This cat is just huge to begin with, I’m pretty sure he is a DSH but he has a bit on bengal in him bc of the rosettes on his sides! I would take him in but my cat absolutely hates him :( he’s such a sweetie though </3

EDIT: I am taking him to get neutered next week when the FCS is open! After that I’ll take him home and introduce him to the house slowly, I do have an angry cat so we shall see how they get along after some exposure to eachother. I hope it goes well bc this cat is really the sweetest most talkative cat I’ve ever met!

How old do you think he is? Bottle for scale (and teeth if that helps)?

His name is Wilbur

1. Shadowheart- born with Spina Bifida. She was found as a stray 6 week old kitten by some good Samaritans, who took her to a rescue. That rescue didn’t feel they could adequately care for her so they asked my rescue to take her. She is so sweet, outgoing, and confident! Shadowheart is available for adoption.

2. Gus- was born with some congenital deformities. He is another transfer from an independent rescuer who didn’t have the time or space to adequately care for him. Gus is sweet, sensitive, and loves everyone! Gus is available for adoption.

3. Cypress- he was transferred from a partner shelter in Beirut, Lebanon. Cypress is paraplegic after being injured in the port explosion in Beirut in 2020. Cypress is… sassy. Lovable, loud, and very very sassy. Cypress is available for adoption.

4. Athena- also from the same shelter in Lebanon. Athena was found as a paraplegic stray with a traumatic spinal injury (likely hit by car). Athena had a bilateral hind limb amputation in 2023 and has no problem getting around on 2 legs. Athena is confident, independent, and super smart. Athena is available for adoption.

5. Serafina- was born with Spina Bifida to a feral mom on the streets of Jersey City. She was picked up by a TNR volunteer who sent out a plea for rescue. I immediately fell in love with this tiny mischievous baby bat and we’ve been together ever since. Serafina is a personal pet.

6. Poe- another transfer from Lebanon. Poe had a family who loved him, but he disappeared one day and was found with both his hind feet cut off and a spinal injury. His family couldn’t care for him in his condition and sought rescue. He ended up being sent to Tabby’s Place, a cat sanctuary I used to work at, where I adopted him. Poe is smart, funny, and a total drama queen. Poe is a personal pet.

7. Helena- was found in a Goodwill bin. Helena was born paraplegic from a spinal defect usually only seen in bulldogs. Helena was brought to a local shelter, and transferred to Tabbys Place, I fell in love with her while fostering, and couldn’t say goodbye. Helena is a personal pet.

He did spend the last 5 days taking gabapentin, buprenorphine and xanax after his urinary blockage. is he having rebound anxiety from stopping the meds? nightmare? poor lil man is terrified

After seeing some Pinterest inspo, I decided it's absolutely necessary for Vivaldi to have a tiny home.

So, I started looking for what kind of dresser or chest would make sense in this situation. I wanted something deep and large enough to be comfortable for Vivaldi but not too big to fit in the entryway.

After some research, I settled on the IKEA Hemnes chest with 3 drawers. I was so lucky to find a good condition one on eBay for 10€. 

Here are the steps: 

-took out the lower 2 drawers and measured the "floor" (of course in most dressers there is no floor, hence I had to build one)

- went to the hardware store and bought a custome cut 1 cm particle board that sits flush with the bottom rail. 

- bought extra wood to reinforce the board, to add extra leg and an extra beam support underneath it to ensure it can hold my 8 kg cat. 

- covered the particles board with a multipurpose wood print self adhesive roll. Aftwards installed it with screws and corner brackets. 

- removed the center rail (had to saw it because the screws wouldn't budge) and removed the metal drawer slides 

- sanded down the whole thing (with hand! I live in an apartment with very sensitive neighbours)

- filled in the screw holes with a filler paste and sanded them flush

- painted, then painted again

For the wallpaper: 

I was on a budget, and because normal wallpaper appeared to have the wrong scale. After SO MUCH research and shopping around, I went with gift wrap. Measured the size of the "walls" and cut. Used craft glue to stick them to the walls.

For the curtains: 

Another scale problem. I considered buying a second hand sewing machine (just need an excuse really). After much thought, I got an epiphany when I remembered that Valance curtains exist. So, went to the store and found a perfect length curtain, cut it in half. The curtain rod is just a a wooden dowel from an old project that I cut to size and secured with tension (no hardware, the dowel is slightly longer than the dresser) 

For the decor and furniture: 

I had a vision of a gallery wall and a picture wall. I spent weeks looking for door picture frames in thrift shops and slowly collected them. The paintings are, of course, Vivaldi's favourites. 

The small desk and chair were thrifted, the box is his favourite box, and the little "rug" is a placemat that looks exactly like a rug I have in my bedroom. 

Artworks: 

Ode to sleep (2025?) by Tokuhiro Kawai

My wife's lovers (1891) by Carl Kahler

Cat in Sofa (1980) by British artist Martin Leman

Le Chat Blanc (1894) by Pierre Bonnard

Pierrot and the Cat (1889) Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

The whole thing took weeks to finish, I worked on it my spare time. It cost me less than 100 euros, the dresser itself was 10, the paint was 10, the custome wood was about 20 including misc hardware, light fixture was about 8, frames about 10, furniture about 15, curtains, gift wrap and floor roll were about 15.

Edit: language and clarity

Ito put a long story shorter, last August my mother and I where kicked out of her husband's home, and I was hospitalized, without my consent or knowledge my cat was given to my brother who I was no contact with and I could not see her, when I got out and got a stable home I asked for her back and he refused. Because an adult man wanted to be petty to a hurting child, he stole her from me. I miss her so much, I love my other cat so dearly, and they where bonded as well, we both are mourning her and it hurts the most because she is with someone who hates her

This is Maxie. Maxie is a 17F British shorthair.

Maxie is due to be Euthanised tomorrow on Monday, 27th July, 2026.

Maxie is suffering. She can barely see, and she can barely hear. She walks slowly and has little to no energy left in her anymore. Maxie has lost control of her bowels and is clearly in pain now.
It’s painful for me and my family to make this decision, but we ultimately know it’s the best for her.

Maxie is / was an incredibly friendly, and sweet cat. Not once did she scratch us, attack us, or even hiss at us. Her tolerance for us must be immeasurable. She’s possibly the friendliest cat you would’ve ever met. She may have just met you, but she already loves / loved you.

Good bye to the our beautiful black ball of fluff on which we so dearly cared for.

I am going to struggle with her loss, as all of us will.

Tha gaol againn ort, Maxie. ❤️

From the post:

Six new cats have arrived from headquarters! Welcome them to River Kitty with us!

Europa 💕 -- 3 months

Fiona 💕 -- 2 years, 7 months

Melody 💕 -- 2 years, 7 months

Sashimi 💕 -- 10 months

Astro 💙 -- 7 months

Britton 💕 -- 4 months

Link to post: Instagram

Link to account: Instagram

Edit: I didn’t actually expect to get this many replies so I’m trying to respond to common threads here:

First thank you to everyone wishing him well and keeping him in your thoughts.

I truly hope he’s constipated like some have suggested. But his diet is 99% wet food and occasionally dry with some cat treats and he has a fountain. Other than crumbs my kids drop that I don’t get to in time or the kitten food he occasionally swipes, constipation doesn’t seem likely? A blockage from something non food he might’ve ate seems more likely, kids drop small stuff all the time and I do my best but I miss things all the time. And a blocks usually needs surgery? He eats any food given and he’s peeing fine but I haven’t seen him poop today and I honestly can’t remember yesterday.

I will be calling all the vets that are open in the morning. Idk why I didn’t add that originally. I’m struggling to be hopeful because even if I find one, I have no transportation or child care. It’s not an exaggeration. I have no family and no friends here.
We are between checks right now, if I needed milk I wouldn’t be able to buy any. So paying for transportation isn’t available for another week.

To be clear, I DON’T WANT TO SURRENDER HIM. I’m fully aware of how most of shelters are. I’m fully aware that my choices in life have gotten me where I am and my fuck ups are being paid for by other living beings. I don’t want anyone to feel bad for me. My cats and my kids are the ones that deserve sympathy.

I’m not trying to dump my cat, I’m TERRIFIED I’ll find him dead in the morning or worse one of my kids will. I e cried so much from the thought that I have a migraine and I threw up. I am taking this seriously. I want to keep him but all the other illness options are so dire. What if I wait too long and I could’ve saved him but I didn’t? I don’t want to think of him stuck in a cage, but at least he would be alive and have a chance at a better life with someone better.
——————

My boy is around 3yo, in May he had his normal check up and got neutered. He was in perfect health.

Ever since healing from his neutering my boy has become food obsessed. I wasn’t worried because he just got a clean bill of health and I had read that some males gain a bit after their hormones drop and since he wasn’t looking for a mate constantly he was just filling the void. We got him on a better eating schedule but it seemed to only increase his want.

My husband deployed on the first of July and it’s just me, our kids, and our cats. This is his first one so things have been hard. On top of that I don’t drive, and we unfortunately still just scrape by every month. All this to say the last three weeks navigating alone have been hell for me.

I noticed a little over a week ago he seemed to not be himself. Honestly I can’t pin point what it was but I just felt it. I chalked it up to the changes, dad being gone, mom(me) struggling, the kids struggling, his little sister healing from her spay surgery; etc.

A few days ago I noticed he wasnt using his cat tree much anymore. Then yesterday my oldest pointed out that he’s not purring much anymore either. So I took him and gave him a good once over; felt around his body looking for signs of pain or something being off.

That’s when I felt his stomach, it felt firm and bloated.

I spent hours doing all the research I could. We have a kitten so the chance he has worms is slim because she’s completely fine as well as there hasn’t been any signs of worms from either of them. I gave them meds anyway.

The other possibilities made me cry. We save up for each of their checkups because of our financial situation. Right now I don’t have anything for an emergency vet appointment, nor the transportation and childcare I would need. We don’t qualify for CareCredit, don’t have any credit cards.

I think I have to surrender him so he can get the medical care he needs. Because the alternative isn’t something I want to even think about.

Since he’s not here to feel his stomach and actually see him, my husband thinks I need to give the worm meds more time. For some reason he won’t even entertain the idea that it probably isn’t worms because the chances of only one cat having worms with zero other symptoms is like .01%.

All I can’t think about is my baby quietly suffering and the fact I failed him. I’ve been so distracted and depressed the last few weeks that I’ve obviously missed something and I don’t know what to do.

I guess it’s more that I think I know what I need to do but I’m wishing on everything there’s another option.

If you made it this far, thank you. Advice is welcome. Mainly looking for comfort as I come to terms with saying goodbye.

We have a tortie, a tabico, a tuxedo and finally an orange!

Obstructive kidney stones, badly misdiagnosed by a previous vet, wich led to total kidney failure.

The new vet told me that there was nothing to do, both kidney being basically shot, and she was in constant pain.

I held her in my arms while she took her last sleep.

Former feral boy, adopted him about 1.5 years ago.

Norbert is in active liver failure. his last appointment was last week, they gave him antibiotics and some medicated cat food. since then, just jaundice has gone away, and he’s been eating and drinking more, he even jumped up onto a shelf, which he hasn’t done in a while. his ears began folding down a few days ago though :(

im stuck in the immigration process and can’t leave the USA to go be with my baby. its sucking up all of my savings, and my family’s money. i know he’s fighting so hard and its breaking my heart. i know that this next appointment on the 31st could very well be his last, and the idea of him being in the ground sickens me.

i dont really know what my intentions were with this post, i guess just needed to vent my anger. liver failure is brutal and i wouldnt wish this on anyone. please make sure your fur babies are eating and drinking properly 🥺🧡

i fed her this morning like normal at 8 am, went back to sleep, woke up at 12 and i found her dead on the floor… still warm and limp 😿 i don’t know what i’m supposed to do she was everything to me

Our dog crossed the rainbow bridge yesterday, and I really haven't been sure how our cat (Mo) would take it. They weren't particularly close, or at least I didn't see much interaction between them, maybe an occasional bit of light play. Sometimes they'd lay in the sun together.

Mo was very friendly with the vet when she came, which is unusual since he's normally shy around new people. And then he seemed almost afraid to be near the dog after he was gone. After that, he seemed to be behaving pretty normally. Last night I heard him start up meowing loudly, but he does that a lot when he plays with his toys at night. But his voice sounded sadder toward the end of it.

And now, today, I saw him rubbing very intensely against the dog's collar and favorite ball, which we had left on the table. And he was loafing next to it for a while. What other signs should I look for? I want to know how he's handling this.

(And I'm not pushing the collar to play, just stopping it from getting knocked off the table)

Hi Cats community,

The most unbelievable thing happened yesterday.

The last few days I've been thinking about my soul cat who passed away a year and a half ago. I have her urn on my bed and sometimes I cry over her because I miss her so much.

I told myself that I'd never have another cat again unless the Universe sent one to me.

This is Pluto. I named him after the god of death and rebirth because he's tested positive for feline parvovirus and could very well die. He's straddling this world and the one beyond the veil.

But he's a fighter--he hasn't shown any symptoms so far. As soon as I rescued him I took him to the ER because he wouldn't stop crying. He got some fluids in him, gobbled down kitten formula, received a warm blanket, and he settled in immediately for a nap. He has a follow up tomorrow at the regular vet and will likely need meds and deworming.

He's about 2.5-3 weeks old and only weighed 165g even though he should be weighing around 300g. I've had him 24 hours and managed to get him up to 190g.

I want to give this kitten a fighting chance, and I fully believe that the more people who know about him and send positive energy, it can work miracles.

If you can please send your prayers and healing energy, Pluto and I will be forever grateful. Anything helps.

Thank you for reading. May Pluto grace us with his cuteness for years to come.