Introducing a new Kitten
Are you planning on adopting a kitten, but unsure about how your current cat will react? Here at Animal Friends we have an easy-to-follow set of tips on how best to introduce a new pet, avoiding all unnecessary stress.
Starting out slow
It may not always be in your best interest to just ‘let them get on with it’, despite your cat’s normal nature. By forcing your cat to interact with a newcomer straight away, your feline friend will be unsettled and may feel threatened and possibly attacked. Instead, build up to the introduction. By keeping both pets in different rooms, they can become accustomed to each others’ scent before they even meet, which will help them both to understand that the other is now a part of the household. This will help them become more relaxed when they do finally meet, although they will still be curious.
Introductions
A good tactic for the first introduction is to keep the kitten in a pen, thus allowing the two cats to meet in close proximity while keeping the bars between them, helping them feel safer. By placing both cats’ food bowls near the bars, you are allowing the cats to get used to each other’s presence, and over time they will become accustomed and react favourably.
‘Kitten-proof’ your house
Make sure you have the right kind of litter and food for the kitten; by keeping familiar patterns, you can help your kitten get used to its surroundings. You can slowly change a kitten’s food and litter over time, but in the early stages of adoption it is wiser to take things one step at a time.
‘Kitten-proofing’ should also benefit you! By protecting your furniture, you can help train your kitten where not to scratch, saving yourself the hassle of repairing or replacing damaged items. A scratching post sprayed with catnip is a fantastic and easy method to train your kitten where to scratch, and simply wrapping table legs or other exposed and ‘favoured’ scratching areas with plastic or sheeting can help your kitten learn.
Be Patient
In order to make the adoption a pleasant experience for your pets, you should aim to spend as much time as possible with all of your animal friends, old and new, ensuring that your kitten feels loved and safe, and your cat/s feel that the new arrival isn’t stealing all of your attention. Avoid causing any jealousy, allowing your cat/s to accept the kitten as a part of the home rather than as an intruder. With these tips your kitten will feel accepted and loved, and become another member of your family.
