I've been meaning to post in this thread for some time. This little kiddo (named Sui) adopted my girlfriend and me when we bought our house in March. She went from being scared of me while feeding her leftover salmon to climbing our window to get into the house. She's two years old, and we adopted her from the neighbor down the street that has way too many cats (Sui's mom and brother live there). I was wondering if you guys had any tips on getting her to use the litterbox more? As of now, she's about 80/20 when it comes to indoor outdoor. During Hurricane Ida, she used the litterbox. But it isn't as fluid as we would like. Also, Sui enjoys bringing us gifts from time to time. She's been bringing us everything from snakes to squirrels. I've read that it's good to praise cats when they do this sort of thing. But sometimes it can be a bit too much. Any tips on dealing with that?
I’d recommend keeping her fully indoors. She’s likely primarily using the bathroom outside to try her best to maintain a territory. She’s also safe from cars, dogs, cats, and shitty people indoors and it won’t diminish her quality of life at all. Also get her spayed and chipped. She’s a beautiful cat.
Cat thread My house peeing cat can’t stay. She is peeing out of control and ruining shit. The last straw was this weekend when she peed on my son’s bed and pillow multiple times. (One time…yeah sure we are used to that. Then she did it again which means it’s going to keep happening. It’s also impossible to keep track of where the cat is, keeping doors shut, etc.) What are the most humane options for, uh, getting rid of her? I feel like putting her in a no kill shelter is too mean. She can’t just go outside because our doors are always open from kids coming and going. This is a super shitty situation, but my wife has had it (and technically it’s her cat).
Gray cat got a stay of execution. (We are never getting rid of her, but she is a huge pain in the ass.) This is their Xmas present. Sprayed with bliss mist to entice engagement.
maybe try explaining the situation in an ad and see if there's some bleeding heart around you that would take it in? Or possibly someone on a farm in need of a barn cat? It wouldn't necessarily have a great outlook, but I feel that's more humane than a shelter at her age, but idk. Rough situation best of luck
Is it behavioral or medical? It would be super shitty to give up a pet for something she can't control.
not to speak for the guy, but iirc this is like years and years of persistent pissing on everything and putting out piss pads and they've probably already been more patient than the vast majority of cat owners would have been
It’s behavioral. She mostly uses the litter box during the day when everyone is awake and home but gets wild at night or when we are gone. Her stomach is bald because she licks all her fur off and is a super skittish cat. Every test in the world has come back fine and multiple vets have said she’s just a crazy cat that needs anxiety medicine. I’m not pilling a cat everyday so we just have to deal with it. She’s a family pet and we would (probably) never get rid of her. I use this thread to vent sometimes.
Fireworks Guy has been going since about 5:30 and he's really ramping it up now. We still have an hour and a half before midnight. One of my cats squeezes through this tiny hole to hide under the garage stairs somehow. I don't know how it's physically possible but cat. This happens every New Year and 4th of July. His brother is sleeping on the couch and could not care less.
She's two pounds, being humbled regularly by him, but keeps going back for more. Your assessment is on point.
This cat has been visiting me everyday since thanksgiving, I had kinda hoped she was a stray I could adopt but I’m 99% sure she’s just a neighbor’s cat. Most social cat I’ve ever come across, very vocal but at a low volume.
new cat owner here, i have some questions if you all would be kind enough to offer advice. just brought new cat home saturday afternoon. cat was obviously nervous in new house and spent the first few hours holed up in our laundry room before deciding that wasn't cool and eventually made it's way into the spare bedroom. so, i set up the spare bedroom with it's water, litter box, cat bed, and would give it food in the room. the cat seemed pretty social and would come out any time we entered the room and check us out, let us pet it, and she would come down at night and explore around the house, even spending one night sleeping on the floor in a corner of my bedroom. Yesterday I thought we had a bit of a breakthrough, she came down early and hung out downstairs in a window sill next to my work space until sometime around lunch. After that the cat crawled under a chair in the spare bedroom and hasn't come out since. it wouldn't come out when i brought it food, it would move away when we tried to pet it (it wouldn't get defensive, but just crawl to another side under the chair and not give you a good angle to pet it), and hasn't shown any interest when we tried to play. This may have been it, but yesterday when I thought she was downstairs I grabbed the vacuum and cleaned the carpet around the litter box. I only tried it because i thought it was out of the room, because i didn't want to freak her out. Now i'm questioning myself if she was upstairs and the vacuum got her torqued up. The only food she has eaten since yesterday was this morning when i literally stuck and handful of food under the chair, and she ate it out of my hand. Do I just have to wait it out until things calm down?
Just let her ease in IMO. Cats are like Chinese finger traps; the harder you try to make them do something the more they resist. Ignore the cat and maybe it comes up to you purring after a while?
well, one thing (and this might not be a problem if the room is big enough) if you're going to have food and water in the same room as the litter box (and I wouldn't), make sure they're opposite sides of the room. Don't be afraid to put out more than one water station. Cats don't like to shit where they eat. Probably shouldn't vacuum until she's settled in and comfortable going to every room, particularly in her "safe room" (the one room she can retreat to until she's comfortable with the rest of the house. That said, vacuums bother some cats more than others. Make sure she has something to climb on. Cats like to get some height to survey their surroundings, figure out what's going on, hunt, etc. and will feel safest in an environment where that's possible (and encouraged).
after the first night i actually had started feeding the cat downstairs. i'd shake the food bowl and it would run out, eat. and then mill around inspecting things before heading back to the room. when it wouldn't come out last night or this morning i broke down and brought some food into the room. the cat tower has been ordered, but we got snow and it's delayed my deliveries. i am a little upset with myself over the vacuuming. i am not sure how she made it back into the room, and i checked before i ran to grab it out of the closet.
As previously said, some cats are more skittish than others. Some won't be bothered by a vacuum, strangers, etc. Whereas my mom has a cat that will disappear for a few days if she gets spooked by something like that. (Out in the country, cat goes off in the woods somewhere)
well hopefully she loosens up and gets back to eating. still a very young cat, the shelter said 10 months. we call her Mackie Spoiler
after a day of hiding the cat has emerged. she has spent the last 12-16 hours trying out every square foot of my bedroom. every time i go in there she is laying in a new spot. she has started to roll on her back like a dog and let me pet her chest when i approach. also is mostly unbothered by me touching her paws, hoping that is a good sign for future claw clipping adventures.
its looking possible I was incorrect about this cat being a neighbor’s. The property adjacent to mine is under construction but they hadn’t been working on it for months, they restarted demo the last two days and the cat has been at my place basically the whole time. I know she hangs out on the property, so I’m thinking she might have been abandoned and was living there. The collar she is wearing is basic gray rubber stamped with a long ass serial number like from a shelter, so that would kind of fit as well. Feels weird to hope she’s abandoned but…
I would probably trap her and take her to a vet to see if she's chipped. If she's not, knock on neighbors' doors to see if she's got an owner.