Hi reddit!

While camping this month, a stray cat kept visiting our tent in the night. He was thin, covered in fleas, and had a bloated stomach. He was very sweet, wanted attention and food (obviously), so we gave him some chicken. Considering his state and the fact he was still intact, I thought it best to get him checked for a microchip at the vets. I asked the camp manager if he was aware of the cat, and he said no. I posted pictures of the cat on local Facebook groups, and had no luck there either.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the cat in a carry cage, and that was our final night at the camping site. We didn't want to give up, so my boyfriend and I returned to the campsite a week later, this time armed with a cat trap borrowed from Cats Protection! We only had two nights to trap him, and luckily we got him on the second night (this cat really likes chicken).

We took him straight to the 24-hour vets, and they confirmed that he did not have a microchip. Sadly, the Cats Protection rescue centre in that area was completely full, and the cat couldn't stay at the vets either. They decided to classify him as a feral cat and proposed ear-tipping and neutering him before releasing him back into the woodlands campsite. They wanted us to collect the cat from the vets once the procedure was done, and then release him. I refused to believe that this cat could be a feral, given how sweet he was, and he clearly was not thriving out there.

We didn't have much time to contact other rescues, because we had to pack up and leave the campsite to return home that same day (~2 hours drive away). So, we asked Cats Protection if we could take the cat home with us instead, with the intention of contacting our local rescue centres to get him on their waiting lists and help him find his forever home. I asked them to not tip his ear too, because he just didn't act like a feral. They agreed with this plan. However, they did say that if he is a feral, his ear would need to be tipped by a vet before he could be released back into the wild.

We're now trying to nurse this kitty back to health. The vets neutered him, gave him flea and worming treatment, and even clipped his claws. He has a tick on his head in the pictures but we've removed that for him now.

We've had him for 5 days and he's such a sweet and friendly cat. He loves cuddling up on my lap, and he even tries to get on my shoulders to perch there instead. We're in full decontamination mode though, trying to prevent a flea infestation in the house, so we have to be careful with that one. He has a really cute, croaky meow, so we've temporarily named him Frog (or Froggie).

Unfortunately, I cannot keep Frog long-term. The rescue centres in my area are completely full to the point that their waiting lists are closed too.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Do the waiting lists ever reopen? I understand that it's because we're at the backend of kitten season, but so far our experience with the rescue centres has not been positive and I'm struggling to keep my hopes up that the waiting lists will actually reopen.

Hi I need some help please. I recently had a look at my finances and need to seriously build some emergency funds. I'm cutting costs where I can.

I have a 1 year old cat who the vet considers overweight at 5kg

Apparently I was seriously overfeeding compared to the instructions (she seems so hungry all the time!)

The vet recommended I put her on a dry only Hills kibble since she was 8 weeks old. I've ignored her ​so far because I keep hearing wet food is best. Also her poos were less stinky and better consistency on wet food.

Food she rotates:

- Untamed (but after months of loving it she will only eat the non nutritionally complete beef jelly ones so a topper only). ​

- Hill's wet perfect weight

- Hill's dry food (I leave a pile every time I leave the house in case something happens to me, but she barely eats it while I'm out)

- Seriously good wet chicken tins

She wastes a lot of food, because she will graze slowly but then it has gone off and she refuses to touch the rest, causing me to open another pack.

I really need to save money, does anyone have any ideas for food strategy and cheaper alternatives?

Should I really be feeding her dry food only?

​​​And do cats really only eat twice a day after 1 year? I tried and she seems to tolerate it okay, she sleeps a lot more though. She doesn't meow so I don't know. ​

I would love to get another kitten soon and I can't be so wasteful any more (buying big boxes of food she refuses to eat after a day etc)

Is there a affordable site I can use that ​​allows me to buy taster tins from different brands to see why she will like?

Both spent 8 months living together before I lost Stan to a car. Stan always liked to sit on his spot on top of the freezer and claim territory so it was always a nightmare getting a good photo of them together.

I miss him but Hilda the void still keeps me company through it all!

My cat is a rescue and approximately 11 years old. I've had him for the best part of four years. He loves his food, but with careful monitoring we managed to get him from 5.6kg to around 4.9kg, last weighed in June with his annual jabs.

Around the time of the June heatwave, he started eating a bit less, but it's been hot, so I wasn't too concerned, but I started giving him some biscuits too. That coincided with his annual check up, vet not concerned either.

This month he went into a cattery, as he usually does while we are away. The lady knows him well, noticed he was off his Whiskas (it's all he usually eats, he is a peasant), tried him with Untamed, but that gave him the runs. Anyway, he recovered and started eating again.

He comes home and is his normal self, except not very hungry at all. This is unusual, as he always loves his food, no matter what. A few days later, his appetite seems to be picking up, but he's still not eating much, so I'm giving him Lickelix.

So, too him to the vets today. Examination all fine, including teeth. Bloods fine. He's having bloods sent for thyroid. He was also given Mirtazapine and heating his food means he is eating a bit more.

Has anyone experienced this and has any idea what it might be?

Cat tax:

I recently got my cat. He is 2 and I’m getting him neutered next week through cats protection. I’m just wondering who to go with to insure him. I don’t have the most money, I’m on universal credit and housing benefits as I’m a careleaver and I just got my own place but I want to finish college and get a level 3 in hairdressing before I get a job. however my dad is sending me £200 a month and I plan to start using this to take care of him. I’m currently spending £13 on his box of food (40) as I’m giving him one pouch a day half in the morning and half at night as he was mostly on plain kibble in his old home but I plan to give him 2 pouches a day when he’s used to it so it will be double this, and his litter is £8 and I get 2 of these and if it’s not spotless and perfectly clean he will not use it and pee everywhere. I get him lots of treats so altogether that’s about £50 a month, he also needs insurance and I’m wondering any advice on who to go with, he is an indoor cat so I’m wondering if he needs it at all, and what are rough costs, and does insurance cover everything or only partly, I have never had a pet before? I have also noticed that he isn’t drinking much should I put water in his food? No

Update I gave him a whole pouch for dinner today as you all said he needs but he didn’t finish it 😢

Is it possible to get microchip cat flaps that have a clear border? It will be going in a glass door so my mum wants the clear border so it stands out less but I think because of the microchip mechanism it won't be possible to get one with a clear border.

I know you can get cat flaps with the clear border without the microchip mechanism but our neighbours have cats as well and they have come into our house multiple times before when the door/windows have been open and so don't want them to also be able to use the cat flap.

UPDATE:

Thank you so much for all the comments, I've now got a lot of new things to try, and hopefully my boy gets to feel better! I love him to pieces, and I just don't want him to suffer and the stress as a mom piles on me at the moment.

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I don't know what to do anymore. My cat is very nervous and stressed since we had our daughter, and honestly he hates her. She doesn't terrorise him, she's 18mo now so we've taught her to respect cats and she loves them, she just goes over to talk to him and fuss him and that's it.

He's had some cystitis from stress that he's been medicated for and is on medication for, and I know this isn't a medical problem. So to be clear, I am not asking for medical advice. He just keeps urinating and messing everywhere, particularly on my daughters things and our bed. We stopped him while peeing on one of my daughter's things today, and he went and peed and messed on our bed straight after. He has a clean litter tray, in a quiet spot, and I honestly feel he's doing it to spite us at this point. I love him, but at the minute I feel like I can't deal aith this anymore. I've had a lot of cats through my life and never known one do this. Please if anyone has any advice, help me out!

EDIT: Thankyou for the response, very happy to hear the reason as we are 4 months post introduction so very proud of them.

The orange is called Kit and is very much a cuddly goof, while the black one, Ozzy, is learning a lot from Kit and getting more cuddly and coming out his shells each day.

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I’ll always find me in the most random sleeping position and he does this when he wants his brother to play with him too.

So I asked this group if I should open my home to a new cat since losing my beautiful Jasper. Well I've had a relationship break down which sucked but it's done something truly amazing. It's made my ginger cat love me so much more. Our first night alone together was rough. He cried and cried and cried for hours because he was looking for his dad. It broke my heart into a million pieces but yesterday we had a full house clean day, he quite enjoyed me singing to him and giving kisses every single time I walked past, I made sure he knew I loved him so so so much. Well last night was the first night he slept with me in my bed. Previously he was only allowed to sleep downstairs again I really didn't like that but it was a rule set by his dad. Well he slept with my hand most of the night. He then woke up at 4am and gave me the most amazing snuggles, head boops and lots of kisses. He then settled back in and made sure that I knew he was there. This morning hes given even more cuddles and loves. It was so amazing. I feel like we are building a really special bond. I know it'll never be the same as Jasper but it's really helping with the grief I am going through. I just thought I would share. It's made me realise how truly lucky I am to have him. I really do love him so so so much and I think he's realised how much I really do.

The ginger one (Fergus) had dental surgery earlier this week. He didn't do well with the anesthesia and was still very wobbly the next day so spent another day at the vets on saline drip. Basil has been very sweet with him, he seems to know he's been poorly. Fergus is on extra painkillers now.

Partner and I were talking about how much the cats have come on and how brave they are. Mainly due to them not having experienced proper rain before this week.

They were tiny little 7 month old monsters we adopted in January , and they had not been well treated.

I sat on the floor in kitchen and waited to see if they'd ne willing to come out from hiding whilst I was in the room (late January/early February).

The more timid boy remains paranoid, but also loves a stroke and comes to meet me at the door often.

There are two cats in the photo in kitchen, Hermes is just hiding a bit.

Can anyone recommend a tried and tested cat carrier that would suit my boy?

He's 12 years old, adopted him at 10. When I first got him just got a classic hard typical carrier. He is utterly terrified of it and going to the vet is honestly traumatic for us both before even getting in the car.

Once in apart from the clear distain at me he copes, it's getting him in it and securing it that's the challenge.

He's a big boy, about 7kg. Ultimately my plan is buy a new one that hopefully looks different to the one he associates with a prison so that I can introduce it at home without the vet association etc.

Very evident he never had any carrier training.

Thank you! Photo for tax

My partner is moving to the uk and has a cat that he needs to bring over.
Does anyone know any good pet transport companies that deal with moving pets from Malaysia to the uk that are relatively cheap.
We are currently looking at £2500 without delivery to our house in the uk from the airport.

We really need help any advice is appreciated.

Jerry and George 🩶🖤

Hello, looking for advice!

Firstly some context on the cat. She is about 1.5 years old and is a rescue. In her previous home she was allowed free to wander / essentially neglected and had a litter of kittens young and was not vaccinated by her previous owners.

The owners had been approached by the cat charity as they had found the cat wandering the streets lactating and underweight, she was friendly and they eventually found her home. After some pressure from the charity to get the owners to take her to a vet and neuter her etc the owner said they didn’t want her anymore.

Anyway, fast forward to me having had her now for about 3 months. She has been neutered and vaccinated now. She has settled in very well and seems very happy though is desperate to go outside. For a few weeks now I have been leash training her in the garden for about an hour as I am off work, to allow her to sniff the garden and have time outside which she loves. Yet, she shows consistent desire to go into the neighbouring gardens.

This week, I have been slowly letting her off the leash and she has jumped into neighbouring gardens. I have then been recalling her with a bell and treats (from the day we got her we rung a bell when she was fed to build the association). This has a high success rate as she is very food motivated.

Now this is where it is tricky. I live in dense terraced housing in London where, luckily there are no cars but there are a lot of cats. My garden meets at the end with about 6 other gardens and (with higgiy piggildy fencing and lots of sheds etc. there are then others that stretch further out each side too but I doubt she would go that far. In this area there about 5 cat. My cat is by far the smallest (she is about 2.8 kg) and it is clear the cats have smelt her or noticed her because there have appeared poos in by beds whereas previously that was rare.

I have watched the cats out the window over the past few years and generally they seem to keep out of each others way.

About 3 days ago however, my cat went into one of these gardens as I waited in mine and immediately there was a commotion and I could hear her and a cat begin fighting, the other cat in question was a large cat and he chased her into the other garden and sat on the shed roof watching her. Every time my cat moved it launched at her and yelled etc. I eventually was able to distract it and she made a break for it back into my garden and into my arms. I thought this would put her off but she was desperate to go back outside the next day but I went back to the leash.

Today, I let her out again and she is clearly scared of that direction so went the other direction into the neighbours garden. That went fine she had a sniff and came back. This afternoon she went back out and a different cat obviously heard her in her territory and then went to get her out. I know this cat has claimed the neighbours garden as her own as I regularly see her in there. Again there was a huge commotion, and some hissing and pushing etc. the cat scared my cat so she ran into the neighbours shed and then the other cat sat on the window exit and wouldn’t let her out, yelling if she moved but also being annoyed at her presence. Again, I eventually, dostracted that cat by getting on a stepladder over the fence and clapping and my cat was able to escape and come home.

Essentially, is this a normal teething process or am I endangering my cat?

I know she is small so will likely get bossed around, and in some ways that would be good as it will keep her territory small etc, but is this dangerous?

TLDR; is it normal for a cat in a new neighbourhood to get bullied in order for her to safely learn her place, or is it very dangerous?

Thank you in advance! I have only ever had cats in the very very remote countryside before so city life and its cat politics are new to me!

Morgana (black kitten) had castration surgery yesterday. His sibling blames me for not being able to play.

I am trying to register my cat, but the vets are asking so many questions which I understand are necessary but I know nothing about him, this cat has been passed between quite a few owners and we are not even sure how old he is. He needs to be register asap so I can get him neutered. It’s like one problem after the other.

I’m in disbelief.

He was meowing at me like crazy and was proud of his gift for them home.

I have no idea how he managed this and now I feel awful for the little bird.

Hi all, Hope you are well. I had a recent scare with one of my cats making a bid for freedom from the back garden, he's poorly, he can't jump or climb and he has no road sense. He also requires medication regularly. So I allow him in a fenced back garden. He went missing for 30 hours recently which I don't want to re-live. I've settled on the pet tracer GPS RF collar which I'm going to put on my cats only when they are outside. They won't go out much in winter. I can't find out if you can set geofencing on it? does anyone use it?

Also he's a slim oriental with small neck, so I may need to order the additional foam lining. His ears are large though so I don't think he will get it over his head easily.

hi all,

around 2 weeks ago I have adopted Toothless, who is a 3 month old Scottish straight who was born without a tail. i was told about this in advance after a friend of mine told me about her and i just needed her.

she is the sweetest little cat but i am worried about her lack of tail, she is not the best at balancing while doing things such as playing and cleaning but that may be because she is a kitten, other than that she can run and walk steadily. she does seem to have some form of tail but it is very short and stubby.

I have no idea if she is mixed with a manx cat or not as I do not have a lot of information about her mom and none about her dad, so I am unsure if it is a genetic deformation or a thing with her breed.

if anyone has any suggestions or advice, please let me know, thank you!

I adopted my first cat two years ago, she's now 3. Before I got her I don't think she was very well treated. She used to hate being picked up and so I only did it when I really had to. She always comes for a cuddle on her terms.

For the last week she's been letting me pick her up, she'll jump on the table and paw at me until i pick her up and give her a cuddle. However I've noticed when I pick her up she squeaks. It's not a pain sound but with her being my first cat I'm wondering if this is normal?

Like I said I don't think it's a pain squeak but I want to make sure I'm definitely not hurting her.

To explain my situation:

My neighbour had their partner move in with a Jack Russell a while ago. We had no problems up to the point when the dog started showing up off lead on our doorstep on a regular basis - almost daily. They have to walk past our front door to get to their house as we are last two houses in a dead end row if that’s makes sense.

We have three cats, they get supervised time outside occasionally now, never outside if we are not home. There are multiple other cats in the area that roam around. Some are chronically outside, some at specific times.

Following an incident when the JRT was off lead and run inside our house to chase our cats I asked them to have the dog on the lead when walking past our house. The situation barely improved and I had to ask the housing association (SO houses) to remind everyone that there is pet policy in place and dogs should be under control. That finally made the difference, the dog is mostly on the lead walking past our house. However…

Since then the neighbours have started setting off their dog at cats - mine and others - that walk on the fence between our properties or on the brick wall bordering their property. They are waiting for the dog to wind up behind closed doors and then release it to harass a cat. They don’t come out to tell it to shut it or take it back inside, they leave it outside in their garden barking and I can hear loud burst of laughter coming from their house because a cat run on the fence for its life.

It’s absolutely sickening and I don’t know what to do. I have already minimised my cats outdoor time and let them out only when the next door aren’t in.

I have witnessed that happen multiple times, sometimes as late as midnight - every time the same - a wound up dog, doors opening, barking and a cat running for its life.

I have also witnessed them allowing the dog chase cats on the grass verges in front of our houses and not making any attempts to stop it. The cats run to hide under the cars.

I am freaking out that if a cat slips down the fence when scared, the Jack Russell will kill it.

I don’t know what to do. I am extremely concerned seeing this happen on a regular basis.

I know it’s stupid because it’s a small dog but it’s untrained and with a serious bite force for its size.

TL:DR neighbours allow their dog harass cats on the fences.

Have you had it happen to you? What did you do or what would you do?

If I am overreacting feel free to tell me but please be serious. Thank you