Prepare For Your Cat
What do I have to buy for the cat before I take her home?
Before you bring your cat home, you need to dash to your local pet supply store, and be prepared to fill your little shopping cart with the following. A litter box, preferibly two. The math is one litter box per cat, plus one. So you probably need to add two. Litter, obviously. There are many types to consider. You need to get a scooper. You need to get a collar and an ID. You need to get food. And work with your veterinarian to make sure that you've got good quality food that meets your kitten or cat's need. You need to get toys. Come on, spoil the little cat or kitten. They need to know that they're part of this family. Also important, save your furniture. I call it the SOS, Save Our Sofa: Scratching post. Make sure they're sturdy and have a little bit of angle to them, because cats have many different ways that they like to have their little pedicures done, and you don't want your couch to be the target of that need. Water and food bowls. And even a leash, believe it or not. It's always nice. Bedding. Cats are into comfort. They sleep seventeen hours a day. They need to have good places to perch and nap. So those are some of the things that are going to make "ka ching" when you out the checkout line, but they're very essential for your cat.
What is the best type of litter box for my cat?
I have to talk to you a little bit about cat bathroom needs, and we're talking about litterboxes. Litterboxes come in many shapes and sizes these days, I think that people in the designer world have gone gaga over litterboxes. You can have litterboxes open, the traditional rectangle size, you can have litterboxes with the hood, which lets the cat climb in it. There are dome-shaped litterboxes, there are litterboxes that blend into your furniture, and they look like a coffee end table but they're actually a litterbox. There are litterboxes that are actually two tiered, there are automatic litter boxes that supposedly self-scoop but there's always a hiccup. As you can see there's lots of choices of litterbox, but I prefer the open litterboxes or the ones with a hood if your cat is going to use it and if you will scoop that litter every day, because if you don't the danger of the hooded litterboxes is that all that odour just gets harboured inside the litterbox, and it stinks, and you know our cats can smell like ten thousand times better than we can, so be polite to them. Keep their bathrooms clean.
How do I prepare my home for my new cat?
A day or two before you bring home your cat and you're all excited, you need to take the time to cat proof your home. First, check your window screens. Make sure that they are sturdy. You don't want your cat accidentally sitting on the window ledge and, pop, falling out the window. Next check out your plants. You've got to make sure that they're not dangerous to your cats. Top of the list are Easter Lilies. Third, you need to make sure that there's nothing breakable on shelves that your cat may leap up and knock down and then walk on it and break so if you have your grandma's favorite heirloom sitting on that top shelf, put it in a cabinet, a glass cabinet, that your cat can't get into. Make sure that if you use any kind of a pest control, check with your veterinarian and talk to them to make sure you don't have anything that could be dangerous to your cat. Keep the cabinet doors closed. You may need to put those little child-proof latches on, you know, where you have your garbage stored or other kinds of foods that your cat could get into. So, just do a room by room survey and you'll feel a little bit more at ease when you bring your cat home.
How do I prepare my family to meet the cat?
Okay, you're ready to have your family meet the cat of your dreams, and the first introduction is really, really important. If you have younger kids, you have got to have a little sit-down, a little family pow-wow and say, "Hey kids, we're bringing this cool cat into our house. If we all run up to greet this cat, the cat's going to be very fearful and wonder 'Oh my gosh, what am I getting myself into?'" I always tell people you sort of sit still and let the cat come to you. Cats are not like little dogs that are going to leap in your lap and give you little kisses. Cats have a little dignity going, you know. They want to be able to meet you on their own terms. It sounds silly, but teach your kids to extend their index finger and let the kitties come up and rub their cheek against it. It's sort of a cat hello. They can amaze their friends on that and this gives the cat a little bit of calmness and thinking, "Hmmm, they're pretty young, but these are pretty darn cat-savvy little kids. I like this place." So calmness is very important, let the cat come to you.
How do I introduce the cat to her new home?
When you're ready to introduce your cat to her new home, take my advice. I have two cats, and they have moved nine times in three different states. And each time, it's been a harmonious introduction. The reason: when I first bring the cat in, I put the cats in a nice room that I've already pre-set up, that has all their kitty amenities. I'm talking about a window that the cats can look at what's going on. They've got their cat bed, they've got their water and cat food, they've got a cat toy, they've got a little radio plane. Then, what I do is then I gradually let the cats go room by room. Within a week -- or maybe even less, depending on the personality of the cat -- the cat should be able to have free access to the whole house. But expect what I call the perimeter prowl. What they do is, the cats walk and they walk around the baseboards, they go from wall to wall to wall to wall. And that's how cats sniff out their new environment. And let the cats do that. Don't baby them, just let them sniff and explore. Maintain a real calmness about you, like it's no big deal. "We're in a new place, you're in a new place, no big deal. You're going to like it here."Let the cats have certain escape areas. But be careful that the cats are not going to get trapped behind the couch or deep inside a closet. You can let cats be able to run under the bed, but keep the closet doors closed. And until they feel more at home, make sure that there's no little nooks and crannies, like by the stove, that cats can hide in and get in a bad spot.
How do I introduce my new cat to my old cat?
You're ready to bring another cat to your one-cat household. Well, you can't just go up there and think they're going to shake paws and be like long-lost buds. It doesn't happen that way. You know, cats like to be able to meet other cats on their own terms. Your role is to be the benevolent mediator. You do that by having the new cat spend a day or so in a really cool room with all the little kitty amenities in there while your other cat, the king or queen of the household for now, gets to still have the rest of the run of the house. And its kind of neat to watch because they really meet each other by smell. They smell each other under the doorway, and you might even see a little paw stick out and the other paw touches. And what they're doing is they're kind of checking each other out. After a day or so, switch places. Have your cat spend a few hours or so in that room while the other cat gets a chance to explore safely some of the other parts of your house. What you're doing is your kind of getting their scent in different places. Cats mark with their cheekbones. And finally, you need to take a little cloth and dampen it a little bit and rub it on your first cat then rub it on your new cat then rub it on your first cat again and let them exchange smells a little bit. Finally, when you are ready to have them have a face-to-face greeting, don't be alarmed if you hear a little hiss or something a little bit. And as long as the cats have escape routes and places to go that will be fine. It may take a few weeks or so for the cats to feel comfortable and check each other out, but be patient. Unless the cat is being physically injured, you should maintain a feeling of calmness and confidence around these cats so that they know, "Hey, we can get along. It is okay".
Should I cuddle the new cat if she cries during the first night?
If you have a new cat and they're in this strange new environment and they don't know where they are, it's probably likely that that cat might be crying out during the night. They're scared; they don't know where they are. This is your opportunity that you may end up cuddling a little bit with the cat, and it's OK. Some people actually put an alarm clock near the cat's bed. It mimics the momma cat's heartbeat, if you will. Just expect for the first few nights when you bring a cat or a kitten home, they may need a little time to adjust. You may not be getting that full eight hours of sleep, but sacrificing a little bit of sleep might go a long way in making that cat feel more at home quicker.
