she’s 11 years old at the ER for a heavy vomiting incident and while waiting she suddenly started to be… weird with her front paws. refusing to stand them, flopping over and almost looking like a little gorilla. anxiety? does anyone recognize or know what this could be?

Not really looking for a fix, just any information if anyone has it.

Cat is 7y, male, neutered, has already been to two behaviorists when my parents had him, both were confused according to my parents.

This is a known issue, but it doesn't cause any problems because he's not allowed to interact with other cats whatsoever.

He's very sweet to people (not very small children- Edit: He is overwhelmed/annoyed by little kids, he doesn't try killing them) but he seems to react to other cats the same way he would to a squirrel or rabbit. As in, just pure predation. No recognition that they are the same species. He does not display any territorial aggression to other cats, none of it is dominance behavior. Ears never go back, fur never puffs out, he never growls or hisses, nothing, he's just hunting. Never seen anything like it.

The shelter was hesitant to adopt him out at all due to his history, but did so because one of the shelter workers personally knew my stepmother was interested in weird cats. They were considering euthanasia because he was returned multiple times, but still wanted to give him a chance due to how friendly (to people) and smart he is.

He is well-fed, he has always been well-fed, killing & eating another cat which belonged to a previous owner was not something he did out of desperation. Judging by what I know about the event and what behavior I've seen, I am entirely sure it was predation, not a territorial fight.

He's injured a cat my parents were pet-sitting to the point of needing an emergency vet visit and extensive reconstruction of his neck. The cats were separated, but a child left the door open for a minute. My cat ran downstairs, and immediately caught the smaller cat, went for the throat, immobilized and attempted to drag him underneath the furniture. They were separated before he could kill the smaller cat.

My parents have had him since 2023 and I recently (September 2025) took him when I moved somewhere that allows cats. I'm set on keeping him. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: He is no longer allowed around other cats.

Edit 1: more details, he ate a cat owned by one of the previous people who adopted him, and was surrendered for it, (in addition to two previous surrenders for similar behavior issues, which I don't know much about). From what I know, he had a good introduction to a smaller female cat, with no territorial behavior, was left alone for a day, when the owner came back, it was a giant bloody mess. The shelter was sure that he did kill the female cat and was eating the body. That's the reason why they were considering euthanasia until he was offered to my stepmother.

Edit 2: Further clarification he does not "hate" cats. He likes them (just like how he likes birds!). Predation and territorial behavior are different things. If you can't tell the difference, you shouldn't be giving input on this post. He is not stressed by other cats. He is not anxious and does not feel threatened by other cats. He doesn't need anxiety medication. Anxiety medication doesn't stop cats from having a prey drive. He does not hiss or growl or try to look intimidating. He has no other behavioral problems, he doesn't yowl or anything when he attacks. He will find cover, and stalk, ears up, eyes big, completely silent. He gets very curious and excited when he sees other cats. He's seen my friend's cat, (separated by a ceiling height gate & supervised by 2 people). He seemed extremely inquisitive, sniffing, ears forward, no sound. My cat did not respond whatsoever to my friend's cat hissing, growling, or puffing up. He just seemed curious and started trying to see if he could stick his head around the side of the gate and pawing through the bars. Then he started looking back at me and meowing and rubbing on my legs.

Edit 3: No, he's not going to be euthanized. I did not make this post asking for advice I made it asking for information about WHY he's a little fucked up. Stop telling me to put him down. Stop applying human morals to animals. He behaves like any other small predatory mammal, only he does not have the ability to recognize members of his own species. I've already had him by myself since September of last year. And before that, I was around him at my parents house since 2023. He is literally fine by himself. He's my cat and I love him. He's perfectly healthy and affectionate and the smartest cat I've ever owned. About a hundred+ people telling me to kill my pet bothers me, would it not bother you? Sincerely, fuck off.

Edit 4: Changed the formatting so the events were in chronological order and clarified some vague sentences/bolded stuff that people keep missing

Edit 5: follow up post + more pictures of him

But anyway, bottom line up front.

Does anyone know what in the goddamn fuck causes a cat to do this?

My cats (Kale) has been doing this constantly for the past hour. Roughly once every few minutes and I’m starting to get worried since I’ve never seen him do this sort of behavior before.

Hi, she’s a 1 year 2 month old spayed female, and we’re in NYC. I’ve never seen her do this before. Is this normal?

I’ve never seen her make this noise. What could be happening here?

A vet is accessible, and I can afford to take her if needed.

Edit: is it because she is pointing her mouth upwards?

He only started this a month ago. He seems happy but since it's a sudden change for him to have a lick button I'm concerned...

>https://www.reddit.com/r/CATHELP/s/NiPfCQMaKt

Age: 19, USA, no vet but accessible if needed, mama cat is 2, kittens are 10months, kittens are boys & everyone is spayed/neutered

Is it okay for them to still be nursing? She doesn’t look to be in pain but I’ve never seen grown cats do this before. They aren’t even together usually — a family member kept the kittens & I am just babysitting them. They naturally latched onto their mom after not seeing her for months & won’t stop bothering her. Should I separate them? They’re both double her size & try to nurse at least 4x a day

Edit: solved (I think I say solved here??) not an issue unless irritation/mastitis occurs. They are just fat and greedy. She will naturally stop them if she wants to

My cat has never really liked treats, he avoids all human foods, and literally only eats his cat food. I saw all these videos of cats munching on these and gave it a shot. Two days. One pouch a day. And now my cat is broken.

He literally sits outside the cabinet I keep these in and screams all day for them. If I walk by the cabinet he comes running in screaming. I mean HOWLING. I stopped giving them to him about 6 days ago and he still does it. I also served it to him on a paper plate as to not dirty his bowl (he wouldn’t eat it if I held it) and now even paper plates trigger him! Anything even remotely similar to the pouch shape/sound he howls at us for. My husband grabs a chomps meat stick? Howls. Electrolyte packet? Howls. Dude I took a HOTDOG out of the package and he howled.

Now I can’t even step foot in the kitchen without him scrambling in and yelling. Any advice?

He’s not aggressive at all, just love bombing thinking he’ll get a churu pouch. And yes, I try to redirect with toys or play and he’s uninterested in anything that’s not churu.)

(30F with 3M neutered cat, lives in US, we have an established vet/pet insurance/can afford bills, just any advice on this behavioral issue would be nice)

😻UPDATE: wow I didn’t expect this much feedback thanks everyone. So, today I walked to the cabinet to get something, he ran in but didn’t meow for the first time!!! So, I grabbed a pouch and a paper plate and got a few squeaks but nothing major. I moved where he ate the treat into the laundry room instead of feeding it right in front of where I kept the pouches. He devoured it of course because ya know.. crack. Yes, he’s now sitting glaring at me while I eat my girl lunch BUT he’s QUIET👏🏼😅 rewarding good behaviors let’s see how this goes Godspeed

My two 2-year-old male cats act like best friends. They constantly cuddle, they both groom each other, and they play together every day. No fights ever. But I’ve noticed our orange and white kitty occasionally likes to yank at our tabby’s fur until it comes out! The tabby doesn’t even retaliate.

Is this something I should more proactively step in on and stop? Any suggestions on how to?

20s, U.S., both cats are neutered, I have access to a vet and take them regularly for check-ups.

Poster Age: 25

Country: U.S.

Vet info: eg: Vet is accessible and has been contacted

Cat Age: 1 yrs

Cat Sex + neuter info: Male, Neutered

Financial situation: i can afford basic care

Main Issue: TL;DR: My cat has had severe aggression since he was a kitten, including attacks that have caused bleeding, bruising, and scars. It's now progressed to attacking my roommate and attacking people while they're sleeping. His labs are normal. Gabapentin significantly reduced the aggression but made him extremely sleepy, and the aggression increased again when we lowered his dose under vet guidance. We've just started fluoxetine, but I'm exhausted and wondering at what point continuing to try to manage his behavior is no longer realistic versus responsibly rehoming him.

And yes, I am aware that fluoxetine takes weeks to start working :(

---

To start off, I absolutely love my cat. I never thought I'd ever be at the point where I'm asking strangers for advice on the internet. I've had him for over a year and have been dealing with these behaviors basically the entire time.

My cat Pebble has had behavioral issues since day one. In the beginning, I wrote it off as normal kitten behavior that would improve with time, although I did notice that he bit abnormally hard even for such a small kitten. I thought it would get better after he was neutered... it did not.

As he got older, those hard bites turned into massive bruises, broken skin, and eventually scars. He started ambushing me while I was walking and attacking me in bed. If I walked past his food bowl while he was begging, he'd bite the backs of both my legs as fast as he could and sprint away. If you pet him for one second too long, he'd destroy your arm like he was feral. If you sat somewhere he wanted to be, same story.

I can't even get into bed without him launching himself at my legs. One time his teeth hooked into my thigh and ripped down toward my knee as i stepped up. I still have a scar from it and the bruising was insane. I've gotten to the point where I don't feel completely safe in my own home without knowing where he is. I have to make sure he's out of my room before I can actually lower my guard. If I notice him watching me, I try to redirect him but most of the time it feels like it comes out of nowhere.

Eventually he started attacking my roommate as well. She adored him too, but it's gotten to the point where she's scared of him.

I initially took him to the vet and his labs came back normal. They mostly recommended the usual advice: play with him more, make sure he has enough enrichment, etc. I've tried all of that and done a ton of research on how to help him.

More recently, Pebble has progressed to attacking people while they're sleeping. People in my life have started telling me I should rehome him, but when I brought that possibility up with the vet, I felt somewhat guilt-tripped into keeping him.

I eventually took him to another vet and they prescribed medication. They believe he may have "redirected aggression." He's been taking gabapentin for about a month, and the biting decreased significantly, but he was sleeping all the time. I lowered the dose at my vet's recommendation, and now the attacking is increasing again.

He's now been prescribed fluoxetine as the next step, but I'm getting to the point where I'm wondering if it's even reasonable for me to keep trying to fix this on my own. I feel like I'm not even enjoying having a cat anymore. I'm constantly managing his behavior, worrying about when he's going to attack someone, and apologizing to other people because of him.

I've done so much research and spent so much money trying to help him. He has plenty of toys, scratching/climbing options, an automatic feeder, and gets played with regularly. I don't punish him for attacking, and I've tried very hard not to accidentally reinforce the behavior.

He's had a lot of sweet moments, especially in the morning. But I feel like it's so unbalanced.

I love him and I'd hate to rehome him, but I genuinely don't know what to do anymore. Has anyone dealt with a cat like this? Did anything actually help? At what point is rehoming the responsible choice?

EDIT: i'm seeing a lot of people recommending fostering a cat to see if it helps. I definitely do think he is bored even though I play with him with his billion toys I've purchased

My roommate and I both have cats. They don’t get along, despite our best efforts. They remain separated at all times. When I’m in the same room as my roommates cat, she gets really aggressive towards me - probably because I smell like my own cat. I’ve never done anything to hurt her - I’ve never grabbed her, I give her space. I think she’s traumatized from the few times we tried introducing the cats together (we tried slow, separated introductions. She wasn’t interested. When we then tried putting my cat in a crate and put her in the room with roommates cat, roommates cat hissed at her for an hour.)

I feel like I’ve tried everything. She doesn’t care about food. I’ve tried quietly doing work on my laptop and letting her come to me - she doesn’t want to. When I do need to do work in a room she’s in (like in this video - I’m cooking) she won’t leave the room - she just hides and then runs out to swat at me when I enter her field of view.

I’m at a loss. Is there no solution? Do I just need to try and move? I love my apartment and roommates, but I feel awful putting my roommates cat through this stress.

I’m a very experienced cat sitter, I have worked with cats all my life, in shelters, in sanctuaries.. etc.
I educated myself a lot about cat body language and their behaviour.

This is a cat, that I have sitted before. He is not very social, doesn’t like to be touched, the only thing he enjoys is to be pet with this stick but also not for long. I had situations with him, where he would lunge for a bite, but I always notice it before and then I stop touching him.

Today he bit me really hard. I had to go to the ER because after an hour I already had symptoms of an infection. You can clearly hear in the video how hard he bit me, And it sounds like he hit a tendon aswell.

I watched the video over and over again and I just don’t understand why this happened and how I didn’t notice any signs before. He was purring and seemed to be enjoying the petting with the stick, i was not interacting with him before so the petting was max. 10 sec, so i don’t think it’s overstimulation.

I don’t blame him, these things can happen, im just curious to hear if someone sees any signs that I missed.

Thank you!

Edit:

Thank you for all the comments! My cat was never interested in anything regarding catnip, so i wasnt really up to date on what there is to buy. I didn’t even know what a silvervine stick is (maybe they’re also called different in my language) but as i said it’s a cat I’m sitting, I thought it was just some sticks they like to play with. That may explain some things though, thank you to everyone who told me, seems like there is never an end to learning things.

Regarding the ER, they said it was a good decision to come because he hit me really deep. They gave me a tetanus vaccine, cleaned it and i have to take antibiotics for 5 days. It still hurts but it’s gonna be fine :)

regarding what some people said about teaching him when he bites, I’m only there for an hour and I see him maybe twice a year, This is definitely the job of the owner, but yeah, for the next days I’m just going to hang around and not touch him.

25m

Country:Greece

Vet not contacted yet

Cat collapses every few steps she takes, only when in my room

Cat: 8f sterilised

Yes

Currently waiting for vet to schedule an appointment with me sometime this week.

I’m 30, posting from the US/NYC. I can afford vet care / have support to afford it if I can’t (mom, older brother.)

Male cat (Tony, age 4, neutered) has been sleeping with his head pressed down often now. He used to do this on and off in the past but he’s always healthy for his yearly vet check ups.

Tony has a history of hitting his head a lot (he throws himself onto the floor for belly rubs and often slams his head into the wooden floors).

He has some quirks like walking on the baseboard heater (the baseboard sticks out) with his front two legs.

I was going to take him sooner before his annual visit to check his vision because he sometimes gets scared of his bowl, water bubbles, and other random things. I was suspecting thats why he’s not a very good hunter (or I’m comparing him to my late cat who may have just been a really good hunter and the bar’s too high).

(I love Tony, but I watched him and the other cat Georgie trying to kill a moth for 40 minutes. All dumb and dumber (endearment) did was make the moth fly at my face for the entire 40 minutes. Hunting is not their thing.)

I’m just worried it could be neurological and I’d just like to brace myself because I don’t quite know what that means or what to expect or if there’s anything to do or if it’s one of those: ‘just watch him and see if something gets worse and come back’ situations.

Is this normal?? He’s really going at them and has been for a while, and goes back to if after I distract him.

He’s in his favourite hideout, aka suitcase on top of the wardrobe.

He’s 8 months if that helps, has only been inside, is neutered.

Thanks!

I'm a first time cat owner and I got my cat a little over a month ago. I've made mistakes, several of them. I may have raised my voice, I may have grabbed her a little too roughly. She had fleas, so giving her a bath was non-negotiable. So now she doesn't want to be picked up by me.

She's cried numerous times, presumably from boredom and has now decided to stop meowing in exchange for this pained squealing.

Her boredom might be fixed by getting a second cat. Nor does any cat toy seem to hold her attention for very long.

She is a very sweet cat and is very reluctant to biting and scratching.

But she still purrs from being petted and sleeps next to me most nights.

Myself: 37m

Cat: 4F, tortoise shell.

My cat is 4+ years old and spayed indoor cat. She's crying like this everytime I pet her and keeps revolving around me for more pets however she cries like this as well. When I'm not petting her she's calm and does not meow like this. Overall she's not a talkative cat and very chill. What does this mean?

It's hard to get a good video of this behavior,, but he gets like this quite often. Usually after I come home in the afternoon from work, but it can happen any time without much rhyme or reason that I can tell.

As you can see at the end, he wants to grab me with his claws and bite me. Also hard to grab on video, but I have let him and he will clamp down quite hard. He has yet to break skin, so idk if it is because he can't or simply doesn't want to.

I can distract him with a toy or laser light, but he'll be back even after a play session that he decides he's done with. I don't think he's learned that "this is how to act" to get playtime, because he gets playtime outside of this and I let him get away with this for a while by just leaving the room or closing him out.

Balls - Chopped. Food - Plenty. Toys - Plenty. Toy Time - I think Plenty. Litter - Clean and full with an auxiliary box. Cat bed and cat trees - Ignored. Age - Almost 3. The eye? Adopted at ~8 months from shelter, said had glaucoma and had to lose the eye (which I understand isn't unusual).

Hello!

Yesterday I adopted this kitten, around 15 weeks old, and brought it home. I understand the stress and chock coming from being suddenly separated from mommy cat and littermates. I provided access to fresh water, food, litterbox as well as some toys and a cozy place to hide (transporter with blanket put in a corner of a room). I even tried out heating pad. Unfortunately, I didn't get an old blanket from the previous owner that would have scents of mom and previous home, which could make transition a little easier. Does any of you have any tips on how could I comfort my precious baby kitten in distress (and get some sleep without interruptions)? 🙂😅

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Thank you to all of you for your advices and kind words! Little girl (name is still yet to be chosen) seems calmer now and looks like after a long night we both may finally get a proper nap hahah. 😅

I'm aware that ideally it would be best to get her a companion, since it's crucial for kittens' development. I agree. Honestly, if I had more resources, I would definitely get her brother as well, sadly I can only afford upcoming vet bills just for one. I'm mostly staying at home, so I will do my best to socialize with my kitten as much as she needs and give her all the love and care she deserves from her human. ☺️

I appreciate your answers!

EDIT 2: Kitten eats, drinks, sleeps and plays normally, she is comfortable and attached to me. It meows less during the day, but last night she was crying even louder. No warm pillow, purring noises or gentle petting seemed to be working anymore. I tried to contact lady that owns mom and siblings to ask if it was possible to return baby in case it doesn't acoomodate well at my place, but she didn't want to take kitten back, she struggles to find home for other kittens as well. I am now heavily sleep depraved.

I'll continue to gently care for my baby cat in hopes that he'll feel fully safe and at home, but if it really feel like it can't stand loneliness, I'll search for another home for it with a friendly resident cat. Adoption of a second kitty is out of the picture, I won't be able to handle double cat expenses. 💔

On a side note, turned out the owner confused kittens sex. After thorough research and double checking it turned out I have a baby boy not a baby girl. 😅😆

I also never expected for this post to blew up this much, I expected at most 10 comments. Thank you everyone for many great advices and showing so much care to my kitten, even tho he has no idea how much a gang of Redditors would love to comfort him. 💖

I also want to address question "why did i get a kitten instead of an adult, loner cat"? I actually was searching for an alone cat, but I had no luck. Available cats were either moving in pairs or were requiring a resident cat already at home. And the ones that were loners were already reserved. Then my mother called me and informed me that her friend of a friend was desperately looking out for new homes for her kittens. I thought "I can both fulfill my years long wish of having a cat family member again and give home to a kitten in need, wonderful!" People in my past were adopting out solo kittens and from what I heard, they accomodated well. I was prepared for being woken up by the kitten during first days, I thought it would accomodate after few days/weeks, but I wasn't ready for a heartbreaking meowing most of the time kitten was awake. 💔

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm gonna continue showing the kitten love and care it needs and deserves. And if there will be no improvements, with heavy heart I'll search for a better home to my baby boy, where he can have a cat friend.

TL:DR - cat constantly cries, and absolutely NOTHING works. Starting to resent the cat and causing relationship issues. At a complete loss about options.

I’m at my complete wits end with my cat!!! He constantly cries. Non. Stop. We can’t take it anymore. He’s always cried a lot since he was a kitten, and he’s now 3 years old and nothing has changed. We have taken him to the vet multiple times and they can find nothing wrong with him. He’s an indoor only cat, and recently he started going outside to explore our apartment garden. He ended up running out the door one day, and since he didn’t stray far, we were giving him an hour outside each day to help burn off some energy. Now he wants to be outside constantly and will cry for literally hours when we bring him inside. He’s not one for cat toys, has never been interested in them. We have tried every single enriching activity and he does it once and never again. When we play with him (chasey or hide and seek) he’s bored after 5 mins. We tried Zylkene. We tried Feliway. Neither worked. We even trialled getting him a companion and that ended up terribly. We work from home 4 days a week and are around on the weekends. We are starting to resent him and it’s causing issues between me and my partner as we’re constantly stressed about him. We can’t give him up as pounds are full and he’ll be euthanised and none of our family members (with houses and yards) want to take him either as they don’t like him/hear horror stories from us. We’re just at a loss about our options. Videos attached is what he does all day

Please help, it’s been 6 months since I adopted my cat from another family (he was about 6 months back then) but he keeps making these quite sad sounding noises when he walks around with his previous family’s toy, or when he sits next to it.

He is 1 year old and is neutered, indoor cat only with lots of space.

Is this anything to worry about? If so, is there any tips of what I can do to help him, as this is starting to seem more frequent as of late.

He’s an unneutered male cat who constantly harasses and attacks my 15-year-old spayed female cat. He has also started biting and attacking me without warning, sometimes hard enough to draw blood. I’ve had to lock myself and my elderly cat in my room while he yowls outside the door trying to get in. Help!

We found a DAYS OLD kitten over the weekend and and trying to care for it until we find someone to take it in. My boy Choomba who isn’t even a year old is always around it and has been picking it up and taking him around the place, grooming etc. He’s not aggressive and kinda making this “mmeerrrm” noises when near to it. What’s he doing?

Edit: we found a local foster couple, sweet older couple who have been fostering and taking care of strays for the last 10 years. Baby stink is in wonderful hands🙏🏼

Super stressed out he’s been constantly meowing for almost a hour, I just need some reassurance if someone has been through this, had him for about 31 hours and he’s eaten pretty sure but idk he has these bursts of non stop meowing, I am getting worried now