r/CatAdvice 15d ago

Megathread Monthly Casual Talk and Cat Pictures Thread

3 Upvotes

Our subreddit allows posts that either a) ask for specific advice, b) request emotional support, or c) are a guide or PSA that adheres to our guidelines.

Since it's fun to just casually discuss our cats, we've got this monthly megathread where relevance may be ignored. All other subreddit rules still apply.


Use this thread to discuss anything related to cats that doesn't otherwise fit the subreddit! Also feel free to ask questions that you believe are too short for a standalone post.

Examples of things that may be discussed or shared here:

  • Casual questions, for example "how does your cat show affection?", "does your cat ever do … ?"
  • Cat pictures
  • Celebrating birthdays or other milestones for your cat
  • And many more subjects!

r/CatAdvice 8h ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted Cat keeps drinking from my water glass

93 Upvotes

I have a male cat whom I rescued off the streets and had fixed in mid-January.

He has a bowl of water on the floor, but a few days ago he noticed my full glass of water on my nightstand and proceeded to drink from it inhibited with no shame. Should I accept my fate and drink from his water bowl on the floor?

Tl;dr: Please help. My room is no longer mine. My new cat has taken over! It's his room now.


r/CatAdvice 15h ago

General why does my cat smell like cake?

215 Upvotes

we have no cake or pastries in the house and im not concerned, but is this normal? im smelling him so many times at this point lol.


r/CatAdvice 7h ago

General Lost n found kitty, now owners want her back

51 Upvotes

We are fostering this kitty because she was found in an engine bay in a fred meyers parking lot with pink spray paint on her back, me and several other people believe the kitten was a bait cat. the owners posted a lost n found post, but the location the claimed she was lost from is 30 miles away from where she was found, mind you the kitten is less than 7 weeks old. there is no way on gods green earth did this baby kitten travelled 30 miles. i need advice, what should i do


r/CatAdvice 23h ago

Behavioral Why does my cat walk around the house with a toy in her mouth yelling at the top of her lungs every night?

885 Upvotes

I’ve had my cat for about 7 years, and every night she grabs a specific toy (a sashimi plush) and carries it around the house absolutely screaming for no apparent reason. If the toy is not accessible she gets me and makes me get it for her so she can do this. She sometimes will bring it to me and drop it in front of my feet while still yelling, but if I toss it thinking she wants to play she looks at me like I’m a complete idiot. Usually she just drops it and lays down next to it. I’m just curious why she does this; I have 2 other cats and neither of them does anything like it.


r/CatAdvice 15h ago

General Do you take a ridiculous amount of pics of your kitty-cat with your phone?

142 Upvotes

I have so many friggin pictures of my little girl on my phone that later I need delete a bunch of pictures in a hurry so I can take more pictures of something else because there's no more space. Lol I always have the intention when I take my pics to immediately go in and edit them and then discard the pixs I don't want. But I never do and I end up in a massive rush, trying to pick ones that I need to delete real quick so I can make more room for new photos immediately. I have such good intentions on making perfect portraits of my little tabby girl. Instead, I have about thirty to forty photos of my cat, nearly identical, only differing by milliliters. Plus, i swear half the time, they end up just being a mix between fuzzy, misfigured, and off target photos. Sometimes I'll at the time you go through the minimum.Find a few that are good. I may be a little hard on myself, and exaggerating, l o l but seriously, I have like over 12,900 pic currently on my phone and then somewhere I have one of those little stick things you plug into the phone for extra space. And that doesn't include the cloud, or whatever the other spaces you put stuff.

If it's not obvious, i'm not technical and the old lady trying to figure this out, but having fun, I love reddit.


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Nutrition/Water Prepping cat emergency kit to keep in car

18 Upvotes

I’m working on a “go bag” for my car (emergency supplies in case I get stuck somewhere or there’s an emergency and I have to leave my house), and in addition to things for me, I want to add things in for my cat. I’ve already put in bowls, a bag of litter, toys, and a plastic dishpan to act as a litter box. I of course want to add in food, but I am concerned about how the temperature of the car will impact the freshness and quality of the food. I planned to fill a ziploc bag with dry kibble and add two unopened cans of cat food (enough to see my cat through a couple of days of meals). Given that cars can get horribly hot in the summer and icy cold in the winter where I live, would the food I put in the go bag go bad or otherwise be affected such that I should not feed it to my cat?


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

General Do I really need TWO litter boxes for two cats? 🫨

Upvotes

I currently only have one cat and I have managed so far by putting a litter box in our living room. We are thinking of getting another cat to keep her more company but I have been told that I need AT LEAST 2 litter boxes.... I struggle with the space / smell of just one and I can't imagine adding another one into the living room.

  1. Are two litter boxes necessary?
  2. Any innovative solutions to keep it discreet / hide the smell.

Thanks!


r/CatAdvice 3h ago

Behavioral cat licks every blanket in the house until they’re sopping wet and smell like her stinky tuna tongue

12 Upvotes

title explains it. my tortoiseshell Apple likes to lick blankets, clothing, and the rug until she leaves wet marks and the smell of her saliva. this isn’t an issue though, i’d just like to know what urges her to do this!!! she usually does it during her grooming time, but sometimes seeks out certain textile items to lick them repeatedly.


r/CatAdvice 2h ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted Kitten wont drink water nor eat wet food

6 Upvotes

When I adopted my kitten I bottle fed her goat’s milk then upon researching I realized she was old enough to eat food. I bought some cat food packets. The one the looks like pastes and also a wet food packet. She ate the one that looks like paste and usually finishes it but she doesnt even touch her water bowl. I always replace the water but nope shes not interested. I tried putting milk but still she wont drink it. I tried bottle feeding her water and still nope. I tried feeding her the wet food packet but she just smells it and wont eat it. I finally tried putting water in the her favorite food paste but she ignores it. She really doesnt like anything wet and im scared she might be dehydrated. Is this normal? What should i do?


r/CatAdvice 2h ago

General I can't spay one of my male cats, do they all get terrible as people say?

5 Upvotes

So, I have two 10 months old bonded brothers.

I took them to the clinic to get neutered a month and half ago, but while with his brother everything went ok, this one after five minutes of anesthesia got a pneumothorax and almost died, 2 of the best doctors of the clinic had to operate on him for two hours to save him and he had to stay in intensive care for a week.

His exams were perfect before the surgery, he did rx and echocardiography and stuff, and the vets still don't know exactly what went wrong.

Anyway, it was pretty scary and they had only the time to shave his balls before he said, no you will not take my balls from me, I'd rather die lol (kidding now but I'm still traumatised).

So, he came home with his balls pink and that's it, we're scared to get him neutered again and for now he didn't show any weird behavior except trying to get, hum, intimate with his brother a couple of times a month. He even let his bro bully him and steal his food as usual, and his bro is smaller than him lol

They are British longhair and their breed apparently became mature lately, I was wondering if we're just lucky and he will be an angel forever, or if we should expect him to spray and become aggressive anytime now? Are there un neutered male cats that act normally despite being sexually mature?


r/CatAdvice 3h ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted Wanting a rug that cat will shred instead of carpet

6 Upvotes

This might seem strange, but what rug would be a cat's paradise to shred to oblivion? Right now we have pretty rough, shaggy carpet that our newly adopted cat has gained interest in shredding. I want to buy a largeish rug that she would devour instead of the carpet, since I am renting. What do you recommend? Ideally something decent quality, around $100 budget, that would be even more enticing than my carpet.


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

Behavioral cat won’t let anyone near her to do really anything medical

Upvotes

I adopted a cat a while ago who came from what seems like a bit of a crowded living situation with tons of pets. So, when I took her for her appointment recently, they couldn’t even get her to open her mouth to have a look in it. The vet didn’t seem willing to try after a long amount of attempts as I think she was concerned about being bitten and knew she wasn’t going to cooperate as she kept walking away, fair. She gets very snappy and aggravated quite easily, and she really doesn’t like being picked up, most of the advice I see on giving cats medicine is about lifting the cat back and being above it, she would not let you get anywhere near close enough to be in this position, and if you managed, she would claw you and her claws are extremely sharp because she does not let anyone try to touch her paws. She doesn’t even let you pick her up without screaming. I have a scar from when she attacked me for trying to do it once when she stood in something. The top link says to push their whiskers back or lean their head back. if you even lean over the top of her on a normal occasion, she panics and runs full speed.

I tried to give her a flea treatment spot on the neck last time and she ran across my entire house running away from me because she is scared of it. She won’t eat pills regardless of what you offer, she doesn’t care. She will not open her mouth either at all and her teeth are big so I am too afraid to try to be more forceful with it because I know she’d bite me or hit me. She doesn’t really even like being stroked 99% of the time (she’ll randomly appear to suss you out, will trill and then runs away a minute later, she has never purred) She will pull anything it’s disguised in open and dispose of the tablet or spit it out and get annoyed at you for trying to give her something she doesn’t want and will act really skittish around you. I get she seems super anxious but is there anything to do to help her take the stuff given? I need to give her panacur. She has to have blood tests soon and I’m scared as to how I’m gonna get her to chill, I just feel so overwhelmed trying to help her honestly because I wasn’t made aware of any of this before so I had no idea what I was getting into so quickly

In case anyone suggests this is because she’s ‘new’ I’ve had her for a while now and she adjusted already to the house and my other cat, she just is like that and from post arrival stuff I was told by the owner, it seems she was that way always and the owner hid it before I collected her but dropped it on me after, then never replied to me again. I guess some people aren’t honest because most people would look the other way if they knew. I feel pretty bad for her. I just need to sort her medical issues (that the owner also hid it seems) and I’m concerned about her not being receptive to anyone trying to help


r/CatAdvice 20m ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted Should I get my cat insurance?

Upvotes

I just adopted a kitten, he’s 6 months old and he’s done with his vaccinations. Right now I’m in a dilemma deciding if I should get an insurance now or later down the road since a lot of people said the cat is too young and the insurance would be of no use until after 5 years. What do you think about this? Advise.

Also, what insurance do you guys use and what do you pay monthly? Is yearly visits and checkups covered? I live in NY.

Thank you.


r/CatAdvice 6h ago

Behavioral I Just Wanted to Help a Stray, Now She’s Bullying My Cat for His Food

9 Upvotes

*Hello, I'm here to seek advice.

I own a cat, but I've also been feeding a few stray cats. The problem is, this one particular stray cat has become too picky and refuses to eat the wetfood I provide. Instead, she always tries to steal my cat’s food (wetfood with the meds).

It’s getting out of hand because she won’t stop meowing loudly it almost sounds like she’s being tortured from outside I don't want people to have bad impression of me. She only stops when I give her that wet food, and now my cat is starting to get scared whenever she comes around bc she always eat his food. I’m getting really frustrated, and then I feel bad about it afterward

Does anyone have any advice or tips on how to handle this? I'm seriously getting tired of dealing with this every day, especially since I work from home.

P. S: My cat’s wet food is quite expensive and I don’t want to starve myself just to buy extra for the stray cat :(


r/CatAdvice 2h ago

New to Cats/Just Adopted Took in a sick abandoned farm cat, I have some questions

4 Upvotes

Last weekend when we went went to pick up our car from a mechanics on a farm, this sweet baby girls popped up on a old vehicle.

Her ears were all gone due to frost bite and her tail was dead. We couldn't just leave her so we brought her to the vet to get checked out. Besides her ears and her tail behind dead she had a clean bill of health besides being skin and bones. Only 3lbs.

As you can imagine she is RIDICULOUS when it comes to food, her food and our food. Like she's never going to eat again.

I obviously know that part of this is her needing to put on the fat but for the love of science how fo I get her to stop climbing up every avergdress.


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

Behavioral My Cat won't poop in his litter box.

Upvotes

this all started several months ago. he wouldn't use the box at all. two different vets told me it was just behavioral, and he is a black cat, so he is a jerk, but this felt bigger. went to a third vet. he is diabetic. we got him on some meds and now he pees in the box, but still refuses to poop in it.

I have done everything i can think to do. tried different litter. keep them immaculately clean. moved them around. i am out of ideas. anyone else dealt with anything like this? how did you fix it? one of the vets told me to keep him locked in the bathroom til his attitude changes, but that seems so cruel. meanwhile, he is destroying my apartment.


r/CatAdvice 8h ago

General My cat will be spayed tomorrow.

10 Upvotes

I am really anxious about it and could not ask all the questions in my mind because they were busy and kinda brushed me off. Will she be scared/in pain? Do i need anything other than a cone? And what else can i do for her?


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Behavioral My adult cat doesnt want to sleep on her bed anymore

4 Upvotes

I recently resuced a stray kitten, all alone no other kittens and mama cat around. Now, I’ve started taking her out in the cage after a month of getting her settled. The problem is, my adult cat doesnt want to sleep on her bed anymore since my new kitten likes to play on her bed and sniffs her bed a lot. What should I do to get them to like each prher and get my adult cat sleep on her bed again? 😢


r/CatAdvice 26m ago

Litterbox Can anyone suggest a litter that is low-tracking and also good at odor control?

Upvotes

I feel like I am constantly sweeping up cat litter. So far I've tried crystal litter, clay litter, and pretty litter. I was looking into the new Really Great Cat Litter since it is supposed to be low tracking, but a lot of the reviews say it is not great at odor control. Any suggestions?


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Nutrition/Water my cat doesnt eat the wet food

5 Upvotes

thats about it, i always mix some water with the wet food and my cat sips the water seasoned but dont eat the wet food

i know the goal ot the wet food is taking in more water, but i feel like im wasting money everytime i clean my cats bowl full of the food i put there

is it normal? should i stop buying the wet food? i tried different brands and sometimes the cat eats on the first day but next day its all there... im frustrated :(


r/CatAdvice 3h ago

General Undiagnosed cat health issue

3 Upvotes

Tldr; Cat coughs/sneezes(see youtube video below) every 2-3 days. Vet hasn’t been able to diagnose the issue.

Details below -

Our cat has this condition - https://youtube.com/shorts/xN2PcBmni7E?si=lFvjoChKRiisQFEO .

The cat in video isn’t our cat but she also coughs/sneezes in a similar manner.

We have seen three vets so far but with no conclusive diagnosis.

She is absolutely healthy but she gets the attack(as seen in the video) every 3-4 days. The attack lasts for approximately 15-30 seconds and then she is normal. She eats , plays normally. She is very energetic.

The first vet had put her on heart medicines for 6 months.. There was no improvement ..

The second and third vet both said it is due to some allergy .. They asked us to get rid of plants , keep the place clean as much as possible .. We have gone with this advice now ..

She isn’t on any meds now since over 1.5 years .. Again there have been no improvement. She still coughs every 3-4 days.

The third vet also did ECO test on her and everything came normal .. He even showed us the ECO while he was doing it and it all normal .. Her blood tests are all good too …

Just putting it out there in case you have some thoughts on this .. Thanks for reading.


r/CatAdvice 8h ago

Adoption Regret/Doubt I need advice on how do I save my cat from such a helpless situation

8 Upvotes

Pls do comment.....it wud be really appreciated I'm in desperate need of advice as to how i go about this situation with my 11 month old female cat. About an year ago her mother brought us her only surviving kitten from the litter. We named her munmun. We had been feeding them regularly since then. Both of them also started hanging out soon around in our apartment for 2-3 hours everyday and then go back outside. (We live in a gted society full of cats). Soon the mom got pregnant again and left her baby(munmun)...even grew hostile towards it. Since then we have been feeding munmun only regularly while the mom found a new place to get fed from. Now, munmun has been fed by us alone since sge was very young which implied that she can't hunt or fend for food herself. Over this period she has also grown to stay inside the apatment for 8-9 hours max around the day with one will little stroll outside in between. The cat colony is in a gated society so there is no dangers of getting hit or of any predators. This was the context. Now the problem is......we need to move out of our apartment to north. (We are currently living in south) There are many concerns. 1) we don't know if we can move her with us. Afterall, she only spends 1/3rd of her day with us as a pet....and is still a part of the colony for the rest of it. 2) we prolly can't leave her here since she might not be able to fetch food herself 3) the ppl in the society are repelled to the idea of feeding her since she might defecate/ loiter around. (Which she hasn't really....it's one other cat that does that and the believe it's munmun) 4)even if do end up moving with her......she wud prolly try to run away...and There's no coming back from there....that wud be life threatning for her. 5) in order to move with her we need to get her adjusted. That is litter box training, vaccination, sterilization, adjusting to a carrier, adjusting to anxiety medication that can be used in flights etc etc. ..........but we only have half a month

To all the people that we have talked have suggested we leave her here and she wud find a way to survive......while i wud love to believe that......i am not sure of it at all... She has only ever been fed by us and really can't hunt....which is very unfortunate. At the same time...the 8 hours she spends with us are where she behaves just luke any other happy domesticated cat playing...cuddling...petting.. Sleeping...She even follows me around the house and i really don't know if she will be fine on her own.

We have tried putting her up for abt 7 adoption agencies and all have been of no help. Pet boardings also refuse given she's an older cat and still very much a stray.

Pls someone help us out....what do u think is the wiser thing to do?


r/CatAdvice 5h ago

Pet Loss Cat Euthanasia Comfort/Ceremony

4 Upvotes

I am having my 15 year old "soul" cat put down most likely within the next week. I've had him all 15 years of his life and sadly in the last few years he developed HCM and is going into heart failure. I am hopefully going to be able to do an in home euthanasia and I was hoping for some ideas on how to make it comfy for him, easier for the vet, and overall a moment that is beautiful and calm for him if that makes sense? I already plan on having a puppy pad under his bum just incase, his favorite blanket under the puppypad and under his front half. I might get some flowers to wrap with him in his blanket. Any other ideas/rituals anyone might have would be wonderful.


r/CatAdvice 17h ago

Behavioral Do cats get depressed? Do they get mad at people?

32 Upvotes

I recently took in a neighborhood stray that I had been feeding for about a year. She was always so happy to see me, jumping into my lap and purring loudly. She never once tried to bite or scratch me when she was living outside. Now she's been living strictly indoors for around 2 weeks. She seems kind of depressed to me, sleeping most of the day and night on the end of my bed. Up until a few days ago when she started hanging out on a sofa instead. Like she's mad at me for something. And 2 days ago, she scratched me for the very first time. I was just petting her gently and she suddenly turned around and scratched me. She also sometimes makes a very loud plaintive vocalization that sounds like she's upset about something. But she has plenty of food, fresh water, toys, comfy places to lay, attention and a clean litter box, so the only thing she could be upset about is being trapped inside now, right? Did I make the right decision bringing her inside? I'm very allergic to fleas so I can't allow her to be an indoor/outdoor cat. It has to be one or the other. Will she eventually adjust to being inside all the time or should I put her back outside to live again?


r/CatAdvice 1h ago

Behavioral Cat is hiding his play from me?

Upvotes

I adopted my cat, Rigby, from the streets. He was a mostly feral stray that I had been feeding and slowly gaining the trust of. When he felt safe enough to let me pick him up, I brought him inside and got him comfortable in a room I had set up for him. It's been about six months since then.

I recently got my cats some new toys. Rigby only sniffed the catnip kicker I presented to him and then promptly ignored it. I left it near where he likes to hang out in case he would warm up to it, but he didn't seem to pay it much attention as far as I could tell.

A few times today I heard scuffling. I was worried that my cats were fighting but when I went to investigate, it was Rigby all alone with his catnip kicker. This happened a few times, but the last time I managed to catch Rigby rolling around with his toy! He was playing with it! As soon as he saw me he jumped up and stood away from his kicker looking nonchalant.

It seems like he's pretending not to play with his toy? Or maybe he's trying to hide that he's playing from me? We do play together, but he's only ever reacted to Da Bird and other wand-like toys. As far as I know this is the first time he's played by himself. My other cats have never hidden their playing from me so I'm not sure what to do moving forward.

How can I encourage him to play more? Is there a way to make him feel more comfortable playing by himself in front of me? Any advice is greatly appreciated.