How to Welcome Home Your New Cat

Deciding to add a cat to your home can be both a wonderful time and a time of stress for many people. To make sure you and your new cat can begin bonding peacefully, we’ve compiled some pro tips and a few things to avoid. Do you already have one cat and are contemplating adding another? Check out this article first!

Preparing Your Home

Preparing the environment and your routine is incredibly important for cats. As we discussed at length in our article on the five pillars of cat needs, every cat needs safe places to rest, multiple spread out key resources, outlets for interactive play, positive human interactions, and respect for sense of smell. Right now we will focus on the key resources, but we highly recommend checking out the full article here.

“Key resources” refers to places for food/water, toileting, scratching, play, and rest. It’s a great idea to keep each of these areas separate from each other, especially the toileting area. It’s recommended to have one more litterbox than you have cats, so if you have a total of two cats, you should have three boxes in separate areas. For more tips on preventing house soiling, check out our dedicated blog post here. It’s also crucial to provide your cat with outlets for scratching. Scratching is a completely normal behavior, and studies have shown that punishing your cat for scratching actually increases the frequency of scratching! Get ahead of the problem by providing scratching posts all around the home.

When it comes to toys, we recommend choosing just a few toys, as cats are notorious for turning their nose up at most commercial toys, and they usually are much more interested in interactive play with a human than batting a mouse around on their own. In fact, we would be okay with you purchasing just one toy to start- a wand toy.

The Adjustment Period

Every cat is different, and the previous experiences your cat had before joining your household will play a huge role in how they adjust to your home. Speaking very generally, however, a good rule of thumb is the 3-3-3 rule. This says that your cat may get more comfortable after 3 days in your home, then more comfortable at 3 weeks, and you may see their true personality after 3 months. Things that can make this process take longer are a negative history with humans, spending a long time in a shelter, recovering from medical problems, or struggling to adjust to the presence of other animals in your home.

Here are some things you can do to help your cat adjust smoothly:

• Bring them home in a carrier covered with a clean blanket.

• Take the carrier straight from your car to a quiet safe space in the home where they can decompress for several hours to a couple days. Put everything they could need in that room. Check on them now and then but generally leave them be.

• Over the next few days, allow the cat to come to you instead of entering their space or touching them repeatedly.

• When your cat has relaxed body language around you (see image below), try playing with a wand toy or tossing some treats away from you so your cat doesn’t have to get very close to to you to eat them.

• Establish a routine as soon as possible by feeding and playing with you cat at the same times every day.

• Introduce to new animals very slowly, as discussed below.

  

Introductions to Other Animals

Introductions to other cats and dogs is one of the most common reasons cat caregivers seek professional behavior support. Cats will not just “work it out,” and allowing them to do so can cause injury and also make the process take even longer. The most important thing to remember is to take it SLOW. However slow you are thinking right now, think slower! Most cats need a minimum of 3 weeks to adjust to another animal, and it can commonly take more than 3 months. Less commonly but still not unheard of, it can take over a year for a cat to coexist with another pet. 

While we can’t break down every step of how to introduce your cat to another animal in this article, here are the general stages you will need to follow (only progressing to the next one when the pets are fully relaxed):

• Scent stage: Introduce each pet via collected scents only

• Visual stage: Allow them to see each other with a barrier in the way while they are occupied with toys or food at a distance

• Short supervised physical access

• Gradually increase access

Please note that it is no longer recommended that you feed your cats on either side of a door to introduce them to each other. It is better to feed them with several feet in between them.

When to Seek Professional Help

Behavior professionals can help with a very wide range of non-medical concerns and getting one involved early on can help things go smoothly, but we especially recommend you seek professional help if you are experiencing:

• Fights or conflict between pets

• A cat who spends most of the time hidden after a few weeks of being home

• Urinating, spraying, or defecating outside of the litterbox

Good luck with your new furry friend, and remember to be patient as you both adjust to your new lifestyle!