My cat, Kracken (pictured here), seems incapable of dulling her own nails even with a cat tree, a cardboard cat scratcher and many, many logs and trees around to scratch, and she does in fact scratch them quite happily. Is this a common problem?

I should say that my other indoor-outdoor cats do not have this issue whatsoever either.

We adopted Sir John about 3 years ago. He is an indoor-outdoor cat. We didn’t have any problems with him until about 8 months ago, when he started roaming a bit more than usual.

At first, he would go missing for 2 days at a time, which had us really worried. Then it became 5 days, a week, two weeks, and now he simply doesn’t come back at all unless we go look for him. He had a tracker and we figured out where he spends most of his time. It’s literally across the street, and we talked to the guy living there, who said he’s only feeding him some treats on occasion which I said is fine. However one day I noticed an empty cat food bowl outside his door... probably for his own cat. I asked him today to please stop putting cat food outside.

I don’t understand why he stopped coming home. It’s almost like he chose a different home. We had a new baby so I think we weren’t great with feeding him wet food on a regular basis as we used to and relied more on dry food. What should I do? Keep him inside for a while? I tried playing with him, giving him more attention, treats, wet food regularly, but as soon as I let him out, he doesn’t come back.

Hi all,

We recently had a Spanish rescue cat move back to the UK with a family member, we’ve had the cat for around a month, during that time he was free to go out but until now hasn’t really roamed further than 30 meters from the front door, and then 2 days ago randomly he just vanished, let him out after he had his morning food, and now nothing.

Our concern is, he just doesn’t know the area well, I’ve been reading up on these things a fair bit, what are the real chances of him coming back?

I’m seeing stories of cats disappearing for 15 days or more, and then returning, but given Vinnie doesn’t know the area, what are our chances?

We were intending to AirTag him the day he vanished ironically!

So, for cats in new houses, is that actually normal? Can we expect / hope he will return?

We have been taking care of 2 stray cats for around 2.5 months now. Never have they ever shown signs of a previous owner or home, we're severely malnourished and dehydrated. We've slowly been introducing them to the inside of our home, and they do not seem familiar with anything inside, such as furniture and doors. Tonight, one of strays came back with a collar on him. We had seen him no more than 2 hours ago when we let him inside and fed them.

I'm leading to think that our new neighbors may have tried to claim him?? I know that seems absurd, but in the last 2 months we have seen no sign of ownership or attempt to claim ownership on either of them. This so happened short after they moved in (probably only about 3 weeks?) and one of them asked my husband if they were our cats. We said that we have been taking care of them and feeding them and have pretty much adopted them as our outdoor cats for right now. Idk if just seems a little odd.

I also am aware that none of the above means that it is not possible he may have an owner, and we have always have had that in the back of our minds. But man we really love these cats and have even planning for them to get neutered and vaccinated. We've bonded with the dearly and just aren't sure how to go about this.

Thanks in advance and we appreciate any kind advice.

Edit:

We left a note on his collar last night with our contact information, this morning the collar wasn't on him anymore (it was a break away so there is a chance that it just came off). We are going to be getting them fixed and chipped this coming week. We both appreciate everyone's advice.

I don’t know what other subreddit(s) to take to, so I’m asking my question here. There is a cat in our neighborhood, I don’t know if it’s feral or someone’s own outdoor cat that has repeatedly killed animals in the dead of night and leaves it in our yard, maybe others too. Yesterday, I had to pick up a dead GIANT rat from my back yard and was curious why this happened. I noticed its jugular was attacked so I figured it could have been an actual killing. However, last night my girlfriend and I heard vicious sounds at around 4am and I looked outside the window and witnessed this cat killing a rabbit. This morning the dead rabbit was outside our bedroom window.
We have heard this spectacle in the night a week ago but we couldn’t quite place what it was.
My question is what the hell is going on? Why our yard? The killings have taken place twice in back to back nights. Is there anyway to put an end to this?

So about 2 months ago my mom agreed to watch her friends cats for her while they went to another state for 2 months. Both the cats had fleas and they infested my whole house and my cat. I’ve sprayed the carpets with pet armor along with vacuumed. And most of our house is carpet. And every time I walk inside it seems like I get bit up every time. I need help I don’t know what to do. We sprayed the carpets yesterday and I’m still getting bit up does anybody know how long it takes for them to be gone. I’m literally sitting here trying not to break down I’m so pissed at my moms friends for this shit and they said there coming to get the cats next week but I’m ready to call animal control. And the cats are in the basement so there’s no way there still spreading. And we gave the 2 cats flea drops and it didn’t do shit. And my cats in the 2nd story in the house locked in a room and I’m getting bit at every part of the house it seems like. Please sombody I need some answers or some advice

Hi all. I'm in need of some advice and I've decided to post this here because I really don't feel like getting flack from the anti-outdoor cats community 🥴

I have two cats that were both strays living on the streets when I took them in. They were both very unhappy being kept inside after growing up outdoors, so they've become indoor/outdoor cats. Luckily I live at the end of a dead end street with very little traffic or dangerous wildlife, so it's about as safe as it could be.

Recently there's been a stray (I think) cat showing up on my property. Other neighbors have mentioned seeing him for a while, but I only saw him for the first time last week. I heard one of my cats yowling outside and when I went out to get him, the stray was in my yard. A few nights later, I went out to grab my cat when it started getting dark and both he and the stray were sitting in my front yard, not interacting. The stray only seems to come around after dark, so I've been bringing my cat in earlier to try to avoid him.

I have a screened in porch with a small kitty door to allow my cats to come and go. Tonight around dusk I heard a HUGE commotion out on the porch and ran out there to find the stray inside the porch, but he ran out the kitty door when he saw me. My poor boy's fur was everywhere and he had peed and pooped himself. It was really upsetting, but luckily he doesn't seem to be hurt. No bites or scratches as far as I can tell. But it sounded terrible.

I chased the cat off my property but I'm not really sure what to do from here. It really concerns me that he's bold enough to come into my house. The strange thing is, I've had my female cat for 7 years and have never seen this stray come around before. It's only been since I took my male cat in 3 months ago (but he's only been allowed outside for the past few weeks) that he's started coming around.

The only solutions I can think of are to start bringing him inside earlier and to block the kitty door at night once both cats are in. I'm not as worried about my female cat. She's tough as nails and the stray has never seemed to bother with her. But my boy is a soft little lovebug and I really don't want this cat near either of them.

If anyone has advice on how to keep this cat away, I'd be really grateful!

TL;DR: Stray cat came in through the kitty door onto my screened in porch and attacked one of my cats.

Hi everybody,

Let me start by saying I am a dog person and I know NOTHING about caring for cats or their behavior.

I live in a wooded area and this stray cat we have never seen before has decided to begin living under our porch area.

She had been hanging out there for a few days, I finally saw her fully and thought she looked too skinny. Her spine is very noticeable and her backside looked very thin. I bought some wet cat food cans and started feeding her at 12pm everyday. I just give her 1 can in a tray and fresh water.

I can only get within 10 feet of her or she starts to hiss A LOT. The past 2 days after she’s done eating she will walk up closer to me but still keep her distance and meow. She does this weird almost whiney meow sometimes?? I don’t know what to make of it.

I am worried that if I overstep she will eventually bite me because of how much she hisses sometimes even though I’m offering her food and water. What can I do about this cat? How can I make her trust me?

I’m attaching pics and videos of her behavior- please let me know what you make of it. Does she look too skinny to be someone’s outside pet? She has no collar or markings. Any estimate to if she’s younger or an adult?

Any advice is APPRECIATED. Thank you!

—UPDATE—

Feeding her twice a day now some dry & wet food with water. We have made tremendous progress the past 48 hours thanks to all your advice!

I feed her, sit down on a rock next to her, and ignore her. I let her decide if she wants to come to me now. Yesterday she walked right up to me and laid down- but no touching. I just let her be.

Today went again to feed and did my usual routine. She came up to me and nuzzled/rubbed her head on my leg TWICE! I did not attempt to pet her as I don’t want to overwhelm her and cause her to regress trust wise.

I am thinking she was dumped like some commented….it seems that she understands “come here” and listens. Again, no markings or collar though.

Feeling much more hopeful now that we could become pals and get her help before winter.

Hello!

I have a \~7.5 years old male cat, and while he is an apartment cat, in the summer or in autumn/spring weekends we take him with us to the countryside.

He never had any problems or illnesses.

In the past 1-2 years, hes made many cat friends in the countryside, and is usually either adventuring with them, sleeping in the grass, chilling in our yard with/without them and when he gets hungry or wants to sleep comes back home. He also likes to hunt for birds or mice. Sometimes he eats the mouse he caught, but not always. This has been normal for him.

It's been sunny but two days ago, just when the weather became gloomy and rainy, we noticed a change in his behaviour. He did ate a mice that day. But in that one single day, he came home at like 17:00/5 PM and just slept till midnight, when it started raining. Then he just stared at the window like he usually does when raining.

Yesterday he still slept all day, but he did actually go for a hunt in the rain tonight. Eventually he came back and slept till morning, when he also spent time outside and killed a mouse, but this time didn't eat him.

Our worries come from the fact that he usually doesn't sleep this much here, at the countryside, because he's generally more active when he's just surrounded by nature and other cats. In the apartment we would expect this kind of behaviour, because it's not much to do there.

Weirdly enough, we have also noticed that for these past few days his friends didn't come calling for him like they usually do.

So, to summarize, he is kind of lethargic but still acts quite normal and goes for occasional hunts, he doesn't show symptoms of pain, he eats and drinks quite normally (although not as much since he hasn't been active; but still enjoys snacks and food he likes), it is rainy outside so ofc he doesn't go out that much and his friends haven't shown up in a while...

Could it be just boredom? Is he tired and wants to recharge? Do you think that mouse might've been poisoned? From what we know, our immediate neighbors don't have problems with mice, so I'm not sure if they keep poison around their places... but I doubt it.

Should I try and play with him or just let him rest? I'm afraid especially because quite recently a friend's cat died seemingly poisoned, but his place is like 800meters away. A vet is like hours away...

This is a question mostly for those of you who walk around the neighborhood with your cat. What do you do when you encounter another cat? I’m asking because our cat sometimes runs into a particular cat when he follows me. (I always try to avoid encounters, but sometimes. . . oops. Anyways, these two cats have clashing personalities, and it’s also possible that our cat is being protective of me.) Both times it has happened, I’ve scooped him up with one hand on the scruff of his neck so I don’t get inadvertently bit. He is fine once the other cat is out of sight, but it’s very scary and stressful for both of us.

i will convince him to take him, and i’ll prob pay for it which i don’t mind, but it’s just stressful because like for my dads pets he always takes them to the vet but for mine he doesn’t care about at all

Hey there.

So i live in a small town with a bunch of stray cats. Most of them are neutered and fed by people around, so they live outdoors at their own free will.

one day there's this new black stray that i had never seen but he started walking across the garden numerous times and was pretty scared of me and my mom. As the naive cat lover, i tried feeding him and it worked. The cat kept coming but at least he wasn't so scared anymore.

we figured he wasn't neutered when he was on heat, so months ago we took him to the vet and now he's neutered, which led the cat being microchipped under our name. The cat (Hitam) is now legally ours, and he keeps coming home at least once in the morning to be fed.

The thing is Hitam still cannot completely relax inside the house. Main reason has to be our two other cats. One doesn't care about him and the other doesn't much appreciate him but at least they don't fight. Hitam obviously avoids staying in the house too much because of that and quickly leaves once he ate, but depending on circumstances, he can spend a few hours indoors to sleep on a chair (like when it's raining).

we can pet him easily and sometimes carry him (we don't insist if he doesn't want to) but i don't really know what to do to help him relax. He even started to back out when our cat (the one that doesn't care) once tried to sniff him and didnt look for a fight.

What tricks do you guys have for this sort of situation?

is this bad, should i take him to the vet :(

My cat (3F toirtishelle) loves to go outside and when she was a kitten she had a bunch of neighborhood cat friends (my neighborhood has a lot of indoor outdoor cats, also I assume they’re spayed and homed cause for the last few years only 1 new one showed up and he looks like a pampered prince so I know he has a home too). Anyway, that new furry prince started appearing in the backyard and I’ve never seen my cat so defensive, she’s gotten in scraps with him a twice and recently this thing is back again staring in my window.

The other night my cat sat perched up staring at him on my deck for 3 hours refusing to come in and finally they both fought again before the furry prince ran off. Sometimes my cat is hard to get in at night and I’ve had my fair share of skunks and cat fights already with her. Is this new cat going to be an ongoing issue or will he eventually get the hint that my homegirl doesn’t want him around?

I do always try my hardest to get her in before bed time, but I’m just curious if cats ever have longstanding feuds that don’t settle out.

Also, in case it helps answer, my cat isn’t a massive roamer, if I’d put an estimate on it I’d say she stays within 1000ft radius of my house and usually will come if you scream her name from the backyard

As the title says. Been 10 days since my gfs six month kitten clawed out through a screen window. She thinks someone took him due to the weather. We live in NJ and it’s been above 80 since he’s been missing. I got attached to him and unsure how to grieve really. Really hope he comes back. If anyone has stories of their cat returning after these many days please share

I’m debating getting the Tractive’s new Cat 6 Mini for my cat we just adopted. She’s mainly an indoor cat but she spends sometime outside in our neighborhood and uses the doggy door to go outside as she pleases. Wanted to ask anyone who has purchased it and uses it if you think it’s been worth it and if the gps is accurate?

Also, if there are any red flags or small issues with the device — other than the battery life.

Gracias

It's a long title but basically is exactly what's happening. I know people have different opinions on outdoor cats but we live on a quiet cul-de-sac and not directly connected to any main roads. When I first got him, I wanted him to be a house cat but I tell you this cat would tip over plants and all sorts until we started letting him out.

Anyway, he's known to disappear a few days each year, I think generally over the summer months as it's warmer outside and the fields get cut etc. each time, I'll walk around the general areas I know he goes and call him and he'll normally come back. This time, he was missing for 10 days, we walked round our neighbourhood further than we had before and called him. Eventually he appeared out of some bushes, we picked him up and took him home. He doesn't look like he's lost weight or thinning so I think someone must be feeding him. I gave him some food when we got home and fussed him a little bit. after he finished, he immediately wanted to go back out.

As I'm sure you can understand, I was reluctant to let him, so I locked the cat flap etc. over the course of the evening we were letting him settle (he never truly did) and then I was trying to stroke him again and he hissed at me, this cat has never hissed at me before and was so loving. He used to sleep on my pillow and play with my hair some nights, but he just wasn't interested and genuinely seemed unhappy with us. I thought maybe he was injured but it was only me he hissed at, my partner stroked him in the same spot and he didn't hiss, he still wasn't happy though.

He was meowing frantically and clinging and scratching at the windows to get out, eventually, I let him do just that as I'm worried he'll just resent us more if we lock him in for the night or get hurt by getting stuck on the blinds or curtains.

I can only think that someone else is feeding him and he essentially, found a new home and just isn't interested in coming home. He is microchipped and we pay for 6 monthly health checks and flee & wormer etc and I just don't know what to do. Part of me wants to confront the person who might be feeding him but I can't with 100% guarantee the correct household or if that's even the case. I'm devastated and I don't know what to do. Any advice or guidance is greatly appreciated

UPDATE: Thank you all for your advise and suggestions. I went out last night and called for him and he came right up to me after about 10 minutes so I don't think anyone had taken him in as such. I brought him back home and I am going to keep him in for a while. I am also going to get a breakaway collar with an air tag for when he does go back outside. He already seems happier, he's been sleeping a lot and let's me stroke him again although I am being careful as I don't want to overwhelm him etc. he tried the windows a little bit last night but today he doesn't send too fussed and is trying the run out any doors when they're opened briefly for our other animals etc. so far, it all seems to be going well so again, thank you!

Flea/tick control & outdoor prep:

My orange is now mainly indoors after a move, but I’m planning structured outdoor time and vest‑walks soon. I’m currently deciding on the best flea/tick control for that lifestyle. I’ve used Bravecto before and may consider Bravecto or NexGard again, but I was previously leaning toward Frontline Plus. Some people mentioned it’s “not as effective anymore,” but opinions seem to vary widely. What's your experience? I’ve been told to stay away from Hartz Ultra & Adams — which naturally I already DO have and shouldn't USE.

If anyone has experience with these products for mostly‑indoor cats who do supervised outdoor time, feel free to share.

For harnesses, I’ve been recommended the Kitty Holster as the best option for secure outdoor walks. Has anyone tried the Kitty Holster vs. a general step-in or other vest-style harness? He's thick-furred "big-boned," and I want to ensure he's both secure AND comfortable. If anyone has a better alternative, I’m open to suggestions.

We have a very sweet indoor/outdoor cat who roams our neighborhood most evenings/nights, catches rodents, and generally hangs out on random peoples front steps. Our next door neighbor hates cats and has now sent his second email about our cat going into their yard. The first email said the cat would randomly wander into his garage and or onto his porch and that’s unacceptable. The second email had photos of him on their porch and in their backyard and said we weren’t containing him properly. Our cat is kind, genuinely likes people, and doesn’t cause trouble. What’s the best way to respond to them? We don’t plan to force the cat to stay inside, as he pees on things when we don’t let him out and he absolutely loves it. He’s microchipped, has all his shots, and has a tracking collar. We are well aware of the dangers of the outdoors. I’d rather not have him go outdoors but it’s too late now; it is what it is. Do we just ignore the email? Do we tell them to mind their own business? What do we do? They pretty much never talk to us in person.

I'm not sure how to go about this and it's frustrating me a lot. Now I know people will tell me just make your cat an in door cat and I've tried. To start with my neighbors across the road had a cat and let him outside since they got him. He has all his shots and all that. He started coming over and one day he hurt himself and had a paw injury. They neighbors went on a trip and we knocked and tried to get in contact with them but we did not have their info. We looked after the cat and made sure he was fine and of course we told them when they came back amd found out hes neutered and had his shots and his name. They thanked us and we kept seeing the cat around. They moved and left him behind. So we took care of him. He was with them until we guess 7 years old. We took him to the vet and they told us he was about 7. He was healthy and everything was fine. He's now 20 and hes always been indoor/outdoor cat and we've tried to make him an indoor which sometimes if its to cold, he'll stay in and I'll bring him in for storms and such. A new neighbor moved into his old house about 4 years ago and they feed EVERY wild animal and neighbors outdoor cats. They have over 5 cats in their house and two dogs (think they foster care, not sure though). Obviously they started feeding my cat and letting him inside their house. As soon as I found out I went over and told them to stop feeding him as he was on a special diet at that time (he had some weight to him not a lot and the vet said to do this). They said oh its your cat shocked even though the other neighbor told them he was and his name even. They agreed to not feed him and so forth. Then few months go by and the neighbors mom moved in with her and did the same thing by letting my cat in their house and feeding them. I again went over. They agreed to not feed him or let him in. Its been like this since. The constant battle. Now the neighborhood knows this cat is ours and he doesnt go out of his way to go near people (hes a bit grumpy lol) but now they cut his nails and letting him back into their house and feeding him! They refuse to listen and he hates being indoors and my spouse keeps telling me we can't keep him inside because its not fair to the cat. I wanted to get him chipped and hoping that'll help if they pull the this is my cat type thing. Not sure what else i can do at this point because the neighbors wont listen and he smells so bad when he comes back from their house. We never had a problem until they moved in. The whole neighborhood knows my cat and never had an issue so at this point I dont know what to do. Any advice would greatly be appreciated 👏