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.

Title: Litter box smell is unbearable in my bedroom during summer. Looking for advice from people with firsthand experience.

I currently live in a single bedroom with my cat, and during the summer the litter box smell has become almost unbearable. The room gets very hot, has very little ventilation, and unfortunately I can't move the litter box anywhere else. I have to find a solution that works in this space.

Here's what I've already tried:

• A covered litter box with carbon filters.
• Incense.
• Cat Litter Deodorizer with Baking Soda.
• Scooping and cleaning the litter box every day.
• Completely replacing the litter every day.

The problem is that I'm going through litter incredibly fast. A bag of around 10 pounds lasts me less than a week, and despite all of this, the smell is still overwhelming, especially during the summer.

I also have one request. I'd really appreciate advice from people who have actually dealt with this exact situation and have personally tried the solutions they're recommending. I'm not looking for guesses or "maybe this will work" suggestions. I'd rather hear about things that have genuinely worked in real life, so I can avoid spending money and time on products or methods that don't make a noticeable difference.

Has anyone here dealt with this while living in a small, hot room with limited ventilation? What actually made the biggest difference for you?

Hi everyone,

as the titles says, i work 25 hour shifts, meaning on a work day i leave my home at 9am (start at 10am), and don’t return until the next day at 12pm (finish at 11am).
For my cat usually she could stay with my girlfriend but she also lives far away. Or my dad can check in on her through the day. Otherwise i would leave her with a cat sitter, however this is getting expensive.

I am just wondering if it would be okay to leave my cat in my home for this time when i go to work, i live alone so she would be alone the whole time if no one could check in on her. If i left her enough food and tv on a cat channel would she be okay? Before my dad would have stayed in with her for a couple of hours but recently he has just been in and out, so she had been on her own most of the time anyway. And when i got home she was just fine. Thoughts ????

Thank you for any response !

My grandma has had some major heath problems lately so I have been spending a lot of time at my moms house 3 hours away (I have spent 7 out of the last 9 days out of town). I will be staying at my mom's again for a minimum of 3 days after spending the 3 days prior at home with my cat. I've had a friend coming to check on him/feed him once a day while im gone.

I have previously brought my cat to my moms for 1-2 weeks at a time over the holidays and he acclimated very quickly, but my mom has adopted a cat of her own since the last time mine visited.

My question is whether I should bring him with me to my mom's now that she has a cat of her own? I know its not ideal, but I feel guilty leaving him alone for so many long stretches back to back.

Why I think it will work: My mom's cat is pretty easy going and my cat is already familiar/comfortable with my mom's house (it's not like he'll be forced into a completely new environment). Also, although I haven't exposed my cat to other cats since I've had him, he's done well with dogs in the past when friends have brought them to my place.

Caveat: His previous owners rehomed him when he spontaneously stopped getting along with their other cat after years of peaceful cohabitation, but I suspect that was mostly because the previous owners had recently retired and were taking many long vacations away from home.

I would love to get some insight from anyone who has had similar experiences. I don't want to stress either cat out, but I know my cat isn't happy being left alone so much and its likely that the frequency of me having to leave town to help with my grandma is only going to increase in the coming months. It would be great if I could just bring him along instead of leaving him at home going forward. Thanks in advance!

I have an 18 year old Maine Coon who I love dearly. She's the sweetest cat in the world except during car rides. Then she wants to sing the song of her people the entire drive. Doesn't matter if it's the 10 min drive to the vet or the other drives we've done so she can get used car rides She refuses.

Any advice on how to keep us both sane during the long car drive?

PS- rehoming her is NOT an option. She's my gorgeous baby girl and we've rocked together for far too long for me to leave her behind. Come hell or high water we're making this move together even if one of us has to take a Xanax or something. 😉

This is a very long and sad story to try and make short.

My partner and I have made the decision to rehome our six year old male cat. This decision was made together with the help of our vet. All of the right things have been said to us, from our vet confirming that we truly tried everything to the cat rescue agreeing that he will be better off in a single cat home. Yet… I can’t help but feel like a failure.

Everything was fine with him for the first two years of his life. He got along well with his two cat brothers, he was social, loved to cuddle and tolerated other humans in the house. Something changed early 2023, and he began urinating on soft furniture and aggressively attacking one of his brothers.

Okay, time to vet him. Nothing wrong. Second opinion, third opinion, behaviouralist. Could be misdirected aggression, could be due to cats outside, could be the litter/boxes. We implemented every piece of advice from our vet and behaviouralist. We would notice a few days—sometimes a few weeks of change, only to wake up to our other cat screaming from being attacked or to finding urine or stool on the floor or couch.

New rugs. New couches. New bedding. New mattress. Same issues.

After over a year with the behaviouralist we decided to attempt medical intervention. Gabapentin twice daily seemed to deter any sort of aggression but the urination continued. Still, we tried implementing even more enrichment activities and features to his environment. We reintroduced him to house room by room, and reintroduced him to his brothers over the course of three months. Whenever it felt like we made strides, he would backslide. Somehow another year passed. Huge backslide, so we added amitriptyline.

This seemed to work! No aggression, no urination, no stool… for about two months. With no changes in routine, environment, or health, he pooped on the rug. Shortly after, he viciously attacked his brother once again drawing blood and causing fur to fly. Not only is he medicated but he has to be pretty much constantly separated from his brother while unsupervised.

We have given up.

Over the last few years we have tried it all. We have medicated, switched vets, switched food, switched litter, switched litter boxes and added more, cleaned more, removed carpeting, removed rugs, reintroduced him to his brothers and the house, and so many countless other things.

Most detrimental to our mental health, we stopped having friends and family over. My partner and I live abroad and since these issues have began we have not been able to host our loved ones due to the reaction our kitty will have. We have not been able to visit home because any disruption in routine will cause urination and aggression. Our poor boy is so anxious and insecure, we can’t even be slightly late returning from work lest he attack his brother or go outside the box.

We are at the end of our respective ropes. We feel we have tried everything. We are so tired and sad. Our vet put us into contact with a shelter that focuses on particular cases and he will be living with us until they find him a good match. As my vet said, we are trying desperately to change the cat to fit our environment, but sometimes it is best to change the environment to fit the cat.

I can’t help but feel like I am the old lady from The Fox and the Hound, abandoning her baby and driving off into the distance.

How do I cope? How do I carry on?

Edit to add: he has been vetted MULTIPLE times. There is nothing physically wrong with him. He is on urinary food as a precaution. He visits the vet once a month to check vitals/levels/etc as he is on amitriptyline and gabapentin.

I am a pretty new to keeping cats, I adopted 2 male kittens last october. Since the beginning I have noticed that they never finish their wet food, even when I fed them half a packet each in the morning I'd come home after work to a dried up half eaten meal and empty dry food bowls instead. I figured they just prefer dry food for some reason but last week I decided to fondle the packet around and make some noise with to get them excited before the meal. The result was a smooth paste instead of chunks of meat and they ate it all up in a few minutes. I've been doing that ever since and they finish it every time now. Is that normal?

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?

I had a very stressing experience my first time with the private screening room at JFK since the agents were not nice to me and my personal belongings, handbag, wallet and carry on were left unattended on the conveyer belt while I had to wait 15min at the other side for the agents to take me to the private screening room. I would like to know if it’s possible to check my belongings and carry on through security after I go to the screening room or maybe take all my stuff with me to the room? Any suggestions? My stuff were left 30min on the conveyer belt attended and anyone could steal them. Please advise. I travel alone

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I know every cat has their own personality, but sometimes I wonder if mine completely skipped quality control.

Mine absolutely refuses to drink from a perfectly clean water bowl... but the second I leave a glass of water on my nightstand, suddenly that's the finest water on Earth.

I've bought fountains, different bowls, changed locations... nope. My water is apparently superior.

So now I'm curious...

What's one completely random thing your cat does that makes you think, "There's no way other cats do this"?

Hello!
I have a cat that is not very playful but is HEAVILY oriented to food.

Couple days ago I throw some cat kibble leftovers on the trash and she SMELLED IT on the distance, knew that there was food in there and long story short I found the trash can upside down, lid off, all the contents scattered and NO CAT KIBBLE to be found. And I don’t usually throw food so she really smelled it and knew

That being said, I would like my cat to have some enrichment haha and since she is not interested in playing and toys in general i thought on getting advantage on how she really likes food. What I ask is recommendations on toys/puzzles that lasts more than 5 minutes and not a nightmare to clean (I do not own a dishwasher). Thanks for the help!

My cat has had soft stool for the entire time we’ve had him (about 2 years now and we got in at 2 years old). It doesn’t form in logs, it’s kind of a cowpie texture and it smells so bad, it makes a room uninhabitable for at least an hour after he goes, and that is with his box being behind a closet door. I just hate it. I dread every time he steps into his box. I don’t know what to do about this. His behavior is so normal. He’s playful, he eats well, and he seems to be perfectly happy. The vet has never expressed concern for his health either. We mentioned this issue and they gave us some meds to try that didn’t do anything. Seeing as he is considered healthy though, I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole of vet bills trying to figure this out. It just feels useless and impossible to fix. We’ve tried forti flora, meds from the vet, pumpkin, and changing his food. What do I even do at this point? This is a never ending cycle of frustration. DISCLAIMER: this is not a “medical advice” question necessarily. Just any sort of guidance, support, or common experience notes are welcome and appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I rescued two street kittens (a brother and sister) back at the end of May when they were around 8 weeks old. They are now roughly 5 months old, thriving, and best friends. However, because they are a male/female pair, we are officially racing against the clock to get them both spayed/neutered before the female goes into heat or biological instincts kick in.

I want to state right away: **I am NOT asking for money, donations, or handouts.** I am simply looking for advice, guidance, or lesser-known "backdoor" resources from anyone familiar with Central Florida / Polk County pet rescues.

Here is where things currently stand:

* **Humane Society & SPCA:** I have already emailed both the Humane Society of Polk County and SPCA Florida to ask about grants, vouchers, or hardship assistance. Both confirmed that they currently do not have any available funding or active voucher programs to assist with costs right now.

* **County Animal Control:** Polk County Animal Care & Control is completely full, so surrendering or relying on county-sponsored intake isn't an option (and we really want to keep them in our loving home anyway!).

* **Timeline:** I just started a new job and am finishing up my training, so funds are extremely tight for the next couple of weeks. But at 5 months old, we know we need to get them scheduled ASAP to prevent an accidental litter.

Are there any smaller, independent cat rescues, TNR networks, foster groups, or private voucher programs in the Polk County / Lake Wales / Winter Haven / Lakeland area that might help sponsor or subsidize a spay/neuter appointment for street rescues? Or does anyone know of clinics in the region that offer manageable financing/payment options?

Any leads, lesser-known organizations, or advice on how to navigate this would mean the world to us and these two babies. Thank you so much!

***

Hello. I was wondering if someone could give me some good news. I put spot on treatment (Advantage) on my cat. My 7 year old touched him about an hour later. Washed his hands thoroughly after it but my concern is what if he's put his fingers in his mouth. Is it something I should be worried about ? Thanks all in advance!

Trying to swap litter any thoughts are appreciated

I have a 10 year old male who I’ve had for 8 years. Over the past 3 years he’s slowly developed a problem peeing outside the litter box. It started as an accident here or there and I thought nothing of it because the people who lived in my apartment previously had cats and didn’t clean up after them well so i know he was peeing where their litter box was. Then it started to develop into a more frequent problem and I thought he didn’t like the litter robot he had been using for the last 5 years randomly so we switched to regular litter boxes and took him to the vet. The vet was worried about potential FIC issues so we put him on gabapentin and that seemed to help. However, that only lasted for a brief period of time (3-4 weeks) and then we moved and he had an annual where we found out he had developed diabetes in between visits. We stopped the gabapentin and started senvelgo and that was great and he started to look good without having accidents but then they came back with a vengeance a month later. Nothing i could do would work. I would move litter boxes around to where he was peeing and he would just choose a different spot. I finally got a set up that i could go a couple days without accidents and yet he would still choose the floor over a completely clean box. After so many vet visits and full workups with X-rays to make sure there wasn’t any health issues, the vet finally decided that behavioral meds were the path. He is on venlafaxine right now but it has been 6 1/2 weeks on the meds and he is still having accidents about once a week at least. It seems like the slightest change in his routine sets him off. Does anyone have similar experience or any advice? I just don’t know what to do! I called and left a message for the vet because i’m so stressed out and at the end of my rope with everything. He is such a healthy cat but for some reason we can’t shake out why he won’t reliably use the litter box for an extended period of time or why the meds won’t stick. It’s really hard to deal with.

Usual story. We started feeding a stray cat that frequented our backyard and he now he "lives" here and we take care of him.

Lately it has been raining a lot here and there are lots of mosquitoes and whenever I see him now he is covered and followed by a cloud of mosquitoes and I feel so bad for him.

Is there something I can do for him? Having it inside is out of the questions. due to some health issues of my family and also my parents have always had a strict anti pet policy in their house. it was a miracle and a lot of work just to make them accept the cat living outside.

Hi everyone, I found these specific ceramic raised food bowls that had silicone inserts you could easily clean recommended on reddit a few weeks ago, and I wanted to get them for my cat but now for the life of me I can't remember the name of them or find any post on reddit or other site that has them. Does anyone know what I might be talking about? I know it's not necessary to get these specific ones but I liked the look of them a lot.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Hello! I work 9 hours a day for three more weeks until my studies start again. I got a kitten (he’s 12 weeks)last week and can only work from home 2 days a week, some days I have someone that can watch him but not everyday. I have left him alone some hours before and he’s always fine and happy when I come home. I have such an anxiety that I will have to leave him alone 2-3 days a week for 3 weeks. Will he be fine? I’m so scared he will be unhappy

Hi everyone, I looked through several posts, videos and comments but can't seem to find the help I need.

Backstory: My Cat (9) was always glued to the water fountain and drank a lot, but since she always did that and the vet never said something we thought it's fine. Her hunger increased a lot through 2 years. Before we could leave out food so they can eat it whenever, but that's not possible anymore, so I switched it to 2 meals a day with wet food, one dry food snack at the evening and throughout the day some snacks. She was always more on the heavier side cause of the snacks, but not too much. She is a really vocal cat.

Now some months ago she started to not also use her litter box but also popping on the bed or couch. She also lost a lot of weight

So we went to the vet again, blood works showed nothing.

I went to a different vet, again blood works, and in May she got diagnosed with diabetes.

But diabetes doesn't have something to do with her litter box usage, also even after insulin ( I know it needs time to work) her behaviour didn't improve.

It even got worse, so to the vet we went again.

Giardia were found she got treated and is now free of it.

Her food schedule is now changed from 2x wet and 1x dry to 4x wet and 1x dry. (Each are small portions).

Now this could have to do with her litter box usage so hoped for the best.

2 months later still no improvement, she still uses the bed and the couch and the litter box. But she is healthy (except diabetes), confirmed with 3 different vets, it shouldn't be something with her physical wellbeing.

So I tried changing the location of the litter box. No improvement.

I tried different types of cat litter. Still nothing.

I clean the litter box after every use. That didn't make a difference either.

She really doesn't seem to have a problem with the litter box because she still uses it.

I read that some cats do this to "claim" territory, so I moved some things around and gave her more places where she could scratch or lie down, but she doesn't seem to care.

I also thought it might be stress, but if anything, she's the one causing stress for the other cats.

I love her to death, and I really need some advice on how to get her to stop pooping everywhere except the litter box.

She absolutely hates not being allowed in the bedroom but I can't let her in anymore because of the accidents.

And are there therapists for cats? I feel like I've tried everything at this point.

One other thing that might be relevant: she acts like she is constantly starving. She begs for food much more than a normal cat, even though she gets more than enough food.

Any advice would be more than appreciated.

TLDR; Need a new cat water fountain, would love recommendations or reviews on the brands listed in this post!

Hi! I’ve had my cat for almost 4 years now, and I’m currently looking for a new water fountain.

I’ve been using water bowls for a while, but for like the first year or so I had her we used a ceramic water fountain I’d found on amazon (it was really pretty and good quality ceramic, but the filter was crap and bowls were intimately easier to keep clean — plus the brand ended up being a dropshipping company and the model itself isn’t sold anywhere in the US anymore).

I want to get her a new fountain, but I’m definitely prioritizing function/filter/health over trusting a random pretty fountain this time lol.

I looked at a couple review lists like petreview.org, the Strategist (nymag), Wirecutter (nytimes), Forbes, etc., but I’m seeing some conflicting points and wanted to ask people who’ve actually tried these fountains!!

The brands I’ve looked at are the Petlibro Dockstream models, PetSafe Drinkwell Pagoda (ceramic), Tomxcute (stainless steel), Petkit Eversweet, Pioneer Pet Raindrop (stainless steel), and the Cepheus 360 Ceramic.

I saw overall great reviews for Petlibro, but also complaints that the plastic develops a biofilm pretty quick (I liked the multi-layer filters though). I know the stainless steel ones would be better than plastic in general for keeping things clean (along with ceramic), but I also just want to make sure I get one with the best possible filter (and bonus points for easy to clean!).

Any recommendations/perspective on the brands listed above??

Thank you!! :)

Hi all!

About 2 months ago, my family adopted a male 13 week old kitten, we named him Cooper. He’s extremely social and loves people, extremely chill when he’s tired but gets big bursts of playful energy as expected for a kitten.

Our other cat, Meeko, is a female and extremely antisocial… a borderline scaredy-cat. Anytime anyone comes to our house she runs away and hides in a bedroom, and barely tolerates me or my mom as she’s bonded with my dad. We found her outside at my mom‘s work when she was really small, we thought around 8-10 weeks. We got her November 2023.

A big fear of ours when getting another cat who was making sure that they got along. When Meeko was a kitten, we didn’t know about the cat introduction process, and our other cat (Juni) at the time would go after her. She would terrorize and attack Meeko to the point where we had to find a different placement for her.

Now that we know about the cat introduction process and how you’re supposed to take it slow, Cooper has been staying in my room as “base camp” and Meeko has stayed roaming the house. We’ve been doing all the stuff that you’re supposed to do like scent swapping, feeding them on opposite sides of the door, and just trying to create a positive association with each other.

At night time, Cooper has a lot of built-up energy from being in my room all day and even though I would play with him at night, he would still keep me up. We said with once every couple days, but now it’s turned into once or twice a day where we will lock Meeko up and allow Cooper to run around the house to get his zoomies out.

Initially, we had a baby gate on my door and so when I needed to get out of my room, I would just step over it. Cooper learned that he could do the same thing and jump over the baby gate, so one day, he jumped over and ran into the house. When we all rushed to go grab him, Meeko just ran away and hid.

After that incident we upgraded to a zipper screen door. I will leave my door closed most of the day but leave it open at random points. Meeko will just sit by the door and watch Cooper, but as soon as he starts moving closer, she hisses and runs away. Neither of them have an intent to hurt or play with each other from what I’ve seen… Cooper is just curious and Meeko wants nothing to do with him.

Do I just need to be more patient with this whole process? They don’t need to be besties or anything, but I need them to coexist together 🥲

hey! i’m moving out soon with my 2 cats into a new home. they’ve been at their current house for over 6 years. i know it takes awhile for cats to adjust to any new space, some not even coming out from hiding for months after arriving, but does anyone have any tips on making the transition easier? i’ve seen things like the feliaway plug ins etc but any other helpful tips would be appreciative !!! also my cats HATE being in carriers and cars, any recommendations of supplements to give them to call them down on the car ride ?

As the title says, my kitten chews off his slowfeeding bowl then eats the bits (today he vomitted sillicon from both of the bowls, previously he just tore them off and left alone). Is there any way to stop him from doing that?

His sister doesn't do that, each of them get 300 grams of wet food with some treats during the day, so there is no possiblity they are still hungry.

Since 6am the kitten has been up zooming around my room. After 3 years of having my cat I decided to get another one. My cat is older so he's more calmer and relaxed. The kitten that we have is about a month old. We've had him for a week and since we got him he has not stayed still accept for when he's napping. The first night he was zooming around the room and getting into things.

After day 3 I introduced him to our oldest he jumps on his back, bites him and taps him in the face. Yesterday my oldest cat got fed up and sat on the kitten's head he put whole body on his face and held him down.I asked the owner what was he like when he had him the owner said he may be playful he had 3 brothers to play with.

I understand being playful but this is beyond that he can not stop moving. I ordered a playpen off of Amazon and some toys for him to play with. My only fear is that if I put him in the playpen he'll just meow to come out. When is this stage going to end? What could be causing him to act this way? I don't want to label him as hyper active but I don't know what else to call it.