Cat Care

Why cats knock things off tables: the real psychology It’s 6:40 a.m. You’re holding coffee, your phone is buzzing, and your cat locks eyes with you, puts one paw on the rim of your mug, and pushes. She doesn’t flinch at the crash. She just watches, ears forward, then moves on to your keys. If that’s your morning, And your cat isn’t being vindictive. Cats lack the theory-of-mind complexity you’d need for calculated revenge. What’s happening is older and far more mechanical than that. ...

Best Cat Foods for Sensitive Stomachs in 2025 It’s 3 a.m., and you’re awake again because of that sound from the hallway. Your cat vomits, gives you a mildly offended look, and strolls off. You clean it up, get back in bed, and wonder how many more nights like this you can take. I’ve lived that scene more times than I want to count. What I wish someone had told me years ago is simple. A cat who vomits or has loose stools more than once a week isn’t just “sensitive.” Something in the bowl is usually the problem, and most of the time it’s fixable. ...

The sound that means more than happy My cat Pepper starts purring the second my alarm goes off. Most nights she’s not even awake yet, just kneading the duvet in a half-sleep, and that low rumble fills the whole dark room. For years I read it the same way everyone does: she’s content, she’s comfortable, she loves me. Then one afternoon she sat on my chest purring hard while the vet stitched a small paw wound, and I started to question everything I thought I knew. ...

Your cat sits at the screen door, tail flicking, watching a bird land three feet away. You know the feeling. Indoor cats live longer, but a window won’t stop that longing. The middle ground is a catio: an enclosed outdoor space where your cat gets real sun and fresh air without the risks. It’s a proven trade. A 2022 study in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery found unowned cats had a median lifespan of just 7.6 years versus 14.0 years for owned pets, with trauma and infection the big killers. A catio gives your cat the outdoor life with most of the danger removed. I’ve built two in my own yard, so let me walk you through what’s actually worth buying. ...

The Ultimate Guide to Cat Play: Toys, Games, and Exercise Your cat probably wants to murder you. No, really, hear me out. Today it’s a feather wand, tomorrow it might be your bare feet under the blanket. That’s not aggression, that’s instinct. Indoor cats still carry the full hunting wiring of their wild cousins, and a lifetime of naps on the sofa doesn’t switch it off. So I’ll say it plainly: you don’t need a fancier cat. You need better play. ...

The smell hits you before you even get the door open. Two cats, one litter box, and a pile of “surprises” on the rug. If you’ve ever lived with more than one cat, you know a single box turns into a war zone fast. Here’s the thing: the fix is almost always just more boxes. The golden rule: one box per cat, plus one Vets and cat behaviorists have used the same formula for decades, and it’s dead simple: one litter box per cat, plus one extra. Two cats? Three boxes. Three cats? Four boxes. Five cats? Six boxes. PetMD describes it exactly that way. ...

My Maine Coon, Hank, has destroyed four cat trees in two years. The first one toppled when he leaped onto the top perch at full speed. The second one lost a sisal post within a month. The third one was just… sad. What surprised me was how many expensive “heavy-duty” trees performed worse than budget options when a 20-pound cat actually used them. ...

How to switch your cat from dry kibble to raw food safely My cat Loki was 5 years old and 25 lbs when I finally admitted the dry kibble diet wasn’t working. He was lethargic, his coat looked dull, and the vet kept mentioning his weight. That’s when I started researching raw feeding cats and realized I’d been overthinking it the whole time. ...

Your cat’s breath could wilt houseplants. That’s not a judgment, it’s a clue. Bad breath is often the first sign of feline dental disease, and honestly, it’s a lot more common than most owners realize. Vets estimate that up to 90 percent of cats over four years old have some form of dental trouble, and surveys from the AVMA keep ranking dental disease among the most frequently diagnosed conditions in cats. The good news? Most of it is preventable with a toothbrush. ...

8 Signs Your Cat Is in Pain and Hiding It Honestly, your cat could be in pain right now, and you’d never guess it. Don’t feel bad — cats are world-class at hiding discomfort, and it’s not because they’re dramatic. It’s survival. Take my cat Mochi. For two weeks, she seemed perfectly fine: eating, napping, supervising me from the bookshelf. The only clue was that she’d stopped sleeping on my chest. Then one morning she vomited twice and hid under the bed. The vet found a urinary tract infection that had been building for a while. Two days of antibiotics fixed her right up, but I still kick myself for missing the early signs. ...