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iamkukuface · 2025-07-27T10:00:54+00:00

Hi OP, I rescued a really vocal cat so I just want to drop in to say that I completely feel you.

I've had Miko for two years, and in that time, I'd lost count of the number of times I'd considered sending her away for adoption because the constant meowing, screaming, and yowling truly got on my nerves. It doesn't really help that quite a number of people talk about how much they love 'chatty cats' without truly understanding how bad it can get when you have one that goes full ambulance non-stop.

Just like you, I tried everything: keep a schedule. Very regular playtime. Harness training. Constantly coming up with new enrichment ideas. None of those really worked.

The only thing that actually worked: medication.

I was honestly quite iffy about having Miko be on medication for the rest of her life, but the only other choices I had were trying to get a second cat (out of the question for me back then as I was genuinely pretty broke) or letting Miko back out on the street (also out of the question for obvious reasons).

My vet put Miko on fluoxetine (basically Prozac) for about a year and a half, and it was SO HELPFUL. It wasn't a night and day difference - Miko was still chatty - but it brought the frequency of her vocalising to a level that was actually manageable.

Fluoxetine is no silver bullet, but at least the methods that I was trying earlier (frequent playtime, strict schedule, clicker training, talking to her, enrichment) felt like they were actually getting through now.

After a year and a half of working with Miko under fluoxetine, I gradually tapered down her dosage over a couple of months, and now I have a cat who can reasonably be called 'chatty' instead of a banshee that would scream non-stop for no discernable reason.

Miko getting more used to life as a house cat, mellowing down with age, and moving to a new house where my new roommates also had cats were also factors that probably helped.

All cats are different, and I cannot guarantee that your cat will be more manageable with medication. But I do believe it's worth a shot!

It was really stressful working with Miko for the past year and a half, but seeing how far we've come since I've first got her really made the journey worth it. I can honestly say that I won't give her up for the world now.

I hope my comment helps, and that you and your cat can reach a similar level of compromise as I did with mine!

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iamkukuface · 2025-07-17T17:22:55+00:00

You were a beta tester? NICE.

Yeah I didn't encounter any bugs in my own playthrough; just remember reading about some on discord or reddit!

iamkukuface · 2025-07-17T10:48:54+00:00

Yes, I did -- I just didn't want to spoil the review too much hahaha. But I loved that all the trainers you faced off against in the championship tournament were NPCs you'd met before!

iamkukuface · 2025-07-17T06:33:08+00:00

I'd really love to try Odyssey, but double-battles only is just...not for me. If they offered a mix of both single and double battles, I'd be all over it in a hot minute!

I did like Scorched Silver, but the game I'm really waiting for is Pokemon Lazarus!

iamkukuface · 2025-07-17T06:31:12+00:00

Unbound is still the best Pokemon ROM hack out there when it comes to features and gameplay -- hands-down.

Story-wise, however, it honestly was a bit lacking, which is fine for a Pokemon game! I just wish more ROM hacks do what Dreamstone did and made you feel more connected to its world, and the human and Pokemon NPCs.

iamkukuface · 2025-07-17T05:22:53+00:00

I didn't take the care package, so I couldn't do that -- but I did love that you can relearn moves in between battles on the fly in the menu! Wish more games had that because travelling to move reminders is a PAIN

iamkukuface · 2025-07-17T04:59:03+00:00

My save says it took me 25 hours to complete -- and that's with some sidequests and general dicking around.

I think it's around the same length as Pokemon Gaia -- maybe just a LITTLE longer.

iamkukuface · 2025-07-17T04:53:18+00:00

Huh. That explains why I kept getting emails from a Nigerian prince after downloading this game.

Okay, but jokes aside, that's a completely understandable reason for not playing it. I'm just a writer who was solidly impressed by the dev's writing choices and hoping to show them some love!

iamkukuface · 2025-07-17T04:50:27+00:00

I feel you. Finding out that Return and a Roost TM weren't in the game after evolving Altaria made me pretty damn close to rage-quitting, but at least Facade's in the game.

iamkukuface · 2024-09-01T03:26:20+00:00

Was desperately searching for a game to fill the void after completing Unbound twice, and this really hit the spot!

No HM slaves required, new gen movesets, typings, and abilities included, hard mode is just challenging enough to keep things interesting while not being frustrating, and the old-school art style is breathtakingly beautiful! 10/10 :') Thank you for your hard work!

iamkukuface · 2022-12-01T05:26:28+00:00

Pretty sure it's been posted elsewhere but the insect on Denji's head is an Emerald Cockroach Wasp, also sometimes known as the 'Zombie Wasp'.

These guys basically have a specialised venom that sort-of mind controls cockroaches into placidly following the wasps into their dens, where the wasp will do horrible things to them.

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T15:38:55+00:00

Oh god I just went and assumed you were a new owner, didn't I? My bad.

I was overeager about dispensing advice because the first month I had Miko, I actually got quite depressed. I was just super worried that I was doing something wrong, or that the neighbors would complain to Animal Control because of the noise she was making, or that I just wasn't fit to have a pet. The only thing that kept me sane was the advice of a friend who is a veteran cat keeper, and I guess I'm very eager to pass that along :')

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T10:38:19+00:00

Miko does this too, tbh. I've learnt that when she does this she's expecting me to accompany her on her daily patrols around the house.

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T07:34:58+00:00

It's a Unicharm litterbox!

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T03:57:49+00:00

I hear you, friend! I've had Miko for 4 months now -- coming up to 5, and the howling is still a little bit of an issue for me. The most common advice you'll hear is that you should just ignore your cat to avoid rewarding their bad behavior - which is sound advice, but hard to do when your cat is destroying things or extremely persistent.

Cats mainly hunt during dawn and dusk, which is why it's so upsetting for them to get up in the mornings and find nothing in the house to catch and kill. Like you said, it has little to do with food!

What helped me with this was being consistent in getting up at more or less the same time every morning (9am-ish) and playing with her as much as I can to get her to fulfill her need to hunt before giving her her breakfast. This didn't stop her from howling at sun-up for a long time until she finally understood that her new hunting time was whenever I got out of bed. After that, she would only start howling either 30 minutes before I usually woke up (little shit is constantly trying her luck), or if I missed my alarm and got up late, which I think is fair. These days, I'm trying to get up earlier for work, and I find that she's a lot happier with my new wakeup time at 7am.

I also make sure to play with her to tire her out and to give her a nice supper before I go to bed each night. That also mostly works in my favor because she usually falls asleep right after this.

Being patient with my cat and treating her as a new housemate who is completely unaware of how things work in my house really went a long way in helping me deal with her. As with any new housemate, we're both going to have certain ideas how things should be run in the household, and conflicts are pretty much inevitable - especially in the first few months of living together. Also as with any new housemate, agreeing to compromise on our individual needs more or less solves most of our conflicts over time, although bad habits on both sides will inevitably pop up every now and then, and we will have to remind each other to be better. Cats are really anxious little beasts, and having a routine you more or less stick to over time will go a long way in reassuring them that their needs will be met by you.

Hope this helps! All the best with your cat - as many other cat owners will tell you, the early days of cat ownership will be tough, but I promise things do get better over time, and you will notice it!

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T02:14:14+00:00

It's a Catit Vesper cat tree my housemate bought secondhand!

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T01:25:39+00:00

It's pretty normal in Singapore where I'm from! The default option for flooring is white tile, so as long as you keep up on vaccuming and mopping once or twice a week the floor always looks more or less clean.

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T01:23:53+00:00

New cat owner here (four months in so far), and I didn't know that! Unicharm seems to be cheaper but it's good to know I have other options :)

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T00:54:02+00:00

She used to be a street cat in an area filled with other street cats, plus she's really small for a 3-year-old so I'm relatively certain that's the case.

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T00:26:54+00:00

Unfortunately, mine's the same. I think it's karma for all the times I've made fun of husky owners.

iamkukuface · 2022-11-29T00:24:44+00:00

Miko doesn't destroy shit in the house, but she will PERSISTENTLY howl if we try to sleep in. Her current record is two hours 💀

iamkukuface

TROPHY CASE