Much like trying to hold on to an eel, cats are a slippery bunch and the moment you think you have mastered a weird or annoying behavior of theirs, they will find a way to make a comeback. So today I am sharing some crafty cat hacks that will hopefully help you stay at least one step ahead of your clawminal cat child.

It is not often that I will delve into the pages of Reddit's r/CatTraining subreddit as I truly believe there is little hope for a single brain celled orange cat to ever learn tricks, but this time I found myself looking for help to stop my feline lunatic from consistently making my life miserable. At this point I am his feeder and cleaner and his demands for both keep growing with each clawminal event. So you can imagine my delight when I finally found a collection of pawrents who similarly have been struggling and came together to share their very best cat hacks.

Finally an answer to the troubles that have been keeping me up at night, I thought to myself. And I was indeed correct. The ideas that these pawrents have brought forth are nothing less than genius and cover a wide range of behaviors and corrections all the way from the pawrent who leaves trash on the floor for her cats to play with, to the hooman who learned to outright ignore his cat child's clawminality as it fostered a positive reaction from the cat as they received attention. So no matter what your kitty has done to disrespect our authority in the house, and no matter how dire the situation might feel, I believe you will find some solace and cat hacks to help you amongst this list. 
 

Have you agreed to a favor, only to find yourself stuck in a loop of doing it over and over again for the same person?

My sister, for example, asked me once to go pick up a package from a clothing store, because I live near by it and it's easier for me to drop by there and pick it up. I agreed, once, wanting to help her out, and since then, I have picked up at least a dozen other packages for her, all on different occasions.

Now, while I love my sister and enjoy helping her out, I am not her delivery person, and at some point, it stopped feeling like I was doing her a favor and became a weekly errand that I didn't know how to stop. And the most annoying part was, I knew that if it were the other way around, she would have no problem telling me she can't do it. Me, on the other hand? I was simply too nice to set any boundaries.

I wish I could say that I stood up for myself and told her it was becoming too much, but the reality was that I eventually moved, and the clothing store she liked ordering from was no longer close to where I lived. It became unreasonable to ask me to pick it up, and she caved and started paying for delivery. I am still slightly disappointed with myself that I never told her how I really feel about all her "favor" requests.

At least the employee in the story below decided to stand up for themselves and tell their coworker that her demands are crossing a line. After agreeing to pick up her lunch one time, it became a daily occurrence. Even on days that the employee didn't have any reason to leave the office, they still spent their lunch time picking up an order for someone else. 

One day, they decided it was time to put a stop to it all.

Every great nap comes with consequences.

Waking up looking put together is a luxury. Most mornings are a little less polished, and these cats are living proof. Whether it's one stubborn tuft sticking straight up or an entire coat that looks like it wrestled the blanket and lost, bedhead doesn't discriminate.

Every nap seems to come with its own hairstyle. A few minutes curled up in a sunny window somehow turns into fur pointing north, south, east, and west. Long-haired floofs wake up looking like they've been caught in a windstorm, while short-haired cats somehow manage to create one perfectly rebellious patch that refuses to lie flat. No amount of grooming can erase the evidence fast enough.

Fortunately, cats don't seem to lose any confidence over a questionable hair day. They still strut into the kitchen demanding breakfast, march across the keyboard during an important email, and supervise every household activity like nothing is out of place. Looking like they just rolled out of bed has never stopped a cat from acting like royalty.

Every cat pawrent has watched their feline emerge from a nap looking completely different than they did just an hour earlier. One ear disappears into a puff of fluff, whiskers point in impossible directions, and sleepy little faces somehow make the whole look even more purrfect. It's the kind of adorable chaos that's impossible not to laugh at, especially when the cat seems completely unaware of what's going on above their eyes.

Thankfully, a quick grooming session usually gets everything back where it belongs. Until the next nap, anyway. These delightfully disheveled felines remind us that bedhead isn't something to be embarrassed about. It's simply another part of a cat's daily routine, right alongside stretching dramatically, demanding snacks, and pretending they definitely weren't asleep five seconds ago.

This little orange stowaway picked one unforgettable place to ask for help.

Reddit's r/CatDistributionSystem subreddit has seen kittens show up in all kinds of strange places, but under the hood of a car has to be one of the more nerve-racking deliveries. Thankfully, this little orange guy made enough noise to let everyone know exactly where he was before anyone turned the key.

The kitten was discovered perched on top of the transmission after his rescuer heard him meowing beneath the hood. Getting him out took a little patience and a spoonful of wet food, but once he realized help had arrived, he happily traded engine grease for a much cozier place indoors.

After a much-needed bath to wash off all the grime, the orange adventurer settled in almost immediately. He proved to be just as sweet as he was curious, making himself comfortable like he'd been part of the family all along. One of the cutest moments came when he met the family's dog, with the two sharing gentle little nose boops that made it seem like they'd already decided to be best friends.

With three resident cats and a dog already running the household, keeping him wasn't the plan. Instead, the family found a solution that feels just as heartwarming. The little orange guy will be heading to the home of a close friend, where they'll still get to watch him grow up knowing he's safe, loved, and exactly where he belongs.

It's hard to imagine a better ending for a kitten who started his day covered in engine grease. One loud little meow was all it took to turn a dangerous hiding spot into the first chapter of a very happy forever home.

Host with the most

I have the strongest opinions about this story, but let's bear with her, because I presume we all know what it's like to be in love and how hard it is, sometimes, to see the red flags for what they are. It starts with a long-distance relationship; can you guess where it ends?

Sometimes someone is just not built for a job, is fine to just give up.

The corporate world is always criticized, but they have one great thing that should be applied in every single kind of job, training. Having a specialist in their field explaining things to someone who has never been in the industry before is actually amazing. Is a great way for the new hire to learn about the company and the best ways to do the work, and it is also good for the longtime employee because they get to have a fresh view that can be helpful to automate processes or to see how customers may see their services. Is a great way to keep a company always evolving and up to date. And it also produces great new workers who are following the steps of an already excellent employee. It also makes the working environment more friendly as it breaks the ice between new hires and previous employees.

Even though it sounds like a great idea with really positive outcomes, it has its problems. The training has to be for a certain period of time, during which a great employee will not be working or performing their job as usual. This may cause problems due to a lack of available employees. Also, some new hires may need a lot more training than others, causing the training step to extend and lose a valuable employee for longer periods of time. Something that is also a problem but not really taken into account usually is the fact that many longtime employees don't want to be training new people. They just want to do their job, and this training may seem like extra work for them.

This Reddit story got me to think about that last point. Nobody really asks the longtime employee if they want to train someone. They just have to. In this case, the employee had no problem training, but when faced with a difficult new hire that wasn't really learning, he didn't get the support he needed, which made him lose a lot of valuable work time to someone who could just have been helped by somebody else. All the training shows as extra work to an employee who should have only been doing his job. 
 

What goes inside an orange cat's mind?

I think I have to confess that orange cats are my absolute favourite. Maybe it's because of Alice in Wonderland… I know that the smiley cat is not orange, but kind of is… right? Anyways, in my head, that's how orange cats are: funnier, sassier, and more intelligent than the rest of the cats. And also, they are stunning. When the sunlight hits their fur, you can see tiny golden bits that make them look majestic and so beautiful. 

I also feel like orange cats have somehow built an entire reputation around being delightfully unpredictable. Every cat owner thinks their pet is unique, but orange cats seem to inspire stories that sound completely made up. You'll hear someone casually mention that their orange cat learned how to open cabinets, stole a loaf of bread, or spent an entire afternoon yelling at a ceiling fan. Somehow, everyone just nods and accepts it because that's exactly the kind of behavior you'd expect from a ginger kitty.

Maybe that's why people love them so much. They're full of personality in a way that's impossible to ignore. Even when they're doing absolutely nothing, they manage to look like they're plotting something ridiculous. One minute they're stretched out in a patch of sunlight looking like royalty. The next they're trying to squeeze themselves into a box that's clearly three sizes too small.

And honestly, I admire that energy. Orange cats move through life with a level of confidence most humans can only dream of. They don't spend much time worrying about whether something is a good idea. They simply commit to the bit and deal with the consequences later, which is probably why they're responsible for so many unforgettable internet moments.

Also, since I know all about memes, and more specifically cat memes, orange cat memes tend to be more entertaining. I think this is because they know how to showcase the craziness of these specific cats the best: with crazy stories and pictures of cats doing just the weirdest things out there. I'm sure you'll love the memes that I gathered for you.

If your cats could laugh, what do you think would make them laugh the hardest?

Looking at hoomans, we all have different jokes or bits that never fail to make us laugh. There are those who love a good fail completion of people falling down or dropping things in a funny way, and then there are people who enjoy a good dad joke and a silly pun.

We assume it wouldn't be hard to guess what our favorite form of humor is, since we run a silly site that's based on the best memes the internet could offer. But since we surround ourselves with the best form of humor every single day, and genuinely find ourselves laughing out loud at a howlarious meme every couple of minutes, we can't help but wonder if our best feline friend would have laughed too.

Good pawrents generally know what their beloved cattos love to do for fun. They are familiar with their pets' favorite toys and whether they prefer a long cuddle or a game of 'chase the laser'. But can you really tell if your cat is a dad joke type of fella, or if your fluffball would have preferred a sophisticated meme?

If only we could tell which one of the silly voices they make is actually their laugh, if that actually exists… Is it similar to their little huff of air they let out when they want attention, or is it more like a loud meow, a big declaration of their delight? Do cats actually feel amused, or is it just when they are playing with each other that they can sense a joy so strong that it can elicit a loud exclamation, the closest thing they could form to a laugh?

So many questions, and not a real way to answer them. But since we can't really ask our cats if they like feline memes, there is no harm in showing them some of the funniest ones and seeing how they respond, right? So please find our closest furry friends and enjoy this lovely collection of pawdorable cat memes.

If you don't treat your employees right, why are you surprised when they decide to leave?

The interesting thing about the story shared below is that it was shared by a manager who was shocked when one of their top employees decided to resign. Usually, we hear more stories from the perspective of the one who quits, in which they explain what exactly led to their decision. But, when you read the same story from the perspective of a manager, it finally sheds some light on what is going through their heads when they treat their employees so badly that they have to quit.

The manager who wrote the story below is genuinely baffled by the decision of their top-performing employee to quit, even though they explain it so clearly to anyone who reads the story.

You see, the company decided to do some restructuring of the team and the leadership, which led several people to be promoted, and some, like this one employee, to essentially be demoted. The employee is now lower on the organizational chart, and not only that, but he is also expected to train a new manager without anything in return.

To anyone reading this, it makes perfect sense why the employee decided to resign and refused any attempt to negotiate. It doesn't matter what the company's intentions were, or what their plans were for him in the future… He was being stepped on all over, and he refused to accept it any longer.

So why was the leadership so surprised when they heard of the resignation? One manager explains it all below…

Since when has a couple's personal finance arrangement become everyone else's business?

A couple with prenups, separate inheritances, and a full financial plan for marriage still can't seem to get past one detail: $700 a month in rent. His mom and sister call it unfair, his best friend finds it odd, and none of them seem to notice how much thought actually went into this arrangement. This isn't a story about money; it's about who still thinks they get a vote in someone else's relationship.

The CDS has some funny ways of delivering its fluffy packages sometimes. 

Every once in a while, we encounter a "normal" cat adoption story. You know, the kind where a person walks into a shelter, carefully looks around and chooses the one kitty who feels right to them. This happens. But it's actually not normal at all. The most common way that people adopt cats is not by walking into a shelter and choosing one. No, it's actually the complete opposite. It's the cats who choose their humans, not the humans who choose the cats. Seriously. Ask a cat owner. Chances are that the story they will tell you will be a lot sillier. 

My cat followed me home randomly on Independence Day. My husband's cat randomly walked into his apartment on his 25th birthday. My best friend's two cats are ones that she found on the streets near her apartment, alone, sick, and in desperate need of help. For most of us… It just kind of happens. One day, we don't have a cat. The next day, our lives are completely changed. 

For the person who posted their story on r/CatDistributionSystem, it was exactly the same. They have thought about getting a cat in the past, but they never quite got around to doing it. Of course, they didn't need to. Their kitty ended up finding them, just like the rest of us. And the way he found them, we promise, was way more chaotic than they ever expected it to be. For four hours, this tiny ginger menace was loose in this person's store, wreaking havoc everywhere until he finally allowed himself to be caught. It was his final hurrah before becoming a house kitty. He did it because he thought there was a rush. He doesn't know yet that you can cause just as much chaos in someone's house as outside of it. 

Divorces are hard for cats too, but normally, they at least get to stay with one human. For both partners to abandon their cat is just… cruel. 

Adopting a cat as a couple is an amazing experience. The cat is something that you both love, that you bond over, that makes you stronger together, that maybe even prepares you for other itty bitty creatures you will grow together. But it also comes with a risk. If the relationship ends, what do you do? Where does the cat go? Who gets to keep the cat? We've heard of custody battles over cats before. They're terrible, but they do happen, and they do end, and the kitty gets to go home with at least one of its humans. We have never heard of both sides of the divorce abandoning their cat. 

The kitty in this video wasn't just abandoned by her owners in their divorce. She was old, sick, and in need of help and love. In retrospect, looking at the state she was in, it's almost easy to say that them giving her away was better for her. She was neglected at home, dehydrated and unloved. It was pure luck that she was brought to this shelter - to a human who actually cared about he, because the couple who gave her away simply put her up for free on Facebook Marketplace. Any adopter would have done - just to take her off their hands. Honestly, they didn't deserve her. 

When this senior cat got to the shelter, hungry and thirsty, you would think that the first thing she would run to would be food and water, but it wasn't. More than anything, she wanted human contact. She wanted pets, and she wanted love. Maybe in the past, things were better for her at home. Before the divorce and the toxicity at home, maybe they actually showed her love. Because she clearly knew what it was like to be loved by a human. That was what she wanted more than anything. And now, in the hands of the shelter employee who is turning her whole life around, helping her get healthy again, she has an actual chance at living the rest of her life happily. 

You know it's a bad situation if the vets don't want to give him back.

People adopt cats for all different reasons. Companionship, love, because they're cute, on a whim, they receive them as a gift, or they simply inherit them. But, no matter what the reason, if you don't want to care for the cat fully, to make sure it lives a safe and healthy life, then please, give it to someone who will. No cat deserves to be forced to survive outdoors and only get your love and care when you want. That's not pet ownership. A cat is a commitment, and they deserve 100% of your love 100% of the time. 

If you adopt a cat and make it live outside, like our matted "stray" from Reddit's r/straycats community, then you're not giving it the life it deserves. A neighbor noticed them wandering around outside for months, but it wasn't until a caring couple took them in, assuming they were a stray. So when they took the cat into the vet to check for a microchip, they were shocked to find out they had one. And even worse, the original owners wanted them back.

This is a question we come across a lot here at I Can Has Cheezburger. What is more impurrtant, a cat's well-being or the "rights" of pet ownership? Obviously, we do not encourage stealing. But, do you really maintain your "right" to an object you mistreat? Technically, yes, but morally, no. Keeping a cat just for your benefit and not caring about the actual state of the cat is not how an owner should be. Do better.

Our couple and the cat's story continues below.

Is the office bathroom the new water cooler?

Remember in movies when office culture always made the water cooler station gossip central for employees? Apparently, hydrating was code for yap o'clock. But, we're all about the personal water bottles now, so going to the water cooler isn't much of a thing anymore. Does that mean bathroom breaks are the new time to chat?

According to Redditor u/Neat_Caterpillar_ and other Redditors commenting on her story, bathroom breaks at work are most definitely not the time for a conversation. And I wholeheartedly agree! Like, leave me alone, Karen, I'm trying to do my own kind of business. Dang. How stressful it must be to have to worry about an employee pinning you down for a chat every time nature calls. This Redditor just got her first "big girl job" and she's loving it. Except for one little thing, the office chatty cathy. She's a sweet older lady co-worker who just seems excited to have another woman in the office, but she always, I mean always, gets up to go to the bathroom at the same time. Then, while they're literally both in stalls doing their thing, she keeps a conversation going. 

"So when my bladder is just trying to do its thing while I'm also expected to hold a conversation, that is not peaceful. At all," the Redditor says. We're all about scrolling on the company dime, and that tends to happen most often in the bathroom. This chatty cathy, however, is actually the "sweetest," so this new employee doesn't know how to get her to stop and not offend her. 

That's when Reddit comes in to help guide you on your most strange endeavors, even one where you have to tell a sweet old co-worker to let you use the bathroom in peace. 

Of course she was distressed, she was in labor!

Summer is a difficult time for stray cats. The relentless heat and lack of access to shade and fresh water make each day an effort to simply survive. Some cats are taken care of by neighbors, but others aren't so lucky. If you see a cat outside in the current heat and have room to spare in your garage or a small bathroom, please consider taking them inside, or at least giving them some fresh, cold water.

Thankfully, our stray from Reddit's r/catadvice subreddit found a heartwarming hooman to save her during the inescapable 100-degree heatwave. For the first few days, she was calm, even enjoying her newly found indoor life, until all of a sudden, she started meowing like crazy. Meowing so much that it started disturbing her new hooman's other pets. Unable to get her to a vet, and knowing she couldn't release her back outside, the two just had to wait it out, until it became purrfectly obvious why she was in distress: she was about to give birth to six kittens.

The kittens were delivered healthily, and if it hadn't been for this kind hooman, she and her baby kittens might not have survived. It just goes to show that one small deed can truly make a big change. This hooman didn't just save one life today, she saved seven. And now, these kitty cuties are looking for their furrever homes, and we can all breathe a little easier.

Frozen feet

Weddings are life-altering events; when we're getting closer and closer to them, our opinion changes, new fears arise, and we might feel called to call it quits. It seems that's what happened to this groom, who decided to run away right before his wedding, letting down everyone's expectations. Sometimes, it's okay to run away in fear, but there will come a day when you have to go back and confront everything you ran away from. It seems that he's not the type to confront at all, and he might stay on the run forever, but will his best man find a way to forgive him?

You thought your hat collection was good? Welcome to cat's hat supremacy.

These cats are here to humble your average hat collection and show you how it's done. No boring colors, no basic shape. Enjoy, and take notes. 

Should this employee be expected to inherit responsibilities that were never part of her job?

An IT employee is pushing back after management appeared to have assumed they would take over the workload of a departing coworker. The coworker was originally responsible for timekeeping, but eventually started handling payroll and business operations, expecting a promotion that never came. Now that he quit, the manager is expecting the OP to take those extra duties.

How unfair is it to up your daily workload because someone who took these extra responsibilities is quitting? This is not the OP's fault whatsoever, and she should not be the one completing these tasks without having a promotion or extra compensation to make up for it.

The worst part of all is that the manager is now saying that the new role has all of these extra responsibilities, and that's why she has to be able to complete them. In her defense, what does payroll have to do with IT? Nothing as far as I'm concerned.

I stand firmly with her in this story since this extra workload is not something she should be worrying about. Once in my lifetime, I started to please a boss that I had by taking over a bunch of extra stuff that was not related to my position. Although I ended up making more money, the amount of work and the stress that it caused me was not worth it. That's why there are detailed job descriptions that outlines were someone's work starts and where it ends, so there're no misunderstandings. 

Growing up was a trap, wasn't it?

Becoming an adult seemed a lot more exciting before it actually happened. Somewhere along the way, weekends stopped being about sleeping in and started becoming the only time to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, and all the little jobs that somehow piled up during the week. There are always dishes in the sink, something running low in the pantry, and at least one appointment you keep telling yourself you'll schedule tomorrow.

Nobody mentions how much time gets spent thinking about dinner, either. You finally figure out what to make, only to realize you forgot one ingredient. You stand in front of the fridge hoping inspiration will magically appear. Five minutes later, you're back in front of the same fridge with the exact same ingredients, convinced something must have changed.

The to-do list has a way of keeping itself alive. You answer one email and two more arrive. You put away the clean laundry, then notice the hamper is somehow filling up again. You finally remember to water the plants, pay the bill, return the package, and take the trash out, and for a brief moment you feel like you've completely figured life out. Then you remember you still need to make that phone call you've been putting off for three weeks.

The victories get smaller, but they somehow feel bigger. Finding twenty dollars in an old jacket pocket. Remembering to defrost dinner before leaving for work. Making it through the grocery store without forgetting the one thing you actually needed. Getting into bed and realizing you don't have to set an alarm for tomorrow.

Life has a way of making even the smallest responsibilities feel like a full-time job. That's why it's nice to press paws every once in a while and laugh at the parts everyone else is quietly dealing with too. If today's been one long checklist, you're definitely not the only one trying to keep up.

What is it with all these entitled customers and their way of expecting to have free things just because they demand them?

What is it with people and free things? You aren't going to have something that costs money for free just because you make a scene and demand it. You are a child with bad parents who can just throw a tantrum and expect every little –and big– thing they want to have it. It doesn't work like that. Things cost money. If you don't have the money to pay for something that you want, then you don't get it. It's that simple. People aren't going to make exceptions just because you REALLY want something. Work hard to get the money to pay for it or forget it.

The problem with entitled people, like the one in this Reddit story, is the fact that they think that just because they want something, they deserve it. As if employees and service workers owe them something, so now they can ask for anything they want for free. In what mind? These customers aren't only entitled, but they also don't think. A rational person would never think that just because they want something, they can get it, like with the story of that man who took food from the hotel pantry just because he was hungry, or this guest who wanted a free upgrade of his room. Nobody who actually thinks before they act would ever ask or do things like that. It's insane, and the entitlement service workers have to put up with is unimaginable.

A stop needs to be put to these kinds of customers and their attitude. Nobody deserves to be treated how customer service employees are treated. They can't put an end to it, as they don't have the power or authority to speak back to a customer. So companies have to set a limit. There is a stop to the disrespect they receive, and it needs to be applied now. Stop these annoying customers from mistreating staff just so they can get their way, and stop benefiting the people who complain for every single thing so that other customers don't take on the same attitude.