I have 2 big male cats, I love them to death and could never dream about giving them away. They are allowed outside and inside my house if that makes sense.

The problem is that my neighbors are starting to get very unhappy with them. I am in my neighborhoods Facebook group, and I saw some people have said that my cats, especially one of them, are pooping in their yard and that they are really mad about it.

Here is the thing while we are allowed to let our pets roam around our own yard, they are technically not allowed to exit it. There are many others who also let their cats exit the yard, but their cat doesn't annoy the neighbor's. If one of my neighbors tells the landlord, I could end op getting kicked out of my home.

I have tried to keep them indoors the past weeks, but I have children that run in and out of the house with their friends, and sometimes they forget to close the door, so they have escaped a couple of times. They also do have a litter tray inside.

Is there anything I could do to stop them from pooping in my neighbors yard? They are allowed to poop in mine, just not my neighbors.

Please help. I don't want to get rid of my babies

This lady (I’ve been calling her Nyx) has been coming to my porch for the last 3 days and she’s been spending most of her time on the porch. This cardboard box has been her preferred sleeping arrangement for the last nights and she’s spent most of (if not all) the night there. I don’t know if she has a home and I plan on taking her to the vet, but she’s still a bit wary of me.

Also, I was forcibly gifted a boy kitten that I need to at least foster if not keep since I don’t have a safe place to re-home him because I live in a country where most people don’t even consider taking their pets to the vet for anything, let alone routine checks or giving pills to a pet. The problem is Nyx hisses at him and becomes very agitated if she sees him, so I separated them and will try to help them gradually get accustomed with each other (I’ve seen all the Jackson Galaxy videos I could). Nyx has been keeping her distance since the kitten arrived and I feel like I’m getting farther from actually being able to get her to a vet and making her trust me.

I don’t even know what advice to ask for. I want to make her comfortable and get her the care she needs, but I am so overwhelmed by not understanding cat behaviour (despite studying it, and cats in general, for years). I haven’t had a cat in the past and suddenly I now have two at the same time.

PS: Nyx has a new bed and a carrier I didn’t get to introduce yet because I don’t want to get her overwhelmed. The kitten loves his carrier and new bed though, so I guess that’s an improvement to my situation? Any piece of advice helps, please

I (19m) have 3 cats. One of them is named Kevin. My family and I live on a farm in a fairly rural area so our cats like to go outside a lot. Sometimes they even spend the night outside. We haven't been able to find Kevin for 2 days now. Granted, this isn't the first time he has been gone for a while. He's been gone for periods of a few days before, but every time I get worried. But he usually always shows up after 2-3 days. I'm thinking it's because he's out in the woods. But regardless I go out and call for him and he doesn't come. And I'm beginning to feel that pit in my stomach again.

We once had a cat named Charley, around a year ago. She could be mean, but I loved her more than anything. My brother is really young (9) and she'd sometimes scratch or bite him, which is a thing our cats do to all of us. Especially when they were teething, if that's the proper term for it. Well he cried about it and so I put her outside, and then she ended up getting taken by an eagle around a day later. I don't think I've ever gotten over that, and I don't think I ever will. I know he's just a kid, but I can't help but blame him for it. If he had just grown up for once she'd still be here with us.

And now I worry that same thing is going to happen to Kevin. And this time it's going to be all my fault, because I chose to put him outside at night 2 days ago, all because he and the other cats began to fight. And I... I don't know what to do anymore. I want to find him, I've called for him, even the other cats have been outside at night and they haven't gone missing. I want to believe he's just off on one of his little adventures, and that he'll be back soon. But I get the worrying feeling he isn't okay. And if something happened to him.... then that's all on me.

I’ve been seeing this friendly stray cat come out a few times at night and he seems super friendly. I caught him sniffing my shoes a few times. I also play fight w him but he doesn’t seem to be aggressive. What do I do? I need some help and advice. Thank you!

Hello everyone. I'm pretty new to the world of cats.

I recently moved to my parents house and our neighborhood is full of cats. There are a LOT of orange cats. And its common practice around our area to put some cat food out for the strays. I put food out twice a day and there is one or several cats that come by for a meal.

I know that some of them are friendly. And I would like to gain their trust and be friends. What would be a good way to do this? They seem to be very quick.

Sorry if this is a silly question. I've never had a cat before.

Hi guys. My cat Robin is 3, she was an indoor cat until she escaped one day and she’s been outdoors ever since. Recently i’ve been worried for her health as she’s only young. She is the most anxious cat you can meet, too scared to even leave my room (where she basically lives) so taking her to the vet never happens, and also because she never really showed signs of being unwell.

However, just an hour ago i called her in since i heard her come home, she wouldn’t come inside and i noticed some rodent? It had zero fur, quite literally looked like a chicken breast but wasn’t one. I have no idea what it was, but the thing that worried me is that there was two roundworms next to it, a long one and a small one both seemed to be dead too.

I really don’t know what to do, as im only a teenager and i worry about my cats health. I’ve told my parents about this and im waiting for a reply. Is it best to try to take her to the vets regardless of how anxious she is? I plan on making steps to keep her indoors as i can’t carry on with her taking these risks, even though she absolutely loves the outdoors it’d be best for her possibly.

Today we let our dogs out back to use the restroom and I didn’t realize that our neighbors cat was in the yard.
Naturally our dogs chased the cat (less than 1 yr old) and once the cat was over the fence, the momma cat jumped into our yard and attacked our dogs. For context I have a 9 YO F Lab and 2 YO M doxxie mix. They have a very high prey drive but have great recall and I was able to get them away from the cat very quickly but the momma cat kept coming back to attack our Lab.
This is now the second time neighbors cats have been in our yard that has led to an incident, the first time they apologized and brought over treats for our dogs as an apology. I’m not trying to make enemies out of our neighbors as they are very nice and friendly but it’s upsetting to be scared to let our dogs into their own yard….
My biggest fear is my dogs actually getting a hold of one of the cats and unaliving it….. I have a cat as well and although we let him out into our yard, we always supervise him and make sure he doesn’t leave the yard. Meanwhile their cats freely roam the neighborhood.
I don’t hate the cats, they’re actually super friendly and I understand they are just protecting their own, but I shouldn’t live in fear of my dogs being attacked in their own yard.
And advise? Thanks!

My cat, Kracken (pictured here), seems incapable of dulling her own nails even with a cat tree, a cardboard cat scratcher and many, many logs and trees around to scratch, and she does in fact scratch them quite happily. Is this a common problem?

I should say that my other indoor-outdoor cats do not have this issue whatsoever either.

Hi all,

We recently had a Spanish rescue cat move back to the UK with a family member, we’ve had the cat for around a month, during that time he was free to go out but until now hasn’t really roamed further than 30 meters from the front door, and then 2 days ago randomly he just vanished, let him out after he had his morning food, and now nothing.

Our concern is, he just doesn’t know the area well, I’ve been reading up on these things a fair bit, what are the real chances of him coming back?

I’m seeing stories of cats disappearing for 15 days or more, and then returning, but given Vinnie doesn’t know the area, what are our chances?

We were intending to AirTag him the day he vanished ironically!

So, for cats in new houses, is that actually normal? Can we expect / hope he will return?

We have been taking care of 2 stray cats for around 2.5 months now. Never have they ever shown signs of a previous owner or home, we're severely malnourished and dehydrated. We've slowly been introducing them to the inside of our home, and they do not seem familiar with anything inside, such as furniture and doors. Tonight, one of strays came back with a collar on him. We had seen him no more than 2 hours ago when we let him inside and fed them.

I'm leading to think that our new neighbors may have tried to claim him?? I know that seems absurd, but in the last 2 months we have seen no sign of ownership or attempt to claim ownership on either of them. This so happened short after they moved in (probably only about 3 weeks?) and one of them asked my husband if they were our cats. We said that we have been taking care of them and feeding them and have pretty much adopted them as our outdoor cats for right now. Idk if just seems a little odd.

I also am aware that none of the above means that it is not possible he may have an owner, and we have always have had that in the back of our minds. But man we really love these cats and have even planning for them to get neutered and vaccinated. We've bonded with the dearly and just aren't sure how to go about this.

Thanks in advance and we appreciate any kind advice.

Edit:

We left a note on his collar last night with our contact information, this morning the collar wasn't on him anymore (it was a break away so there is a chance that it just came off). We are going to be getting them fixed and chipped this coming week. We both appreciate everyone's advice.

I don’t know what other subreddit(s) to take to, so I’m asking my question here. There is a cat in our neighborhood, I don’t know if it’s feral or someone’s own outdoor cat that has repeatedly killed animals in the dead of night and leaves it in our yard, maybe others too. Yesterday, I had to pick up a dead GIANT rat from my back yard and was curious why this happened. I noticed its jugular was attacked so I figured it could have been an actual killing. However, last night my girlfriend and I heard vicious sounds at around 4am and I looked outside the window and witnessed this cat killing a rabbit. This morning the dead rabbit was outside our bedroom window.
We have heard this spectacle in the night a week ago but we couldn’t quite place what it was.
My question is what the hell is going on? Why our yard? The killings have taken place twice in back to back nights. Is there anyway to put an end to this?

So about 2 months ago my mom agreed to watch her friends cats for her while they went to another state for 2 months. Both the cats had fleas and they infested my whole house and my cat. I’ve sprayed the carpets with pet armor along with vacuumed. And most of our house is carpet. And every time I walk inside it seems like I get bit up every time. I need help I don’t know what to do. We sprayed the carpets yesterday and I’m still getting bit up does anybody know how long it takes for them to be gone. I’m literally sitting here trying not to break down I’m so pissed at my moms friends for this shit and they said there coming to get the cats next week but I’m ready to call animal control. And the cats are in the basement so there’s no way there still spreading. And we gave the 2 cats flea drops and it didn’t do shit. And my cats in the 2nd story in the house locked in a room and I’m getting bit at every part of the house it seems like. Please sombody I need some answers or some advice

Hi all. I'm in need of some advice and I've decided to post this here because I really don't feel like getting flack from the anti-outdoor cats community 🥴

I have two cats that were both strays living on the streets when I took them in. They were both very unhappy being kept inside after growing up outdoors, so they've become indoor/outdoor cats. Luckily I live at the end of a dead end street with very little traffic or dangerous wildlife, so it's about as safe as it could be.

Recently there's been a stray (I think) cat showing up on my property. Other neighbors have mentioned seeing him for a while, but I only saw him for the first time last week. I heard one of my cats yowling outside and when I went out to get him, the stray was in my yard. A few nights later, I went out to grab my cat when it started getting dark and both he and the stray were sitting in my front yard, not interacting. The stray only seems to come around after dark, so I've been bringing my cat in earlier to try to avoid him.

I have a screened in porch with a small kitty door to allow my cats to come and go. Tonight around dusk I heard a HUGE commotion out on the porch and ran out there to find the stray inside the porch, but he ran out the kitty door when he saw me. My poor boy's fur was everywhere and he had peed and pooped himself. It was really upsetting, but luckily he doesn't seem to be hurt. No bites or scratches as far as I can tell. But it sounded terrible.

I chased the cat off my property but I'm not really sure what to do from here. It really concerns me that he's bold enough to come into my house. The strange thing is, I've had my female cat for 7 years and have never seen this stray come around before. It's only been since I took my male cat in 3 months ago (but he's only been allowed outside for the past few weeks) that he's started coming around.

The only solutions I can think of are to start bringing him inside earlier and to block the kitty door at night once both cats are in. I'm not as worried about my female cat. She's tough as nails and the stray has never seemed to bother with her. But my boy is a soft little lovebug and I really don't want this cat near either of them.

If anyone has advice on how to keep this cat away, I'd be really grateful!

TL;DR: Stray cat came in through the kitty door onto my screened in porch and attacked one of my cats.

Hi everybody,

Let me start by saying I am a dog person and I know NOTHING about caring for cats or their behavior.

I live in a wooded area and this stray cat we have never seen before has decided to begin living under our porch area.

She had been hanging out there for a few days, I finally saw her fully and thought she looked too skinny. Her spine is very noticeable and her backside looked very thin. I bought some wet cat food cans and started feeding her at 12pm everyday. I just give her 1 can in a tray and fresh water.

I can only get within 10 feet of her or she starts to hiss A LOT. The past 2 days after she’s done eating she will walk up closer to me but still keep her distance and meow. She does this weird almost whiney meow sometimes?? I don’t know what to make of it.

I am worried that if I overstep she will eventually bite me because of how much she hisses sometimes even though I’m offering her food and water. What can I do about this cat? How can I make her trust me?

I’m attaching pics and videos of her behavior- please let me know what you make of it. Does she look too skinny to be someone’s outside pet? She has no collar or markings. Any estimate to if she’s younger or an adult?

Any advice is APPRECIATED. Thank you!

—UPDATE—

Feeding her twice a day now some dry & wet food with water. We have made tremendous progress the past 48 hours thanks to all your advice!

I feed her, sit down on a rock next to her, and ignore her. I let her decide if she wants to come to me now. Yesterday she walked right up to me and laid down- but no touching. I just let her be.

Today went again to feed and did my usual routine. She came up to me and nuzzled/rubbed her head on my leg TWICE! I did not attempt to pet her as I don’t want to overwhelm her and cause her to regress trust wise.

I am thinking she was dumped like some commented….it seems that she understands “come here” and listens. Again, no markings or collar though.

Feeling much more hopeful now that we could become pals and get her help before winter.

Hello!

I have a \~7.5 years old male cat, and while he is an apartment cat, in the summer or in autumn/spring weekends we take him with us to the countryside.

He never had any problems or illnesses.

In the past 1-2 years, hes made many cat friends in the countryside, and is usually either adventuring with them, sleeping in the grass, chilling in our yard with/without them and when he gets hungry or wants to sleep comes back home. He also likes to hunt for birds or mice. Sometimes he eats the mouse he caught, but not always. This has been normal for him.

It's been sunny but two days ago, just when the weather became gloomy and rainy, we noticed a change in his behaviour. He did ate a mice that day. But in that one single day, he came home at like 17:00/5 PM and just slept till midnight, when it started raining. Then he just stared at the window like he usually does when raining.

Yesterday he still slept all day, but he did actually go for a hunt in the rain tonight. Eventually he came back and slept till morning, when he also spent time outside and killed a mouse, but this time didn't eat him.

Our worries come from the fact that he usually doesn't sleep this much here, at the countryside, because he's generally more active when he's just surrounded by nature and other cats. In the apartment we would expect this kind of behaviour, because it's not much to do there.

Weirdly enough, we have also noticed that for these past few days his friends didn't come calling for him like they usually do.

So, to summarize, he is kind of lethargic but still acts quite normal and goes for occasional hunts, he doesn't show symptoms of pain, he eats and drinks quite normally (although not as much since he hasn't been active; but still enjoys snacks and food he likes), it is rainy outside so ofc he doesn't go out that much and his friends haven't shown up in a while...

Could it be just boredom? Is he tired and wants to recharge? Do you think that mouse might've been poisoned? From what we know, our immediate neighbors don't have problems with mice, so I'm not sure if they keep poison around their places... but I doubt it.

Should I try and play with him or just let him rest? I'm afraid especially because quite recently a friend's cat died seemingly poisoned, but his place is like 800meters away. A vet is like hours away...

This is a question mostly for those of you who walk around the neighborhood with your cat. What do you do when you encounter another cat? I’m asking because our cat sometimes runs into a particular cat when he follows me. (I always try to avoid encounters, but sometimes. . . oops. Anyways, these two cats have clashing personalities, and it’s also possible that our cat is being protective of me.) Both times it has happened, I’ve scooped him up with one hand on the scruff of his neck so I don’t get inadvertently bit. He is fine once the other cat is out of sight, but it’s very scary and stressful for both of us.

i will convince him to take him, and i’ll prob pay for it which i don’t mind, but it’s just stressful because like for my dads pets he always takes them to the vet but for mine he doesn’t care about at all

Hey there.

So i live in a small town with a bunch of stray cats. Most of them are neutered and fed by people around, so they live outdoors at their own free will.

one day there's this new black stray that i had never seen but he started walking across the garden numerous times and was pretty scared of me and my mom. As the naive cat lover, i tried feeding him and it worked. The cat kept coming but at least he wasn't so scared anymore.

we figured he wasn't neutered when he was on heat, so months ago we took him to the vet and now he's neutered, which led the cat being microchipped under our name. The cat (Hitam) is now legally ours, and he keeps coming home at least once in the morning to be fed.

The thing is Hitam still cannot completely relax inside the house. Main reason has to be our two other cats. One doesn't care about him and the other doesn't much appreciate him but at least they don't fight. Hitam obviously avoids staying in the house too much because of that and quickly leaves once he ate, but depending on circumstances, he can spend a few hours indoors to sleep on a chair (like when it's raining).

we can pet him easily and sometimes carry him (we don't insist if he doesn't want to) but i don't really know what to do to help him relax. He even started to back out when our cat (the one that doesn't care) once tried to sniff him and didnt look for a fight.

What tricks do you guys have for this sort of situation?

is this bad, should i take him to the vet :(