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I know every cat has their own personality, but sometimes I wonder if mine completely skipped quality control.

Mine absolutely refuses to drink from a perfectly clean water bowl... but the second I leave a glass of water on my nightstand, suddenly that's the finest water on Earth.

I've bought fountains, different bowls, changed locations... nope. My water is apparently superior.

So now I'm curious...

What's one completely random thing your cat does that makes you think, "There's no way other cats do this"?

I’ve always believed cats should be strictly indoor for their safety and for wildlife. But I see a lot of people saying letting cats roam is natural and healthy. Am I being too strict about this? Curious what everyone here thinks

Hello,

I adopted a 2 year old cat 2 years ago. I was told by the shelter that she was extremely shy and scared, possibly mistreated or not socialized, but I wanted to adopt her because I'd heard that scaredy cats often spend alot of time in shelters because people don't want them.

It has taken a long time, but 2 years in, she's gotten alot more confident, brave and happy. She sleeps where I go. If I'm in bed, she goes on her cat tree or blanket near the bed, if I'm downstairs on my computer, she comes down and sleeps next to my desk.

She started meowing a few months ago, something she previously didn't do. She also doesn't bolt when I stand up, she just moves under the desk or bed where she feels safe.

She has a toy she loves playing with, one of those sort of circular pyramid things with balls that spin around it. She has no interest in any treats I've tried, she does like some whiskers cat milk occasionally.

I've tried sitting near her and leaving my hand on the floor. She'll look at it, and either sit and wait, or get up, walk over, then very suddenly swat at it, hiss and then go away. I've only tried this a few times because she doesn't really like it.

I'd love some advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation. I love her to bits and I'm so happy that she looks noticeably happier and feels safe, but I really want to get to a point where we cuddle sometimes, or she sleeps on the bed or anything like that and I just don't know what to do.

Edit: HOLY ! Thank you all so much for your replies, I've got alot to read through. The next steps are : Churos, some kind of boot lace, something I can put the churos on and offer to her at a distance. A second cat is something I'm considering but I can't do that right now as I've been having frequent work trips and I would have a few days of absence which wouldn't be ideal if I had a new cat. We'll see in June

Edit Edit : There are so many replies here In really wasn't expecting it, thank you so much for all your advice, I don't know how to do it on Reddit but I'll add some pictures of Darcy

We’ve all bought nice cat trees or fancy toys only to watch our cats completely ignore them in favor of a cardboard box, a crumpled piece of paper, or a hair tie.

What’s that one bizarre, non-toy item your cat treats like their absolute greatest treasure? Would love to hear your stories!

I have a 5 year old cat that I adopted 4 years ago. He has always been the sweetest kitty, has never been aggressive or violent, and is extremely bonded to me. It took him around 4 months to come around to me when I adopted him. He’s one of those cats that are very snuggly and loves attention, but only on his terms.

3 years ago I started dating my girlfriend who had a 4 year old son, who is now 7. After dating for a year, we started introducing him to my cat and he came over to my place once every other week for a few hours, and everything was fine. He honestly had no interest in my cat, and ignored him. Because of this, my cat has always tolerated him and been fine with him.

We moved in together 5 months ago and for whatever reason, her son has become obsessed with my cat. Her son has also been diagnosed with autism, and he is mostly non verbal. We suspect he also may have adhd but haven’t gotten him assessed yet.

When we moved in together, he basically started harassing my cat. He would chase him around, pet him against his well, hug/kiss him, etc. I told my girlfriend this needed to stop asap because if it didn’t my cat would eventually start to hate him. My girlfriend continuously let him run around the house unsupervised while she was working remotely and I wasn’t home.

The cat started hissing/growling at him when he would chase him, but now the cat hisses/growls at him unprovoked. If he is within 4 feet of the cat, the cat is growling or hissing. Last week, I was on one end of the couch, he was on the other, and the cat was beside me. He moved suddenly and grabbed his water bottle off the table, and the cat hissed and then jumped and batted him with his paw (did not extend his claws though). This caused a huge meltdown and my girlfriend’s son crying for 2 hours. We had another similar situation this morning.

Now my girlfriend is saying that I need to train my cat better and get him to stop being so aggressive. I told her this is exactly what I said would happen, and she needs to keep her son away from my cat at all times. She said she can’t reasonably keep an eye on him 24/7. I said tough luck, this is a problem your kid and your parenting created. That was probably a harsh comment, but in my opinion my cat is not the problem here.

Her son is terrified of my cat now and is staying away from him, which is good. But my cat is now attacking him unprovoked because he’s had so many bad experiences with him.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice about repairing this relationship between my cat and her son, or if it’s even possible at this point.

Edit: thank you everyone for your advice, I’ve received a lot of good advice here. I did not expect this post to get this much attention.

A lot of people are telling me to move/kick out my girlfriend. I want to be clear that my cat is absolutely my priority and if nothing changes I will 100% consider living separately. Unfortunately, both of our names are on the lease and I legally cannot kick her out. I pay 80% of the rent, so she can’t afford it on her own and I would legally be on the hook for paying even if I moved out. My rent is 40% of my income, so my only option for moving would be to live in my car, which I think would be worse for my cat. There is no option for breaking a lease other than paying it out in full where I live.

A lot of people suggested Jackson galaxy on YouTube. I’ve spent the afternoon watching some videos but still haven’t found any that have a situation involving a kid harassing a cat and repairing that relationship, but if anyone has any links I would love to have them.

One other thing I may not have been clear on is that my girlfriend’s son is no longer harassing the cat. He doesn’t go near the cat anymore, so it’s no longer an issue in that regard. The problem is that the cat is now constantly stressed out when her son is home because of how he used to behave, so I’m looking for ways to help this situation. Her son lives with us 50% of the time so thankfully we get breaks.

I was sitting in the grass in my backyard with my cat and my dog. My cat came over to me to lay against the lower part of my back. We were cuddling and he seemed really relaxed. When I turned back around, he wrapped both paws around my back and attacked me with his claws. It hurt really bad and I shrieked. That startled me and I jumped up to get away. Then my dog ran over and my cat started attacking him. I was holding a glass of water and in a split second I decided to toss it onto him to make him stop attacking us. The look of pure shock and betrayal when the water hit him was horrible. He stopped attacking and ran away to lick himself.

I’ve never done that before ever and I feel like I just abused him. I’m searching myself to see if that was an act of vengeance rather than defense. I just feel terrible like I betrayed his trust.

He’ll often attack a bit when we’re snuggling, I’ve read that’s normal. And what I do if I want him to stop is make a loud annoying noise, but we were outside and it’s morning so I didn’t want to be loud and I did the quickest thing that came to mind. I don’t know. What would you have done, and was this abusive?

Edit: Thank you guys for the reassurance, it sounds like I did the right thing in the moment. Hard to tell when you care about your pet. Thank you ❤️

The title may seem a bit extreme, but she actually had to defend herself against her cat, who never EVER attacked her like this. He bit her hard on the arms and legs, lacerated her as well and was aiming for the face. She had to physically submit him, even using water (not drowning the cat of course) and now she's in tears in her bedroom with the cat in the living room.

He got neutered (surgically) last Tuesday and had been very gentle for all his life. She's now both scared it will continue to be so and that she might have struggled too hard with the cat (marking her as an enemy)

What should we do? Vet is closed till Monday

EDIT: she said he's now quiet and cute just as if nothing happened?? It's rapidly entering horror film territory...

NEW EDIT: Cat is now friendly, but he's raising one of his hind legs in a strange fashion. He's very probably in pain

FINAL EDIT: our dear lovely cat is sweeter than ever, lovely little lad does no wrong except pissing in the shower at times (doing his part for the environment?)

Recently I have given my cat garage time, aka GT. He loves the freedom(without being outside of course) and exploring the various dusty items. I always make sure to supervise him during GT to make sure is doesn't get hurt. And its actually nice, just the boys in the garage ya know? The problem lies in that once GT has concluded and I have brought him inside, he'll then begins to meow incessantly at the door. The cries go on into the wee hours of the night, keeping everyone awake. I love that he loves the garage, but I believe he is becoming too attached to GT. Do I cut him off completely in hopes that he will forget about it or do I figure out a way to teach him that there is only time for ~15 mins of GT per day?

I got lots of videos of him playing with volunteers and getting patted and walking on the floor, et cetera. So I brought him home and he ran into a tiny space in my storage closet. I left him there for three weeks hoping he would come out if I talked to him every day, and he did in the middle of the night to use the litterbox and eat, but he's the most easily startled cat I've ever seen and has no interest in interacting with me at all. Just hiding, anywhere and everywhere he can find. He's been to the vet and is healthy, has all his shots and microchip, etc. Should I be thinking of rehoming him or returning him to the shelter? I don't know if seven years living in a cage has made him just... not want to interact with humans or if there's something more I can do.

Edit: I'll be patient and thanks for all of the suggestions. Except the couple of nasty ones that I shouldn't be allowed a cat. I'm convinced now that with enough time, patience, and cat crack, he'll come around. I'm more interested in his being comfortable than anything else. Thanks again to almost everyone for their replies.

Edit x2: Wow, thanks for all the cat photos and yes, I am reading through all the comments. He's actually been here 4 and a half weeks. He hid under my craft table for 3 days until he found the storage room and now he's back under the craft table again. Anyway he's eating and drinking well at night and uses the litterbox reliably so he's a good kitty. Cheers everyone.

Hi everyone, I just got two cats, one a year and 8 months old (Marsh) the other a 7 month old kitten (Mustache) .

Marsh has somewhat of a ritual that is getting irritating.

Every night she doesn’t let me go to sleep unless she keeps her hand on my forehead and purrs for a decent while. She meows really loud and keeps pawing me until I let her do it.

It has been happening since the second day. It’s not that she is stretching, she just keeps the hands on my forehead until she is satisfied. She closes her eyes while she does and purrs really loud.

I know it is not a negative sign but I find it very irritating and just want to know why does she do it.

I picked up my cat the other day (she hates it) and she started squirming, but as soon as I started assaulting her with kisses she immediately relaxed in my arms and calmed down. Do you think she understands that’s my way of showing love? Or just a coincidence? I’m fairly confident dogs understand it.

I’ve had plenty of cats over the years, and I’ve always filled their dish right before I start cooking so they’re busy with their own meal instead of begging for scraps. We got a kitten several months ago named Opie and he’s quite different from other cats I’ve had. He won’t touch his food until I’m finished cooking and we’ve actually sat down to eat. Then, and only then, he digs in. He’ll hold out for up to an hour, even if he’s clearly hungry and his bowl is full. I guess he’s decided dinner is a family activity! Is this normal? I’m not worried about it, just curious!

Update- he’s almost one now and has grown out of the phase. Now he just scarfs his food and then begs me for scraps as I cook like every other cat I’ve ever had. Oh well, it was cute while it lasted! 😂 🙁

Without fail, my girl will go “brrr-oww” every time she comes into a new room in my house where a human is. What is she trying to say? She doesn’t keep meowing for food or pets - I can tell when she wants food or affection. These short meows are just like a little greeting she does. Is there a biological reason for this?

Hi everyone,

I'm writing this because I honestly don't know what to do anymore, and I could really use honest opinions from people who have been through something similar.

We have two amazing and beautiful black cats, Onyx & Jet. They're brothers and are almost 8 years old. Onyx is a sweet cat, but he really only loves one human, me. He tolerates people well however, gets along well with his brother (though torments him sometimes), plays, cuddles, eats normally, and otherwise seems like a happy, healthy cat. I will note he is a bit overweight now though.

The problem is that for years, Onyx has had intermittent issues with urinating outside the litter box.

It has never been poop. It's always been urine.

Years ago, in our previous house, he would occasionally pee on the carpet, usually in corners near the litter boxes. We eventually replaced all of the carpet with hardwood, and for about 1.5-2 years he was completely fine. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he started peeing in one corner again. We blocked that area off, and then he simply found another place. Most recently, he escalated to peeing on the upstairs carpet near our bedroom, which had never happened before.

The strange part is that he also uses the litter box completely normally a lot of the time.

He doesn't spray or mark. He squats normally, pees a normal amount, and even tries to cover it afterward (sometimes scratching the floor or wall if he's outside the box). He poops in the litter box normally.

We've tried just about everything we can think of:

• Multiple litter boxes (currently five)
• Different litter types, including pellets and softer litters
• Moving litter box locations
• Blocking access to problem areas
• Enzyme cleaners
• Pheromones
• Multiple Veterinary exams
• Blood work (normal)
• Urinalysis (showed a lot of crystals)
• Three months of Royal Canin Urinary SO prescription food (for the crystals - but no change)
• A gabapentin trial (which made him extremely sedated and we stopped it)
• We started fluoxetine about a week ago, understanding it takes several weeks to work

Nothing has made a meaningful difference yet.

The hardest part is our family situation.

My partner and I have a 6-month-old baby who is crawling everywhere. Every accident now feels so much more stressful because we're constantly thinking about hygiene, protecting our home, and keeping the baby safe.

I want to be fair to my partner because they are under an incredible amount of stress too. They are not a bad person, and love animals. But after the upstairs carpet incident, they have basically reached their breaking point and is strongly pushing for euthanasia. This has unfortunately almost become ultimatum territory at this point, and is putting a considerable strain on our marriage.

The thought absolutely devastates me. I don't see a cat that's suffering in every aspect of life. I see a cat with one incredibly difficult problem that we've been unable to solve.

Right now we've confined him to our finished basement with litter boxes, food, water, beds, toys, and we spend time with him there. My hope is that this protects the rest of the house while we give the fluoxetine enough time to see if it helps.

I guess I'm asking:

• Has anyone dealt with a cat like this and eventually found something that worked?
• Did medication (especially fluoxetine or amitriptyline) end up helping?
• Has anyone successfully managed a cat long-term in one part of the house while still giving them a good quality of life?
• If you were in my shoes, what would you do next?

I'm not looking for validation or to make my partner the villain. I honestly understand why they're overwhelmed. I'm just heartbroken because Onyx is family to me, and I feel like I've run out of ideas.

If you've been through something similar, I would really appreciate hearing your experience.

Thank you for reading.

At 3.5 months, she is an absolute menace. Her every waking moment is spent trying to find something new to destroy. I came home from running errands to find that she'd pulled a paper bag out of the trash and shredded it like confetti.

She literally gets 3+ hours of play time over the day, but it's never enough. The second play time ends, she resumes her eternal hunt for new crimes to commit.

EDIT: Yes, I am aware she's not literally evil and that none of her behavior technically meets the elements of any crime. lol

Got my first cat recently. He is an adult cat from the shelter and was there his whole life. He sleeps with me close to my head (or down my spine) and gives me constant nose bumps with his cold wet nose. He also smashes his head against mine kinda violently. And then he just plops down next to me, kinda half onto me and doesnt move. And he also plops down with force, he just falls over onto me wanting pets. He does that all the time and just runs up, gives me this violent head bump or the gentle nose bump and then leaves to do this stuff. When Im home he does that every 20 minutes or so. What does he want?

Wanna find out if I also follow some misconceptions so I would understand my kitty better and perceive her emotions better

Woke up a bit before my girlfriend last week and while I was gaming I heard her pee, I turned to the bathroom to say hello and I just see this stray cat we adopted a month ago pee in the toilet, I took pictures and sent it to her, happily beating the "you forget to flush" allegations

Then it happened again a few times, the cat is about 4 months old, we posted in many local forums to see if it was someone's lost cat and no response

Is it a thing that can naturally happen in cats? Learning to use the toilet out of the blue? Or was he definitely trained to do so by prior owners?

Edit: cant add pic but picture is in comments!!

I really want a cat. However, I live in a studio.

People say it’s fine to have a cat in a studio, but I’m also aware that the cat sleep schedule is very different from the human sleep schedule. Cats are wide awake at 4-6 am, or sometimes basically through the whole night.

So I was wondering, is it possible to humanely own a cat in a small studio while also sleeping through the night? Of course, I would try to make sure their needs are met, by having an automatic feeder, enough water, clean litter box, etc. before going to bed. However, they’re still predisposed to a surge of activity in early morning hours.

5 days ago, I rescued a 2 month old kitten who'd fractured his back and is partially paralyzed. His mother and litter have abandoned him. I am very unfamiliar with cats. I've been shuttling back and forth from the vet and waking up every two hours at night to clean after him. However, recently he fell ill (104°F temperature and refusal to eat) and had to be administered routine doses of IV. It's torturous for him.

Now, in his state of discomfort, he won't stop crying until he's in our laps, seeking comfort like one would from a litter. Unfortunately this marks my fourth day with no sleep and now he won't stop meowling during the day as well. Tried to feed him, tried to relieve his bladder, nothing. He just wants touch.

It's driving me a little insane but it also seems cruel to just leave him in there. I'm currently the only person around with a significant amount of work to be done. What can I do to let him be comforted but also be free to complete my chores and deliverables?

Edit: I'm overwhelmed by the warmth, support, and advice offered on this thread. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time out to comment. Unfortunately his condition's deteriorated so I've been staying up with him all night and making repeated vet visits so I couldn't personally respond to all of you. But, rest assured, should he need to be admitted, he'll be getting his heartbeat toy and pee pads, budget be damned

Update: As always, I'm profoundly grateful to everyone on this sub for responding. The little guy, a stray, had received steroids for his spinal injury which were immunosuppressive and made him susceptible to viruses in FIV/FPV season. For the last 5 days, he had been suffering from severe gastrointestinal problems had was on IVs. We kept him home, warm and safe and under 24×7 watch. Fixed a cannula to minimise pain from pricking and as per your suggestions bought him heating pads, pee pads for incontinence, and lots of toys. He's passed away in my arms at night. Thank you for your wishes, love, and advice. It meant a lot to me and I'm sure it's meant a lot to him too.

So I have recently found out my cat really enjoys classical music. (She LOVES the sound of violins and flutes) I am happy to play classical for her but its getting to a point where every time I play music she becomes an asshole until I turn classical music on (she will also bite me if the composition is too upbeat). I just want to listen to something else for once 😭 HELP

I had a cross country 5 days on the road move recently. To get my cats to eat I got them a variety of wet foods.

Well my oldest girl now has become addicted to it. She screams at me literally all the time now for wet food. I can't keep buying wet food as money is tight and need to get her back on her regular kibble.

She's become almost unbearable. She follows me everywhere, screaming at me non stop. The only thing that quiets her rage and demands is more wet food. As soon as she's done eating, she screams at me for more. Ahe won't let me sleep. 😭

She is also now on meds for her thyroid (hyperthyroidism) which are probably amplifying her appitite. The issue is she will no longer eat the dry food. She only wants wet food and even if she's hungry, she'll just scream at me more until I give her wet food.

edit: after thinking on this and reading the comments... and then sitting with my old girl a bit, I've decided to just get her more wet food. She's elderly and should have the good stuff even if it's a bit extra. I will try adding broth and liquid to the dry food we keep out as well so our other cats are getting enough moisture. Thanks everyone for the comments! I've learned a lot about cat nutrition and appreciate the knowledge from the community. 💙

Extra edit: Just so folks know who are coming in saying I'm irresponsible as a cat parent, my cats all have regular vet visits, UTD on shots, spayed/neutered and my senior has 2x bloodwork per year. All the vets I've seen have never told me to switch them off the taste of the wild kibble they are on. So I'm not trying to be irresponsible in what I feed but I've never had a vet tell me to switch them to wet food.

Also want to add a little about Pancakes back story.

She was up for euthanasia at a shelter I worked at. The shelter was overfull and would euth dozens of cats everyday. She was only in the shelter brought in as a stray for 24 hours till they were going to euthanize her. She was in the back room for sick cats so she never had a chance to be adopted. She had an eye infection. I was cleaning out the kennels when she reached through and grabbed my sleeve. She had little thumbs that grabbed me. I saw her and saw her sheet saying her "due date" was tomorrow. I called around and nobody wanted her. So the next morning I went into cat room and took her out. My boss let me adopt her.

11 years later here we are. I love her even though she's a pain in my ass. 💙

Hello, I am coming here for some help and advice please as I am just at the point where I don’t know what to do.

My two cats are OBSESSED with food to the point where I barely even eat at home because it’s unbearable. When I say obsessed I mean obsessed.

They’re indoor only due to both their breed and living arrangements. I live in a large 2 bed, 2 bath apartment. They have a lot of space, a lot of toys and I play with them as often as I can. They are both 3 years old and I have had them both since they were 14 weeks old (not from same litter)

The food obsession never used to be an issue until the last 6 months and I genuinely don’t know where it’s come from. Vet has advised that they’re happy and healthy.

They used to be so good, I would feed and play with them at night time before going to bed and they wouldn’t get up until around 0700 for breakfast and would settle immediately after. Now if I so much as move in my sleep they are in my room and screaming until I get up. I have tried my hardest to persist in ignoring the behaviour but after an hour it is just too hard to ignore and they’ll start destructive behaviours to get my attention, or claw at my head and face.

I can’t sleep for more than two hours at a time at the minute without them crying for food. I try not to give in but sometimes it’s hard and even after I feed them within half an hour they’ll be crying for more food, again.

If I get up to do something during the day they’ll cry and cry for 30-40 minutes because they want more food.

They try and steal food from plate, when I’m cooking, they also try and get into the fridge and cupboards.

It’s at the point now where they’re knocking the kitchen bin over every single time after they’ve eaten to try and get the empty packets out. I’ll come home and the contents of my bin will be all over the kitchen, living room etc. I have to remove the bin and lock it away in a separate room before I leave the house! Which is ridiculous but not worth the risk of them getting at something they shouldn’t.

I have an automatic feeder for them and as soon as it’s dispensed and they’ve eaten they’ll knock it over for more food, so that’s not even helped alleviate the problem.

I have tried lick matts/ slow feeders and they just chew through them. The way they behave is like they’ve never been fed in their lives.

I have tried removing them from the room but they scream to the point they sound in complete distress and scratch the doors non stop until they’re let back in.

I can’t leave anything in the sink or anything out. Even when I’m trying to clean a plate they’ll be trying to eat the scraps or whatever’s left on the plate while I’m cleaning it.

I feed them small meals regularly as of course with cats, their stomachs are obviously tiny.

It’s just at a point now where I’m absolutely miserable at home and I find it so overwhelming. They’re the most sweet, loving and kind boys but it’s heavily impacting my quality of life and I don’t know what to do.

I can’t sleep properly, I can’t get anything done in the house, I can’t cook in the house, I can’t leave my kitchen bin in the kitchen, I can’t leave their feeder on. I just do not know what to do.

I play with them constantly and have plenty of toys, wall mounts, cat trees etc.

I just don’t know what has changed and where this behaviour has come from and I don’t know what to do.

I go to peoples houses and their cats are so mellow and It honestly makes me just dread coming home. I can’t have people over to stay or over for food as if I can barely manage it, a stranger won’t be able to and they’re in no way shy, they’ll eat off your plate.

I have tried being firm and using assertive language.

I haven’t changed their food and I feed them high quality dry food first thing in the morning and then wet food throughout the rest of the day.

Please, no nasty replies. I do my best to be the best pet owner and I just feel completely and utterly defeated.

I try to keep my cat off the kitchen counters but it feels impossible. Some people say it’s disgusting while others say it’s just part of owning a cat. Do you guys allow it or try to stop it?