Hi everyone. I just wanted to come on here and see from other people’s perspective if my cats are fighting because I honestly can’t tell. My cats used to be mostly silent when playing as kittens, now they are both around a year old and when they play there’s a lot of growling and hissing involved. They are both male littermates and they’ve been neutered once they turned around 6 months old. They used to cuddle and mutually groom each other but now I see it happening less. It still does happen occasionally though. Here’s the video- please help!!!

EDIT: For anyone that’s concerned about the wellbeing of my cats- they’re vaccinated, neutered, nails clipped every 4-6 weeks, fed a grain free wet food diet only at dusk and dawn. I promise you they’re well taken care of. Please don’t assume anything from a 30 sec video. You don’t know anything about me or my cats.

(Sound up to hear the interaction) So I have been slowly introducing my cats slowly for about a year now. Very long story but we’ve finally made it to this point. My female 9 year old resident cat, Karma(the one laying on me) still doesn’t seem to like my female 1.5 year old cat, Hachi, very much.

Resident cat is ok laying on me and sleeping while the younger cat is in the same room. However, if the younger cat comes up to her, she’ll hiss or growl till the younger cat leaves, like in the video. Also, when my older cat passes by the younger cat, she’ll hiss or growl till she finishes passing by. If the younger cat approaches her without her noticing, she either growl and walk away or sometimes scream, swat the air in front of my younger cat, then run a couple feet away.

However, sometimes she’s completely ok with coming up to the younger cat and touching noses with her. Or she passes by the younger cat with no problem. A lot of the times they can sit and sleep in the same room or space together. So I get very confused on what I should do. I usually close my older cat in my room (her safe space) if I feel she’s feeling too overwhelmed. Sometimes I just let everything play out.
With this video and all this info, is this normal boundary setting?

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Hi everyone,

I’ve always loved cats, and about a week ago I rescued a little cat/kitten from the road. She was literally sitting in the middle of the road, and if I hadn’t noticed her, she could have ended up under a car tire. I couldn’t just leave her there, so I took her with me and brought her to a hostel.

She seems moderately active and otherwise seems okay, but she has started biting my hands and legs quite often, especially when she’s playing. Sometimes the bites actually hurt, even though there’s no blood or serious wound.

I’m not sure if she’s just playing, being aggressive, scared, or trying to communicate something. I really don’t want to hurt or scare her, and I want her to learn not to bite people.

What should I do to stop her from biting my hands and legs?

Should I ignore her when she bites, redirect her to a toy, or do something else?

I’m completely new to taking care of a cat, so any advice from experienced cat owners would be really appreciated. ❤️🐱

Thanks!

Hi this is my void demon rue. I know it’s classic that cats sometimes go a bit crazy for food but I’m rly struggling with one cat. We’ve had issues in the past where she’d annoy me/make noises to wake me up but now it’s almost 2 hours before food time, she yowls and howls the house down, bite things, scratches at my laptop/phone anything she knows i can’t ignore. Before this phase she had gotten a lot better and I have an automatic feeder that gives her a snack a couple hours before breakfast.
I’ve tried playing with her more (I struggle due to disability) but it honestly seems to make her more intense.
I need sleep so badly I need to find a way to manage her behaviour or help her?

In the past not giving her the attention when’s she’s yowling/scratching etc and it would stop after a couple weeks but it’s relentless now - this is 2 hours before breakfast and her evening mean so 4 hours everyday 🥲

I can’t quite crack the code here. I have an 8-year-old tuxedo cat (male/neutered) and a 2-year-old black cat (male/neutered). I found the black cat as a stray about 7 months ago, brought him home, got him fixed (along with a bunch of other issues - turns out he has food allergies), and we’ve decided he’s staying.

My older cat is super chill most of the time, and isn’t big into rough-housing. The younger one is bummed by this. They’ll play nicely some of the time - trading swats and trotting around. But the younger one keeps pushing playtime. He’ll end up swatting too hard or crowding the older cat, then he’ll get hissed or yowled at - sometimes occasional, very brief, fights. He does listen to that boundary setting - but not all the time.

I play with both cats daily. The younger one several times a day with a variety of toys. We also started clicker training last week, and the younger one already knows “sit” and “paw”.

What are some things I can do to provide them with positive experiences together? Or to make the younger one understand “hey the older cat will play with you, but you need to chill!”. I’ve been scouring the internet/videos. Open to any ideas!

I’m not under any illusions that they need to be the best of friends. I can tell they like each other though. The younger one doesn’t have a vicious bone in his body and just craves attention from the older one. And my older cat will follow him around, see what he’s up to, and choose to sit in the same room as him. Just can’t quite figure out how to stop/limit the disagreements.

Help plsss

I just got a kitten the other day, he is about 12 weeks old. Unfortunately we were not able to take his brother, and he had been living with his brother and both parents previously. Had plenty cats/kittens through my life, but they were always family pets, this is my first pet of my own and since moving out of my parents house. I am just more scared of messing up than I thought I would be!

He is extremely loud, he just wonders around the house yelling. It doesn't sound in pain, and he doesn't appear to be in discomfort, it's just constant and loud. He doesn't seem too distressed though, he will sleep right out in the open on his back, he loves belly rubs, he plays well, he isn't hiding from me or my wife and he is eating and drinking fine. He does eventually shut up and just falls asleep somewhere and he purrs very loudly and does the biscuit making thing with his paws when I stroke him

Only other thing I could think of would be discomfort from something like worms, but he isn't really showing any symptoms - I am getting him booked for first vaccines and worm treatment asap though.

Is this just normal vocal kitten behaviour or am I doing something wrong?

Edit: Thanks everybody for being so helpful and so honest. I have just got in touch with the lady that we get little Walter from to see if she has had any success rehoming his brother. If she hasn't rehomed him yet then I will be going back to get his brother this evening.

so i brought home a stray 4-5 week old male kitten. i have a resident former stray, 3-7yo male neutered (no idea how old) who used to live outside as a male tom cat breeding for england & lived with lots of the other outdoor strays. he’s actually the most chill cat i’ve ever had and so was hoping introducing would be ok.

i’m on day 5 - kitten is in a pen as is too small. fred my resident has seen and interacted with the kitten through the pen on several occasions (he barged his way in the bedroom on the first night despite me shutting him out & crept up on me in the kitchen when i thought the door was shut) and we have only had hissing, no growling or spitting or aggressive behaviours. we do breakfast with them together each morning as we have had positive outcomes (bert the kitten eats in the pen, fred eats at a distance but in the same room) and he’s been fine. they are separate majority of the time, only when myself or my partner are home do we try and do small interactions and scent swapping. they are never unsupervised and haven’t yet met face to face outside of the pen - i won’t be doing that for a while. i’m trying to do short bursts of positive interaction & then let fred chill and acclimatise. i reward with treats when he is chill and has positive non hissing interactions with bert (bert the kitten)

this evening we had bert in the pen in the living room and fred has been sat on the sofa in the same area - hissed at me once & has hissed at the kitten when walking past but otherwise seems kind of neutral. no real emotion towards the kitten being there other than distaste lol

i’ve never had to do kitten to adult introduction and feel like i don’t know what i’m doing. i’ve introduced several other cats in the past but they were adult to adult.

is this all ‘normal’ and should i be concerned? is there anything else i should be doing? i feel like im doing things wrong & im not sure how to tell if its going well or not :/ just need some advice pls xx

I have a very weird situation that I can’t find any help for. And it’s such unfortunate timing for this to happen.

About 2 weeks ago, my cats got scared of something and a bad case of redirected aggression came out of it. Clem (3F) took it out on Sable (2F). Ever since then they have been separated and in the process of reintroduction.

Currently, there is a mesh screen set up outside the bathroom, and they get to see each other through the screen when I’m home, and their mealtimes consist of them eating right up against the screen. Which is very good progress!

They have been doing very good! Clem will occasionally hiss just one time but that’s been all she does recently. Sable is just restless and desperately wants out, but Clem still is scared from what happened I’m guessing. Sable is in the bathroom, and Clem has the rest of the house. (This is just what worked best for them, as before the fight Clem was always the one “in charge”)

My issue is that in 5 days I will be leaving for about a 5 day trip, and then when I get back I’ll be here for about 2 days before I move out into my apartment. My dad will be taking care of them when I’m gone.

Even before all this, I already planned to NOT move the cats in with me right away, so that way we could get everything unpacked and set up without them there incase they got scared.

But now this has really screwed me up. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what my next steps are because in basically two weeks from now, they will be in a new home. I don’t know if I should just keep them separated like this until I move them. I don’t know if I should move forward with the introduction process. And I don’t know what to do with them when I do get them moved into the apartment.

I really need help here and I don’t know where to find the help :(

Any suggestions? I’m so desperate and I feel so bad for my babies.

Ps: I do plan on getting a pheromone diffuser for the apartment, but my dads house is big so I didn’t want to buy multiple just for something temporary

Cat 1 is a Tabby with a white belly. We’ll call him Doofus. I mean, I do. Shamelessly. Anyways, we were half snuggling on the couch and he kinda attacked my foot and wouldn’t let go. So I started growling at him to let go and he didn’t, so I got a bit louder and more complaining like and out of nowhere, my cute, innocent looking Tuxedo who we will call Squeaky, um no he was Captain Swat in this case, came in swinging and punching and chased him twice around the house bopping his face in as often as possible before I could stop him with a good yell and a stomp. Usually these two cuddle and play like amenable brothers, but this has happened once before: I yelled at Doofus because he was on the counter and here came Captain Swat to take vengeance!

Anyone had a cat do this? Just turn out of nowhere into a minion of satan (lol) and two minutes later be back to being cute and innocent?? I guess I can no longer yell at the cat that annoys me the most? Where’s the joy in that?

hello so our 4 month old kitten is really needy, i know kittens need attention and don’t like to be alone but she genuinely cannot stand being alone for one second. at nighttime we put her in our bathroom since we have a 1 year old boy cat we want them separated bc they can get a little rough if not supervised. in her bathroom she has a bed, blanket, water, food, litter, and tons of toys! One of the issues is when we put her in there she will meow for genuinely hours. on google it said she had to learn she wouldn’t get what she wants from meowing so we do that but it’s at the point she meows for hours then will stop and then meow constantly again for hours at like 3 am and so forth she can’t stand being alone. another thing is when we need go to our room for anything or the restroom she also meows frantically the exact same. it’s so tiring bc it’s constant. she’s also been running in our room and then peeing on our bed :/ she’s done it twice both times her litter box has been clean. she also refuses to use the other litter box we have in our room for our boy cat. i don’t really know what to do i don’t want her to think she gets things by meowing but it’s so much. i know all cats aren’t the same but our boy cat was far nothing like this so it’s a bit hard to navigate. if anyone has any advice on what i should do and how to have her stop being so anxiety driven that would be amazing

I got my cat several years prior as a kitten, it was well trained and never used to poop outside the box. After a year or so I noticed he gradually began pooping outside the box. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. Initially I got another litter box for him (3 total for 2 cats) and he stopped for a while, but on of the off day I forgot to scoop the litterbox he would promptly use it outside the box and continue for the next few days even when the box was clean. Eventually he completely stopped pooping inside the box. This entire time he would continue to pee inside the box. I took him to the vet to do tests, they came back negative. I got feliway and put it around the house in case he was stressed. I changed the litter box, I might have changed the litter type too but I knew it had nothing to do with that. I tried enclosing him to a room with only the box and his food, then even to a bathroom to train him but after coming out he would shortly go back to his many spots and use it their. Eventually what I did was every day 5x or so I would pick him and put him in his box and wait for a few minutes till he used it. Initially I had to wait a while and sometimes he didn’t because he didn’t need to. But after a while within 30 seconds he would use it if needed to. I kept doing this and eventually he got the hang of it. I would say 90% of the time he poops inside the box, compared to 90% of the time outside just a few months ago. What also helped was putting food and water dishes where he liked pooping. He wouldn’t do it near there. I also got 2 blink cameras and set it to ring a bell if it detected motion in one or two places he liked to go (I pointed it at the ground and made sure it wouldn’t activate if people walked by). It helped me catch him once or twice and put him in the box immediately but it required me to jump up immediately and get him.

Hello I am curious about my new cat. She is great, friendly when she wants to be but I figured out she doesn't like anything around her body. When I first got her she didn't liked to get picked up and lately she has been more comfortable, purring, kneading around me, on me and she bunts into my head, phone in my hand or my hand. But she recently had a paper bag with handles she liked playing around with. One day she got caught in the handle and freaked out and started to run around my room like a maniac. Is there anyway to help get her used to picked up? I'm trying to cut her nails but I can only do a paw a day. She is 1.5 years old and not sure where she was beforehand. Anyone have any idea?

She sleeps near me, sleeps in her carrier (it is a nice one). But she gets skiddish when people are too close sometimes or moves too fast. She is getting more comfortable since I first got her and she likes to come out when I leave the door open around my roommates, she isn't scared of loud sounds or anything but she will go back to my room when people get too close.

Hello fellow cat owners, I have adopted a new kitten (Mojito) a few weeks ago and she became comfortable with us and her new surroundings pretty soon. She is right now about 2 months old.

I also have a dog boxer/cane corso (Luna) who is 7 years old and very energetic, dramatic and a crybaby. She is a sweetie but can be unaware of her strength and muscle around others.

I have already introduced the two a few times with baby steps. Starting out very carefully and then slowly putting the cat closer to our dog. They have met probably around 6-10 times? It would always last either for a minute or a few minutes at most. Kitten seems to not be scared or bothered by our dog anymore. Last time I placed her somewhere higher where the dog can not reach her she willingly went down and started walking past the dog without fear. Meanwhile, our dog would frantically be crying and sniffing and jumping around the cat in those moments. She playfully bit air towards the cat a few times which gave me a heart attack, although I heard it is an invitation to play apparently? I always give in and save the cat at that moment because I do not know what my dogs intentions are.

Can I get any tips how to continue this introduction between the two? I want them both to be comfortable and unbothered when in a close proximity. Our dog is right now the only one who I am unsure about.

P.s. when meeting new people our dog does the same and we think she might bite them while crying because she shows signs of aggression too, but has never bitten anyone. Only jumped. But that is because we try to be careful and keep distance when guests arrive.

My boyfriend and I just moved into an apartment together approximately 2 months ago and merged our cats. I have two girls, Missy and Chicken, and he has one senior boy, Lucky. My youngest girl, Chicken, had a bit of a tantrum about Lucky, but never showed any necessarily concerning behaviors. We did a slow introduction process over the course of two weeks, until they were used to each other’s scents. After a while, we realized that Chicken was actually more comfortable with Lucky roaming about, likely as she felt she had more control over the situation… she wouldn’t confront him, or hiss, growl, and they even immediately started playing (with some light hesitation and boundary setting.)

I’ve noticed, though, that over the course of the last month while they’ve been out together, she’s completely fine with him (usually), but randomly gets extremely triggered and stressed, and redirects aggression towards me. She’ll attack me if I touch her, and it’s like she flips a switch. This happens even if he’s not around or in spaces he doesn’t even go. She’ll be super cuddly and purring one second, then hissing scratching and biting me the next. I can tell she’s extremely overstimulated and frustrated about SOMETHING, and I just don’t know how to help. I’m not sure if a reintroduction may be necessary in this case? Any advice or stories from similar situations would be so appreciated!!! I’m trying my best to keep all kitties happy and healthy. <3

Quick add: She seems completely healthy otherwise. I have no clinical concerns for her, as her bathroom habits, eating habits, and play habits are all still the same. This behavior seems to worsen near our open door (from the smells and sights of the outside world) and she has been known to get overstimulated easily in the past when playing and become aggressive.

I’ve been staying with my mom for the past 6 months and my cat and her cat don’t get along. They don’t have all out fights just hissing and swatting and one cat always backs off before it becomes serious. They each have their own safe rooms with food/litter boxes. I keep my cat locked in her safe room when I leave. I was thinking of switching their safe rooms a couple of times so that maybe they would get more used the others smells and maybe get along better. Would this be helpful or just stress them out?

Looking for advice or some similar experiences

• My resident cat, Merle (male), is deaf. He’s incredibly excited about our new cat and has zero chill about it.

• Midge (female) is new, cautious with him specifically (sweet with humans). She came from a hoarder situation, then a foster home with a mean cat, so she’s got some baggage.

What we’ve done so far:

• Separate rooms, scent swaps, solo room swaps, feeding near a closed door

• Mesh screen introductions for about two weeks: scattered growls and one hissing (all from Midge), but she’s calmed a bit. We’ve had one two-hour stretch of them lying near each other and dozing off, both relaxed through a mesh screen

• Midge came out on her own, but Merle bolted upright in excitement and startled her. She bolted and hid under our bed for a bit. We also did another intro and Merle was too into her and Midge hissed and went back into her room.

Neither of these cats are food nor toy motivated/distracted (and Merle has some serious food allergies).

Where we’re stuck:

Merle can’t hear her warning signals (growls, hisses) before he gets too close or too excited, so he doesn’t self-regulate the way a hearing cat might. We’re trying to manage his side of it ourselves (redirecting him with a cardboard poster, pets, picking him up and removing him, keeping sessions short), but would love to hear from anyone who’s introduced cats with a deaf cat in the mix, or dealt with one cat who’s all enthusiasm and ready for a new best friend when best friend isn’t as excited.

Specific questions:

• Any tricks for teaching a deaf cat to read the other cat’s body language instead of sound?

• Should we slow back down to mesh-only for a while after the startle, or keep trying short door-crack sessions? Is the hissing okay or should we immediately end it? (Midge comes back out and doesn’t stay hiding).

• How long did your “almost there” phase last before it clicked?

Thanks in advance!

Hello, just made this account because I am desperate for some new advice and help.
I have two four-year old female cats and was recently given a female kitten three months ago. In this time the cats have not gotten along at all. The kitten was initially excited to meet my cats but they avoided her and hissed when she got close. Then suddenly one of my cats tried to attack the kitten (nothing serious she was fine but definitely scared). We have kept them separated but it’s been so so hard. One of my cats has been able to tolerate her but the kitten keeps going after her and I can tell it’s stressing her out. My cat who wanted to attack her stalks her through the door that they’re separated by. I’ve done scent swapping but I feel like my cat won’t ever accept her. I feel as though I’ve failed her. She was rescued from a really bad living situation along with her brother and my friend was the one who got them. The reason she was given to me is because my friends parents said that their limit was four cats as they also have one dog. The shelters near me are so so overcrowded and I would hate for her to be put down but I feel so so lost. I know this is rambly but I would really like to get some advice.

My cat has a litter box in our laundry room, uses said litter box,but will pee on my shoes in my closet. HELP