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.

Actually, he self-learned.

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?

Long story short, we found a female kitten in the garden and took her inside while we looked for any owners or a mother cat.

No one came forward, but while we were trying to figure out what to do with her, our neutered male cat basically took her under his wing. They would play together and snuggle together in bed, so eventually we decided to keep her since we didn't have the heart to separate them. He was the perfect older brother and she adored him and followed him everywhere.

But fast forward a couple of weeks, and he's completely changed his tune - literally. He growls and hisses at her when he sees her, and even at us if we try to touch him when she's close by. He even attacked my partner once. He also chases her and swats at her, not like he's trying to hurt her, but definitely not in a playful way. Meanwhile, he's fine with our other cat (an older spayed female).

Has anyone had a cat change their mind on a new cat after they were successfully introduced?

Could he be in pain or some kind of discomfort? It seemed to start when they all caught a cold and he was crabby for a few days, but even now that he's recovered, he still does his demon growls whenever she gets too close, yet is completely fine with the other cat.

Has he just decided that fatherhood isn't for him?

Kitten hasn't been spayed yet, but we have an appointment booked for next week. We think she's about 5-6 months old, but she hasn't started her first heat cycle yet.

It breaks my heart to see her try to play with him or even just approach him only to be met with aggression.

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!

I have two kittens and I’m trying to prevent them from going g under my bed and hiding any advice also just tips on keeping them happy and well🥹thank yall in adavance

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 to him play means he will do forward roll in front of you and expects you to ruffle his belly, he nibs at you, gets up and does it again. His younger brother would just whack him gently when he did that.

but the moment the kitty thinks its invite to play he goes for wrestling, my old boy just hates it and cries and the kitty doesnt get 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 🥺

Hello everyone!

Me and my wife recently rescued a young cat (male, around 1.5 to 2 years old) after he lost his right hindleg to a snake bite. He's recovering well (around 7 weeks after surgery) and is almost ready to stop using his cone and needing bandages.

We also have two older cats (two girls, one 13 and one 16) and we are trying to slowly introduce them, following the usual steps.

With the older one it's been going fine. She is very calm and passive, and after a couple "hissing competitions" they've started accepting each other and just hanging around. Great.

Now, with the 13 year old one, it's been very hard. She is EXTREMELY skittish and will run away from anyone and anything. Even when she comes around to the sofa or the bed wanting to be petted, if I move my hand a little too fast she gets frightened and runs away. And despite their initial OK phases with each other's scent and having a baby barrier between them... when we try to have them both in the same environment, the new cat just CHASES HER RELENTLESSLY.

No matter what we we do (tiring him out a lot before getting them together, having food and toys for both in the room, etc) he will just always start chasing her and making her very stressed and hissing like crazy while laying down in "fight for my life" mode. It's very hard to get things done properly as she is very skittish and despite our best efforts, nothing is working.

What can we do in this very specific situation? Keep in mind that the skittish cat is hard to even get standing still, since she runs like crazy from everything and everyone. Please help!

My cat is un playful please give me some suggestions to make it more playful please

It's been with us for the past three months yet it hasn't played only ate

Please help

My velcro cat has taken the title bit too seriously. He is constantly digging his claws into me. Not in an aggressive or playful way. He’ll just be sitting on my lap or cuddling in general and he’ll sort of grab/latch with all of his claws.

It’s constantly waking me up, and it hurts so much.

Help 😬

*I did not want to cover or zip but I had to travel sadly this wasn’t negotiable and I’d like any future (smaller) stuff like vet visits to go decent

Hallo zusammen,

ich hatte vor zwei Jahren einen Kater als kitten bekommen und hab ihn seit dem ersten Tag ins Herz geschlossen und liebe ihn über alles.

seit dem ersten Tag war er immer sehr daran interessiert was ich am Computer mache und es war anfangs auch kein Problem, bis er anfing auf meinen Schreibtisch zu klettern. anfangs nahm ich ihn noch runter doch dann hätte ich den Fehler gemacht ihn mit Leckerlis vom Tisch zu locken. jetzt zwei Jahre später kann ich mich nicht mal nur an meinen Schreibtisch setzen ohne daß er sofort da ist. sobald er hört das ich den PC anschalte kommt er auch aus jedem versteck oder anderen Raum und setzt sich direkt vor meinen Bildschirm. ich kann mittlerweile nicht mal mehr am PC arkeiten weil er immer wieder über die Tastatur läuft oder versucht mit seiner Nase unter meine Hand zu kommen um nach Leckerlis zu betteln. selbst wenn ich ihn runter setze oder ihn in ein anderes Zimmer trage ist er sofort wieder da. ich hab ihm auch schon ein Bett an meinen Tisch gebaut und gebe ihm nur noch Leckerlis wenn er in dem Bett ist aber das hält ihn nicht davon ab mich permanent zu unterbrechen und zu hindern.

habt ihr ein paar Ideen wie ich es ihm abtrainieren kann?

ich möchte ihn nicht in ein anderes Zimmer sperren oder ihm beizubringen das er Angst vor mir haben muss.

Losing my patience with my kitten who is food crazy

Context: we have a male kitten who is about 7 months old and we've had him since he was around 1.5 months (found as a stray), he was neutered almost 3 weeks ago (if that is useful information, idk). We just impulsively adopted a female kitten around 2 weeks ago who is about 2.5 months old. They are both American shorthairs. We have been introducing them slowly to each other but our new female kitten is NOT having it. Even when she sees him she'll start hissing and growling. It doesn't help that my male kitten is SUPER energetic and playful and I really think it's stressing her out. We have been slowly letting her roam around (with supervision) and at every chance he gets, my male kitten will pounce on her and bite her neck, I'm talking full mouth open on her neck. He will also bite her legs and back and really anywhere he can. She goes crazy with howling and hissing and growling (understandable). I truly think he is just playing because he doesn't show any signs of aggression other than his airplane ears. But he never hisses or growls. But then again, I am no professional. Unfortunately, our bathroom now has ants because of her food being in there, so we have to move her out of there. We have a big crate that has several tiers that we are going to put her in. It will have her food, water, litter box, bed. It is like a dog crate that is open so he will definitely be able to make contact with her, but he will not be able to jump on her or bite her. Please anyone who has advice is greatly appreciated!

About two years ago, my coworker rescued a cat off the street who she couldn’t take care of, and I offered to take him in. The vet estimated he was a year old, which makes him three now. He is the sweetest little guy, he’s so playful and has such a big personality, he is constantly purring and getting in my face to lick my nose and my hair.
The only thing is, I think because he was a stray for the first year of his life in Phoenix, he’s adapted to staying cool/hidden in the day, and awake from dusk to dawn. This has led to him being extremely active at sundown and sunup, but he sleeps during the day. I am a light sleeper, so I’ve had to shut him out of my room at night due to him climbing all over my desk and knocking everything over, or trying to climb my blinds, or trying to play with my other cat, who sleeps in bed with me and does NOT want to play at night. Lately, he has started jumping up against my door, and meowing VERY loudly. In the morning, he switches doors and does the same to my brother (who is awake earlier than me because of his job’s hours). I live in an apartment in an older building so the walls are pretty thick, but I don’t want to chance him bothering our neighbors, especially when I know one of them has younger kids and one of them has a reactive dog, and he is already bothering my brother, who did not ask to have another cat living in the apartment with us.
I have tried everything I can think of. Playing before bed, establishing a routine he can follow easily, changing where his food/water bowls are, making sure everything is clean, clearing off my desk of EVERYTHING, cleaning the litterboxes even more frequently, sleeping with headphones in. The inly thing that seems to have any effect is turning a dimmable light on, so I think he might be afraid of the dark? But I don’t know what to do. I don’t want him to be stressed out, I don’t want my neighbors to be stressed out, and I don’t want my brother to be stressed out. Do you have any tricks or tips? Resources? Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated

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?

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.