diff --git a/frontend/src/components/MarkdownEditor.vue b/frontend/src/components/MarkdownEditor.vue
index ac4d3790..8c4b74d2 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/MarkdownEditor.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/MarkdownEditor.vue
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
       default: null
     },
     acceptedStories: {
-      type: Array<{ storyID: number | null, issueType: string }>,
+      type: Array<{ storyID: string | null, issueType: string }>,
       required: false,
       default: []
     },
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/UserStories.vue b/frontend/src/components/UserStories.vue
index d54f0024..80702657 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/UserStories.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/UserStories.vue
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
     },
     addUserStory() {
       const story: UserStory = {
-        id: this.storyMode === "US_JIRA" ? null : this.generateNumericUUID(),
+        id: this.storyMode === "US_JIRA" ? null : this.generateNumericUUID().toString(),
         title: "",
         description: "",
         estimation: null,
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/UserStoryDescriptions.vue b/frontend/src/components/UserStoryDescriptions.vue
index f5f1dc50..290ab4bb 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/UserStoryDescriptions.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/UserStoryDescriptions.vue
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
     editDescription: { type: Boolean, required: true, default: false },
     gptDescriptionResponse: { type: Boolean, required: false, default: false },
     updateComponent: { type: Boolean, required: false, default: false },
-    acceptedStories: { type: Array<{ storyID: number | null, issueType: string }>, required: false, default: []},
+    acceptedStories: { type: Array<{ storyID: string | null, issueType: string }>, required: false, default: []},
     hasApiKey: { type: Boolean, required: false, default: false },
   },
   setup() {
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
   data() {
     return {
       userStories: [] as Array<{
-        id: number | null;
+        id: string | null;
         title: string;
         description: string;
         estimation: string | null;
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
   watch: {
     initialStories() {
       this.userStories = this.initialStories as Array<{
-        id: number | null;
+        id: string | null;
         title: string;
         description: string;
         estimation: string | null;
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
   },
   created() {
     this.userStories = this.initialStories as Array<{
-      id: number | null;
+      id: string | null;
       title: string;
       description: string;
       estimation: string | null;
@@ -118,33 +118,6 @@ export default defineComponent({
 
 <!-- Add "scoped" attribute to limit CSS/SCSS to this component only -->
 <style lang="scss" scoped>
-.animated-badge {
-  animation: Shake 3s linear infinite; /* Increased duration to account for the pause */
-  cursor: pointer;
-}
-
-@keyframes Shake {
-  0% {
-    transform: rotate(5deg);
-  }
-
-  25% {
-    transform: rotate(-6deg);
-  }
-
-  50% {
-    transform: rotate(5deg);
-  }
-
-  75% {
-    transform: rotate(-6deg);
-  }
-
-  100% {
-    transform: rotate(5deg);
-  }
-}
-
 .description-box {
   background: transparent;
   padding: 0;
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/MemberVotePage.vue b/frontend/src/views/MemberVotePage.vue
index 38b999ff..5430410b 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/MemberVotePage.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/MemberVotePage.vue
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
   },
   data() {
     return {
-      index: null as number | null,
+      index: 0,
       hostSelectedStoryIndex: undefined,
       draggedVote: null,
       voteSet: [] as string[],
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/PrepareSessionPage.vue b/frontend/src/views/PrepareSessionPage.vue
index efe1a2d9..2fad9d28 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/PrepareSessionPage.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/PrepareSessionPage.vue
@@ -289,6 +289,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
       isIssueTrackerEnabled: false,
       theme: localStorage.getItem("user-theme"),
       isJiraSelected: false,
+      generatedUUIDs: new Set<number>(),
       tabs: [
         {
           title: this.t("session.prepare.step.wizard.modeSelection"),
@@ -443,6 +444,14 @@ export default defineComponent({
         fileUpload.click();
       }
     },
+    generateNumericUUID() {
+      let uuid: number;
+      do {
+        uuid = Math.floor(Math.random() * 1e15) + Date.now();
+      } while (this.generatedUUIDs.has(uuid));
+      this.generatedUUIDs.add(uuid);
+      return uuid;
+    },
     importStory(event: Event) {
       const target = event.target as HTMLInputElement;
       const files = target.files;
@@ -461,7 +470,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
             const { title, description, estimation } = story;
 
             stories.push({
-              id: Math.floor(Math.random() * 2000000).toString(),
+              id: this.generateNumericUUID().toString(),
               title: title,
               description: description,
               estimation: estimation,
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/SessionPage.vue b/frontend/src/views/SessionPage.vue
index 6357d58a..57333590 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/SessionPage.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/SessionPage.vue
@@ -45,9 +45,6 @@
     </b-row>
 
     <div v-if="!planningStart">
-      <div id="catGifDiv">
-        <b-img :src="require('@/assets/LoadingCat.gif')" class="catGif" />
-      </div>
       <copy-session-id-popup
         :text-before-session-i-d="t('page.session.before.text.beforeID')"
         :session-id="sessionID"
@@ -330,7 +327,7 @@
           :host="true"
           :initial-stories="userStories"
           :card-set="voteSet"
-          :index="index"
+          :index="index!"
           :hasApiKey="hasApiKey"
           @userStoriesChanged="onUserStoriesChanged"
           @improveTitle="improveTitle"
@@ -343,7 +340,7 @@
         <user-story-descriptions
           :initial-stories="userStories"
           :edit-description="true"
-          :index="index"
+          :index="index!"
           :gpt-description-response="gptDescriptionResponse"
           :update-component="updateComponent"
           :accepted-stories="acceptedStoriesDescription"
@@ -373,7 +370,7 @@
         <user-story-descriptions
           :initial-stories="userStories"
           :edit-description="true"
-          :index="index"
+          :index="index!"
           :gpt-description-response="gptDescriptionResponse"
           :update-component="updateComponent"
           :isJiraSelected="isJiraSelected"
@@ -851,16 +848,16 @@ export default defineComponent({
     },
     acceptSuggestionDescription({ description, originalText }) {
       if (originalText) {
-        this.userStories[this.index].description = this.alternateDescription;
+        this.userStories[this.index!].description = this.alternateDescription;
       } else {
-        this.userStories[this.index].description = description;
+        this.userStories[this.index!].description = description;
       }
       this.onUserStoriesChanged({ us: this.userStories, idx: this.index, doRemove: false });
       this.updateComponent = !this.updateComponent;
-      this.acceptedStoriesDescription.push({ storyID: this.userStories[this.index].id, issueType: this.descriptionMode})
+      this.acceptedStoriesDescription.push({ storyID: this.userStories[this.index!].id, issueType: this.descriptionMode})
     },
     async retrySuggestionDescription() {
-      await this.improveDescription({userStory: this.userStories[this.index],description: this.userStories[this.index].description, issue: this. descriptionMode, confidentialData: this.confidentialData, language: this.userStoryLanguage});
+      await this.improveDescription({userStory: this.userStories[this.index!],description: this.userStories[this.index!].description, issue: this. descriptionMode, confidentialData: this.confidentialData, language: this.userStoryLanguage});
       this.updateComponent = !this.updateComponent;
     },
     closeModal() {
@@ -870,21 +867,21 @@ export default defineComponent({
     async aiEstimation({confidentialData}){
       this.confidentialData = confidentialData;
       this.showSpinner = true;
-      const response = await apiService.estimateUserStory(this.userStories[this.index], confidentialData, this.voteSet);
+      const response = await apiService.estimateUserStory(this.userStories[this.index!], confidentialData, this.voteSet);
       this.showSpinner = false;
-      this.toast.info(this.t("general.aiFeature.estimationToast.startingText") + "\"" + this.userStories[this.index].title + "\"" + this.t("general.aiFeature.estimationToast.endingText") + response, {timeout: false});
+      this.toast.info(this.t("general.aiFeature.estimationToast.startingText") + "\"" + this.userStories[this.index!].title + "\"" + this.t("general.aiFeature.estimationToast.endingText") + response, {timeout: false});
     },
     async splitUserStory({confidentialData: confidentialData, language: language, retry: retry}) {
       if(!retry) {
         this.confidentialData = confidentialData;
         this.language = language;
         this.showSpinner = true;
-        const response = await apiService.splitUserStory(this.userStories[this.index], confidentialData, language);
+        const response = await apiService.splitUserStory(this.userStories[this.index!], confidentialData, language);
         this.showSpinner = false;
         this.splitted_user_stories = response;
       } else {
         this.showSpinner = true;
-        const response = await apiService.splitUserStory(this.userStories[this.index], this.confidentialData, this.language);
+        const response = await apiService.splitUserStory(this.userStories[this.index!], this.confidentialData, this.language);
         this.showSpinner = false;
         this.splitted_user_stories = response;
       }