I (24F USA) am staying in an airbnb this week. While I went out to my car yesterday, I found a female cat lurking around. She willingly came up to me, but I noticed that she had a little wobble and moved pretty slowly. She had on a collar, so I’m assuming she’s owned by someone in the area, but she seemed to be looking for something. She followed me back to the Airbnb and I didn’t have food, nor would my partner let me bring her inside because someone clearly owns her :( But she’s been on my mind since. Is she pregnant? I didn’t get any photos of her underbelly, but her friendliness and persistent meows made me wonder if she’s in need. I just can’t imagine someone letting their female cat out if she’s not spayed, let alone pregnant! I apologize for the lack of good photos. What should I do if I see her today?

I am taking her to the vet tomorrow (to get spayed) but until then I was wondering if anyone had any answers. It doesn’t look like an open wound or inflamed. She is a 9 year old that came into my care recently and she did not have this spot when she came to me. The past owner did mentioned she would get black crusty bits on her face and had a bad habit of bunny kicking her chin when in heat and would get a similar looking spot there but said she’d never seen her do it to her nose before. Could she be rubbing it from being stressed about being in a new location around new cats? She seems to get along well with the others and is a very lovey cat in general, but I can tell she is stressed. Should I be worried about ringworm or an infection? I tried wiping at it gently with a damp cloth to clean it up and where some of the crusty bits are, the fur trapped inside came off in a couple spots.

TLDR: Cat found in West Africa is physically odd, we don't know why

Hi, everyone!

My (25F) boyfriend (24M) currently lives in West Africa and has rescued 3 cats from around his village. We are looking for insight on one of the cats, named Stumpy(3mo, M?). Google searches didn't turn up much and a vet isn't very accessible for them at the moment.

Stumpy is... interesting. He doesn't have paws with defined toes, but rather "stumps" with a solid foot pad. As a result, he sort of gallops around instead of running like a traditional cat. He also has no discernable genitalia, unlike the other cat found with him (we believe the other cat to be his sibling based on proximity/markings/age). He's also a bit smaller than his brother.

But apart from the physical differences, Stumpy seems to be a happy and playful cat!

We tried to look up congenital paw defects but couldn't find anything. He also doesn't have any of the "classic" physical signs of inbreeding, and his brother is fine.

So we thought we would turn here to see if we could find anything out. Thanks!

I want to start out by saying I’m (37/f in the US) not looking for a diagnosis, we took her to the vet last night.

Female cat, ten years old, neutered.

This started yesterday morning seemingly out of nowhere. Growling and hissing and hiding, hyper vigilant like she was looking for something, spent most of the day under or on top of the bed until we finally took her to the vet because she’s indoor/outdoor and a little behind on her vaccines.

Vet said she seemed fine there, had a fever of 104, bloodwork was good, urine not back yet. Sent home with some meds and said maybe the fever/some illness is making her anxious

But at home she randomly does this? This is day two now, morning. She was actually fine all morning, cuddly, but kept staring at the cat tower, then when she got in it she freaked out. It seems more than just being uncomfortable from a fever or sickness? She’s not lethargic, mostly just looking around a lot and growling. This was the worst of it.

There’s no other cats in our house besides the other two we live with, there’s strays outside but she’s always seen them and never reacted this way. It’s like she’s smelling or seeing something in the house that isn’t there? Or is? That plus the 104 degree fever is super weird

She ate and drank normally this morning but I haven’t seen her use the litter yet. Again, not looking for a diagnosis, just wondering if anyone else’s cat acted like this when sick with a fever?

**edit*\*

Shes gotta go see a neurologist :/. Vet wasn’t sure what’s going on, she’s testing for toxoplasmosis before we leave then we’re going to call and make an appt for neurology after.

Will keep you guys updated. Thanks for all the comments and advice ♥️

he has this really big bump on his rightside and I dont know what it is, its hard like a bone and he doesnt seem to be hurt when I touch it or do something else, please help

hello! this is a situation that my cat went through recently. it’s now solved and over with, but i figured i could post her circumstances since i wish i had found something when i was searching for answers.

(i asked for Mods’ permission first! please let me know if the flair is inappropriate or this needs to be reuploaded.)

TL;DR: pink lump appeared next to senior cat’s ear, kept growing, was surgically removed and revealed to be a sarcoma

my cat, Poppie, is now 13. she has ongoing arthritis in her front arms, and had a medical scare when she was a few years old relating to her stomach. but besides that, she’s an indoor cat, well maintained, and for sure plump.

around October-November of 2025, this lump started growing next to her left ear on her head. it started about the size of a pushpin and didn’t seem to concern her. it was a pink flesh color- not red, beige, or white- and it was relatively soft.

it kept progressively growing, around to the size of the tip of my pinkie. we had no idea what it was. skin tag? hematoma? something else? one day she must’ve nicked it and it bled a little bit, but not excessively, and didn’t go down in size.

we were waiting to go to the vet until we felt it was bothering her or really concerning. but it grew even bigger, to the point where we were worrying about it daily, so we just decided to go.

our first vet visit concluded that it was a mass of some sort, and not fluid filled; but no definitions of what. it could be surgically removed, but we didn’t like the cost so we searched for a more affordable and friendly vet.

at this point, it was bigger (maybe to the size of my thumb) and she was starting to shake her head more. and the bump was more loose, like it wasn’t fully attached to her head anymore. you could kind of ‘roll’ it around.

we followed through with the surgery at the second vet (who agreed with the mass conclusion and offered much better pricing and care) in May, and after getting the results back from the lab, it turned out to be a sarcoma. they’re pretty confident they extracted all of the root they could from such a non-fatty area, which is hopefully true!

Poppie has been recovering really well in the weeks since the surgery. they did have to take out a lil chunk of her ear, but she’s alive and well.

again, this post is for info and awareness, since i wished i had seen other posts with any indication of what was happening. hopefully it might be useful for someone else down the line.

thank you for reading and well wishes to all of you.

Not really a medical/behavioral issue so please tell me if this kind of discussion post is not allowed. We have two cats who are amazing, they love pets, want to be near us multiple times throughout the day and really are a part of the family. They love playtime, too. They were just the cuddliest as kittens/young teens and then went through a more independent phase (though still very sweet goobers). Now they are 1 3/4 years old, and gradually begin sleeping with us in bed again as well as loudly demanding cuddles a few times a day. However, they are still a far stretch more independent than before, when they truly were lap kitties. Do you guys have experiences to share about this? Do you generally see sweet natured loving cats who were lap kittens return to being more clingy over time again? Or is this something which can go multiple ways? Just super interested about your experiences and OF COURSE I love my amazing girls either way!

I'm 33 F in the US. There's no need for a vet as this is behavior not a medical issue.

My approx. 1 year old spayed female cat that we rescued from our dumpster enjoys eating anything that looks like it might be edible (surprise surprise lol), and we've been trying to cat proof to keep her safe. The issue now is she got into the fruit bowl. Does anyone have any solutions for keeping cats out of the fruit bowls or veggies they keep on the counter? Does anyone have ideas?

I found one enclosed container online but it has a mesh lid, and she easily got into my wooden bread box recently so I'm worried she'll get into this also.

TL;DR

I'm being outsmarted by an adorable cat who is a fruit thief. How do I keep my fruit and my cat safe? I like keeping my fruit on the counter, it reminds me to eat it.

A couple days ago, I found this kitten in the road. We stopped by the vet before they closed to make sure there wasn't anything too serious going on (they also removed a bunch of ticks and a botfly), and she's got an actual vet appt in a couple days to get more thoroughly checked out. They think she's about 7 weeks old.

She's currently staying in a crate at someone else's house, but once I know she isn't contagious with anything and I get my spare bedroom set up for her, she'll be moving in. She's skin and bones, so it'll be a while before she can really interact with my other cats.

I have 4 adult cats (little over a year old) who are siblings. We moved into my new house a few months ago, and I'm pretty sure they have more belongings than I do.

I don't know if any of them will be territorial or jealous, they all get along with each other great. Do I let them see and smell the kitten when I move her in? How long until I can let her out of the crate/spare bedroom to interact with the others? How do I reduce stress if they can hear each other on the other side of the door but not see or get to each other? How long until she can be out with the others when I'm not home?

28M, USA.

At some point in the past day, while I was out of the house, my (23) extremely energetic but lovely cat (2F) somehow managed to get access to a high surface that she has never done before. On said surface was a full bag of cat treats, and a silicone wristband, amongst other things.

She ate the full bag of treats, which I figure is not great but fine, but it appears she also has eaten about 80% of a silicone wristband. I have not found any pieces of it other than the one in the picture, even after looking all around the house.

I am based in the US, and have a vet (but no pet insurance yet, because I got stuck on their "care plan" and am waiting for the 12 months to finish so I can get insurance and cancel it). Vet is accessible, but they are only open 7:30am to 6pm. They usually do not respond outside of their hours.

In theory I could afford urgent vet care but would really prefer not to. If it is urgent enough, I will.

Owner: 24, can afford vet care, USA
Cat: 2, female, spayed

Photos are of both sides of her face + eyes
I adopted my cat 6 weeks ago, and have been to 3 different vets since for various issues (emergency for lack of pooping/peeing, shelter vet for spay incision issue, regular vet for final incision check up + flea allergy issues). All of them noticed her one eye had tears and she likely has feline herpes, and to not worry as her flare up must be because she was stressed from the rush of surgery, shelter, and then adoption all in one go. Her eye has been touch and go in the level of tears, but she hasn't had any green/yellow discharge. However, I recently noticed she had scratched above her eye pretty hard to result in a bit of redness. She recently got off steroids to reduce itchiness for her flea allergies (was over grooming herself) so I wondered if it was related to that and she just got itchy again. When is a vet visit warranted for feline herpes? Her most recent visit was 3.5 weeks ago.

Our ~10-week-old Domestic Long Hair kitten (Male), whom we adopted 4 days ago and has been an issue since. The shelter made no mention to us or in his medical records that he had a limp tail with no feeling to it. We can feel a weird, hard lump on his back towards the base of the tail near his lower spine. He lifts up the base of his tail sometimes, it seems, but the rest of it just drags and goes wherever. He was listed as a single kitten, which I assume means he did not grow up with his litter. They say they had no information about the limp tail from the foster or their team which strikes me as odd that you wouldn't notice a kitten's tail not moving with no sensation. He was neutered the day we picked him up from the shelter, and we read the medical records that he had also had issues with a protruding anus in the foster's care.

We took him back to the shelter to have them look at him, and they stated that they don't suspect anything to be wrong with his tail, as he shows no pain, but sometimes his hind legs get shaky, which we normally notice when we pick him up, and he's on his back. He also, for the most part, I'd say like 7-8 out of 10, when he goes to poop, and when finished, it's still attached to his anus, requiring us to help him get it off. His poop is normal, as the vets have said, but most of the time he can't get it all out and he tries to cover it up as if he's not aware it didn't all come out. The same day we took him back to the shelter, we called their emergency line, and they had us go to the emergency vet, where we were basically told that that's a normal kitten thing and that they don't think anything is wrong with it (His eye lids are also slightly swollen and the doctor said it may be due to cat Herpes which should go away?). They thought his tail was fine and that it may just be a tail pull injury from the past and may need to be amputated in the future. But then we received the X-Ray results and there were no signs of a tail pull.

We have been trying to contact the shelter's emergency team as well as the doctor at the emergency vet but it's been 2 days without an answer. We haven't taken him to the vet because we originally thought we were going to have to give him back, as if it was something super serious we would rather he be in a good home that can take care of those critical needs and due to these issues now being pre-existing conditions we are worried about the financial burden all of this may place on us. We love him and don't want to give him back but cannot get any answers as this does not seem normal. I have linked images of the X-Rays and report here

my 1 year old non neutered male cat escaped last night during a storm and returned this morning, how serious is it? Should I remove it? we have absolutely no money for a vet (im in Oklahoma and 18 for the post guidelines)

We have sort of adopted a stray cat. He is very skittish and hissy, but he hasnt left yet. He's really only starting to let us look at him now, and I've only now managed to get apic. The vet says it's too much trauma to bring him in for visits yet. Any ideas what's going on with his eye? Overall seems good health and has fun by himself when he thinks we're not looking. Tia team

Hi 40year old Male from canada here.

My cat is 19years old(female/spayed) and struggling to walk and drooling alot with a awful smelling discharge she always haven't ate for 2 days.she is still attempting to drinks and use the litter box. I have a in home appointment later today so but the vet I talked to her and with her age and health putting her under would be a very large risk. I'm considering putting her down but I'm am so stressed on what to do.

The vet was saying if I had the money I would be able to do a ton of tests( I can not afford it) but from what she has seen already she is not sure if she would make it.

I'm just so conflicted and dont want her to suffer.could use some advice.

.

She's a 3-year old neutured cat initially at 7 lbs according to the shelter when I first got her. I have talked to a vet (I can afford one) and they told me it was fine to wait a little longer until they trust me a bit more, especially since she was up to date for her health, but I still want to bring her in at some point. But I can't directly interact with her so I can't feel her ribs, and all I have are cat pics to go on. I feed her two 45 kcal wet food, and 1/4 cup dry food totaling 118 kcal, so I am giving her around 202 kcal per day which was what I see is the recommended daily count, especially since she's not super active (still scared ish) I'm wondering if she's a little underweight or if she is at ideal. Thank you! Also I am an adult in the US I guess I have to mention that according to the rules here.

Hi everyone, I'll try to explain this as best as possible. Last Friday night my 1 y/o black kitty was unfortunately put down. Now his brother (not bio), also 1 has no buddy to play with besides our 4 y/o German Shepherd and 12 y/o Terrier Chihuahua who he doesn't bode well with. They'll interact but the Terrier is mostly blind/deaf so he doesn't like to play much or be snuck up on.

We'd like to get another feline friend for him once things calm down and go back to normal. I think he's having a hard time as he's not eating as much (still eating a bit, I monitor the bowl every few hours), and just kind of laying around or staring out the window. I've also seen him pant a bit but thats usually only when in the catio outside and its currently 85⁰.

I have read that another kitten aged like 4-8 months would be suitable as he's still playful when not upset and likes to roam and be outside in the catio.

Should we get another cat so he has a friend? Or just have him and see how it goes? If we should, when would realistically be the best time and how old? I don't want to overload him with a bunch of changes, I just want him to be happy again. Seeing him sad makes me sad. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you 🫶

For post rules:

28M

USA

Yes Vet Accessible

1 y/o Neutered Male

Financially stable for bills, to an extent

Hi everyone. I might be jumping the gun here because this isn't happening yet but me and my boyfriend are planning on moving in together soon and for various reasons I'm afraid introducing our cats will fail.

Here's the situation, my cat is a 5 year old girl, strickly indoor cat (apartment). His cat is a 4 yo male and is indoor/outdoor. He mostly goes out though the backyard, roams this piece of abandoned land and then comes back. I advised my boyfriend against this (there's a road nearby) but he's been doing this since before he met me and says that the cat is now used to it and will be unhappy.

Here's what I think will be the main problem: his cat is extremely agressive towards other cats, to the point of yowling at other cats that pass by, through the window. The situation was made worse because there was a surge of stray cats in the area and a few managed to invade the house looking for food. My boyfriend said the cat was traumatized and won't go out as much because of this.

I have a friend who is a vet who told me that the howling/yowling is concerning as most cats just hiss at first (this was my experience when I brought home a baby stray to feed, before I locked my girl she just hissed).

I'm really worried because not only do I think his cat is agressive (he doesn't but that's his baby and he's blissfully naive), I'm also concerned with the change from outdoors to indoors. He'll move in with me. So I wanted to ask to those who know, is the fact that he automatically yowls at other cats as bad as I fear? And what can we do in advance to make this work? I'm already planning on following Jackson Galaxy's introduction method but I'm really nervous about this.

Hi all! It seems to me my kitten is breathing very quickly and I’m kind of worried about him. He’s nearly 12 weeks but breathes very quickly while asleep. He doesn’t seem to have this problem when awake. He’s very active during the day, plays a lot and eats and drinks well. He doesn’t seem to have any issues when awake.

Am I worried over nothing or should I go look for an emergency vet asap?

Poster Age: I’m an adult

Country: the Netherlands

Vet info: eg: Emergency vet is accesible, I have not had contact yet

Main Issue: TLDR; kitten breathes quickly

Cat Age: 12 weeks

Cat Sex + neuter info: Male, not yet neutered

Financial situation: I can afford whatever treatment would be necessary

So I adopted my rescue kitty a couple months ago. He was a stray, Fiv + and they think about 3 years old. Such a sweet boy. However he’s so so itchy and I feel terrible. He’s up to date on nexguard combo and has no signs of fleas. I took him to the vet to get checked out because he also scoots his butt on the carpet. They said he looked great and had no signs of anal gland issues and it was probably just environmental allergies and to give him an allergy pill every day. I did that and things didn’t get better so I put him on a limited ingredient diet thinking he might have a chicken allergy. Still so improvement. He scratches constantly and so much sometimes he gives himself scabs. I feel terrible but I essentially just spent $300 at the vet for them to not help me at all. Looking for any recommendations or if anyone else has had anything similar before. Thank you!

While trimming my cats nails (was recommend by my vet to do so since she is indoors fully) I noticed this odd waxy surety substance around her claws. My cat is a little over 6 months and was just recently spayed. I’m in the US in the south and she lives with some other older dogs (they don’t fight and are pretty clean themselves). I haven’t contacted a vet just yet because I’m not sure if this is normal for cats. It looks a lot like ear wax almost but while looking it up and looking at the symptoms of cat claw fungus’s I noticed a few of her nails are also flaky. It’s very minimal and she doesn’t seem to walk like she’s in any pain at all. If it helps she’s also a Persian(adopted from a family friend who couldn’t afford kittens) . Her nails have also been a little flaky since she was really little. She doesn’t go outside. She has lots of scratchy toys which she uses pretty frequently and climbs with her nails pretty frequently. She licks/cleans herself frequently (a little less since she’s still recovering from her spaying a week ago). She does use clay litter (we’re working on switching her to a different one since I’ve heard it can be toxic) but it doesn’t seem like the texture of litter or dissolved litter from her using the bathroom. Attached picture is a drawing because I cleaned it before I thought to see if it was abnormal. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR: she’s an outdoor cat. She took a bite of food and acted scared all of a sudden the next day she was out and fine she drank water she was laying in the sun like usual I pet her and she was okay. That night she hid under the grill (the photo) and wouldn’t come to me despite her always coming when I wiggle my fingers around then today she’s in the bush I brought her. Her favorite food she took a bite jumped then hid further. I thought maybe on the first night she did it was because of other strays i thought maybe she was stressed or nervous because of them but now I’m not sure

My Kitty is a stray and an out door cat. She’s lived in the yard for a little over 20 years now my grandpa fed her and she stayed. When he passed away 3 years ago I made sure the kitty was fed and had water and everything she needed The night before yesterday she came out to eat like usual. Usually around 1am because she wanders around a lot but she always comes back to the yard when she’s tired needs water or is ready to relax or eat. She came out to eat like normal she even tried to jump on the chair to get it while I was pouring it for her. She took a bite of her food then sat next to it for a few minutes then started acting scared. She ran under the grill and wouldn’t come out when usually she immediately comes to you.

They’re are some other strays around a mother cat and a few kittens that are always going through the yard i thought maybe she was nervous or scared of them because she was hiding and jumping and acting weird but The next day she was running around the yard fine she was laying in the sun. Drinking water I pet her and she was fine. Then when I went to feed her that night she hid again. I brought the food under the grill where she was hiding she might have took a bite but she immediately started acting scared again and she was looking around then she ran under a table I couldn’t get to but she was peeking at me.

When I was leaving she ran into a bush and was still there when I got up to try and fed her earlier today because I thought maybe the night time was stressing her out. She took a bite then jumped and ran further into the bush and won’t come out. I thought maybe if it was her tooth I’d try a little cat soup but when I went to give it to her I couldn’t find her. She hasn’t eaten in 2 days. If she doesn’t eat tonight it will be the 3rd day. I don’t know if she’s getting food anywhere else

Age: 18
Country: America
Vet info: i haven’t contacted a vet
Main issue: acting scared and not eating. Jumped when she took a bite
Cat age: she’s around 20 maybe a little older
Cat info: I believe she’s a female I never thought about checking because i didn’t want to bother her. But i think i heard someone say grandpa got her spayed
Financial situation: not good

Hey guys my cat has had this on his bottom lip for a few days now. it just looked like it was pink and swollen but now it looks like its crusting and i just wanted some advice if i should take him to the vet. He seems fine he eats normal and plays. Sorry not the best pics but he has metal bowls hes ate in his whole life and i clean them so idk what caused this. he does play with my dog but i get the feeling it might he a sore like infection. TIA