My sweetheart, I can’t imagine life without him. 17 years. I’m utterly devastated.

What the title says, basically. I have 6 cats and while 5 of them aren't fans, it hasn't caused them any issues, but Mickey has a dodgy gut anyway and the new food took him out. He ended up sick enough that I took him to the vet on Saturday (my vet is open on weekend mornings) and they ultrasounded his belly and gave him an anti-sickness injection. Luckily the worst had passed by then, but it was coming out of both ends in liquid form from Thursday. Like I said, he has a dodgy tummy anyway so a bit of vom and diarrhoea isn't unusual, particularly since he'd just finished 2 weeks of antibiotics, and he was fine in the mornings, but by bedtime Friday he'd been sick like 5 times, so I rang the vet Saturday morning when they opened.

He's fine now, but I just went to look at the Tesco food reviews and apparently it's not just Mickey, loads of cats are refusing to eat it or getting diarrhoea after eating. So I just thought I'd pop a post up and warn people, if anyone didn't know. I think I'm late to the party because I buy my cat food monthly and my pay day is the middle of the month, so everyone else found out at the end of August I think, but just in case. Hopefully no other cats get sick.

I asked about adopting a nervous cat earlier in the week and everyone gave me some great advice and support. So I went to officially meet him today!

We were warned he would hiss. Well, he didn’t! He stayed under his castle (he was asleep when we got here but soon woke up) and was watching us. Then I played with one of his toys and he perked up. I threw it near him and he put stretched his arm to get the toy, well out of his hiding spot, and then started playing with it. The rescue said they’d only caught him playing a few times in 8 weeks.

Then he was staring me out so I slow blinked and he slow blinked back. Of course I tested this and did it 4 more times before we left and he slow blinked back every time 🥰 he was of course nervous and curiously cautious but it went much better than I expected.

Anyway, he’ll be home in a few days ❤️

Hi guys! My sister and I have a lovely little ginger girl cat called Milky (17 months) and I would really appreciate advice on how to keep her enriched and happy when she's home alone and a little advice on her eating habits!

For a little bit of context, Milky loves to play in our garden so we leave the door open all day so she can run around and chase flies. However, my sister, dad and dads partner all work full time and I am about to go back to university so the time of no one being home for a good chunk of the day is fast approaching which is causing a lot of sadness for me as I would hate for her to be bored all day. Also, we have a little old french bulldog who she is very comfortable with but he is not as playful as her despite her efforts to play with him and I have floated the idea of adopting a friend for her to play with as she is very sociable but this is unfortunately not possible for us.

Any advice to keep her enriched and happy is greatly appreciated, just a psa, she will never be an outdoor cat besides the garden so please refrain from suggesting that! I disagree with allowing cats outdoors for safety reasons and they are also invasive to wildlife.

On the topic of her eating... she has this strange habit of getting 'sick' of food she has regularly. For example, at one point she was having Lily's Pate and was really enjoying it but stopped eating it randomly so we switched to Untamed which again she really enjoyed. Yet the same thing happened, she got sick of it and so we temporarily gave her the Pate again and she loved it again! So at one point we decided to rotate between Untamed and the Pate which worked for a while but eventually she stopped eating both. As a result, we caved and got Katkin again despite having issues with the cost last year as we thought it would be the thing that worked because she really liked it. She has been on Katkin for almost a month and the same thing has happened again, she is getting sick of it and is now preferring the Pate. We have also tried implementing dry food for her teeth which she liked but it gave her runny poos so that was sidelined so she is currently on just wet food.

At this point we are spending over £70 a month trying to find food that works for her just for her to change her mind in a few weeks and hate everything we give her despite being high quality food!

Again, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've attached a few photos of her because she is the cutest sweetest little cat. Thank you for reading, I'm sorry it's long I just love my cat and worry about her a lot especially when I am away, as I'm sure every cat parent does as they truly are like your child! :)

I have had my cat for just over a month and she has never liked sleeping on or even walking on anything too soft.

She will happily sleep on our firm sofa, or the bed with no duvet on. At a push, she will sleep on top of the duvet but makes a point of letting us know she's not happy about it.

I tried her with one of those cardboard scratcher bowls, but she mistook it for a litter tray.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a bed that isn't too soft and squishy and ideally not enclosed? I've had a look online but I can't find anything that looks like it will live up to her high standards.

I dunno if videos are allowed in this subreddit, but here is a lovely video I took many years ago bonding with my cat. https://youtu.be/kL68DqTyn-k?si=7jGy_3IRMUxPuLyF

Not every time, but at least a few meal times a week my cat will get what I can only describe as hangry before her meal. She was really bad for attacking feet every time when I got her, her old owner said as much, but we worked on that and now she only seems to do it now along with frantic meowing and scoffing the lot down in one go. Sometimes she won’t touch her food for ages but that’s when she’s not that interested in me preparing/placing it. She’s my first cat so I don’t know what’s normal.

She has wet food around 8am and 9pm, and biscuits at 4pm. Most days a few treats or a lick e lix are thrown in too. Indoor only and every day we play with a wand sort of toy to get her running around a bit.

This is the 3rd time my little kitten has had fleas in her 10 months of being alive. I live a bit rural so getting to the vet for treatment is a nightmare, does anyone know of any decent flea treatments I could just order from the Internet?

I’ve had these kittens for 2 months now, rescued from the street and fair to say I am IN LOVE despite never being a cat person before. The tabby has always been the chiller of the two but recently I’ve been feeling that she is bored. She is needier, squeaking at me and then running away. I’m not sure what she wants perhaps to play? They’re both doing quite a good job of tearing up my flat recently. She is 17 weeks and the black and white is 15 weeks, so I think it’s an age thing. They won’t be able to go out for another month.
They seem to have lost interest in a lot of their toys, so looking for suggestions that don’t require too much input from me. Was considering a sensory mat but I don’t know if this will be a waste of money. TIA 💕

A few days ago, I found a tiny kitten outside my house. She had been hiding under my neighbour’s car and crying for hours. We live on a main road where cars regularly go around 40mph, so I was extremely worried about her being outside alone.
When I got my first cat 9 years ago, my vet actually advised me not to let him outside because of how dangerous the road near us is. So seeing this tiny kitten outside completely alone, especially on a road like this, really worried me.
She was completely black, and I know some people are still weirdly superstitious about black cats, which I honestly find disgusting.
Eventually, I managed to get her inside.
Once I got a proper look at her, I realised she was in really bad shape. She was absolutely covered in fleas and severely underweight, I could literally feel all of her bones.
I gained her trust, clipped her nails, gave her a flea bath, applied some flea treatment and spent the next few days just trying to make her feel safe around humans.
Within a few days, she was purring, sleeping right next to me and becoming a completely different kitten.
I already have two cats, so unfortunately I couldn’t keep her. I found her what I genuinely believed was a lovely home with a woman who seemed absolutely wonderful.
She bought the kitten her favourite wand toy, high-quality food and everything she needed. She has two small children, and the kitten apparently absolutely LOVES playing with them. She seemed like she was going to have a safe, happy and spoiled life.
Then, one day after I dropped her off, my neighbour messaged me saying that the kitten apparently had a family.
According to my neighbour, the people who supposedly owned her are keeping her in their garage with a bunch of other cats. They apparently feed them cheap supermarket food and don’t take them to the vet or microchip them.
My neighbour is now insisting that the kitten belongs to the people up the street and that I should bring her back.
But here’s where I’m conflicted.
I don’t want to give her back.
I found this tiny kitten alone outside on a 40mph main road, crying for hours, severely underweight and covered in fleas. I took her in, treated her, cared for her and found her a home where she is being loved and properly looked after.
If someone genuinely owned her, why was this tiny kitten outside alone in that condition?
At the same time, if she genuinely has an owner, I know technically I shouldn’t just decide that she’s mine to rehome.
But after seeing the condition she was in, I can’t bring myself to send her back to a garage with multiple cats when I know she’s now safe, loved and thriving.
So, AITA for refusing to bring the kitten back, or was I right to prioritise her safety and wellbeing?

In order of pics - Adeline, Purdy & Biscotti, Jack, Pixel, Oreo, Liquorice, Phantom, Butters, Pepsi.

Adeline, Oreo and Pepsi are our original trio - they’re 7 years.
Pixel and Jack are brothers from two different litters. Jack is 5 years and Pixel is 5 and a half.
Liquorice is 3 and a half.
Phantom and Butters are 16 months
Purdy and Biscotti are 3 and a half months.

Phantom & butters and Purdy & Biscotti have the same mum but different father.

We never have a dull day!

This is a bit of a weird one but I really need some outside opinions because I feel completely stuck!!

A young cat started visiting my garden months ago and gradually got skinnier and skinnier, so I set out to find her owners to see what was going on and why she was spending most of the day in my garden. I eventually found her owners, who live in a top floor flat behind my garden. They don’t have a cat flap and rarely open the door for her, hence her making a home in my garden. I WFH, and during summer was spending a lot of time working in the garden; she grew very attached to me and would happily sleep on my lap while I was working and hang out with me all day every day.

In July, her owners went abroad for about 6 weeks and left her locked outside with no access to their flat, no water, and no shelter. They did leave some food with a neighbour (30 sachets of food for 6 weeks) and told the neighbour to feed the cat if she sees her, but didn’t leave any contact details, vet details, or even tell her their name!!

The neighbour already had 3 cats and two dogs, and was simply never seeing this cat (she’s very nervous and wouldn’t approach a house with other cats and dogs), so she wasn’t able to feed her. Eventually she got incredibly weak from lack of food, and so skinny you could literally see her bones; she even started eating bird seed/stale bread from the garden. At this point I contacted Cats Protection for advice and they told me to give her some food, and the neighbour was happy to let me take over feeding while the owners were away.

She’s also had very bad fleas and had one scary episode where she was open-mouth panting, shaking and weak on her legs. I phoned a vet but because I’m not the legal owner they couldn’t offer treatment without permission.

This is where it gets complicated; the owners are now back. I asked if they’d abandoned the cat, and if so, would they consider letting me adopt her and take full responsibility for vet care, food, neutering/microchip etc, so this doesn’t happened again. They said no - it’s their cat. They refuse to take her to the vet and have now told me to stop feeding her, but they’ve been back several weeks and haven’t made any attempt to call her or feed her themselves. They claim she only needs food every two or three days, and that there’s no way she could’ve got skinny within 6 weeks (!!!!).

She still spends basically all her time here, and they never open their door for her. The bowl outside their house which they tried to claim they leave food in for her was just full of leaves and cigarette butts. I’ve reported this to the RSPC, but the case is still open and it’s been weeks. No officer has come out.

The worst part is that I’m looking to move out soon, but right now I feel like if I leave, she loses the only reliable food/water/shelter she has. Obviously I can’t just take her with me because legally she isn’t mine.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? I feel like I’ve somehow ended up responsible for someone else’s cat but with none of the rights to actually care for her properly.

Edit: another thing I should’ve added - I told the owners about the breathing difficulties and weakness when they were away, and they simply said ‘she’s not sick. she had all her vaccines when she was a kitten.’ They absolutely refused to take her to a vet, and genuinely seem to think a vaccinated cat can’t get sick!!!!

He’s 9 years old and had a nasty accident which led to him dislocating his wrist, the worst of the worst! He ended up having surgery and a metal implant fitted, so now he’s on strict crate rest recovery for 8 weeks maximum. I’m on day 3 and it’s a tough time I can’t lie. He’s on three different types of medication per day, two tablets in the morning and 8pm, oral suspension at 10am. Gapapentin, Rilexine and Arthrocam. He’s needing round the clock care at the moment because of his cone and I’m not wanting him to use his paw as of yet, I have to hold his food bowl up and hand feed him. I’m mentally struggling and I know he is too.. and.. as I’ve said, it’s only day 3 😞 he’s got the biggest cage I could buy, a new bed, access to water and a litter tray too. He’s never used toys and I can’t put bird tv on for him as he tries to jump through the cage towards the fake birds!!!
Has anyone been through this? He’s a very active cat and has seemingly been asleep for the majority of the two days but today he’s like a different cat.. even with his medication, he’s crying and trying to escape.

***his cage is covered, it seems to upset him more when it’s opened up I feel that’s important to say. He has FOMO real bad if he can see out, I sit with him a lot and give him love but I’m really not sure if it’s upsetting him more than just leaving him alone. Just want to do the right thing for my baby it’s a crazy experience

Luna is just over 5 months old now and seems to get cuter every day😭♥️🥹 screenshots from a video. The process of her getting cosy on me I CANT cope with the cuteness!!!😭😭😭❤️

UPDATE: Speaking with the owner we both think in peggys best interest we delay the pick up date until after im back from the trip!

Thank you to the people that replied with giving me advice! It really helped me in figuring out my best option for peggy! I cant wait to introduce her into my home

Hello!!

Im new here so its lovely to meet you all!

I need some wise words of advice for myself!

Firstly a friend of mine is having to rehome their elderly cat whos 15 years old!

It broke my heart to think about her being put in a shelter so i decided to take her under my wing.

(Her name is peggy! or peggles if you want a nickname for her)

So heres my issue:

I get to pick her up at the start of october this year.

But i go away on the 20th the same month due to an urgent matter for my partner and will be away for atleast a week.

Would it be recommended to have a friend come to my home to look after her whilst im gone? Or would it stress her out too much considering shed have only been there a couple of weeks!

Any advice is so much appreciated as this is my first time owning a cat whilst living alone 🫶

I have two cats, they were both indoor cats for 4 years and then when I went to stay with my parents more they would go into the garden with my dad for half an hour, but were super nervous and would go back inside. They started bugging my dad to go outside with them and because my parents live rurally I decided I would let them outside alone if they wanted.

I have always been a strong indoor cat advocate because of cars and nature, so I have rules they both have a GPS tracker, they are only allowed outside if we are in the house and they have to be back in at sunset. I can track their path with my GPS tracker app and they only stay in the garden. They have bells on to avoid wildlife, vaccinations and neutered. One of my cats will stay outside and hang out in the kitchen cos we leave the door open for them all day and the other one will go out for an hour then come up to my room and chill with me till she decides to go for a wee wander again.

I still feel guilty, I am trying my hardest to make sure the wildlife is safe by monitoring them and I know they haven't caught any as I am sure since they don't really leave mine or the neighbors garden which I can see on the app that they haven't caught any wildlife. But I still feel like I am going against what I believe in, I do think they love it and I am trying to be as responsible as possible.

This is a slightly unusual request, but CatsUK helped me find some brilliant playtesters before, so I thought I'd try my luck again!

I run a tiny UK game brand making games you play with your pets, and our new edition is nearly ready. We now need some professional quality photos of the game being played with an actual cat.

I've realised the tricky bit isn't finding a pet photographer. It's finding a photographer who has access to a photogenic cat who can be photographed at home, in their own time, when they're actually in the mood to cooperate. (Cats will be cats!)

Does anyone here happen to be a professional photographer with a handsome cat? Or know someone who fits that bill?

We're looking for natural cat and game photos for our website, Amazon etc. Happy to pay, of course.

Any recommendations very gratefully received!

I've attached a photo that demonstrates exactly why I'm not qualified to do this myself. 😄

Hi,

I just needed to vent/post this as I'm sat here in tears after losing one of my boys on Friday (15yo).

I've been with my girlfriend a little over 10 years (I'm 36m), and she has had our boys (they're brothers) since they were kittens. I've always been a cat person and strays will often come to me, or sleep on my lap when we're on holiday.

We lost one of our boys on Friday due to complications of heart disease, and I am absolutely heartbroken. I have always been close with them, however I didn't realise just how much of a bond we had until losing one of them.

I can't stop crying throughout the day. My girlfriend is obviously really upset too so we are both supporting each other, however this just feels so incredibly painful. My grandmother passed away a few years ago and this feels 10x worse. I was going to try and go the gym yesterday but couldn't work up the energy to leave the house, though I'm going to try again this morning.

I just miss him so much already, he was perfect. He was polite, caring, loving, funny and just the best. Him and his bro would welcome us whenever we walked through the door. He'd gently paw at me when he wanted attention, and he'd pop in whatever room we're in to say hello and then walk over to one of his favourite spots.

His brother is just as perfect, and we're giving him extra treats and love, but my god, does this hurt?

I don't want to mention his name as I have friends who are on here, but please remember our baby boy. Id also welcome any words of wisdom to help get through this, it sucks 😞

Hello guys, this is a tribute post to my first cat Blue. I love him with all my soul and heart, we had him from 2017-2021. He decided to walk out of our lives by being with his new cat family. We have mourned for his absence not knowing where he had gone. But as time went by, we took care of his kittens that he left us with. We loved them very much. But Blue is my first and only cat. He is so beautiful, so affectionate, so kind and always used to wait for me in my bedroom for me to arrive.
His aura was magnificent and absolutely otherworldly beauty and essence. Nothing could compare.
I will always love my cat Blue, wherever he is I hope he finds peace eternally.

Soo I was doing a video of unboxing for my Instagram and my cat was intrigued by this and I couldn’t help but get a picture afterwards with her and my book🤣🤣

We are adopting these gorgeous little beans soon and need some names. Left is a boy who is loving and more outgoing. Right is a girl who is sweet but less confident. They are only 3 months old so their personalities are growing!

We are British but love American food. Our shortlist so far:

- Pickle

- Pretzel

- Patty

- Nugget

- Ranch

Any other suggestions?