Party hard!

Cute cat deserves it.

Yup, first paragraph describes her perfectly. The second one describes my other cat, Siegfrieda the crosswords pro:

Bonus points: Kika meowing loudly because she “hunted” something and wants everyone to see it. Typically a pen, some leaf that fell off in the patio, or an empty cig pack (she thinks that the recyclables bin is a toy box).

No es un gatito, es un gatón hermoso!

From the comments there:

mi perra tiene un gato del que yo soy la abuela y la cosa que morder.
my dog has a pet cat, I’m his grandma and the thing that he bites.

Love bites! I love and hate love bites.

When I adopted Siefrieda, the way that I introduced her and Kika (my older cat; she’s now 16, I think she was 10 back then) was like this:

• let Frieda in the carrier box. In the living room, so Kika could smell it.
• let cats each in one part of the house, split by simply closing the doors. In my case it was laudry room + patio vs. the rest of the house.
• switch the cats twice~thrice a day. That lets them get used to each other’s smell, plus it gives them access to both sides of the house. Typically when I went to sleep Kika would have the main part of the house, as unlike Frieda she was already used to her home.
• put their food on both sides of a glass door. At first they avoided eating at the same time, but when they were OK with it I knew that they didn’t mind too much each other.
• open a slid on the glass door, not enough for a cat to pass, but enough for a paw. Let them smell each other “on the live”. When Kika was mildly curious with Frieda instead of aggressive, I knew that I could let them in the same room and they wouldn’t fight.

Nowadays they aren’t best friends, but let’s say that Kika tolerates Siegfrieda like you’d tolerate a really annoying kid. The only main issue is that only one of them refuses to share a litterbox, but I’m fixing this.

Thank you guys for all those ideas! Sorry for the late reply.

A few highlights on ideas mentioned here:

• @0x0@lemmy.dbzer0.com’s idea of testing different litters might work. Frieda used to be a street cat, so she’d rather use dirt or grass (or finer litter), while Kika was always a home cat so she prefers more typical gravel-like litter.
• @atx_aquarian@lemmy.world mentioned odour removers. I didn’t try them, I used alcohol instead. Got to try it too.
• A lot of people mentioned smart systems that allow/deny entry for a cat based on the microchip. I gave those a check, and they’re outright expensive here in Brazil. (Import taxes are specially harsh on electronics, plus cost of living is smaller than in Europe and CA/US so stuff like 100 euros or dollars is actually a big deal here.) I might want to try a poor man’s version of that though, by not allowing Siegfrieda to access my bathroom at all, and placing Kika’s litterbox there.

A relevant detail that I didn’t mention is Kika’s age - she’s already 16, and cats get a bit stubborn when old (not that we humans are any different…). But I think that a mix of the solutions that you presented might work.

I’ll give it a check. If this exists (and if it’s available in Brazil, and reasonably priced) it would solve my problems really well. Thanks for the idea!

I’ll let you know if I find a solution. Your situation reminds me my sister’s cat though - he “used” the litterbox halfway (his front paws inside, his back paws outside), and then did it on the floor next to the litterbox. Might be worth checking if that isn’t what’s happening. (She solved it with taller boxes)

Even when cleaned, she still refuses it. I think that she smells “the annoying kid used this box, now it’s ruined forever!”. The only solution is to clean the litterbox with alcohol, retire it from usage for a few days (so she forgets about it), and then reintroduce as if it was a “new” litterbox.

As such I don’t think that the auto-cleaning box would help either.

Scratching post plus some gentle tutoring did the trick for my two. I like that they have something to scratch - it looks comfy as fuck, they stretch while clawing stuff.

I’m not too informed on that, but that table looks sensible as long as you keep in mind that their diet is mostly meat-based, so watch out for amounts. And it fits well what I’ve read across the internet.

The main problem regarding dairy is the lactose; it isn’t poisonous but they don’t digest it well. So dairy in small amounts as a treat is probably fine, just don’t overdo it. Soured milk is probably better than plain milk, as the souring likely consumes some of the lactose. Or yoghurt, one of my cats is crazy for that.

Past that, as a general rule:

• OK: gourds (pumpkin, cucumber, watermelon)
• OK: apple, banana
• never OK: alium (onion, leek, garlic) is outright poisonous
• treat it as “not OK” by default: other botanical fruits, unless you know that it’s OK
• OK, but don’t overdo it: non-meat animal protein (cheese, eggs)
• probably OK in small bits, don’t overdo it: if it has too much sugar, salt, or fat (ice cream, peanut butter)
• not OK: if it could give you food poisoning (raw chicken)
• not OK: if it could mechanically harm you once chewed (chicken bones)

Mine licks the air or whatever is close to her, if you scratch a specific spot of her back, near the tail. We joke here that she’s bugged and needs to be restarted.

Hunter hiding himself in sight of his prey, ready to attack… with cuteness overload.

“new place plus old bed equals new bed” cat maths

Tica, don’t tell anyone, but even if you’re 16 the humans still want to pamper you like a little baby!