Taking Your New Kitten or Cat Home – Joanne’s Furry Friend’s Advice
- Welcome Home: Because a new home can/will be extremely scary for your new cat or kitten, it is recommended that they are confined in a small room such as a bedroom or bathroom for the first couple of days. Please do NOT give them full run of the house immediately!
- A Few Days to A Few Weeks to Adjust: Cats survive in the wild by being extremely cautious and hiding in dark small spots – it’s instinctive. Please don’t expect your cat to walk into their new home like a Labrador Retriever – it almost never happens. It will most likely take an adult cat up to a month to acclimate to a new home! Be quiet, be patient, treat them like you would a newborn baby.
- Litter Box Access: Cats and kittens in a new environment need days, if not weeks, to start to feel comfortable, but they need easy and safe access to a clean litterbox. The litterbox should be in the same room as their bed and food dishes, but they don’t want their litter box right next to food and water – a few feet away should suffice. Please don’t make the cat travel very far to find their litter boxes through loud, bright or scary environments in the beginning of their adjustment period – it will lead to accidents! All of our indoor cats are litterbox trained (usually this is very instinctive) and it will only become a problem if you don’t follow litterbox rules.
- Kittens need to have easy access to an easy to enter litterbox near their food. They will usually go to the bathroom every time they eat, so in the beginning it makes sense to gently pick them up and put them in their litter box after they’ve eaten. Or to use the litter scoop to make scratching sounds after they eat.
- If you are adopting two kittens, they will usually go to the bathroom in tandem. So, the litterbox should be big enough to fit both of them at the same time. Be prepared, using their litterbox is usually a social experience.
- We do NOT recommend fancy self-cleaning litterboxes (especially if you are adopting two kittens – as the second one to go potty will get terrified if the self-cleaner turns on when they are in there!) or ones with covers or egg-like top entry litterboxes in the first couple of weeks or months! Please make the litterbox as easy access as possible!
- We like “World’s Best Litter” because it’s flushable, but any litter will work.
- Keep litterboxes clean! We clean our litter boxes multiple times a day. Cats are fastidious and will stop using a litter box if it is smelly!
- Inside Only: 90% of our rescue cats and kittens are going to INDOOR ONLY HOMES. It is one of our only rules. Kittens and Cats that are allowed outside have a MUCH lower life expectancy, get internal pesticides, risk being attacked by other animals and hit by cars. In addition, cats that go outside will bring fleas into your home – and nobody wants that!
- Flea control: If you have dogs that go outdoors, then your cat can get fleas. Most over-the-counter flea control will no longer work in Southern California. We highly recommend Cheristin once a month. However, if you don’t have a dog that goes outside, and your cat is indoor only, you won’t need to worry about flea control!
- Feeding: We don’t feel strongly about the type of food that you feed your new cat. Importantly kittens should have access to food and water around the clock. They tend to eat lots of little meals all day long.
- Water: Adult cats that eat only soft, canned food, often don’t need very much water. However, kittens need lots of access to water as they can easily and quickly become dehydrated and constipated.
- Bean Bag Chairs & Fluffy Comforters: For some reason cats and kittens often get confused by these items – they feel squishy like litter. You will need to be very careful with both of these types of items – nobody wants a cat to start peeing in those sorts of places.
- Outdoors: Once your cat gets a taste of the great outdoors, they will always be fixated on the idea of it. It is best to NEVER encourage your cat to go outside – the first time is a gateway drug to always trying to sneak out!
- Scratching Furniture: Cat should be provided access to scratching posts or to card board scratchers. They are instinctive scratchers and they need to have an outlet. If your new cat starts scratching furniture or carpet they should be corrected immediately, if a loud now and a hand clap doesn’t stop them then we recommend a water bottle squirt or the compressed air “Pet Corrector” (shot into the air, not at them).
- Cat Scratch Deterrent Tape can be placed on the arms of sofas etc. to stop scratching as well.
- Scratching Children: Kittens especially have sharp claws and they use them to get around – in addition to playing. Cats should never be allowed close to children’s faces and eyes, sometimes accidents happen. Keep your cat claws out of reach of faces!
- Soft Paws: If a kitten isn’t responding to the compressed air pet corrector (although I’ve never seen this happen, usually it just takes a couple of shots into the air to deter any unwanted behavior very quickly) then soft paws can be glued on the front paws. They need to be removed often to make sure they don’t grow into their paw pads. The directions for application need to be followed very carefully. Some groomers will help you apply them. This is a last resort but can be an option if little humans are getting hurt by sharp kitten claws.
- Rough Play: Don’t teach your kitten to attack human hands. Use a toy instead – once they learn to bit and rabbit kick human hands you could have a ferocious problem on your hands. They are just doing what you’ve taught them!
- String, Hair Ties, Yarn: Cats tongues only work in one direction – if they start to eat one end of a ball of yarn, they will have to just keep choking it down until they’ve swallowed it all. Keep your children’s stringy items away from cats and kittens.
- FVRCP Vaccinations: All of our cats/kittens will come with their first FVRCP vaccination. Veterinarians recommend a total of 3 FVRCP vaccination spaced every 3 weeks. The last FVRCP vaccination will usually be accompanied by a Rabies vaccination.
- Existing Pets: Don’t expect them to be excited about other pets in the very beginning. Don’t force interactions. We recommend keeping your new pet away from your existing pets for the first couple of days!
- Introductions between two cats can go horribly wrong. Have a squirt bottle on hand and make sure your new cat has had time to get used to you and your home before pet introductions occur.
- Introductions to dogs can also be tricky. Have a plan. Have control of your dog and be ready to step in. Cats have very sharp claws and your pup stands an equal chance of being injured as they do injuring your new cat.
Joanne’s Furry Friends – 858-883-4222 ([email protected])
Website: https://joannesfurryfriends.com
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