How often do you change your cats litter boxes?

I only get 3 bags of rubbish allowed per month 😢

It drives me nuts.

A few months ago, we adopted the cuddliest, friendliest cat I’ve ever met. I instantly became her person, and we bonded quickly!

However…I literally can’t walk anywhere without her constantly weaving in and out between my legs. I’m talking…every single time I walk when she’s around me. She tripped me down the stairs twice already, so it’s become an actual hazard for me. If I just get up off the couch to grab sometime from the fridge…she’s in my legs. I really don’t know what to do about this lol I’ve had dogs for the last 20 years, and I’m not sure how you train a cat?

I also understand that she might still be a bit anxious as she was apparently found living in a barn and likely had been there for her whole life. We’ve had her for two months, so maybe she’s still settling in/taking some time to feel totally safe. She’s one and healthy.

Edit: Seems like the consensus is that the lobster is too buttery, and I have to just learn to not die 😂

I literally am exhausted waking up early every night, like right now because my cat is so damn vocal.

He's 6 years old, hes fixed, vaccinated and as far as I can tell hes in great health(had multiple vet check ups). I did just move across like 1400 miles with him on the road a few months ago and im barely getting settled into an apartment with my roomies. We dont have much and someone lost the pieces to put his cat tree together but he has lots of toys and scratchers. We try playing with him throughout the day when we can but honestly i just dont know what to do.

He constantly yells and meows. Like constantly. It feels like a cat form of "Hey look at me, look at me look at me, ok throw this toy for me. No im not gonna chase it, throw it again, i just saw you lying down and i hate that. Uhh hello? Youre laying down at 4am again? UM hello? Hello ? Hello? hey HEY HEY. HEY HEY HEY HEY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEASE GET UP GET UP"

i really wish i had a non humanizing way to put it because ive brought him to the vet and they never give me helpful advice on it. If i wasnt so broke I would pay for a cat psychic to tell me what it is he wants because i truly think hes asking for like SOMETHING? Or anything?? And thats ok i love him but he only does this when literally everyone(even me and my roomie who is insomniacs) is asleep or trying to sleep. and like its not a pained meow or yeowl. Sometimes its a weird late night caterwall, BUT MOSTLY in the same tone he will meow repetativly like,

"Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow"

and then he escalates into a CRESEANDO. its ridiculous ?? Apalling ? Sometimes he also rakes his claws on the electrical outlets(like plucking at the fixture with his claws for that horrible nails on plastic noise, can you tell i have autism i cant take it anymore) or walls, not scratching but like making the most horrible noise. Or he'll take his paw and tap the door in a way where it makes a loud rattle.

Im almost in tears writing this cause i love my cat so much and im truely trying, like I went to therapy for 3 years so I can be more patient of a cat owner and just better but the way he keeps me up at night feels so grossly personal, like I feel like he literally doesnt want me to sleep.(hes a cat i know Im not holding him to any standard or mistreating him)

Its to a point where hes meowing so much that I have to put him in timeout in another room for like an hour at a time because i cant just move his litterbox everynight(roomates only agree on one litter box spot sadly) but he doesnt even know hes in trouble for the meowing, and its breaking me heart cause im like "No bro I love you, you just wont shut up". Like, i dont even care if he runs around like a maniac, i can sleep through that. Its when im like settling for bed and he quietly sneaks in my doorway and just meows loudly at me for no reason. Im so tired, its 6:47 in the fucking morning ALSO WHEN i put him in tomeout hes quiet ??? So im like "okay???" And i let him out because I AM GUILTY AND TIRED AND I LOVE HIM BUT HES PSYCHOLOGICALLY TORTURING MEEE. And then he does it again. Its a vicious cycle. Honestly is someone wants to send me to a pet psychic that does case to case charity work, please help me because Im behind on rent and i just cant lol

Tdlr: i love my cat, i swear hes trying to tell me something he wants or needs idk what it is, he wont shut up so hes going to timeout so much he cant tell what hes in timeout for. Vets say hes healthy, maybe bored but i dont know how because im his personal jester. I know im doing something wrong i just have no idea what.

Will post the Midnight Opera man if yall so desire to see the scallywag.

Edit: my god, the replies and views on this post for just the past hour or 2 or 3 or whatever is just fantastic. Everyone is so nice, Im thinking of stuff I hadn't considered, I felt catharsis for my fellow man struggling with me and our endeavor in loving our loud fluffy companions. Who's breath smells of death and fur smells of dreams. Thank you everyone, even the "Duh do this idIOT" commenters. No hate, everyone here is on my good side forever because you all got together to help me sleep, now Im actually gonna put reddit down and crash for real since everyone is so intellectually engaging. I hope non of you are ai and this all wasnt a dream. Thank you again, I will wake up a better cat owner now.

Hello all,

I am thinking about adopting an adult cat. I live alone and work 40 hours a week, so I would want to ensure that if I got a cat that it would be self sufficient enough to be content home alone during the day.

I’ve been visiting my local animal shelter where they have the sweetest 4 year old former stray. Whenever I’ve visited him he was hiding from the other cats, and while he doesn’t decline pets, he doesn’t ask for them either. The shelter believes he has depression or that he just finds the environment stressful. But I worry that even if I did adopt him and made him a happy home, he would still be depressed.

I basically just want to make sure I’m enough for this cat. I don’t want him to be sadder than he is at the shelter. Any advice is appreciated, as I want to make sure I’m 100% sure before committing to a pet.

so... my roommate has two cats that she keeps locked up in her room all day save for maybe when she's cooking or getting ready for work in the morning. i just adopted a baby cat, and often play with him in the living room, sometimes the roommate's cats will play paws with mine under her door. i know they can hear him meowing and playing, and i wonder if they get sad. i don't know what i can do for them, i also noticed that my roommate has trashbags over the window to the point that they can't see outside. i wanted to let the two out while she was gone (we do not get along, that's why i will not speak to her about letting them play), but she put a padlock on her door. so those kitties are in there all day long. :/ one cat got significantly fatter since i last saw him. what do y'all think i should do to help?

Updating- wow, I'm pleased with all the replies and ideas. I appreciate all the advice and will be rinsing cans. I will also try the different things such as deodorizer inserts suggested. Thank you all!

How does everyone manage the smell from empty cat food cans? Does everyone rinse out the can actually wash them before putting them in a trash bag to limit the stink? I still consider myself new to cats after 5 years. I thought my process to seal up the cans was good enough.

Once empty, I put the cans in a separate plastic bag. I use the produce bags from grocery stores or smaller trash bags. After about 4-5 cans, this bag gets knotted up and thrown in with the regular kitchen trash. My husband csnt stand the smell, even the same day when it's a new tmcan bag and new kitchen trash bag. Its not like they sit there for days.

For background, I live out in the country. Our trash cans remain 1/4 of a mile from our actual house at the main toad for pickup. It would be too far to take full cans every week to the "curb" so we take trash out as it fills. Also, since COVID 4 years ago, I have anosmia/parosmia- no sense of smell or distorted. I cannot smell ANY of the cat food can odor except when I open the big curb trash can and they've been sitting out in the sun for days. Majorly strong smells, like rotting food, sewage, landfills, super bad farts....Basically, when I can smell something, it must be really bad.

I want to start off by saying I love him, he’s really sweet and doesn’t have much behavioral issues. I’ve had him for a month now and it’s just been an absolute battle with him and the litter. I have a female cat as well and had her for a few months before him, she had the occasional stinky poop but I never had issues with her. Him on the other hand, he’s disgusting. I’ve tried many different sized litter boxes and placements, he started off by flipping his smaller litter boxes but he broke the habit/ the one I have now is too big and heavy for that. He tracks like crazy, and my entire apartment was covered in litter. It was also always stuck in a gooey mess in his paws, both things I never had issues with my female cat. That was fine enough, I slowly switched to a different litter and have had less issues with tracking. Although the closet their potty closet and the surrounding hall always has litter on the floor. I have three layers of rug but that does nothing.

All of that is forgiveable, but he is also just plain gross. He pees and poops right outside of the box and when he does go in the box (which is most of the time) he somehow kicks poop out of the box because there are always poop splatters on the walls surrounding the boxes. I’m telling you I’ve tried a hundred different litter box set ups especially because one of the ones I have is adjustable with optional lids and high walls. No matter what I try he gets poop outside of the box, google told me to take one of the lids off the box so it could ventilate better but that could be why he gets poop outside of the box. The box is one of the larger ones on the market too and he is very small for his age so it’s not a matter of not having enough space. I’m constantly deep cleaning and I’m TIRED. My apartment constantly smells like shit I am so frustrated. Somehow my stainless steel litter box STILL smells like PISS after a deep clean and sitting in the sun (the lid is plastic)

I am moving in two weeks and quite frankly I cannot keep him if this continues because I moving to a high rise building and it will be so hard to constantly clean his litter box. I won’t even be able to do it outside and I just know that place is going to smell rancid. Please I am desperate for advice, I really love him but god this smell is unbearable. He is so dirty. I can handle regular scooping and cleaning but this is just ridiculous. Has anyone dealt with this before and how did you fix it?

FYI he is neutered

I’m thinking of having my cats nails clipped. When he walks on my partner or I and sometimes kneads during pets, his claws have hurt us really easily. Im wondering if clipping will help but he is very scared of his carrier and I’m also concerned with how clipping will go (never seen someone else handle
Him yet, we adopted him in the past year).

Do we think it’s worth the headache of dealing with his carrier and potentially getting scratched? He has a post at home and I’ve seen his nails come off (I’ve seen random claw pieces every now and then) not seeing anything else really destroyed, though I’m sure my couch has some small tears. Mostly so we can interact with him and feel less scared

You live with your mummy daddy and brother. You and your brother are ~4 years old. You have only ever lived in 2 bedroom houses with an upstairs and a downstairs.

Mummy and daddy are moving to Japan in a few months for 2 years. You can either stay in your current 2 bedroom house which you have lived in for the past year with your brother but be looked after by mummy and daddy’s friend who you have never met until mummy and daddy return in 2 years. Or come to Japan and live in a much smaller 25-35 m^2 studio apartment with your brother, mummy and daddy for the 2 years.

Whah would you want?

Hello! Georgia is my precious little plant pooper :). When we first rescued her she was quick to use the litter box, but shes very picky about the litter thats in there. I tried just clay cause thats what we had atm(gifted from relative) and she only peed in it. Pooped in our plants pots instead, glad she didnt poop on the floor but not ideal :(. So then we tried pine, she hated it, refused to use it, tried clay again, same as before. Then I tried Worlds Best corn litter, she LOVES the corn litter, im not big on it being so dusty but she doesnt mind me cleaning her legs. The issue is that world's best is kinda pricey for me, and im having a hard time finding affordable corn litter or things like corn. Are there any brands im missing? Help is very much appreciated thank you :)

Apparently I can’t post a picture of what I’m talking about but if you’re unfamiliar with the product, it’s a mat with bars overhead that have little toys dangling from them. I just feel like if I were a cat, it would be so much fun but I’m not a cat so idk.

Before I spend my real adult money on one, someone please let me know if you’ve tried it, or like have a human baby and also a cat and whether the cat liked it or not.

Thanks!

My 2 kittens, about 4 months old just tested positive for Giardia, and after reading about people’s experiences with trying to get rid of it, I’m super nervous! Any advice or tips on getting rid of it for good would be greatly appreciated!!! 🙏

Sometimes he smells like fabric softener, sometimes like perfume, sometimes like a scented candle, and today he smells like a sporting goods store. He’s an indoor cat and he doesn’t have access to these things. It’s usually his neck area. Why does this happen?

TL;DR: My cat wakes me up every night by walking on me, pulling at my sheets/rug, and playing with cables, and I’m exhausted and at my breaking point despite trying an automatic feeder, nighttime play, blocking/deterrents, and giving her plenty of enrichment. What else can I realistically do to stop this behavior? I’m desperate for serious advice because I can’t keep living like this.

I adopted my cat a year ago. She’s two. I’ve moved to a new apartment about 6 months ago with one roommate, I got the bigger room & bathroom so I could have her automatic feeder, water, and auto litter box in there. I don’t want her litter box in the shared space.

With that said, she’s taken interest in one of my closets where she rustles around in there before bed and/or between the hours of 3-5a and wakes me up. I wear noise canceling ear buds but I guess I’m a light sleeper. Ive closed the doors but now she pulls at the rug and it’s damaging it. Foil doesn’t work. I’ve started to deter her with unpleasant scents and blocking it with items, but now she pulls at my sheets and plays with the cables behind my bed and the feeling of this wakes me up.

She doesn’t meow but she’ll walk on me. I try to ignore it but it genuinely makes me so angry I have to wake up and firmly say STOP. I have a hard time going back to sleep. I can’t see myself going through this for the rest of her life. I’m ready to give up. Other posts say lock her out of the room - I can’t do that with her food/water/litter box in my room. They say get an automatic feeder. I already have one. It goes off at 6:45a and 6p and when I play with her at night she gets a light snack after. I can’t get another cat right now.

I almost never have people over because she will likely wake them up too.

She has a cat tree in my room with her bed and blanket covering it that she sleeps in everyday. I give her porch access all day and close off access before bed. I put toys away so she knows it’s bed time but leave some out during the day. I’m going to put up 3 cat climbing stoops on my wall this week. What am I doing wrong?

I’m hopeless and tired. I need serious advice.

I usually wake up at 6 for work. For the longest time, my cat would wake me up at like 5:45, which was fine because it was close enough to when I'd normally get up.

Recently, though, he's been waking me up around 3, 3:30 each morning. Not sure how to get him to stop.

I'll usually open my door, he'll run out, and then as soon as I close my door to go back to sleep, he'll use his super cat skills to break open my door.

I'm assuming he wants to eat, but not sure why he suddenly wants to eat 3 hours earlier than usual.

We had been feeding a stray cat at our rural home for a few months when she had one kitten. We set up a little outdoor home for them on our porch, and the mama cat is extremely chill, never gave our 2 and 4 year old kids any trouble even though they’re chaotic sometimes. We decided to bring them inside and get them vet visits, vaccines etc.

We did that when the kitten was about 5 weeks old. It’s been about 3 weeks, so kitten is about 8 weeks old now. We just had the mom spayed yesterday, she’s recovering well.

The main concern we have is that our 4 year old is EXTREMELY eager to be best friends with the kitten especially, and is just having the absolute hardest time overriding her urge to pick the kitten up/play with her when the kitten clearly wants to get away. We’ve talked to her about it so many times, like multiple times every day. We try and keep it positive as much as possible, acknowledging how much we can see she loves the cats, and that to be a good friend we have to pay attention to what they are telling us. They don’t have words, so we have to pay attention to what their body language is saying. We tried watching “inside the mind of a cat” but she got fixated on the cats that do tricks 😑

Honestly it’s getting really stressful. We can see the kitten is getting scared and stressed. I’m worried she’ll end up being super skittish. The mom is still super chill. Once or twice she’s given her a very gentle warning “nip,” not even a bite just kind of a head gesture.

At what point do we seriously consider re-homing the cats? We love them so much. We have considered putting a cat door on one of our bedrooms and a little eye hook latch on the outside so the girls can’t go in, so the cats have somewhere quiet to hide. My daughter would for sure be able to figure out how to unlatch it, but maybe it would slow her down enough to start to learn and practice some distance?

Anyone else been through this with a little kid? How did you get through to them?

my cat got sick a few weeks ago. at first, he was still eating normally, but as his sickness went on, he eventually stopped being able to eat on his own, so i started feeding him by hand. i used a dropper instead of a spoon because he didn’t like the spoon, so i mixed his wet food with water so i could feed it to him through the dropper.

he’s better now, though. we already took him to the vet, he’s finished all of his medications, and he’s only taking his vitamins now. he’s also much more active and has gotten some of his strength back, but he still refuses to eat on his own.

he does show interest in food. he’ll smell it and even walk over to his bowl, but he just won’t actually eat. we’ve tried different kinds of food, including chicken, but he’ll only eat if i personally put the food into his mouth.

i’m getting really worried because he’s getting so skinny, and i can’t always feed him myself since i have school ☹️☹️ has anyone experienced this with their cat? what can i do to encourage him to eat on his own again?

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Just what the title says, looking for an autofeeder that won't let food go stale. My cat won't eat the food from the autofeeder bc it goes a bit stale. I'd love to get back on an autofeeder so I'm wondering if anyone has one they can reccomend. Thanks!

Edit to add: I appreciate the suggestions to refill it more frequently, but at that point I'll just keep refilling a bowl LOL. Just looking for recommendations on an auto feeder that will keep the food fresh

I have to bring my cats to a hotel for ten nights. We’re moving back to the US and we have to be out of our current apartment ten days before the flight, so we have to get a hotel for those nights. Already made a reservation at a pet friendly hotel. Has anyone had their cats in hotels and if so do you have any tips? I know they may be a bit off since it’s an unfamiliar place but I’m wondering if there’s anything we can do to make them more comfortable and less scared especially as they’re going to be coming on an international flight with us afterwards. Honestly I was thinking they might not be terrible with adjusting as even at the vet they’re pretty happy, one of them even climbs on the vets shoulders lol. Thank you!

I’m moving into a bigger place and finally financially stable to adopt another pet. I’m looking to adopt another cat but not sure if my cat wants that. My cats is a female just turned 3 and is very clingy. I’m gone most of the weekday at work and I have a pet camera and she get super lonely and just ends up sleeping all day till I get home. She’s been around two other cats but one was very territorial and fought with her. So just hesitant to adopt another cat and not have it work out having to bring back the other cat. Super sad.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

When to say goodbye.

I have three cats. One of them passed away young. The other one stopped eating a few months ago and started walking wobbly. Every morning i was afraid to find her dead on the floor so I took her to the vet. She was put down.

Now my last cat isn't eating. I don't think she is hurting but she is definitely losing weight fast. Our vet put him on steroids and appetite stimulant. Now he is losing weight slower.

I don't know when is the right time to say goodbye. He is not hurting but he is declining. I think the only one that's hurting is me! Everyday is a sad day for me to look at him.

It will be selfish of me to put him down right? I should let nature to take its course. He isn't hurting. He is mostly just sleeping, wasting away.

Sigh....

The previous owners of our house were cat people. As in 5 cats at any given time cat people.

Whenever we came to see the house (which was 6-8 times), we did not notice a cat funk...that was until we moved in.

I'm at my wits end with this, and we just need this smell dealt with...but the issue is we cannot isolate the source of the smell, so we wouldn't even know where to spray an enzyme cleaner and scrub.

There is a general smell, in the dining room and one of the bathrooms, but the bedrooms seem to be unaffected.

We've searched every inch of the house with a blacklight. Nothing. None of the rooms in question, nor any other rooms, lit up.

We've gotten the HVAC system cleaned (they sent in a vacuum probe and cleaned it, I saw them pull out 6 garbage bags worth of dust/fur/dander), still smells.

Are we screwed? Would a Hydroxyl/Ozone treatment do the job?

I'll take any suggestions, because the next step is to gut the walls and floors and redo them (which we don't have the money to do rn. House poor and all that)

Thanks in advance!!

Hi all!

Wanted to get the scoop (lol) on if anybody had used anything BESIDES clay clumping litter in their auto litter box. For reference I live in a shoebox apartment so I've fallen victim to the bits, and I'm looking for something that might keep the smell more manageable.

My cats are pretty loosey goosey, they've used pine just fine in the past and that seems to be the hardest to adjust to, but no matter what they kick the crap (double lol) out of the dusty clay stuff.

I've done research on chick starter and walnut litter, and those seem to be potential contenders, but wanted to double check to see if anyone has tried it since I haven't found much online.

Thanks! :)

Edit: Should specify I'd also love "hacks" like getting bulk at Tractor Supply that's made of the same stuff for CHEAP, but will also splurge if it is something that someone swears by.

For context, I work for an in-home care/companion service for the disabled elderly. My client is a 97-year-old dementia patient. She has one pet: an orange tabby cat trapped in her bathroom.

I'm 17, this was just a short summer job before school starts again. I found the cat my first day. He's shut in a small, window-less bathroom with a small food and water dish that only gets filled and cleaned by me because my client forgets. No toys, no bed, just a dirty litter box in the corner. I feel so bad for the sweet kitty! Idk how old he is, but hes super sweet and cuddly and just wants held. Such a sweetheart but I'm not allowed to let him out. Hes stuck in there day and night, and unfortunately I'm super allergic, so even I can't spend too much time in the bathroom with him bc I have to take care of my client and my allergies just get to bad. The most I can do really is refill the food and water. I just finished my last day the other day, and the poor kitty's situation still keeps gnawing me... I don't know what to do or how to help.

My client really can't take care of him and has no family who can. He has no quality of life in that bathroom and is so miserable, I feel terrible. But at her age, he is all she has left, and gets very emotional any time I've tried to suggest a possible rehoming. The family feels the same way. But it just isn't humane to me.

Any advice? I feel bad for my client because I know she really does love him, but she can't take care of him. They don't even interact. And i'm scared for what may happen to the cat now that I'm gone. Is there anything I can do? I have no knowledge of cats or pet laws.

😻 EDIT: 😻 My client and kitty move to a more secure facility for her dementia this weekend; I will contacting Animal Services as they do. Thank you all so much for your encouragement and advice, its helped a ton. I promise to update you all when I know for sure kitty is safe.

Hello-
Before you come for me, please note, my dog is reactive to other dogs and neighborhood cats, but lived with a cat for 2 yrs peacefully (before she passed away). I have been so distraught and finally decided to adopt a kitty pair (a daughter and her blind momma).

Does anyone have any advice on introducing my dog to the kitties?
For reference, we’ve had them in the house, separated for 8 days now. The kitties have met my dog 2 times, both controlled (he was in the crate and 2nd time, they were in their crates). He’s mainly curious and when they hiss or move, he gets reactive. We are starting from square one and doing scent swapping.
I just need some advice on anyone who’s had a positive experience and outcome doing this.

Thank you so much. Just a stressed fur parent right meow.