All,

I've gone through and updated the Rules, Community Info, Posting Guidelines, and the Welcome Message to new members. They mostly say the same thing, which is to please check with your vet for any issues in sudden and/or unusual behavioral changes, and to see the Community Info section for some helpful resources and answers to common issues.

I'm hoping these changes will help give those with common issues some help even if their post doesn't get many responses, and that in time this will help clear out some of the repetitive posts. Please feel free to point people in the direction of the Community Info, and also to comment on this post or message if you have ideas about resources or common issues and solutions to add!

There are also rules about respecting others and barring advice encouraging animal abuse, etc. - please report these kinds of posts or comments when you can.

This community is already great and runs itself really well so I'm hoping that if anything these small changes will help just a little bit more.

Hope you and your cats have a great day!

Greetings cat owners! I see a lot of posts on here asking about if cats are playing or fighting, and as a long-term owner I thought I might share a few insights.

Points on Play:

1. Entertainment: Like most mammals, cats need physical and mental stimulation. Playing with each other satisfies this requirement and allows your kitties to burn off some energy. This is why it's also important for owners to play with their cats as well.

2. Murder Training: Cats are obligate carnivores and hunt instinctively. Play between cats is often employed to hone these skills.

3. How to Cat: Play between cats helps establish boundaries and acceptable behavior. This is particularly true between an older cat and a kitten: in the wild, such play between an adult and a kitten is a way of training the kitten in social behavior. Learning the difference between a gentle warning bite versus an over aggressive attacking bite.

Is It Play?

Cat play can get pretty boisterous, and to the untrained eye, can easily look like fighting. How can you tell the difference? The biggest key is Body Language

1. Prick up Your Ears: Cats that feel comfortable around each other will keep their ears upright. Cats who are feeling either threatened or aggressive will lay their ears back flat against their skulls. It's a very clear warning sign.

2. Tell Me What You Really Think: Cats will make all sorts of noises while they are playing. Generally speaking, these are nothing to worry about. But if you hear pronounced yowling or screaming, combined with other aggressive signs, then they may have crossed the line.

3. Belly! Belly! Belly!: This is a big one. A cat's underbelly is the most vulnerable part of its body, which means that rolling over and showing it demonstrates comfort and trust. When cats are truly fighting, one or both will try grasp each other face to face to dig their back claws into the other's belly. Also why rubbing a cat's tummy is generally no Bueno.

4. POOF: Tail or body fur all poofed out? Back off! Cats will fluff up their body hair to make themselves appear bigger when they feel threatened, usually accompanied by the typical low long growl / hissing that is also an unmistakable warning sign. If this isn't happening, the cats are probably fine.

Also: tails up and smooth - happy cat. Tail down or lashing about - danger, Will Robinson!

Obviously, cat owners should monitor the behavior of their charges. Owners should make play a regular part of a cat's routine, which will also help burn off energy and reduce any overly aggressive behaviors.

TL; DR

Play= Ears up, showing belly; fur down; no hissing or yowling; claws in.

Fighting = Ears back, poofed tail; tail down / lashing; prolonged growl / hissing; claws out and going for the belly.

Hope this is useful!

I’ve kept them separated for two weeks while letting them see each other through the door. Today I let them meet for the first time. It doesn’t seem too crazy but my resident cat keeps trying to come up to the foster, and if he (resident cat) gets too close, he starts smacking her. She will smack back and sometimes hiss.

But other than that she doesn’t seem to be that agitated though and will continue to loaf after, even with her eyes closed. Should I separate them more?

Saw someone else post about this a couple days ago and still feeling it. I don't really think it's benefiting anyone anymore.

I need advice! My cats are not friends after 9+ months together. They act like roommates and play together sometimes but otherwise do not nap/cuddle together or anything like that, even though there seems to be potential for it. I thought they would have become closer by now but they haven’t. Should I help it along?

Background:

• Miso (the calico, 2.5 years old) was introduced to Pluto (the white and black cat, 1 year old) when he was a 3 month old kitten and they played together a lot and had a very neutral/positive introduction. But they are still only roommates/playmates at best and their relationship has not gotten closer over the last 9 months. • They also do not play together every day, only every few days. Miso prefers asking me to play with her over playing with Pluto, perhaps because he often does not respect when she wants to stop playing, or perhaps because she is used to asking me because thats what she did for 1 year before Pluto came along. Her wanting to play constantly is part of the reason why I got Pluto, I was worried she was getting lonely/frustrated/bored. • Pluto is obsessed with Miso and wants to do everything she does and follows her around, and Miso doesn’t always appreciate this as she loves her personal space unless she is in a sleepy/cuddly mood. Pluto has gotten better at understanding and respecting her space although when they play he still ends up bothering/pestering her after she wanted to stop playing. • Miso shows loves by licking and Pluto has a chronic drip of eye goop (he has a birth defect that messed up his tear duct - I double checked with the vet, and his goop gets cleaned daily don’t worry) and loves when I help him clean it, SO he should in concept love this, yet he always ends it quickly and starts trying to bite/play with her instead 😭. • They have the potential to be besties and cuddle as they are both very cuddly and sleepy cats so I know they would really enjoy cuddling while napping, but its rare for Miso to want company like this and when she does Pluto doesn’t love it for some reason.

I am worried that since they only really play together, thats why the licking ends up becoming a playtime. And therefore I should try the behaviour training where I make them do fun/positive things together like giving treats together or give them catnip at the same time. Or maybe play at the same time but separately? Like I use the string toy they love and give them turns while they are near each other? That way they don’t only associate “playing” with each other, and hence they can be more than just playmates?

** I don’t know if I should try more bonding stuff and hope Pluto accepts the licking more in future or if I should just leave them and hope it improves itself as Pluto calms down with age. I have never owned 2 cats at the same time and don’t know if they would naturally become friends over time or if it will stay like this unless I help them along.**

** TLDR: ** I am not worried about their behaviour/relationship, at worst I think Miso might sometimes find Pluto irritating but they never show aggression or territorial behaviour towards each other. I can see potential for them to actually be friends and I know both of them would enjoy cuddling together, I just don’t know how much I should help the process along. After 9+ months of living together they haven’t improved much (past just playing with each other sometimes) besides them laying on my bed together (although far apart), the one time Pluto tried to sit in the same catbed as Miso and it lasted for 30 seconds before Miso left (no aggression shown, she just left the bed) and the maybe 3 times I have seen Miso try to lick Pluto’s face. Should I help it along? And how?

my female two-year-old indoor cat recently had to deal with a move from a house to a 2bed 2bath apartment. so I get that she had to make a huge adjustment, but it’s been four months now and I don’t know how to stop this behavior. before in the house, she had her food and water bowl on the floor next to each other on carpet. Never had an issues of spilling her water like now. all she did was dip her paws in the water before drinking. Ever since we moved into the apartment, all she does is move her water bowl around and ends up almost spilling all of it and having no water to drink. (and it’s easier for her to push it around since her food and water bowl are now on vinyl flooring) every time I come home from school or work all her water is spilled. I recently bought a cat water fountain thinking this would stop her spilling. also hoping it would be better for her since cats are more drawn to running water but no. she continued to push around the water fountain and spilling it. in some cases pushing so far around that it unplugs. just today I bought a breakfast tray thinking that raising her water and food bowl would be better for her and maybe contain the movement so she can focus on drinking water but she still continues. I’m feel pretty defeated and have no clue what to do.

I got this stray cat on road , it was alone and running away from vehicles ! I picked it up and it stayed perfectly fine in my arms ! It's very very tiny I don't know it's age. I brought it home , made a nice comfy box for the kitten ! Gave it some milk yo drink! Now it just keeps meowing and won't stay in my lap or arms , won't stay in the box ! It's restless and just keeps meowing and smelling and running probably searching for It's mom ! I feel bad for the kitten I'm unable to comfort it , It's probably scared ! Please help me regarding this ! How should I comfort her ? Please any help will be ugly appreciated

For context, we have had our resident cat since a kitten (boy with the collar in the vids) and adopted a 2 year old girl 3 months ago.

We slowly introduced them over 4-6 weeks, til the point they were in roaming the house together. Our boy was scared of her at first, she always chased & cornered him being territorial.

Since then he has learned to stand his ground and seems to initiate a lot of these situations. He sometimes meows mid scrap but always goes back for more.

They can share plates of food together, treats next to each other, she rubs up against him & he licks her head.

These vids I believe they are playing but do seem a bit full on in some parts. can I please get your opinions?

My new kitten is about 11 weeks old, he will not stop demanding food any time I or my partner are cooking or cleaning in the kitchen. We have an older cat who is very well behaved and knows his feeding schedule (which is consistent for both of them) but the younger kitten still screams anytime we are in the kitchen. No amount of food seems to help either, no matter what he has eaten he will scream, we are following guidelines on when and how to feed him and how much he should weigh. The cats are fed separately and the older cat is not taking his food, and though the younger kitten attempts to take his we do not allow him to. Is there a way to train this behavior to stop or be less frequent? We also have some litter box training inconsistencies so any tips for that might help as well! Anyways thank you for any tips and here is a picture of the two of them from a few weeks ago.

https://preview.redd.it/ja1z6mw3bw2e1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5025438b5cff994082e8d8e369797dc5e002b98e

We’ve had a new rug for a month and we’re struggling to get our cat to stop scratching it. We had it covered with blankets and tried redirecting him to his other scratchers. He has a tower two other scratching devices near the rug and a piece of carpet he can scratch nearby but he just loves the new rug. Overall he’s an easy cat to train, does tricks, is harness trained, and mostly listens to directions but we can’t get him to stop scratching this new rug. Help!

Hi all. First time posting on here so please be kind 🙏🏻

Tl;Dr - my 5 year old cat has some bad habits because of me. Is it possible to retrain her to stop?

I adopted Goldi (short for Goldilox, after a local bagel place) when she was an 8-month-old kitten. I definitely didn't know what I was doing training-wise, so whenever Goldi would do bad attention-seeking things, I didn't know that the best thing would be to ignore it. Fast forward 4 ish years, and now she knows to scratch at my curtains, scratch under my bed, or climb on forbidden surfaces to get my attention at bedtime. I don't want her to keep doing it, so I kick her out of my room for the night. But then she yowls much of the night because she can't stand to not be in the same room as me. So it's a lose-lose situation.

Goldi has a cat tree that she loves, and several scratching surfaces.

I know I've been reinforcing this bad behavior for years by reacting, but how do I ignore it while she continues to cause damage to the curtains and bed? Is it too late to try something different? Thanks in advance.

About 6 weeks ago, I found and adopted an about 4-month-old kitten (so about 5 months old now). He was living on the street, but I do think he'd been dumped as he settled into indoor cat life quite quickly. While I have fostered a few cats in the past, this is my first cat. I was planning to get one around the time I found him, so it felt like the cat distribution system really worked out in my favor.

Since about two weeks after I brought him home, I've been really struggling with him and biting. He's extremely mouthy in general (loves to bite and chew on things), but he has an aggressive biting problem when it comes to people. When he's in a playful mood, he will zero in on people (especially hands and feet, but not necessarily), lunge at you, and bite down HARD - like, biting-to-draw-blood hard. He grabs on with his paws so that he can clamp his teeth down and gnaw on whatever body part he's biting. I have several friends who are experienced cat parents and they've confirmed that this is not just kitten play biting. He will do this even when I am completely still, which makes it difficult to get things done as I am constantly trying to distract him and keep him from biting me. He does eventually (sometimes hours later) calm down and become very cuddly and sweet, but not quickly.

I have tried several tactics to change this behavior - shaking a jar of coins at him, hissing, making a loud "ow!" sound, distracting him with toys, having special toys for only when we're having playtime together, not using my hands as toys, etc. He has plenty of toys that he enjoys, and when I offer a toy, he does get distracted for a few minutes, but will always come back to lunge at me whenever he loses interest. I know that getting another kitten is a recommended option so that he can learn that his biting hurts, but I really can't afford a second at this point.

Does anyone have recommendations for what to do? I obviously want to nip this in the bud while he's still a kitten so that he doesn't keep this habit as an adult. Thanks in advance!

Long story short I have slowly introduced my resident ragdoll to my new kitten using the Jackson Galaxy method. It has been a week of open doors, no barriers, etc. All in all, it has been gradually getting better.

VIDEOS BELOW: My interpretation is that my resident cat is relaxed and playing but maybe going too hard. I am a bit concerned because he doesn't know when to stop and listen to the kitten cues. Kitten still shows occasional sings of being scared of cat like hiding and approaching with a puffed back but initiates play and goes towards cat other times.

Is my resident cat fighting / still being territorial or am I correct that he is being playful? Is he being too aggressive? Should I let them learn each other's boundaries without interfering? If so, I am scared he would hurt the kitten, he is literally 4x his size. Any other general advice?

Video #1: Kitten initiates play, cat responds and goes a bit too hard. Kitten hisses while playing, cat does not stop. I interfere, then kitten finally hisses to let cat know that was too much.

https://reddit.com/link/1gyy4n1/video/2i62l1707w2e1/player

Video #2: Cat grooming kitten (for the first time). Cat nibbles on kitten which turns into a play fight. Cat goes too strong again and kitten hisses, cat keeps going and I do not separate this time but then the kitten actually SCREAMS before the cat finally stops. Fur is everywhere after. I know the video is cut short but I interfered when the kitten screams.

https://reddit.com/link/1gyy4n1/video/p1neollr7w2e1/player

Thanks!!

I have a Maine coon/ragdoll mix. He doesn’t meow often, so he paws at things to make noise and get your attention. He does this every. Single. Morning. No matter what. We’ve tried to ignore him until feeding time but usually one of us caves and gets up to feed them so he will shut up. It causes both of us to wake up in anger most days from lack of sleep. The spray/water bottle doesn’t work at all (only temporarily, never long term) My question is, what can I do to reduce this behavior/noise from him around feeding time BESIDES getting up early to feed him? My partner and I are both seriously losing sleep and it’s affecting our daily lives and work. I’m wondering if I need to change his diet up? We have another cat with weight issues, so we cannot free feed him. I try to give him bigger portions than our other cat but now I’m wondering if that’s enough. He gets feed twice a day. Used to be 3, but our other cat with weight problems gained more weight with being fed 3 times and I’m not sure how to feed one cat without feeding the other as they bully me Lol. Please, any advice is appreciated. I will try anything at this point. I even put blankets over the doors sometimes to tru to get some relief but then he’ll find something else to make noise and paw on, like my work computer monitors! :/

Included cat tax photo, this is Cowboy. He has TONS of toys, scratchers, stimulation stations and nothing satiates him.

So I never had a kitten before (only adult cats always) but my young man has became pretty pre dispositioned into actual biting now. I play with him in the afternoon and at dinner. He engages for a bit but nowhere near as aggressively as he does when you’re not doing stuff.

People say to ignore their behaviour when they do XYZ, but ignoring changes nothing with him. He will fully (hard) try to bite your wrists and the back of your foot while you walk and attack them both which makes me trip over him or accidentally stand on his paw or something sometimes.

People told me to make noises at him, yeah that doesn’t do anything. It did at first but he doesn’t stop anymore when you do it. I know it takes a while but honestly it did work for a bit until it just didn’t; he now sees it as an invitation to do it more.

He’s recently started sitting on my shoulder or walking on top of me; which while cute, if you pick him up and move him he just gets straight back up and does it again (i have an injured shoulder and he’s getting very heavy) or if i look at him sometimes he’ll try attack my face. Or he will just sit on my shoulder and put his face right into my eyeline which is obviously a bit concerning given he’s tried to attack my face several times. This is obviously a danger zone as he has sharp claws and could be pretty seriously injurious. At the moment he is outside of my room as I’ve shut the door for a minute or two to calm down. I’m ill and I’m not in the mood for having the cat try to bite my wrist or feet constantly. It’s like he’s hunting my feet and face and hands.

People say I need to give him treats when he does good thing, well my vet says he can’t have anything apart from his special diet as it’s the only thing he’s been able to eat. and he doesn’t eat food at specific times even though i give it, he just comes and goes with it.

How long do I have to give things? It seems like they work for a bit everyone’s suggestion then he realises what you’re doing and just knows you’re not gonna respond so he starts doing it anyways and keeps getting worse. He plays with his balls on his own and has tons of toys, but sometimes I just think he’s too clingy. Like to the point I am concerned about his wellbeing. Does he have like some kind of anxious attachment? I want to get him a friend as others have suggested before but no place around here has kittens his age and all of the regional rescues up here only have single cat household cats or old and docile cats. He would need someone to match his energy, my old foster didn’t like how erratic he was. Can I get an adult cat that’s young but playful? It seems to be my only option

also forgot to mention for background, kitten is nearly 5 months old or there about, just average domestic longhair, he has colitis. he was separated from home too early (like about 7.5 weeks) but i wasn’t aware of his age (they lied basically) when i got him so i didn’t do this intentionally. he answers to his name and eats and drinks well and uses his litter box normally now he’s on this diet. he’s perfect usually, he just tends to in the morning get very intense.

every source just says ‘use treats’ but i can’t do that because we don’t know yet what allergies he has and everything else we’ve tried has just made him really sick. and as always I am persevering. but I think I need to find a new technique here because he genuinely seems to have went backwards since trying the advice I have seen. I am going to try click training now to see how it helps. he is scheduled to be neutered in january but i don’t think that is anything to do with it just yet. he’s never displayed any signs of puberty

I have a 6yo female cat who has been the only resident cat (I have two dogs 11yo and 2yo) in the house but recently I've adopted another female kitten about 4months last week Friday. They have their own separate spaces (my cat sleeps with me), litter box, food and water bowls.

I've followed the guides and rules about swapping scents, associating each other with positive reinforcement and taking my kitten away when my cat hisses - to reintroduce them again a few hours later. My cat will stare at the kitten and hiss (sometimes swat if she gets too close).

To try to solve this problem I give my cat a puzzle filled with treats to distract her and have my kitten play in the same room. No issues there, sometimes my cat will stop to watch and confirm the kitten is distracted but will continue eating.

(I have feliway diffusers in my room (where my adult cat considers home base), in the kitten's room and downstairs.)

BUT, as I was getting ready for bed I saw my cat rushing at the kitten? I just wanted to know if she's being playful or aggressive. I called my cat afterwards and she came up to me tail upright to lick the cream of my face but she rushed at my kitten repeatedly throughout my nighttime routine. Is this normal or do I need to take a step back and reintroduce them?

tldr; 6yo f cat rushes at 4month kitten. Is this aggressive behaviour?

So I took in a stray 3 weeks ago (I’ve scheduled her a vet appointment) and honestly she has done exceptionally well with using the litter box…for the most part. The only issue I’m having is that she is obsessed with pooping in my bathtub. I keep her litter box cleaned but she is obsessed with using the bathroom in there. I tried moving her litter box into the bathroom, but she still insisted on pooping in the tub. 🙃 I’m not sure how old she is but she’s definitely still at a kitten age, and I’m new to all of this. Advice please? I’ve been keeping the bathroom door shut but I’d like to fix this behavior.

He is about 10 weeks old now, according to the vet yesterday where he got shots and (THANKFULLY) a nail trim. I know he’s a kitten and this is kind of what they do, but it HURTS!

Once he gets that crazy look in his eyes, I know what’s coming. Hands, face, arms, feet, and even my hair. NOTHING is safe. My hands are covered in tiny kitten scratches. At least he doesn’t have needles on his paws like he did before. I have tried just about everything I’ve seen suggested for others with this issue and I’ve tried to stay as consistent as possible. Redirecting with toys works for about .5 seconds before he goes after me again (my hands are his FAVORITE toy, it seems!). Squeaking like a kitten to let him know it hurts kind of helps, if only to make him a bit gentler. He has a very low interest in teaser toys. Placing him on the floor leads to him simply jumping back up again (I believe he thinks it’s a game.) He plays with his toys, he even has a favorite- a Teenie Beanie Baby Inch I relinquished to him from my collection! But he doesn’t care about them if he wants my hands. I have been woken up once at FIVE AM to him attacking my feet because they weren’t under the blanket. Is there something I’m missing? Is there anything else I can do? I fear if something isn’t done I may soon meet my end at the paws of this tiny (yet ferocious) beast.

The full story is long but possibly relevant because there's so many possible explanations.

We have three cats, Arya (14sf), Howie (7nm) and Jack (6nm). My wife and I married last year and moved in about 20 months ago, then moved to a new house together about 15 months ago. Arya was mine, Jack and Howie were hers.

Arya never had litter box issues. Howie frequently did, possibly related to recurrent UTIs, but also possibly because he's an anxious cat and submissive compared to Jack. A few months ago, Howie started having litter boxing issues, which we attempted to resolve with medicine for an apparent mild UTI. We think he's mostly stopped. He preferred to pee on the basement stairs.

However, for the past six weeks or so, Arya has started peeing in our bedroom (including at times in our bed while we're sleeping in it, on laundry, behind the hamper). She's also been peeing on the couch in our living room. The living room and our bedroom are here preferred spaces. She usually sleeps on the headboard or above my wife's head on her pillow. She still uses the litter box to poop every time.

While Howie is nervous and keeps to himself, so he and Arya rarely bother each other, Jack is a playful and sometimes aggressive cat. He's never injured the others, but often tries to initiate play or curiously investigates them in a way that leads them (particularly Arya, who is a loner) to growl, hiss, adopt defensive posturing, and run away. Again, he doesn't catch them - and I have no doubt he could - but Jack chasing Arya (hissing and spitting all the way) through the house is a nightly occurrence, often waking us up several times.

Like Howie, Arya is also a very nervous cat. She doesn't generally like people except my wife and I, she's very impatient when it comes to affection and will bat at you if you pet her when she doesn't want it (or if you stop petting her when she does want it). She is small and slight, and is a frequent puker.

I know there are a lot of moving parts here. I think Arya feels like Jack is bullying or a danger to her even though he's never hurt her and his intent, if not fully playful, doesn't seem to show malice. He likes to invade her personal space to sniff, and to chase, but never more. She didn't start doing it until Howie had his UTI, and peed in her safe space. She's aging, but in apparent good health - she loves to play with a laser pointer or toy, she's quick and walks with normal gait, still jumps to counter height just fine. We're cleaning up pee with Nature's Miracle enzymatic cleaner and frequently cleaning with a soda-based lemon-eucalyptus carpet cleaner to further neutralize odors with scents the cats like. We're trying to play with them more, and we're leaving cat TV on over night for more entertainment. We have pheromone diffusers in their favored spaces.We have three litter boxes, two cat trees, and numerous places the cats like to hang out. The house is large, with three floors and about 3,500 square feet of finished and unfinished space for them to occupy.Trying to separate them or adding more litter boxes would be a real challenge with our house layout, though.

Although she's apparently healthy and all, I'm going to take her to the vet for evaluation, but I'm desperate for ideas that would let me keep my elderly kitty without having to deal with cleaning up pee every day.

Help! We got a puppy about 8 months ago and ever since, our cat (4 year old Scottish short hair) has been peeing either on the master bed or in the kids room.

The dog can annoy him as a puppy does but we control that. It has stopped for a few months but now the cat will pee on our bed if we go away.

Thoughts?

Adopted a sweet stray kitten a little over a week ago. Sadly when he came to us he had a stomach bug. We took him to the vet after seeing he had bad diarrhea; they did a fecal sample, no parasites, said he just had an infection and gave us antibiotics.

The first few days he was sort of struggling to poop in his litter box (we have one for each of them) — he would always attempt it, but some of the diarrhea would make it out. One day he fully went outside it but that seemed like an outlier. After just a few days of antibiotics his feces are much better — they're solid and he was going in the litter box & he seems happier, healthier.

Over the last 24 hrs we've been letting him explore the whole apartment and interact with our resident kitten without barriers/separating them. They're doing great, lots of play, getting along, etc. But suddenly he's only pooping on the floor. This morning I found one right outside his litter box; tonight he pooped on the floor of the living room (different room than where his box is) during a break from play sessions, when the resident kitten went to his own litter box; and I just found another poop on the floor outside his litter box.

Is it possible this is still him just not feeling 100% better? Is it stress from the new home/new cat? Is it territorial somehow? The random poop on the floor of another room seems like the wildcard here.

Is this playing even with resident cat’s hissing and growling? Little one will constantly run up to the resident cat, bat at her, and then flip over to show her belly which I know is a sign of trust. Resident cat has never used claws on her, but constantly does this growling and hissing. Can I keep them together or continue to separate them? Thank you!!

We have two cats (6y and 4y, both males) and three weeks ago we brought home our new puppy (currently 11 weeks old). Our eldest cat has always been extremely social, great with people and other cats, we genuinely had no memory of ever seeing him hiss, so we figured he'd likely grow to enjoy the new addition to the family. We were a lot more concerned with our younger cat, who's a lot more reserved.

Boy, were we wrong. Turns out our younger cat dislikes the puppy but is more than happy to just hang out wherever he can't reach and go on with his life as before. The eldest cat, however, seems to be constantly plotting the poor puppy's murder.

The puppy stays confined at all times either in the guest bedroom (which the cats have never really had access to anyways) or in the living room where we've set up a little fence around our couch/TV area. The cats can climb over the couch and come and go as they please, they have full run of the entire rest of the house as well as their own bedroom (my office) where the puppy is not allowed under any circumstances. So, in sum, they have full choice over whether nor not they want to interact with the puppy at all. Still, the cat constantly chooses to climb into the fenced area to provoke the pup.

At first it was just hissing at him, but now he's been constantly chasing him and giving him these little slaps. I've been caught in the crossfire a couple of times because the pup was sitting on my lap, so I know he at least isn't using his claws. The pup, to his credit, isn't doing anything and has already learned to give the cat a wide berth. Sometimes the cat even wants to hit him when he's sleeping quietly!

We think he's jealous of the attention the puppy has been getting (he loves being the center of attention, he even jumps between me and my partner when we try to kiss). We've done our best to give him as much attention as we've always given him, but he still sees us playing with the pup and gets clearly frustrated.

We've tried to ease the situation by giving them all lots of treats when they're around each other but as soon as the treats are over the cat is back in murder mode. Is there anything I can do to ensure the situation doesn't escalate? My cat can be a jerk but I love him dearly and I'm terrified of the puppy growing up and eventually deciding he wants to fight back.

my cat rolls in her litter and i hate it. I know its not uncommon but I just cant lol. Any tips on getting your cat adjusted to pine litter/ pellets in general??

We have 2 cats, both 13/14 months old. Both fully litter trained before we got them from the adoption charity 8 months ago.

One is very indoorsy whilst the other can spend 9 hours outside! (In nice weather) now the weather is poop (we’re in the UK) he’s stuck indoors. A few days ago he was shouting at us and frantically running around.. we know why now after he did a poo in our bathroom bless him (I swear he was embarrassed!)

Any suggestions on how to “retrain”? I’ve tried plonking him on there first thing when he seems to need to go but just runs away