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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: March 10th, 2025

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  • I think you might be right from what I can gather without a video to check the body language and a longer term observation.

    Spot on, but I would personally go for slow horizontal approach to cheeks if you don’t know the cat, a lot of cats freak out about things above them, so going directly to top of head is a bit risky, and has gotten me bit before. I would offer a scent mark target first, just stick a (tucked in, hard to bite!) knuckle out for them and if they rub their cheek against it, you’re golden. After that I would move to chin and then top of head/behind ears.


  • To me it sounds like it could be what some littermates do to eachother, he’s calling you to play. Our cats will do this same thing, but to each other: Jade will first go groom Ciri’s face for a bit, perhaps a little stranglehold here, or she flops down in front of her sister, asking her to jump on top and wrestle, a lot like what you’ve described in the post. YMMV obviously, you know your cat better than a stranger online etc., but my two cents from my experience with a lot of litters in the past, I’ve seen this before many times.

    It can also be what comment above said, he could be just showing his trust to you, but since it’s such a high stakes thing, he could be a little overstimulated and doesn’t know what he actually wants, and just reacts like his instincts are telling him.




  • Exactly, I had to work through a bunch of stuff, and took 6 years in uni for BA, goal is 3 years. Then I left and worked on myself again, and went back to school for a different field at 26y, graduated at 29. Wife got her BA at 27, masters at 32 and is now working on doctorate.

    There is no one fits all path, guide or schedule for life. Do your best, fuck anyone who would sneer at your huge achievement just because it took a little more time.








  • Pheromone vaporizators work wonders. Just make sure to pre-emptively set it up like 2 weeks prior. Not magic, but helps massively in my experience. Might help with your resident cat’s anxiety long term, too.

    I would not under any circumstances do the introduction of a new cat during a move or shortly after, as you said, it will just add to the stress of the resident cat and prolong the process needlessly.

    On top of that, best way I have found is have the kitten in one room, and every day introduce the kitten’s smell to the new cat. Smells are incredibly important for cats.

    Take it slow, do short controlled “shows” for the resident cat, show the kitten far away, don’t let it too close too quickly, that’s when defense kicks in and it prolongs the process.

    Overall, be patient, go slow, don’t force interactions, pay close mind to body language. Majority of cats will get a long as long as the introduction is done properly, and on their terms. How long it takes is highly dependent on the individual cats and their tempers. From your post, it could be on the longer end of the spectrum.

    Have a worst case scenario planned out before making any choices. If it seems like there’s no way, you will have to accept that as well, and be ready to rehome the kitten.

    This is a good video about the subject: https://youtu.be/tsYT7yIOdqQ Jackson Galaxy is a weird dude, but he does know cats.