Dear Cathy, I have been feeding a very feral cat since last March. Gradually, he has progressed to living on my deck.  In July, I trapped him and had him neutered and treated for fleas, worms, and mites. He has gained weight and is extremely charming. He was a skeleton when I first saw him. […]

Dear Cathy, I read your great pet column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal every Sunday.  It’s always interesting. I am writing because our son has four cats, and seems to be very adept at their overall care. My question is, can you recommend a good cat medical guide, which would be a handy thing for […]

Dear Cathy, We have a three-year-old domestic cat. She has always had a picky appetite, and has times of affection and aloofness. We recently acquired a ragdoll kitten. For the last month, our older cat’s appetite and playfulness have diminished appreciably.  The two of them interact very minimally; the older cat seems to allow the […]

Dear Cathy, I have a cat who is five years old that we rescued from the Humane Society.  He is a Russian Blue and a great cat, except he will not eat any wet foods. The only thing he will eat is dry food. My vet has no answer. He is very healthy, but wonder […]

Dear Cathy,  We had two cats who were litter mates and adopted as kittens. One of the two cats disappeared and hasn’t returned. The other is still mourning his lost brother. Is there anything we can do to comfort him or help him get over missing his brother? Would a new kitten help? – Mundy […]

Dear Cathy, I was reading your column regarding preparing a pup for a long-distance car ride, and I have a similar question regarding cats.  We may be relocating to Florida from New York, and my wife is extremely hesitant to give our cats (two to three) to anyone like an airline or service that would […]

Dear Cathy, I have a problem with our cat who is roughly 18-years-old. She started howling at night around five months ago. This is an issue because she hangs out in my daughter’s room upstairs (she is away at college, second year). My 22-year-old son who lives at home is also upstairs. Last night, she […]

Dear Cathy,  Last year, I adopted two male cats who were not previously paired. Fred is about 10-years-old, is mellow and sleeps all day. Casanova is two-years-old, sweet and affectionate cat, but also a stinker towards Fred. When Fred is sleeping, Casanova suddenly pounces on him. Currently, Fred is missing some fur on his side. […]

Dear Cathy, My husband and I went to a no-kill shelter to adopt a cat after I became disabled and had to retire early. I was adopted by a beautiful Lynx point Siamese who had been brought to the shelter 14 months prior as an orphan. He immediately jumped on my lap, rubbed his face […]

Dear Cathy, I started feeding a few stray/feral cats in my back yard last year, and now they’re reproducing, including a litter of four in my shed. The other house tenants are angry and don’t want any cats around at all. I know there are TNR (trap-neuter-return) programs, and it is illegal to abandon them elsewhere. […]

Dear Cathy, My four-year-old male orange tabby has a taste for weird stuff. He eats plants, but particularly loves pineapple leaves. If he gets out, he’ll run to eat grass and whatever plant he can find. I can’t keep live plants in the house. Even worse, he eats strings and fabric, including my bathing suit […]

Dear Cathy, I got a Manx female kitten from my daughter’s barn when she was six-weeks-old. Her name is Lil Bit. I watched her use the litter box in the barn. The first night bringing her home, we stayed in a motel, and I took her litter box out of the carrying crate and let […]

Dear Cathy, I have two Himalayan cats, Tango and Cash.  These three-year-old brothers are very healthy indoor cats. However, at 9 p.m. every night, Cash starts screaming bloody murder for about two minutes. I can’t figure out what is wrong with him. Any ideas? Tango just looks at him in awe! — Carol Freburger, Aventura, […]

Dear Cathy, Our six-year-old house cat stopped pooping in the litter box, but she still urinates in it. We find poop all over the house, but never urine.  She doesn’t have a favorite place to evacuate; it’s on rugs, hardwood floors – she isn’t hiding it.  We find it out in the open and it […]

Dear Cathy, I have five inside cats, and feed three stray cats in my yard, which has woods behind it. I have been feeding these cats for five months. There have been others in the past that I have trapped, had neutered/spayed, and rehomed. The problem is, my family and I are moving to another […]

Dear Cathy, My son, a second-year veterinary student, and I adopted two cats. They are brothers, about 13 weeks old. We adopted them three weeks ago. My son is returning to school with one of the cats. I work full time in Oceanside. Will the cats be okay once separated? Is there anything we can […]

Dear Cathy, I have a ten-year-old Ragdoll cat. She is very sweet, but since I am a light sleeper, she keeps me up most of the night with her incessant meowing. I don’t recall how long this has been going on, but I don’t think she has any health issues. Do you have any insights […]

Dear Cathy, Is it dangerous for my five-year-old poodle/Shih Tzu, Babou, to eat cat food? I am babysitting my daughter’s 16-year-old cat, Cinnamon, for the summer, and he is eating her food. I finally put the cat food high up where Babou can’t reach it, but wondered. – Jeanine Szajna, Bayport, New York Dear Jeanine, […]

Dear Cathy, Could you please warn people about lost cats getting closed in people’s sheds, garages and basements. I know someone whose cat went into a neighbor’s basement. Since the man never went into his basement, the friend’s cat wasn’t found for three months. He couldn’t walk when they found him, but believe it or […]

Dear Cathy, We’re having a huge problem with our cat. We bought a new bed a few months ago, and she has peed on it five times. My poor husband washes the sheets and mattress covers, and we get the quilt cleaned. We had no choice but to keep her out of the room unless one […]

Dear Cathy, We have a female cat named Polly who we believe is about 17 years old. She’s always been shy; no one has ever been able to pet her or get close to her. We adopted her with her twin sister Molly. Both of them hid under the china cabinet the first year we […]

Dear Cathy, We rescued our cat from our local shelter two years ago. She’s the sweetest cat in every way except for one. She wakes us up at 4:00 a.m. She is relentless and does not give up until one of us gets up with her. When we come downstairs with her, she lies down […]

Dear Cathy, My wife and I subcontract for several local banks, performing property assessments of foreclosed properties. We recently came to a property that included an abandoned cat. We needed another (third) cat like a hole in the head, and while we could have dropped her off at the shelter, she ingratiated herself so quickly […]

Dear Cathy, My cat is 17-years-old and very frail. I rescued a kitten last Thanksgiving in part because I wanted to soften the blow for myself when my older cat dies. What a big mistake. This kitten, now 13 pounds compared to her three pounds, constantly terrorizes my older cat. I have to take my […]

Dear Cathy, Our six-year-old neutered male cat has a behavior that disturbs our sleep. He will meow, run across the bed, push the rugs around, and jump off the chest of drawers onto the bed. He has gone for periods of time (weeks, even months) sleeping contentedly at night. We don’t understand what brings on […]

Dear Cathy, My four-year-old male cat, Max, has developed an unusual habit. While he always uses the litter box, he no longer bothers to cover his poop with litter. Have you heard of this before and do you have any thoughts as to why this might be happening? — Martha, Long Beach, New York Dear […]

Dear Cathy, We have two nine-year-old cats. Charlie and Stella have been together since kittens and are both fixed. They get along fine. In the last six months, Stella has been going outside the litter box. I took her to the vet, and she checked out fine, just a little constipated. She now eats a […]

Dear Cathy, I have three one-year-old cats, all littermates. One of the girls, Mona, throws up from time to time; sometimes it’s just liquid. We haven’t discovered the cause, but it’s better since we switched to a limited ingredient diet. Sometimes I think its “scarf and barf” because it looks like undigested food. Other times, […]

Dear Cathy, I recently adopted a nine-week-old kitten we named Sonny. I have two older female cats- Dolly, we have had ten years, and Charlotte, we have had eight years. My problem is, Sonny chases after the female cats, and they run from him. He has tried to jump on their backs, but they are […]

Dear Cathy, In regard to the woman whose cat keeps her up all night, the only thing that worked for us was to put our cat to sleep in the basement every night. She had her food and toys down there and a nice ottoman to sleep on. She was fine until my husband woke […]

Dear Cathy, Our 15-year-old male cat has started pulling tufts of fur from his legs with his teeth. He pulled fur from a two-inch spot. Any suggestions? – Mike, Tucson, Arizona Dear Mike, Poor guy! Cats may pull out fur because they itch. Do you use a monthly flea preventative? Sometimes people don’t treat their […]

Dear Cathy, I am a cat lover and have had several cats over the years. I have a three-year-old Russian Blue that I adopted from a shelter. She is very sweet and smart. The problem is, she sleeps all day and is up all night. I wouldn’t mind it if she would just play, but […]

Dear Cathy, In response to your column on cat toys, both of my cats go nuts over small paper balls made from shopping receipts or old lottery tickets. As soon as I take the receipt out of the bag, they run to me and anxiously wait for me to crumple it into a ball and […]

Dear Cathy, My husband and I have four cats and a dog. One of these cats is a female, spayed, 9 years old, and licks everything. Floors, walls, bags, especially me. She lays on the keyboard tray while I am on the computer. If my hand is anywhere near her face, she licks me. She […]

Dear Cathy, I have a six-year-old indoor cat. He was rescued from the shelter several years ago by my daughter. He is incredibly sweet and affectionate and very attached to me. However, clipping his nails is almost impossible. He just won’t allow it. I must bring him to a pet store to have it done. […]

Dear Cathy, Oliver is our three year old cat. He was rescued at about eight weeks old. He has grown to become a happy, healthy and very playful adult cat. However, he has one odd behavior that we don’t understand. Before he approaches his food bowls, he will meow at whatever family member is nearby […]

Dear Cathy, Recently, a reader asked you how to relax her cat, so that she could clip the cat’s nails. My sister has had many cats over the past 30 years. She has always waited until the cats finished eating and then cut their nails. She has said that they are more lethargic after eating […]

Dear Cathy, I read the recent column about cat scratching furniture.  My cats would never use scratching posts. They love and use the cardboard scratching boxes that sit on the floor. You can buy them at most cat supply places. I think it must be the feel of the cardboard and that they can sink their claws in […]

Dear Cathy, Our cat stopped using its litter box. She will now target a left-out blanket or coat.  – Carl, Oak Park, Illinois  Dear Carl, You don’t leave me a lot of bread crumbs to follow, but I think I can still help you. Litter box problems are common and often the result of several […]

Dear Cathy, I have a seven-year-old cat named Squeaky. She was fixed as a kitten and is an indoor cat. She was the only cat for two years before we inherited a second kitty from my son. The second cat really brought Squeaky out of her shell. Both cats get along fine, but Squeaky is […]

Dear Cathy, I read your recent column on how to get cats to stop clawing the couch and wanted to share my solution. As a woman in her 70s, I have had two cats in my home at all times for decades. I am very much against declawing cats. To me, it’s amputation. It’s illegal […]

This references another letter in the post “Helping a grieving cat” Dear Cathy, In your letter to Mundy Rado from Lawrenceville, Georgia, why didn’t you take the opportunity to tell the owner that cats should not be loose outside?  You could have given her stats on the longer life of housecats at the very least. […]

When I opened my email, I was pleasantly surprised to find a slew of reader tips on how to cut a cat’s nails. I am impressed with so many soft-spoken cat parents who have mastered the art of distraction to get their felines to pay attention only to them, and not the approaching nail clippers. […]

Dear Cathy, I have a four-year-old American short-hair female cat. I got her at eight weeks old from a friend. The problem is, she scratches my upholstered furniture and rugs. She only does it when I am in the room. I have tried sprays, tape, and correcting with a spritz of water. I have various […]

Dear Cathy, You recently wrote a column, which appeared in the Naperville Sun, about felines forming strong bonds, and it reminded me of my two cats. They were sisters, just weeks old when I acquired them. After sixteen years, one died, and the other one searched every corner of my Chicago apartment for more than […]

Dear Cathy, My husband and I will be going away for a month, and we have two cats. We will not be taking them with us. Is it okay to leave them at the house for that time with someone coming in daily to feed, change water, and clean their litterbox? They do not have […]

Dear Cathy, After seven months missing, our indoor cat was found by a neighbor. The poor cat suffered through below zero temperatures. We are assuming he lived in a garage or barn. Our neighbors were not aware our cat was missing. They found him eating out of one of their cat dishes in the middle […]

Dear Cathy, I rescued a six-year-old part Siamese female about six months ago. I started noticing she has a long ridge of fur along her spine when she is relaxed or sitting, similar to that of a (Rhodesian) Ridgeback dog. I don’t know if there is a connection, but she is also polydactyl on all four […]

Dear Cathy, I read your column where Rich from New York wrote about his 17-year-old cat pooping outside his litter box. You suggested the cat could be arthritic. My mom experienced this problem with her cat, and found that a Rubbermaid container lid turned upside down with litter in it worked wonders. Her cat could […]

Kittens knead their paws on the belly of their mother to stimulate milk production. Because this action brings immediate rewards and comfort, it’s not unusual for cats to continue this behavior with their human loved ones as adults. When a cat kneads your belly, he feels emotionally secure and happy. In fact, the action is […]