#advice for cats

[catadvice]

Hi, I have a question and I’m not exactly sure who to ask haha.

So, my cat Bruno is an outside cat. He’s middle aged in cat years and has really bad only child syndrome. And, we recently started taking care of this stray kitten that we found. And Bruno doesn’t like him… at all. And he’s also not eating now. Idk if the two are correlated, but I’m really, REALLY concerned. Please give me some advice 🥲

Hey! First of all, keep in mind that I'm just a person on the Internet who has cats and really loves cats, but not a vet or an otherwise qualified cat expert (tm)

That saying, I have successfully introduced a kitten to a resident older cat so I can give some advice there.

(Long answer below the cut because I ended up writing a lot more than I thought I would!)

It can be quite a big adjustment for cats who have been living as the only cat/pet of the family to suddenly having to share their space with a new kitten, and especially for older cats there can be problems with the kitten being very energetic and wanting to play with an older cat who does not share the same enthusiasm for play time.

The thing that worked for us is following the strategy shared in these videos I'm going to share below.

In general, I recommend all of Jackson Galaxy's videos on how to introduce cats. The tl;dr is that you need to introduce them very slowly and by gradually using more and more senses (smell, sight, etc.). For example the first step is to isolate the kitten in only one room of your house (with its food and litter box etc.) so that the resident cat can smell the new kitten but isn't able to see it nor interact with it physically. I know you said Bruno is an outdoor cat but I'm assuming the new kitten is staying inside the house (if it isn't, please bring it inside, you'll need to sort out vaccines and neutering/spaying before you can safely consider whether you will allow him to be an outdoor cat too).

(A brief note on cats outside: I would urge you to carefully consider whether you want to leave your cats outside or not, but I don't know your situation, where you live, or any other reason that you might have for Bruno being an outdoor cat, so I'm not going to say anything more than this.)

Use food as a way to bring them closer. Feed the kitten inside the room it's living in for the time being and feed Bruno outside the room and gradually move their bowls closer day by day so that eventually they're eating on opposite sides of the closed door.

Honestly, follow the advice from the videos as much as possible, it would take me forever to re-write it in this answer but I can guarantee you that it will work. This does not mean that the two cats will ever be best friends at the end of the process (because it very much depends on the individual cats' personalities and their lived experiences), but what you're aiming for by doing all this is to make it so that at least they tolerate each other's presence and are not stressed out by the other cat.

It will take a long time, yes. It took us close to three months to introduce our new kitten to the resident cat. But it was worth it, because that way it will never became a stressful experience for either of them.

Last advice on Bruno not eating: I'm very sorry to hear this and I wish I could tell you whether it's due to the stress of the new cat being introduced, but the reality is that no one will be able to tell for sure whether it's related to that or something else. So before you do anything, please bring Bruno to a vet for a check up, they'll be able to examine him and rule out actual medical emergencies. The bottom line is that not eating is not a good sign. If he's still drinking despite not eating you can be less worried, but he needs to see a vet ASAP if the not eating has been going on for more than a couple of days and is not normal behaviour for him. Ultimately, you know your cat, so trust your instincts but my advice here is vet first.

I hope you find this useful, that it turns out Bruno is perfectly healthy, and that the introduction between him and the new kitten goes smoothly!

If you have any more questions my inbox will always stay open, and please give us an update if you'd like to in the future!

Best of luck to you, Bruno, and your new kitten 😸

The videos I recommend watching:

[catadvice]

Excellent form

“What happens when you have heated tile flooring”

(via)

[pangur-and-grim]

oh Pangur….

[your-therian-parent-says]

pro tip its legal to make a den in your room out of blankets and pillows and plushies and sleep in it

it also costs zero dollars to hide in the darkness of your newly built den and make unsettling noises to ward off intruders

[thatsbelievable]

[catadvice]

Excellent form

[teaboot]

Serious Question

My brother's cat (14 years old- the cat, not him) is not eating and we don't know why.

He said they went to the vet, and the vet recommended senior cat food, but she won't eat more than a few bites.

Wet food and dry food are both being refused, and while she IS interested in his dog's wet food, stealing the dog food is also making her throw up.

She's still snuggly and purrs when pet- still makes biscuits and drools when you rub her chin, runs from the dog and growls when he gets silly- but she's become frighteningly thin.

Does anyone with senior cat experience have any ideas for helping her gain weight?

She used to be an absolute brick of a cat- just a solid unit, caught pests like nobody's business- so it's really hard to see her this tiny

Any advice at all is appreciated. Thanks

[good-advice-ganondorf]

congrats on getting into college! I recently started my own studies at university! do you have any advice on how to stay motivated for studies?

[succulentsiren]

🐆Ways to Feel like a Dark Goddess🖤🩸

I. Embrace your ‘Black cat energy’ — Adopt or start acting like a Cat (beware when adopting that you’ll become their slave lol) but you’ll learn a how to carry their Royal (DGAF) energy, just from being around them.

II. Listen to sultry, slowed music. Find the song that represents you, listen to it slowed and play it whenever you want to feel sexy or confident. (The song is more impactful when it has a strong bass or an addictive melody).

III. Wear Black. The color black represents supreme authority and power. Black also pulls and absorbs all energy towards it. So when you wear it, it’ll allow you to absorb the energy around you and feel more powerful.

IV. Learn your Dark Feminine Archetype. Are you the Siren? Are you the Lilith? Are you the Gold digger? Or are you the Witch?

V. Don’t chase, Attract. Never beg people to be in your life. Never beg people to support you. Never force friendships or relationships. Be your authentic self and your connections will form effortlessly.

VI. Stay unbothered. It’s a fact that, you age faster when you’re stressed and overextending yourself, so be stoic and poised and observe more than you react.

VII. Wear your favorite lingerie.

VIII. Try Dark Feminine makeup looks. {Here’s my Pinterest board on DFM looks}

IX. Learn a new skill. Knowledge raises your value and protects you from making dumb decisions.

X. Have a Confident Presence. Never enter any room with you head down. Learn the importance of confident body language and teach yourself the basics.

XI. Be assertive. Add some spice [bite] to your language and character. Let people know your not a wilting flower in any way.

XII. Be unpredictable. When people think they know your next move, switch that shit up and surprise them.

XIII. Practice your Siren Gaze. The eyes are a tool of hypnotism. You can communicate through them, influence through them and seduce with them.

XIV. Worship yourself like a Goddess. When you recognize your value, you raise yourself up to Goddess-hood and others will begin to see your value as well.

XV. Spoil yourself. Don’t wait for anyone to make you feel sexy, self activate it. Buy yourself roses 🥀 Take a romantic baths with flower petals. Tell yourself “You’re sexy.” in the mirror. Write yourself love letters.

[catadvice]

They are determined by the will of cat.

[pabuthefirecat]

Remember to get your eyes checked

by a qualified professional.

Not a cat.

[catadvice]

My boyfriend and I have two cats we raised from kittens until now, they are 4 years old female 'S' and male 'O'. From the same litter too. My boyfriends brother moved in with us to get himself back on his feet and he brought his own 6 yr old female cat 'M'. M has been in her own room away from both S and O with the door shut for about a month. I successfully got O to eat on the other side of the door at the same time as M for a week, but not S. We put up a large piece of plexiglass so they could see eachother while they eat, and O was fine until he wasn't. We put all of their food upstairs so they would have to be around M, but they won't go upstairs. I picked up S and brought her upstairs to show her where the food is, and she saw M and got on edge. O came up the stairs and attacked S, and now O is being a bully to S for some reason. He now will lock eyes with S and go after her (he is bigger than her and they both have their claws). I plugged in a feliway upstairs to hopefully mitigate things, but what do I do? I want all three cats to get along ultimately, but why is the introduction of the third cat causing my original two to become enemies?

Obligatory "I'm not a vet, just a person on the internet with cats who really loves cats" but here's my thoughts on this situation!

O attacking S when you placed her upstairs in front of the plexiglass/room with M:

This might very well be a case of redirected aggression/displaced aggression, it's quite a common thing in cats where if a cat can't interact with a trigger that is causing him stress, he'll redirect that aggression to the nearest person/animal/thing. In this case it seems like M being a new addition to the house is still stressful to O but because he can't interact with her due to the plexiglass (a great thing you've implemented, by the way!), he's redirecting that aggression towards S instead.

On the attacks:

The first thing to do here is assess whether O being a bully to S is actually aggressive behaviour or more on the play side, cause a lot of times cats playing with each other can definitely look aggressive if you're not used to it.

So look out for the following in either O and S when the "bullying" is happening (remembering that the interaction can be differently interpreted by either cat, so it could be a situation in which one cat thinks they're playing while the other is actually being aggressive):

Are they making any noise? Cat play is usually very silent, if either cat is meowing, hissing, or screeching, that's usually a good indication that it's not play but aggression.

Are the tails puffed? Sometimes tails get puffed after a long play session, but if an attack starts and either of cats presents a puffed tail immediately, that's usually a sign the cat is scared and therefore it isn't regular playtime.

Are the cats taking turns? Is O always the chaser/aggressor, or does S also run after him, pester him to chase her and run away? Cats playing will very often take turns attacking each other in a "I chase you, now you chase me, I annoy you into chasing me, now you annoy me into attacking you". If O is always attacking and S always running away, it's probably aggression.

Assuming the answer to all these questions is that these interactions are not regular playtime between the two cats, and assuming that it only happens when M is also present (behing the plexiglass), here's my two suggestions for what to do:

Play Time: redirect the aggression into play time. Bring both cats upstairs and play with them with toys until they are too tired to play. You will however need someone in the room with M playing with her too. The goal is to get all the cats to associate being all together with good things (aka play time with humans) and to get them so absorbed in the play that they forget that there is an "intruder". Eventually you can open the door and play together with all three cats once they all are more at ease around her, but I recommend waiting for this step until they can all eat in sight of each other and the aggression from O stops.

Scent Swapping: the plexiglass is genuinely a great step, but it might be preventing the cats from smelling one another. Get them more used to each other's scents by swapping toys (bring O and S's toys into M's room and vice versa), or by swapping things that the cats spend a lot of time with, for example a blanket etc., and then swap back. In a pinch you can rub a towel on O and S, and one on M and then swap those. Eventually, swap places: being careful not to let them interact, being O and S into M's closed room and bring M to a room of the house that the two kitties usually spend a lot of time in, letting the sets of cats explore the place and sniff all the smells.

Also to note: if O's aggression on S continues, do these above steps individually for each cat instead of by grouping O and S together. For example, you can bring O upstairs and keep S downstairs, play with O while someone plays with M behind the door. After that session is over, repeat the step but with only S upstairs and O downstairs. Same thing for scent swapping. At the end of the day, even though O and S are siblings and good friends, they might take different lengths of time to acclimatise to the idea of a new cat.

I think that's all that I can think of! I really hope this was useful anon, and best of luck with integrating M into your kitty household!

[ashpaw-is-alone]

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who needs grammarly when you have lavenderly?

[uncanny-tranny]

The absolute biggest thing I've learned as a trans guy: there is nothing more masculine and manly than not caring about looking or acting masculine or manly. Growing your masculinity or manhood takes time and care - you have no obligation to let the world water your garden when you can do that just fine (and you can, even if it doesn't feel like you can!)

[thiscatiscreepy]

Some advice for the mechs artists:

Make them fatter

Make them harrier

Drench them in blood.

Recede Jonny's hairline

Good luck 👍

[sporeclan]

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First moon(s) of 2024!!! WOOO!!!