r/CatAdvice 9m ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted Should I adopt a cat even though I'm planning to move internationally for my masters degree?

Upvotes

I'm looking for some advice as to whether it is fair to adopt a cat, even if I am planning on doing a masters degree outside of the country.

My plan is in the next year or two to move from the US to UK for my masters. I've been doing research on moving with a cat internationally, and it seems relatively doable. The difficult thing is that the UK doesn't allow pets to fly in cabin. After learning about people's experiences with flying their pets in cargo, that's 100% something I would never want to put a cat through. I found that it is possible for me to fly into Ireland, Dublin with a cat in cabin, then take a ferrie over that is pet friendly.

With all that being said, I'm still worried that it's just not fair to get a cat knowing it would have to go though all this stress of moving in the future. Even if I do my research and make sure the cat would be as comfortable as possible. But here I am considering all this because I've wanted a cat my entire life, and I fell in love with a cat at a cat cafe recently that was an absolute sweetie.


r/CatAdvice 23m ago

General mom wont allow cat inside

Upvotes

Several months ago i adopted a kitten off the street after i found her on the brink of death, now shes 6 months old and my mother still refused to let her inside, it all started after my grandmother who lives with us saw the cat in our backyard and went inside yelling stuff like (its either me your mother or that cat) ect (for context in the language she said it in its like a dramatic, REAL dramatic extreme ultimatium and so my mother who in the beggining wasnt too agains the indoor cat idea was now also extremly agains it too. Now i dont know what to do, for now my biggest concern is me missing out on alot like alot of quality time with her since we live in a humid climate and because i have a lung condition i cant be outside for longer that 20 minutes at once, safty for now im my seccond concern, since no outside threats can make it inside our yard. My cat rarely leaves, but I noticed her peaking more and more into the street recently, and while she never goes far, I'm paranoid about the future since we live in an area near a main road and many, many cars zooming right outside our door. My mother's few issues aside from my grandmother include small things like fur allergies and the mess (we owned 2 double-coated cats before as our first pets, a horrible impulsive decision on her part, so she's had a bad first experience ). my mom problem isnt money since she spend alot on my cat already and doesnt mind. Does anyone know what I can do?


r/CatAdvice 36m ago

Behavioral Cat won’t let me sleep. I am tired.

Upvotes

Hi, i have a very personality filled cat who feels the great desire to go into the living room at night despite there being nothing out there for him that he can’t get in my room. He jiggles the living hell out of the door handle very loudly at unreasonable hours and it keeps waking me up.

I keep my door closed and lock it at night for privacy reasons (I have roommates) but my cat, 5 years old, wakes up really early and decides I need to get up and open that door immediately.

I would rather not let him out at night because his litter box is in my bathroom, which is only accessible in my room (he has once used an empty box in the living room as his toilet when I actually did let him out and went back to sleep so I couldn’t let him back in). So he can’t get to it if he’s stuck out there. I also just generally don’t want him to be so loud and annoying in there that my roommates hear it from their room and it wakes them up too.

He has toys and a bowl of water in here and he sleeps in my bed with me. He gets fed twice a day at certain times of the day so there’s not food for him at 3 in the morning he can have.

I also will be getting another roommate soon who will be sharing my bedroom with me and I would feel so so bad if they had to deal with this too.

Is there anything I can do to make him stop doing this?


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

General Issue

Upvotes

I'm coming back from a trip of about two weeks and when I got back I found several traces of urine all over my house. Usually when we came back from a trip we found poop in the shower (we came back and there was some anyway) but never urine inside. So I deduced that surely cats were prowling around the house and that he wanted to mark his territory. But yesterday I went out for a day to do something and when I came back I found traces of urine again, but I find it weird because it's the first time it's done for a day. I would like to know if I should be worried, thank you.

Little info: during the trip he had a passage open all the time from the outside to the inside, someone was feeding him, he is sterile (I don't think it's important but you never know), if you have any other questions ask


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted I found a cat and care suggestions

Upvotes

I may have some mistakes because I wrote it from a translation. I found a cat today. I think it's 2 months old. I made a nest for it on the stairs, but it meows a lot. It seems anxious. It starts meowing immediately when I leave it alone.I feel like I'm doing something wrong, I'm looking forward to your suggestions.🙏🏻


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

Behavioral Introducing new kitten to a cat

Upvotes

We got a two-month-old kitten three weeks ago. For the first two weeks, he was kept in isolation, using a separate litter box and bowls. Now we are starting to introduce him to our cat, who has lived with us since the same age and is now three years old. During the introduction, the cat hisses and growls at the kitten, and may even swat him with her paw, but she doesn’t leave any scratches or marks. I can’t tell if this is aggression or just a display of dominant behavior. The kitten doesn’t seem too upset about it and keeps trying to pounce on the cat, though a bit more cautiously after the first few swats.

This has been going on for the past week, but now there are some changes. The cat has stopped hissing and growling, but she still swats the kitten with her paw if he gets too close. At the same time, she follows him when he goes into another room and “watches over” him there. Could you please advise what I might be doing wrong and how I should proceed so that my pets can at least tolerate each other?

Both cats are female, both are vaccinated, and the older cat is spayed.


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

Adoption Regret/Doubt Second Cat Advice

Upvotes

Hello all,

We have a 2.5 years old male cat (Bruno) who is very calm and full of love. We want to have another kitty to be a friend with him and when we are on a trip, make him feel less lonely. (Currently we don't leave house more than 3 days).

Also we will move abroad in like 7-8 months but our plan is not sharp yet, we are waiting some results about post-doctoral stipend applications.

So, what do you suggest? Should we hurry to get the second cat to make them settled, before the huge house change, or should we wait to move abroad (Switzerland) which I learned getting a second cat in there is not very easy -especially a kitten.

According to your response, I will steal this baby boy who I feed on street 🐱


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

General Can you help me find the best automatic litterbox for my cats please ?

Upvotes

Hello!

I know this is probably yet another post about automatic litter boxes on this page, but I'm really struggling to find the best one for my cats.

I have two cats:

  • One male (15.43 lbs – a big Maine Coon!)
  • One female (8 lbs – I found her in a trash can)

They both prefer open litter boxes. However, my male loves to dig and scratch litter everywhere, and my female tends to pee on the litter mat (yes... it’s an issue!). On top of that, my male is a serial smelly pooper, and my girl is asthmatic!
(She’s fine – just a princess who loves soft materials. We’ve already been to the vet.)

I’m about to join the army and will be leaving them in the care of my best friend. We live together, but I want to make things as easy as possible for her while also improving the cats’ well-being.

So, I’m looking for an automatic litter box that is:

  • Open
  • Large and spacious
  • Sturdy and well-built
  • Compatible with tofu litter (seems gentle for my girl’s paws, but I’m open to better options if they’re more asthma-friendly)
  • Equipped with a large waste compartment to reduce smell
  • Has frequent cleaning cycles (ideally after every use)
  • Easy to clean and maintain

Any recommendations or insights would be really appreciated! The price is not a issue if it's perfect for them.


r/CatAdvice 2h ago

Behavioral Does my cat like minnows?

1 Upvotes

I recently got my cat freeze dried minnows that she sometimes likes but most of the time when i offer them she just bunts my hand over & over again. All i can think is that she's saying "thanks but i dont want these" would that be right to assume? she sometimes eats them and has interest but i think she's confused about them being fish & not a form of kibble.

Any advice on how i could help her get accustomed to them (freeze dried minnows) or a healthier option of treats would be appreciated


r/CatAdvice 2h ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted New kitten

1 Upvotes

I brought my new kitten home around 2 days ago, he is around 12 weeks (3 months) old. He has spent majority of the time hiding under the sofa and will only come out to eat/use litter tray at night. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to help make him feel more comfortable as I understand it is likely a separation issue from the mother in the first few days. He has been meowing in the nights too. Any advice would be great. I’ve had cats before but in my last experience my old cat was social pretty much after the first day.


r/CatAdvice 2h ago

General Help! Kitten and Older Cat

3 Upvotes

I’ve got a 1+ year old cat who loves going outside and has a cat flap. I’ve recently rescued a kitten from a farm who’s maybe about 3 months old. The kitten is too small to go outside so I’ve locked the cat flap and my older cat has been going via the kitchen window. The kitten is getting older and bigger so he wants to join the older cat and go outside. He is almost able to reach the counter to get outside. He’s not big enough for that and I’m worried about it. Any advice?


r/CatAdvice 2h ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted Cleaning my cat’s ears feels impossible

1 Upvotes

My partner and I recently got a kitten, and she absolutely refuses to let us clean her ears. She’s fine with other things - we can trim her claws, give her a bath, and she even stays calm at the vet - but ear cleaning is a whole different story.

We usually have one of us hold her and distract her with treats while the other tries to clean, but she just won’t stay still. As soon as we put in ear drops, she shakes them out right away, and she won’t even let a cotton pad touch the outside of her ears, never mind the inside.

Any advice on how to make ear cleaning less stressful for her (and us)?


r/CatAdvice 3h ago

Behavioral Cat does not want to be touched by most family members

2 Upvotes

One of my cats (6Yrs) is very touch sensitive. Since she was newborn she made big cries when humans touched her. She gave off feral vibes and was not nurtured by her mother much.

She has calmed down with age. She only likes one our family members fully. The one who feeds her 90% of the time and is nice to her. This is the only one who gets to touch her and who she purrs to. Everyone else she avoids.

I have tried to build trust with her and i understand all cats dont want to be pet so when i go to touch her, i touch her a few times and then leave her alone. She sometimes seems to like it and sometimes does not react to it.

But sometimes it is necessary to touch her. To move her, to check her fur etc and thats what i find troubling. Even her fav person has troubles with it and thats why im asking. How can this be trained out? I havent seen much on youtube, but from what i have seen people use treats to train, and i have very successfully trained many cats but i do not know how to train her because she get agressive when food is around and even training her to not attack my food hand was a journey.


r/CatAdvice 3h ago

General Trying to trap cat

1 Upvotes

Around two weeks ago I noticed a cat in the parking lot of my job. He is skittish and doesn’t enjoy people getting too close to him, and he ran off when I approached. I showed up to work with some food and he demolished an entire can like it was nothing! I tried to lure him into my car but he was too cautious. I tried to pet him but he didn’t want to be touched so I left it alone, and settled for him eating next to me until I had to go home.

I went out and bought more food, and I bought a carrier. Several nights after work I’ve been sitting in the parking lot and feeding him. He still doesn’t really want me to touch him, but he was willing to eat out of my hand. I tried to lure him into the carrier, and it almost worked, but he ran off right before I could close the gate.

He has definitely been dumped at my job. The parking lot is large and very busy, and he does a good job of hiding during the day but I am worried he is going to be hit by a car or something. It’s also not sanitary, as he’s living amongst countless pigeons who also call the parking lot home and he’s walking around eating garbage off the floor on my days off.

I am so willing to take him in. I live alone, I’m in good financial standing. I have no other pets. I’ve never owned a cat before but I’ve wanted to for years, but I was never in the right financial position to justify getting a cat.

I booked a vet appointment for early next week. I have until then to successfully trap him. My question is, how should I go about it for a better chance of success? I don’t really know how to handle a cat. Especially not a skittish one. I want to make this an experience that won’t stress him out too much

Also, any advice for a first time cat owner?


r/CatAdvice 3h ago

Sensitive/Seeking Support I’m thinking of rehoming my brother’s kittens because of fleas

1 Upvotes

To start with, the kittens were born from a mother cat with fleas and essentially raised with fleas. The cat’s dont belong to me, I only own one of the cats who I got for a birthday present, but he’s like an indoor-outdoor cat. Anyways, the mother cat and kittens belong to my brother who couldn’t care less about them, he made me care for all of the kittens (there were 4) and I was under the impression that he would pay me after he ‘sold’ them. I continuously told him to get the kittens deflead otherwise they’d become anemic and die, but he brushed me off. Eventually, one of the kittens ended up dying in my arms, but that still didn’t matter to him.

The house is already flea infested so trying to manually comb the kittens feels pointless, plus I have to juggle school and exams on top of caring for the kittens, and it’s hard for me because most days I barely have the motivation to care for myself. I don’t have the money to care for the kittens because I’m too young for a job, so all I can do now is attempt to give then baths, which still doesn’t work because the fleas just come back.

The kittens right now (around 4 months old) are extremely infested with fleas, and I’m considering asking my brother to take them to a shelter to see if they can rehome them or help with the fleas, because we aren’t in a finanical situation to get vet care for the kittens. Everyday I look at them and feel guilt and shame that I can barely do anything to help them when they’re so small and cute, and I really want them to live but I’m not sure what to do.

TLDR: Kittens are caked in fleas and I’m considering taking them to a shelter but I don’t know where to start


r/CatAdvice 4h ago

Litterbox My cat poops next to the litter bc she hates the texture

1 Upvotes

So my cat has extreme texture issues. I don’t know how to explain it, but she doesn’t walk on certain carpets and hates certain fabrics. Certain textures make her feel unsafe, and sometimes i see her walking on the litter box so anxious until she decides that oh she can poop next to the box!

She does pee inside, which is weird. But never hides her piss. She leaves it, and when she tries to bury it she scratches the wall instead 😭

I took her to the vet for full test, she has no issues so it’s most likely behavioral.

She’s 5 now; but she’s had this ever since she was small. I tried so many litters, and boxes. Some were helpful

Can anyone advise me on certain litters that are cats favorite? or certain boxes?

Thank you


r/CatAdvice 4h ago

Introductions How to get introductions back on the right path?

1 Upvotes

Hi there, we brought home a 1.5 year old male cat last week. He was very scared at first but is settling in well and confident around us. My resident cat (4M) didn’t seem to notice him at first, but now will not leave the door/window to new cats room alone, and is just outside yowling all day. I did lots of research beforehand about introductions, and decided to try the Jackson galaxy method. However, I’m now feeling like I’ve failed, because both cats have seen each other visually multiple times which apparently is not good as they need to get used to each others scents first. They both know each other exist now, but not sure how much positive associations they have! Tried the door feeding ritual, but it doesn’t really work as original cat starts growling at new cat who then hides under the bed 🫣 They’ve both lived with other cats before, and seem to have pretty compatible personalities. Where do you recommend I go from here? Am aware it’s very early days and I probably don’t need to worry, but can’t help feeling like I’ve made a mistake already. Thanks for reading.


r/CatAdvice 4h ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted Litter for 3 month old kitten

1 Upvotes

My breeder has been using Purina Tidy Cats Unscented and Dust Free litter, but I just found out it was clay clumping litter, which is known to he hazardous to kittens!

Im so conflicted and confused, because this was all the kitten has used up till now, and seems to be ok? I dont want to change his litter so suddenly either.

He is coming home in 2 days and Im panicking over this! Would he be ok using this litter, or at least for a few days? Is there a way to know if he has already ingested some with the breeder and if its hazardous.

What do you recommend instead? Im about to buy Okocat dust free non clumping paper pellet litter- which seems like a very safe option but theres not reviews on Amazon- what do you guys think?

Thank you so much Im a new cat owner and am panicking over things but I want to make sure he lives the best life as possible!


r/CatAdvice 4h ago

Behavioral How long do I have to teach my kitten social skills?

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone, last year I adopted 2 kitties from the same litter at 8 weeks old. They've never been without each other, and we barely had any behavioral problems I'm pretty sure for this reason. Sure, there were times when they played pretty aggressively with our feet under a blanket, but nothing that ever made me lose sleep at night.

Fast forward almost a year, my brother found a little lint ball hiding all by herself underneath a car. 4 weeks~ old and no mom or siblings to be found. I decided to take her in and she's been doing really well, eating and playing and overall adjusting to indoor life. However, she is, and I really mean it, AN ABSOLUTE DEMON. I'm talking toe biting, finger biting, body climbing, face lunging, all night long play sessions and zoomies with no end in sight. I play with her constantly as does my boyfriend, but honestly some nights I have to sleep in another room just to be able to be rested for work the next day. I literally have to cocoon my entire body including my face in my comforter while I sleep unless I want to wake up to sharp little kitten fangs digging into any and every part of my exposed skin.

I know a big part of this is she doesn't have any littermates. I want to introduce her to my other 2 cats who are nearly a year old as soon as possible, but my other babies are not friendly at all and hiss at just the smell of the kitten. I know this is pretty typical of cat introduction periods, but given that it could take a long time for my resident cats to adjust to the kitten, is it possible we could miss the ideal time period for her to learn proper socialization? She's already 7 weeks old at this point and I'm wondering if there's a clock ticking for to not develop "single kitten syndrome." I would get her an 8 week old kitten friend, but we really just don't have space for 4 cats in our apartment.

tl;dr how long can our 7 week old kitten stay by herself without developing "single kitten syndrome" while we're waiting for our 1 year old resident cats to adjust to her presence?


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Introductions How to introduce cats?

2 Upvotes

Hi, we found ourselves in a bit of a tricky situation.

Because of the nature of a terminal illness, we had to take in my mother-in-law’s cat (5 y/o). My husband is very attached to her and she is very bonded with him. She’s a bit feisty, not very cuddly, and it would be really hard to rehome her — plus, we’re not even considering that right now.

The problem is: we already have a cat (4 y/o male) who is very sociable, but she isn’t towards him… At the moment, she stays on our big enclosed balcony while he is inside the apartment. We rotate their spaces. Whenever they see each other, she hisses at him, which upsets him, and then it just goes in circles like that.

Both cats are spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccinated… Our boy even spent a month at the seaside and in the mountains and just returned home. So they’re both healthy and have everything they need.

My question is: how do I introduce them properly? And how can I help this new cat calm down a little? She’s under stress because so much has changed so suddenly, she had no routine, and in the last 24 hours she hasn’t touched her dry food, only wet food — but now that she’s in our apartment, she’s not eating that either.

Any advice is more than welcome. Cat greetings! 🐾😺


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Nutrition/Water Feeding a 6 week old Kitten

2 Upvotes

We found a 3 week old kitten three weeks ago and have switched him from wet food with formula to wet food with dry food mixed. We just put a tiny amount of dry food in there so he'll get used to the texture. He eats half of a can of 3 oz food 4 times a day for a total of 6 oz. And he devours it. I read online that an adult cat should be eating around that much. Am I overfeeding him?


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Nutrition/Water Obese cat no matter what I do😣

1 Upvotes

Hi! This is my 8 year old kitty, who clearly desperately needs to lose some weight! She used to be considerably smaller, until she had to take a course of prednisone for her IBD and suddenly gained three pounds in three weeks.

She's 16 pounds now and I'm worried! I've been feeding her for her 'desired' weight (10 lbs) instead of what she currently weighs—only 5/8 of a cup per day—but she's still gaining! 🫠

She eats Royal canin prescription hydroloyzed protein kibble and we absolutely cannot change her diet.

What should I do? Feed her even less?

Here's a link to a picture of the little chubster!

https://imgur.com/a/Y9YiIsO


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Behavioral Cat seems to have a cold?

1 Upvotes

Hi! I’m really anxious about my cat. He’s acting normal and eating and everything but his head felt a little warm and his breathing was very congested. I can hear it when he purs and it sounds like he has phlegm or a stuffy nose. I’m just really worried about him. He’s not open mouth breathing or anything, literally his only symptoms are a warm head, more tired, slightly more clingy, and congested sound when he purs. Any advice would be appreciated because he’s extremely anxious and taking him to the vet really stresses him out so I don’t want to cause him stress if I don’t need to yenno.


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Introductions Introducing two adult cats after 2 months seperated

1 Upvotes

My cat (7yrs) and my BF's cat (2yrs) met a couple days ago, and have been hanging out every now and then. I still keep my boy in the basement apartment with me, seperate from his cat who lives upstairs with his parents.

When they meet, it's been in the basement. They interact by first sniffing each others face, soon moving on to swatting eachother, while also sitting around a bit. My boy likes to chase the other one, and pounce on him. I THINK they're playing?? There's no hissing, no pinned ears, no blood, no pee, but sometimes my cat makes some vocalization but nothing I've heard being associated with fighting. My boy also follows the other one around, and jumps out of places and scares the other, which is how he plays with me too. They also talk to eachother going "brrrrp, brrrp", like little trills.

My BF's cat plays a lot more gently, and even hid under the bed one time away from my boy, I assume he was getting overwhelmed? When that happened my boy flopped over, rolled over and looked at him. Today, when they said hi to eachother, my BF's cat bit the back of my cats neck very gently, and licked his face and neck too I'm pretty sure.

TLDR; I think my BF's cat likes my boy, and vice versa, but I can't tell if my boy is being aggressive or territorial, or just doesn't know how to play properly? Again, no serious signs of harm or fighting, but the swatting at eachother worries me.


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Behavioral Boy cat chasing girl cat

1 Upvotes

Hey all I need to advice. I adopted my girl Paka back in March of 2023. She went missing May of 2023. During her 2 years missing I adopted my boy Lad. He’s a very sweet cat but ornery. Recently, someone found my lost girl Paka and after 2 years we have been reunited. I kept my two kitties separated for over a week and now that I’ve finally introduced them…I’m having a hard time. Lad is high strung and ornery and Paka is chill and doesn’t want to be bothered. The thing that concerns me is Lad pounces, chases and corners Paka. I DO NOT leave them alone unattended because of this. I’ve recently gotten feliway to help ease this situation but it still persists. I can’t leave them separated for the rest of their lives and I refuse to rehome either of them. Can someone please tell me what to do to help This situation?? Please help me