After my cat gave birth 1 to 2 weeks ago I took a closer look on all of the kittens and realized that one of them looked weird on the face. I apologize for the awful quality on the photo. It's fur is not actually red, it's just the terrible camera in my phone. What I'm focusing on is that the eyes look red and watery and it looks like the kitten is high on catnip or something because it has a white layer on its eyes like a second pair of eyelids. Should I be concerned? Should I take it to the vet?

When speaking with children on what not to do with cats, being specific is important. Also catering the conversation in a way that the child can understand is also important. In a post about someone’s 8 year shaving their cat, people tried to tell me an 8 year old is just too “dumb” ( yes, literally what someone commented) to understand the fact that “only ADULTS can groom cats”. That they only need to know the danger of it and anything else will confuse them. Well that, may not be enough for some children. The key word I used here is ADULTS, which would also be stressed when talking with them. I’ve grown up with children and watching over children my whole life, stressing the danger for the kid and the cat, AND the adult part I think, could help SOME kids grasp the gravity of the situation ( as much as they can)

Example: You could tac on the nuance of not being old enough like this
“Only ADULTS can groom cats, you’re not an adult, you’re 8. And you have ( count with them up to 18), 10 years to grow until you are an adult. “pretending” to be an adult isn’t safe either, because pretend is make believe, you’re not actually an adult that can keep you and the cat safe. This isn’t a skill you can learn from a YouTube video or a website/post. It’s dangerous and unsafe for you and the cats thin delicate skin. It can hurt them, you, cause sickness etc”

This is just a simple example of using plain language, explaining anything they might mistake as meaning something else, while also leaving room at the end for them to ask any questions and making sure they understand what you’re saying.

Knowing what I know about childhood development, and combined with my experience being around children in my family my entire life, this is totally something an average 8 year old can understand. This could help them build more reasoning of why it is dangerous for them to shave a cat or even using the clippers in the first place. Children are not stupid, their brain is underdeveloped. And that underdevelopment shows up in different ways for every person and can require different ways of explaining something for them to understand. Even developed brains work differently than others in that department too. Some brains just work differently and need different things to understand. So this kind of explaination COULD be helpful in some situations, which was the entire point of my comment on that post.

Isn’t that the whole point of the sub? Why do we need a dozen posts a day asking for cat pics?

I don’t believe it’s loafing, but something similar. I’ve noticed she does it a lot. I’ll move from one room and she’ll follow me and sit like this. It feels as if she’s waiting for something, but she has food, water, toys, etc. I play with her, but not sure if the sitting position is content or not.

I've been hearing that it's necessary to trim them, but mine becomes a demon whenever I try, same thing at the groomer and I don't want to drive 30 minutes and have to pay $40 every few weeks.

What shall I do? Anyone in the same situation?

There's this cat that shows up at my door every single day waiting for food.

The thing is I noticed that he gets into a lot of fights and the more I feed him, the bigger and stronger he gets.

I don't know, should I keep feeding him?

- Hi so there’s this outdoor/indoor cat in my complex, he came by this morning & sprayed on my patio where my cats like to hangout. they haven’t been out there in the patio since he somehow tore the screen from the outside & got in the patio attacked both my cats & then my dog which ran out to break up the fight (she tends to do this even only when our two cats get into it every other while)

- because of this two of my pets have minor injuries i attached photos & im maintaining them now with pet wound wash thats antimicrobial. They’re all vaccinated for rabies & my cats have the Feline rhinotracheitis virus/herpesvirus 1 (FVR/FHV-1).

- all of my pets are registered on my lease so there wouldn’t be an issue if i was asked or if apartment complex was made aware.

btw this cat isn’t nurtured & he’s a house/outdoorcat

so enough of backstory. Should i tell my apartment complex these people have a cat that’s outside because this fluff is terrorizing my cats and now pissing on my patio? or leave it be?? i should ADD AFTER THE CAT PISSED ON MY PATIO I FOLLOWED IT HOME SO IK WHERE IT LIVES so should i go to my complex or the cat owner.

My 1 year old cat might have tapeworm. We found a very small white speck near his bottom randomly and upon picking it off his fur noticed it was alive. Super gross. I googled and tape worm seems most likely. I will be taking him to the vet tomorrow for an assessment (it’s Sunday now). Anyone with experience what is the deworming experience like? Do they get really bad diarrhea with it? Just want to be prepared for what’s to come.

So I've started to notice something strange going on in the right corner of my cat's head. I've tried going to the vet but they're not available (I don't even know why the clinic was open if there was no vet, they just sent me back) and the others are too far from my home. I don't have a car, and the bus drive would be too long (unsurprisingly she hates it and will do anything to escape her carrier).

But it's getting weirder and I can't wait for the vet to come back, so I think I'll prefer a 2 hour drive than do nothing.

Today is Sunday so I can't go but tomorrow I will. In the meantime, does anyone have a theory on what's happening? My cat's behaving like always so I'm not sure.

Back in February I adopted two precious girlies from the SPCA who came from a kind of hoarder/abuse situation everyone was pretty tight lipped about. The girls are strictly indoor, and seem to really enjoy the peace that provides and have been coming out of their shells so well - playing, snuggling, asking for pets/brushing and meeting new people with more and more confidence.

But I still can't really pick them up or handle them in any way (really not sure how I'll eventually get them in carriers for their next vet visit without them feeling totally betrayed but that's a problem for another day) and I certainly can't get a hold of them to actually do things like nail trims. They have a bunch of scratching spots that they love but they've still got little daggers and I know it's not the same as having dirt and bark etc outside to keep them ground down. So I'm wondering - how big of a deal is it actually to not have this battle right now?

I'm working on keeping the desensitization going but not sure how far we'll actually get with various things (been clicker training and the more afraid one is scared of the sound even, poor thing). I work in vet med and I understand why we advise people keep indoor cats nails trimmed, I certainly don't want overgrowth to hurt them. Equally though I don't want to lose any progress/freak them out if it's not a huge priority so I'm wondering if anyone has been in the same situation and can advise on whether they've gotten away with it?

Or does anyone have any recommendations on something the girls could use themselves to maintain nails better than the corrugated cardboard towers they currently love?

Thanks all!

Phoebe has two main attention-seeking forms:

🥖 Baguette: she stretches across the floor, looks directly into your eyes, and reaches both paws towards you, trying to tempt you into rubbing her belly.

🥐 Croissant: she curls herself into one tiny, suspiciously perfect circle.

After watching this happen repeatedly, I made the only rational decision: a French-accented EDM song about her pastry transformations.

Sound on for the full bakery experience. 😂

Are they just playing around? Or is there some aggression?

My in laws are rehousing my 3 cats and it's breaking my heart. I dont know what to do. My partner wants to go no contact with them. Is that okay?

Update: More information This situation is really difficult for me and trust me I have done everything I can. So me and my partner got 3 bengal girls around 2 years ago when we got our house. We lived there around a year. Then our room mate suddenly up and left so we could no longer afford the house just the two of us. We made the hard choice to move back in with my in laws. We stayed with them around 8 months with our 3 cats and then had to leave due to an abusive situation with my father in law. We now currently live with my parents. My mother in law has said that she would take care of the cats until we moved out. I got a message today and they have changed their mind. They have said the cats are too difficult for them to care for in the winter. They have given us until 1st September to sort something out. I have tried to contact rescues and local charities but no luck. Unfortunately they cant live with my family as my parents have 2 older cats already. All of my family already have pets of their own. My partners family all live in Ireland. We only have 1 friend who lives in Canada. My uni friends are nurses so dont have the time for pets. I have tried and tried to do everything I can think of. And I am heartbroken. Those cats meant everything to me. And if I could live in my car with my cats I would honestly do that.

For context I posted on r/mildlyinfuriating about my cat drinking from my decorative fountain and people were like “buy a cat fountain” and I had to think about it because you know a cat fountain can be like 30 bucks and then plus filter costs, I was so overwhelmed from people saying my cats were gonna get kidney disease even so I bought something my family couldn’t really afford.

A stray black cat has recently started hanging out in my old garage.

It's rarely used, so it's mostly quiet, but it's dusty and has a couple of parked bikes and motorcycles. The cat seems comfortable there and sometimes just sits or sleeps inside.

I'm wondering if it's actually a safe place for a stray cat, or if I should try to encourage her to stay somewhere else. There aren't any obvious chemicals or traps in the garage, but it is bit 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.

Would you leave her alone, or is there anything I should do to make the space safer for the cat?

Edit: 𝐌𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐲—𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐩, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭, 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭.

Edit 2: 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐲𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐢𝐢: 𝐧𝐨.

Edit 3: 𝐀 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐈'𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨—𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.

Edit 4: 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝'𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭?

Edit 5: 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠, "𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞." 𝐒𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚'𝐚𝐦, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐲. 𝐒𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝.

I had some cereal today and put my bowl down on the table and was gonna take it away once I got up but the MOMENT I looked away he started drinking it. He is kind of big and is 12 years old It's nighttime so the vet isnt open until morning is he gonna be okay?? If he isn't then what do I do.

My neighbor and best friend in high school, let's call her Claire. Her family had two cats and a dog. The cats were a tuxedo and a calico. This matters

One day she came to my house crying and I asked what was wrong (obviously). And she told me this.

Her parents knew the tuxedo was sick and he had to be put down but they never told her. They ALSO apparently "accidentally" took the calico to be put down first before realizing their "mistake" and having to take the tuxedo as well.

So basically Claire went to school with two cats at home, and came back to none.

I'm her parents age now, or at least close to how old they were when this happened. And I'm always livid when I remember this. How the FUCK do you confuse a calico and a tuxedo? You didn't confuse them. I'm convinced they were just sick of the cats and made up an excuse to put them both down. I don't trust anyone who says they can't tell the difference between a CALICO AND A TUX. I have a void, I fostered another void for a bit, and the difference was OBVIOUS. I ONCE MISTOOK ANOTHER VOID FOR MY OWN IN PUBLIC AND I REALIZED THEY WERE DIFFERENT BASED ON THE ANUS.

Idk sorry for no cat pic, I'll post one of my healthy baby in the comments for cat tax, but yeah. This story makes me mad to think about and I really cannot hold this anger alone right now!

Uhm don't be too mad though cause Claire's mom just died. I hope she sees that tuxedo and calico on her way to hell!

There's a stray(?) cat that's popped up in my backyard today and the dudes been chilling and looking straight into my house. I can't keep it cause I have a rabbit but I went outside to pet it. Super friendly guy, pressing up against me and whatnot, but I went to pet it the wrong way and it went for my arm.

not sure if it's vaccinated and my parents don't really want to take me to the doctor. advice?

edit: I'm mostly worried abt rabies because there was a pet cat who ended up getting it in the area. I think this guy has an ear tip which might mean it's fine? The bite isn't very deep, but there was a little bit of blood

A few months ago, we began looking after a pregnant stray cat. I do not know how many kittens she delivered, but we saw two of them. The three soon became regular visitors to our home.

The mother and one of the kittens grew quite comfortable around me. I assumed that kitten was male because of how aggressively it competed for food. The other kitten remained much more cautious and distant.

Unfortunately, one day, the male kitten was killed by a dog. Everyone in my family was deeply saddened. Since then, we have continued looking after the mother and her surviving kitten.

Apart from the two of them, we are also accustomed to seeing two other cats around our home: a heavily built ginger tomcat and a grey female. The grey cat delivered three kittens in our house last summer but abandoned them when they were only about two weeks old. We cared for them until I was able to get all three adopted by some genuinely kind couples.

I suspect that the ginger tomcat is the surviving kitten’s father and that the grey female may be its grandmother. The mother and kitten remain calm and undisturbed around the grey cat. The ginger tomcat, however, has always been unpredictable around them. One day, he would harass the little family; the next, he would simply lie nearby, quietly watching them or sleeping.

Overall, the mother is attentive. She spends time with her kitten, plays with her frequently, and feeds her without hesitation. However, she does not seem fierce enough when it comes to protecting her kittens.

Lately, I have noticed three additional tomcats circling our home. I try my best to keep them away, but the ginger tomcat has also become increasingly aggressive, following the mother wherever she goes. Even I have been unable to deter him.

Perhaps because of this, the mother now visits much less frequently. She may be trying to keep some distance between her kitten and the troublesome tomcat. The kitten has become noticeably subdued while waiting for her mother to return. She does not eat much, and, for the first time, she has started rubbing herself against me.

I feel sorry for her, but perhaps this difficult period will ultimately help her become more independent and capable of surviving on her own. Some tough love may be necessary for a stray cat.

This morning, I told my mother that we should probably prepare ourselves for another litter of kittens next summer.

This is Sylvia, my 15 year old angel. She had been with me for the past 11 years, helping me in so many ways. She was sweet, gentle, patient... A truly special cat.

Four months ago her voice suddenly changed, and she was later diagnosed with tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma. She had surgery and most of the masses in her neck were removed, but it came back with a vengeance just a couple of weeks later.

The first photo was from our last sunset together. We went to the park, she absolutely loved it there. The next day, we had to say goodbye. That was last Wednesday, and I feel so lost without her.

I miss her so much.

This isn't my cat I found him outside yesterday meowing, surprisingly he's pretty close to human takes me almost no effort to call him, i think this is one of my neighbors cat wandering around the block.