Informablog post! ~How to welcome a new cat~

Hello again, people!

Sorry about last week's non-post. I tend to get emotionally disturbed when I'm sick (okay sometimes even when I'm not sick lol).

I've recently been caught up with trying to get Garfield adopted (more on him later) but I've noticed during my endeavours that most people have NO clue about how to handle getting ready for a new cat, whether it's a catless household or a home with felines-in-residence (I get questions like "Can I just take the cat and put him in the garden? Or can I feed the cat leftover rice from dinner? Or what do I need to buy for my cat?). As such, the experience served as a prompt for this week's blog post. Perhaps I can even self-promote any future adopters to this particular post in time to come! ;-)

Of course, these guidelines are by no means comprehensive, but it'll at least serve as a guidepost. Additionally, I may update this post as I get new information or suggestions, as it could be useful to others.

A. Questions to ask yourself:

 

So you think you want a new cat. Here's a nifty checklist of questions I've designed to see if you're ready for a feline:

1: Why do you want a(nother) cat?

2: Are you ready to commit the next 10-15 years (or longer!) of your life to caring for your new cat? Follow up questions:

- Do you have time and space for a cat?

- Have you considered accommodations for your cat if you have to travel?

- Have you considered the fees required for veterinary care of your cat (including but not limited to vaccinations and neutering surgery)?

- Are you ready to invest in cat toys and accessories?
- Have you considered on-going expenses for food and litter sand?

3: Do you have any other animals in residence? If so, have you read up on how to introduce new animals to each other?

4:Do you know  a cat's nutritional requirements? <-- Please read up on this BEFORE you get a new cat, or any other animal companion!

- Are you sure what a cat can eat and what it cannot or shouldn't eat?
- Are you willing to allocate the extra budget for the pet's special dietary needs?

- Are you willing to ensure your cat is given a safe food regime, and not just feed it human food?

If you've satisfied yourself with the questions above, then;

B: Getting ready for your new cat (cat-free)

There are plenty of websites to guide you on how to get ready for a new cat, so I'll just cover the bare essentials. I'm going to split this into two parts: cat-free and with felines-in-residence. 

You should already own a cat carrier before any of this. 

Please get your home ready for your new cat BEFORE getting it! Have a spare room, or a bathroom if desperate, allocated for your new cat. Buy a litter box, food and water bowls, a soft towel as a bed and one or two cat toys for the cat and put them in this room. The room should be devoid of things that can hurt a cat, like harmful plants (look up what plans are harmful to cats), wires, stuff hanging from the wall that're easily reached/detachable, etc.

If at all possible, have something of the cat's from its previous place of residence to bring with you into this room, so kitty will have some familiar smells to be at home with.

Right, now you've collected your cat, take it home in a cat carrier, talk to the cat in the car softly and comfortingly. Let it get used to your voice and smell. Once home, put the carrier in the catroom, open the carrier, quietly step out and close the door. This will be the hardest part: BE PATIENT! Do not try to rush the cat to get to know you. Let it feel at home and de-stress from moving to a new place. Remember, cats are creatures of habit and they HATE change.

Let the cat have its peace for a few hours before gently opening the door, being careful not to let it run out (though this should be rare cos a nervous cat will hide and freeze, usually inside the carrier), close the door, and add food and water to the bowl. As an extra incentive, give kitty canned food. The aroma should be more enticing than kibble, unless your cat is weird like mine...

Do NOT try to initiate any physical contact with the cat, unless it does so first. Say hi, bow to it, worship it if you must...but don't touch it unless it touches you first. Step out quietly, bowing to the cat all the way, and close the door.

By the time you reach day 2 or 3, the cat should recognise you as "food provider", so you've been upgraded from worthless slave to a servant tasked with providing munchies. Congratulations! Unless something is seriously wrong, kitty should be coming up to you with meows and giving you a few head rubs or so. Lavish attention upon the kitty. The amount of attention that is tolerated depends upon the cat's temperament. Do not force more than what is wanted. You're building trust.

Once you feel that the kitty is comfortable with your presence, you may let it explore the home. I am a firm advocate of indoor feline ownership (traffic accidents, catnappings, fights, fleas are but some of the reasons why I encourage this),  so before you let kitty out of the catroom, make sure your house is escape-proof and cat-safe. As before, all dangerous plants, wires, harmful appliances, should be kept safely contained when you let your new ruler explore its domain. Keep the door to the catroom open at all times so it can run back if threatened. Ensure all family members eschew loud noises and squeaks of "oooh kitty!". Let kitty get used to everyone before you give in to your need to lose control. This is also a good time to introduce kitty to scratching pads and posts, unless you fancy your furniture to act as such.

Unless you planned to make the catroom as kitty's permanent demesne, you may feel free to move the litterbox and other kitty paraphernalia from the catroom to wherever you want them. Well done, you have successfully introduced your new cat to your household!

C: Getting ready for your new cat (with felines-in-residence)

Assuming your first kitty was homed successfully somehow and that you now have a second cat destined to rule your home, here's what you can do.

Once again, prepare a catroom. If your first cat still has a designated catroom, you will need to prepare a second room for the newcomer. Again, with the necessary equipment as mentioned in Part B.

Collect your new cat as per normal. Have someone keep your current cat(s) hidden away, or locked up in a room somewhere while you enter your home. Put your new kitty in its catroom and do the same as Part B for the first day.

After the new kitty is used to you and interacting with you within its catroom, you can now take the new kitty's towel and bring it outside to introduce the towel to your resident cats. Similarly, bring something of the cats to your new cat and let it sniff their scent(s). Do this for a few days, and then let the cats meet face-to-face but without contact, as shown in the pictures below:

This way, they can get to know each other without resorting to violence. Some hissing and growling is normal. Do this for yet another few days, until they start to either ignore each other, or just meow at each other without any aggression.

Finally, let the cats meet under your supervision. They should be sufficiently used to each other by now to decide whether or not they hate the newcomer. They will sniff each other and possibly shift into play if all goes well. Be happy even if they ignore each other. Friendship will come. Conduct close supervision for the first week to ensure they don't fight. Keep your new kitty in the catroom when you're not around, or ensure they're otherwise separated. Things will settle after a week.

In rare cases, hate happens, for whatever reason, and you might have no choice but to return your new kitty if you notice any severe bullying occurring. Do NOT under any circumstances, dump the cats out on the streets or worse, put them to sleep for fighting.

Also learn to distinguish playing and fighting. Cat-play often resembles fights, but without the accompanying noises that characterize aggression (hissing, spitting and growling). They will wrestle and take turns to chase each other, and if play gets too rough, the "victim" will yowl and protest. This is all fine. Sometimes they get carried away and a mini-fight ensues where both parties disengage. As long as no prolonged growling at each other occurs, they will very likely resume play after a minute or two with no grudges.

D: Miscellaneous information

After vaccination, your cat(s) will likely feel unwell for a day or two. Isolate them from your other cats so they won't disturb the sick kitty. Do not bring them all for vaccination and/or neutering at the same time, as it will complicate your life and give you a lot of work to do.

Run an internet search on what foods a cat is allowed to eat and what is dangerous for them. Do not make a habit of feeding table scraps to them. Today you might feed them steamed chicken from your plate, which is safe. Next week, after you're in the habit of feeding them from your plate, you might give them a piece of chicken from your tomato-based pasta without thinking, and this is toxic to them. 

Remember that cats are obligate carnivores, which means they MUST have meat. Please do not try to humanise cats and feed them a "vegan" diet. You'll be torturing the animal and chances are your cat will fall ill and die early. In which case, I hope YOU die early too.

Cats do not require baths often, but if you must bath them, do it at most once a week, and keep them dry. Do not blow dry with the "hot" setting on, and do trim their nails before bath time, for your sake.

Some guides recommend the number of litter boxes in your home should be <amount of cats> + 1. I have found that having just one (that you clean regularly) for a solo cat is sufficient. However, if you have more than one cat, there may sometimes arise territorial disputes, and having more than 1 litter box per cat can be advantageous in the event of short cat fights (yes they do happen, think sibling rivalry). Put them in separate areas in the house so the "loser" of the fight has somewhere to slink to for its toilet. So if you have 2 cats, you might want to consider 3 litter boxes, 3 cats to have 4 boxes, etc.

E: Kitty updates

Garfield is currently under the care of a lady who expressed the wish to adopt him. We are still working out the kinks on how to fit him in with her current felines, but with any luck, he'll settle down. If not, yours truly will collect him and try to rehome him again. Please pray for Garfield's happy future!

Garfield with his new foster mummy

 

Maxie seems to have gotten over his loss pretty alright, but she's been used to me taking Garfield away for days in between so hopefully she isn't taking it too hard.

Coming up next week (barring any more meltdowns :X) will be the story of how Maxie and I met nearly 2 years ago, as per the requests of some of the readers!