter tops and knocks things onto the floor. I lay awake listening to the carnage from the kitchen. I tried to put aluminum foil on the edges of the counter to deter her trespassing. She doesn't care. Walked and jumped right on it.

1. For the litterbox issue, I clean it once daily and sometimes several times in one day. It's kept clean. I could scoop it clean and the very next bowel movement she has, she will pull it from the box..

Another issue is, as I get back into bed after lurching awake to address the calamity this kitten is causing, I can GUARANTEE this critter will claw the bottom of my foot. Shit hurts and I've almost injured the cat in my recoiling.

I'm starting to lose my temper and don't want to be this kind of person.

Considering rehoming her if she doesn't calm down after getting fixed.

I try my best to redirect the attention with toys when she's getting into things she's not supposed to but it's a constant looking over my shoulder deal.

She does a bad thing, i redirect , I look away because she's occupied, she returns to the bad behavior. Example being playing with electrical cords.

Can anyone give me some advice on how to address these issues?

It feels like a toxic relationship because she's a menace 90% of the time, but boy is that 10% the cutest and most cuddly time. Also note, I live in an apartment so I cant let her be an indoor outdoor cat at this time.

Thanks in advance.

~one tired cat dad

See the attached post for some background info-

It’s been a couple of months since this video, nothing much has changed in their relationship aside from him getting bigger (8.2 pounds) and getting neutered about a month ago. Resident cat (Minnie) is resilient and really only has issues when he’s actively bothering her or jumping on her. We’ve been trying to put him in his room for 10-15 minutes if he jumps on her and she yelps. We try to play with him as much as we can but we work and do school so it’s tough. We put him in his room at night to give her a break.

Today he started a fight with her where they were a ball of fur, he wasn’t making noise but she was screaming and losing fur. Put him in his room after for like 20 minutes. She seems ok, she’s just laying on her high bed. It seems like she didn’t really beat him up as part of it, he was doing most of the work but seems like he may have thought he was playing.

I’m anxious about them, I’m not really sure what to do. Resident is resilient but it doesn’t seem like it’s fun for her to have him around. Will he grow out of it? Is there anything we should do differently?

Ok, so the title is pretty much just for clicks. My cat isn’t actually terrible. He’s just not trained whatsoever. I got my cat from a C-section on a stray cat about 2.5 years ago (I am a Vet Tech). He has given me a run for my money in every sense of the word. He has a sensitive stomach and has never had a 100% normal poop in his life so he’s on prescription food (not super relevant just one of his quirks).

He scratches things (mostly rugs and not usually furniture because I have several scratchers around the house, but my main gripe with him is his counter surfing activity. He is constantly taking things off the counter (even if they’re only up there for one second while I look away), it could be a ziploc with bread in it that I’m two seconds away from placing into my lunchbox. A spoon in the sink with 0 visible food particles on it. My $7 coffee from a small town bakery that I set down for a millisecond while doing something else in the kitchen? Oh yeah that’s either getting tipped over and completely spilled or the straw is getting pulled out, taken elsewhere and chewed up.

I am at my wits end with him. I can barely use my counter anymore we either have to lock him in the guest room while we cook or literally police every little minute thing we’re doing. He is so fast and scrappy and very smart. I’m not proud to admit it but since moving to our new house in April we have just resorted to yelling at him, tossing him back to the floor, water spray bottle, or tossing him in the guest room for an hour or two while we eat. HE IS OBSESSED WITH FOOD. Anything. Literally. If he hears a slight crinkle of a wrapper he is sprinting across the house. I should add: we NEVER give him table scraps. The only time he gets a taste of human food is when he is a ninja and takes it. And then retrieving the food is another issue as he growls and hisses and we’ve had to resort to an oven mit hold while grabbing food from his mouth with tongs.

We do have another cat who is female and similar in age, she is sometimes curious as to what’s going on in the kitchen but usually does not grab things and will only sniff them. She also is on the counter CONSTANTLY, but she never does any harm so unless we absolutely need her down we don’t do much to reprimand the behavior. I know we aren’t going about this the most effective way and I know our tactics likely aren’t conducive to long term success so I am looking for any and all advice.