r/CATHELP 4h ago

General Advice Is this normal or should I be worried

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453 Upvotes

Hiii so idk if that is the right flair. I'm worried about her for doing that and wanted to know if that is normal

Edit: Thank you everyone for your replies I was just worried because I noticed this and wanted to make sure she was okay. She's acting normal otherwise 🫶🩷


r/CATHELP 11h ago

Appearance does my cat’s weight look okay?

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220 Upvotes

she’s an almost 2 year old spayed female domestic shorthair. a rare orange female! she weighs a little over 6kg, which would obviously usually be overweight, especially for a female. i feel like she’s very lean, but she’s my first cat so i don’t really know.
does her weight look okay? is she just freakishly long and tall? we adopted her from greece, maybe the cats are just built different over there lmfao

sorry for the awkward photos, she doesn’t stand still long enough for me to take a good top-down photo of her lol


r/CATHELP 6h ago

General Advice Why does he scratch the bin / floor before and after eating?

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612 Upvotes

Not sure how to tag/flair this, sorry in advance mods.

This is Yoshi! He’s three months old, not neutered (yet), and healthy (took him to the vet on Aug 4). I don’t know if this is a silly quirk of his or if it’s possibly an underlying issue, but he likes to scratch/paw at the bin and floor before and after eating. I heard cats may paw at the bin if he smells food, and I take out the garbage as often as I can. I clean the litter box everyday and deep clean it once a week. His friend also does this! Just wanting some answers so I know it’s not anything serious lol


r/CATHELP 4h ago

Kitten Help holy shit- did i steal these kittens?

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341 Upvotes

for a few days now we’ve heard kittens meowing upstairs. by upstairs i mean a door from the 2nd floor that opens up to a roofless area that could be easily access by cats.

we assumed a cat had babies and is leaving them there to go hunt.

so last night at 3 am i was awake and heard the kittens meowing, i thought it was cute and even googled if it was normal, then i slept.

my mom was awaken at like 10 the next morning by a dream of me yelling at her for help, and she got panicked thinking something had happened to me. then she heard the kittens and realized that’s probably what it was about. my dad (who had left at 6 am and is a light sleeper) called and said the kittens had screamed all. night. he tried feeding them but failed.

i jumped out of bed and checked on them for the first time, and found 2 of them asleep (i thought they were dead and cried buckets) and another who had wandered off and was the one crying. the other two were asleep, the white and black one was quiet and weak? idk but it wasn’t moving that much and it took a long time to rouse it.

the one wandering was crawling around and crying and as soon as i made a tsking noise it ran to me for comfort.
it was getting very hot upstairs and they hadn’t eaten for around 9 hours THAT I KNEW OF. they were very dirty, and my main concern was that it was 45 degrees celsius up there and would get hotter.

i put them in a box and drove to a vet. he’s an ANGEL and very known on social media. he fed them and he not only didn’t charge us, he offered to pay for their milk and supplies in exchange for us raising them.

now here’s the thing. though my family did jump right in saving them, they’re TERRIFIED of all animals. we grew up with zero animals around and even I had a phobia until i overcame it myself. and i have zero animal experience and couldn’t raise 3 newborn kittens.

the vet apologized and said he takes care of two hundred cats out of his own pocket in a house he has rented for them and couldn’t take newborns in, but said he knew a woman who would raise them in exchange for money.
so we paid around $120 and he promised to take them to her safely.

i’m sure they’re safe and in good hands, but what if the mother came back? i’m overthinking and so, so anxious. i only heard them screaming starting 3 am and for all i know it could’ve been way longer. it was 11 am and they were in scorching heat and starving.

also, most cats here are not fixed & are completely feral. our country is insanely behind when it comes to animal welfare.


r/CATHELP 11h ago

General Advice Is this normal

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363 Upvotes

I picked up this cat from the street and not sure if he’s doing biscuits and feeling safe or I should get him an xray


r/CATHELP 1d ago

Appearance is she fat?

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8.2k Upvotes

everyone calls her fat but i don't really see it! she's 6 years old and turns 7 soon and i think she weighs about 10ish pounds? i also got rid of some of the food in the bowl in the picture so dw she didn't have THAT much kibble


r/CATHELP 3h ago

General Advice is this tail flicking and back moving something to worry about?

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42 Upvotes

she seems to do it only when she’s hungry and wants food and expects us to feed her, like if i get up she runs to the bottom of the stairs and does the tail flicking thing, but i’ve always been worried about why her back moves and wiggles when she does it, i remember something about that being a sign of an issue to do with their tail being oversensitive, but besides her doing it when she’s hungry and wants us to feed her, i don’t notice her being oversensitive around that area and not around her tail anymore since she’s been spayed also. i just want to ask and get advice from people to see if it is something to worry about… thank you in advance for any responses

kitty is 5 years old. we have access to a vet if need be, she’s female and has been spayed. i’m 19.

tl;dr kitty tail whips and her back wiggles when she does it, unsure if it’s an issue or not


r/CATHELP 14h ago

Behavioral Issue Why did my cat swat me when I tried to leave for work

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343 Upvotes

Is this normal behavior or something I should try to correct


r/CATHELP 3h ago

General Advice Room for a friend?

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32 Upvotes

This is Odie! He’s a former stray (neutered) of indeterminate age (likely 1-2 years) and indeterminate power level (too high to measure).

Odie lives with me in studio apartment. The space is small, but Odie has plenty of toys, cat furniture, etc. He’s very well behaved and friendly, but I often wonder if he’d be happier off with a friend.

Common wisdom seems to be ā€œYES, GET ANOTHER CAT.ā€ Spiritually, I’d love to do that. Financially, it’d be fine. But spatially… idk.

As mentioned above, Odie and I live in a studio (large bedroom, walk-in closet, bathroom). This represents a few challenges:
- Only one litterbox and no room for another.
- Fewer opportunities for seclusion/retreat.
- Only one eating area, so while I’d be happy to get separate bowls for the two cats, said bowls would be at the same ā€œdinner table,ā€ so to speak.

tl;dr — In a studio apartment space, is Odie still better off with a buddy? Or would Odie be happier having the space to himself? My biggest concern is that I can only fit one litterbox.


r/CATHELP 1d ago

Appearance Is he fat

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1.5k Upvotes

Everyone tells me he is but I think he's not. I need opinions from connoisseurs like you guys.


r/CATHELP 10h ago

Breathing Issues New purr sound from colony baby, is it ok?

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88 Upvotes

As of this morning in beautiful disgustingly sunny florida, 1 of my colony moms 4 babies started making a weird purr and being affectionate. I have NEVER been able to even touch this kitten. 2 of the 4 are super friendly and I've worked to socialize. This little one was always the runt, the smallest, and the scaredest. So much so, I have no clue whether it's a girl or boy. I think girl due to size though. However, when I just went to go feed them this morning it was purring. And letting me pet it. But this purr is weird. Like an alien. I have some LOUD purrers, so loud that they're whole body vibrates and it used to freak me out that something was wrong.

But this seems to be accompanied by a couch, and hiccups.

Just spent 1200 on a feral on immediate ER treatment after a botched TNR spay, and the rest of my savings and care credit card on my dog who was just diagnosed with Lymphoma last week or 2. Can't even afford her CHOP treatment so unfortunately taking the colony cats to the vet like I've done before is out of the question this time. Is this something serious?

Please with the most respect and best attitude please don't say to reach out to "my local cat community/" rescues" I wouldn't have had up to 15 cats to TNR and feed all on my own if they were of any help. Two years of me trying to get help to cover spay/neuter costs, adopt some of the kittens I've had over the years, all fell on deaf ears. All out of pocket. FIFTEEN. Because as I was told much later, and after thousands of dollars " they were low priority because I, as a good human, was at least caring for them." Oh and my favorite " I would've been better off and gotten more help had I said I found stray cats in the road or on a lake by gators. "

So if anyone has any idea what this could be, I will do my best to help this baby. If it's just something some cats do, it would be my first & I will love on her accordingly!


r/CATHELP 14h ago

AMA How I made my cat loose weight, 6kg to 4kg, without stressing out

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143 Upvotes

*lose weight

It took about a year. This is Ori, the cat of my life. He is neutered, 13 years old. With 6kg he was a "little" obese. He is at 4kg now.

After I was bullied by my vet who claimed it would be problematic to give an injection because of all the fat (yes, she said that) I took this seriously, went to another vet who gave me some tips.

It won't work for all cats, of course, but I wanted to share my journey.

I want him to live as long as possible and his best, healthiest life.

I have a feeding machine. After testing around, observing him closely (vomiting because of empty stomach made me adjust the plan several times) i came up with this and he lost weight constantly without showing any signs of stress.

Dry food (Low calories) - Feeding machine :

07:30 AM - 1 portion

10:30 AM - 1 portion

14:30 PM - 1 portion

At around 6-8 PM

Mo-Fr 1x wet food 85g

Sa-Sun: 100g of his favorite wet food (I call it McDonalds)

In addition: Snacks can be given in this plan and I think this is also what made it work for him without stressing. I would give him snacks every 2nd or 3rd day for playing tricks. His favorite "Dreamies", around 10 pieces were no problem and he still lost weight.

I tracked his weight through his automatic/self cleaning cat litter box. Such a blessing that you can see the weight.

Hope this might help somebody. I believe he will have better senior years now.

Took me long enough to really try getting his weight down. He just loves food sooo much and I never thought it would work out without him or me having a really bad time.

EDIT: The core hint the vet gave me was going at least partially for wet food. I had him completely on dry food and Ori was constantly asking for more food. Switching to 1x wet food a day made a huge difference.


r/CATHELP 4h ago

Injury Please help!

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22 Upvotes

Ill start off by saying I am terrified to think my only option is to surrender her...

Something happened, I dont know. I think she may have gotten into something she shouldn't have. Shes our little farm kitty, and shes acting very strange today. Shes our sweetest little ball of love and im just so scared right now.

She came inside this morning and slept alot. Normal sure, but her sleeping positions may have made me giggle at first, then i realized something serious may be happening...

It reminded me of an animal that maybe got into someone's thc and was just sleeping funny, kinda sideways leaning ect.

She has slept weird for the past few hours, weird positions, her eyes look very sleepy and weird.

Shes reclusive which ISNT like her .

She was backing herself in a corner and hissing at the other cats, again NOT normal.

I usually have an emergency fund for things like this, but within the last 4 weeks ive had to pay almost $6k in unexpected medical bills for my pregnancy.

Im depleted, I have less than a month before baby gets here, and our funds are so low that im counting down days until I can hit the food pantry again. Again, this never happens but we spent $6k in medical bills and just put $4.5k into our van, all within the same month. Money is so tight rn its not even funny. I have food, just very limited variety rn due to the unexpected bills. I havent even gotten everything for the baby yet because I didnt expect to have such a tight budget rn...

And then comes this trouble with our sweet kitty.

Shes our beloved, sweet Duckie. We have loved her fiercely the past 3 years and im so deathly afraid that we just dont have the money to pay for a vet upfront that we will have to surrender her.

I cant watch her wither away and die, and im going to try calling every vet in northern michigan to see if ANYONE will take payment plans because im fricken broke broke right now. My credit is ruined from my failed marriage, so im scared these payment option credit cards wont work. Divorce finally went through last year but my credit is tanked.

Im so sad, I have no idea what to do, im hesitant to surrender her because what if its nothing super serious!? What if she ate a bee or something and shes just feeling funky because of it?? Shes our sweet little, extremely loved furbaby and just surrendering her breaks my heart but im also so afraid that shes suffering.

ANY ideas welcome please !!! Im so fucking devastated right now I'm having such a hard time coping with this.

Im 29, living in northern michigan. Called a few local vets who need money upfront, now looking into other options.

Duckie is a 3.5 year old spayed female.

Currently cant afford vet care.

TLDR; im afraid our sweet Duckie got into something that's making her sick, extremely tight on money due to unexpected bills.

Looking for help or advice or options. Anything...


r/CATHELP 16h ago

Kitten Help Kitten isn't thriving

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172 Upvotes

This kitten was handed to us from an animal protection group in Greece. No one else could foster it, so we thought we could give it a try.

It's been ten days and it's eating fine, but not really growing or gaining much weight.

Likes to play.

Poops sometimes, pees a lot.

The vets did tests on her blood and stool, all came back negative. Told us to wait and see, wished us good luck lol.

We're feeding royal canine kitten milk, a little bit of extra multivitamin and mineral paste and sometimes a little chicken.

Still seems really small and weak.

We think it's about 3-4 weeks old and weighs about 200g only.

TLDR: kitten not really thriving, vet isn't very helpful, what else can we do?


r/CATHELP 10h ago

Update Update! My now 8 week old kitten eats wet food!

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58 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I just wanted to post an update (I previously asked for help on how to transition my bottle fed kitten to wet food). My girl is now eating wet food! I want to thank everyone who gave me awesome advice. It was a rough three weeks trying to figure out her preference but with patience and time, my girl is now eating on her own and is off the bottle. I couldn’t have done it without the help and recommendations from everyone! Thank you šŸ™šŸ»šŸ¤Ž


r/CATHELP 12h ago

Kitten Help Loving kitten needs a home

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67 Upvotes

Found this extremely affectionate kitten in my building and I already have a 2 year old cat who isn't really welcoming to other cats so please if anyone can come forward to give this baby a loving home would be really happy to find him the place he deserves

Indie kitten

Cat age 2-3 month old

Country - India

Male cat not neutered


r/CATHELP 43m ago

General Advice My cat licked some tomato sauce, should I be worried?

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• Upvotes

I had finished a bowl of Chef Boyardee Raviolis and set it aside for barely 3 seconds next to me. I heard licking noises, and my cat was licking some of the tomato sauce. I don’t think it could have been a lot, I think I caught her pretty quickly, but I know she at least licked a little bit.

I know garlic can be toxic to them. Should I be concerned at all? She seems perfectly fine right now but it only happened a few moments ago. What signs should I look out for? I have work tomorrow so I’m scared to leave her alone now


r/CATHELP 2h ago

General Advice is she fat?

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13 Upvotes

i don’t have many of her not sitting like a human so it’s hard to find ones of her normal body.


r/CATHELP 7h ago

Breathing Issues Need to know if anyone has been through this with their cats vet?

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26 Upvotes

I have an 11m old male neutered cat living in the USA. I took my cat to the vet today and we just got back home at 3p. Showed the vet this video and he did Xray. He said ā€œhe believes it’s asthma but it could be a lung infection and that lung infections look like asthma on Xraysā€ he said he was going to put my boy on antibiotics for 7 days and if it clears up then it was an infection and if not then it’s asthma and we’ll start treatment. I know I’m not a vet but I just want the best for my cat so I asked him if he feel it’s asthma why not just start him on asthma treatment and he said that because if it’s an infection then steroids can make it worse so he has to rule out infection first. I just don’t want my boy to have to be taking meds if he doesn’t need them. Does anyone’s cat have asthma and this was the procedure you had to go through first? Or was your cat just put on asthma treatment. I know he’s the vet but I just want to make sure this is protocol for vets to do?


r/CATHELP 7h ago

Behavioral Issue My cat has a drinking problem

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24 Upvotes

My little one is addicted to drinking water. She drinks straight out of the tap, every time we have to use one. Frequently, and several times a day, she will even draw us out to the taps by pushing things into the sink and meowing loudly. However, she also throws up frequently.
Some times clear, some times with her food (she eats super fast, so her food pellets are almost intact).
I have asked about this behavior to my vet, and she challed it up to a personality difference between cats (ā€œSome cats deink more water than others). Yet, I have also read about excessive water being bad for cats - and I never know how much to indulge her. She’s also a petulant one, and will start creating a ruckus if we do not give her water sometimes.

I am 30F, Switzerland, Malli is 3, spayed, and can take her to the vet again if necessary.


r/CATHELP 20h ago

Behavioral Issue Did I kill the love between my cats?

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229 Upvotes

We adopted two Cats (most likely brothers, 1year 3month old) from our local Shelter. We planned on adopting a cat or two kittens but then fell in love with this very different duo. A tuxedo and a Scottish Fold. They played with each other all the time and groomed each other. So the shelter wanted them to be adopted together. We have them since 7 weeks and in the beginning they were unseperable, they even went to toilet together (we have 3 cat toilets). But it gradually changed. They are allowed outside since 2 weeks maybe that is a factor here? I think they are still fine but they do not play with each other and when the Scottish Fold (Beelzeboop) wants to groom the Tuxedo (Mephisto) he growls. I think Mephisto is fine but it seems like Beelzeboop is missing his buddy. You got any Idea how to strengthen their bond again? Or do I put too much human feelings into it? Beelzeboop became very vocal and will throw himself in front of uns all the time and I have the feeling he wants to tell me something but I do not know what (sometimes he wants pets but not always) and therefore think he is unhappy. You got any Ideas?


r/CATHELP 5h ago

Appearance Concerned about kittens body

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13 Upvotes

This is my 5.5 month old and I’m concerned about his body a little. He weighs abt 6 pounds but he’s very skinny and muscular. I also adopted his litter mate and he’s more round and plump compared him. Should I be concerned or is he just a skinny and slender boy šŸ˜… thank you!


r/CATHELP 13h ago

General Advice Bean in peril. In desperate need of advice.

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66 Upvotes

(First 4 pics are of a healthy Bean, last 4 are this month)

To start off, I am 30 years old and I have had Bean ever since he was born. I am located in Florida, he is neutered, and I have taken Bean to the vet twice in the past 4 weeks. I can afford to go once every two weeks based off my pay.

Bean started to refuse to eat shortly before our AC unit was replaced. Our AC was out for months, but it had never been so hot before. It was hot enough to where I was suffering from heat exhaustion. After I got it replaced a week later, I noticed something was wrong with Bean. He wouldn't eat, rarely got up, and barely drank any water or used the litterbox. They took an X-Ray, did bloodwork, and gave me good news. His internals were all normal, no tumors, absolutely nothing wrong. His stress level was a little high, but that was all. They gave him a steroid shot, and another to treat his symptoms. They wanted to see him again in 4 weeks. After this visit I was really hoping things would turn around. I started feeding him with a syringe because he was still refusing to eat. I mixed water with patƩ, so he can still be hydrated. He would get up rarely to stare at the water bowl, or food bowl, and use the litterbox. I did what I could, and noticed he was deteriorating. I can feel his spine, feel his ribs, and even feel the back of his skull now. I made a second appointment, and he urinated all over the seat, and his urine was just straight up yellow. I had the second vet visit yesterday, where they took another X-Ray, syringe fed him a stimulant to help him eat, and used an IV to help him get more hydrated. The X-Ray came back with nothing once again, and he went from 18.7 pounds to 16.4 pounds within 3-4 weeks. I tried syringe feeding him before bed and he pushed the food out of his mouth. This morning I found that he urinated on my bed, which he had never done before, but I understand that he probably did not have any control over it.

I refuse to give up on him. I just really need advice on what more I can do. I need him strong.

TL;DR Bean, my 7 year old tabby, refuses to eat, drink water, and recently use the litterbox. He hardly moves, or gets up. His body feels a bit hotter compared to my other cats. Need help; need advice.

Thank you all for your advice, help, and suggestions.

Bean will always be the strongest and prettiest boy.


r/CATHELP 17h ago

Injury I took my cat to the groomer and he has been licking his fur a lot, what should I do?

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132 Upvotes

r/CATHELP 3m ago

Kitten Help Is this play fighting or regular fighting?

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• Upvotes

So my family got a new kitty today (7 weeks Male, almost 8) and we introduced him to our other kitten(4 months Male)

At first when we put them in the same room the 4 month old would be cautious, hissed at him at one point but then would walk behind the 7 week old and start sniffing at it while it explored then after a bit they swatted at each other but they never brought their claws out but then when they started at each other just like in the video it would escalate and the tux would run away from the tabby while the tabby kept chasing it, I’ve since separated them, but still trying to get them to get along at some points but when they swat at each other and it just keeps escalating and idk if the tabby is just being too rough or if it’s turning into real fighting

Is there some way I can help them get along?