Introducing Kitty to their New Home

Introducing Kitty to their new home

It is so exciting to bring home a new kitty that we may forget that they are leaving their family and all the sounds, smells and experiences they have come to know.

Before you bring kitty home, you will need a few basic items:

Cat litter tray – we recommend one that is 24” x 12” x 6” deep
Cat litter - we recommend Worlds Best Cat Litter or Swheet Scoop. They are both 100% natural
Scratching post - our favourites can be found at Cloud 9 Cat Trees. They have a nice long scratching post so that kitty can continue to stretch out and scratch as they get bigger. Many scratching posts do not allow for a full-grown kitty to really stretch out and scratch.
Cat food – Since cats are carnivores, we strongly recommend a raw diet. If you think of human babies that are breast-fed vs bottle-fed… can you recall the difference of the odor of their stool? Breast-fed babies stool smells much better than formula-fed babies because their natural diet is breast-milk. The same is true with kitties. Their natural diet is raw. When eating raw, you will rarely notice the stool in their litter box. You can almost always tell when they are kibble fed. Please see our introduction to Raw and Basic Raw Diet. If you do not want to feed true Raw, then you can also find freeze dried raw at pet stores. Please keep in mind that commercial raw foods are not held to the same standards as human grade. If you find your kitty doesn’t like the commercial raw you are feeding, it could be that they are using dead carcass rather than healthy meats. Try a different brand – or perhaps try making your own. If you are feeding a processed kibble diet, we recommend Royal Canin Kitten for their first year.
Cat toys - This feather wand will be your favourite interactive toy with your new kitten. They know how to play with this ;)
Remembering that kitties will be anxious over leaving their mom/siblings and humans that they have grown up with – they will cry (meow) more often. This is not because they are ‘crying’, it’s because they are calling to their family. When this happens, pick up an interactive toy to distract them a little. It’ll help them readjust quicker to their new home. We love the feather wand to help with this.

When you introduce kitty to their new home it is best to start off in a small area (such as a bedroom) until they get used to their new surroundings. Make sure it is kitten-proofed, putting away all wires and anything else a kitten could accidentally hurt themselves with. I’ve often used this safe room as a kitten playpen for the first year of life… to use when I’m sleeping, at work or unable to watch over them. Keep all of kitty’s necessities in here. Put kitty directly in the litter box and let them find their way around their new space from there. How often do people welcome kitty home ~ but never show them where their new bathroom is?! The food and water dish should be in view of the litter box to start off with, but not close enough that it could become contaminated by the litter. (about 4-5 feet away).

As they get used to their new home and humans, make more of it available to them. Try doing it in stages if at all possible. At any point if you find that the kitten looks stressed or has accidents, take it back to the step immediately prior to that one. It may sound like this could take a long time to help your kitten adjust, but in reality, it’s only a couple days. If you have a large home, or a couple stories, perhaps using a litter box on each floor until they are older is a great idea. If you think of a kitten as a toddler ~ when they are playing, they are often having too much fun and wait until it’s too late to make it all the way to the bathroom on another floor. Once they are about 6-8 months old, you can reduce the number of litter boxes. (This too should be done in stages. Keep a litterbox that has no litter in the location you would like to remove until you are certain they are only using the other litterbox before removing it.)

It’s always a great idea to carry pet insurance on a kitten for a minimum of their first year of life. It’s when they’ll explore and get into things – some of which they shouldn’t. It’s also when you’ll learn about all the things they do. Of course, it’s a great idea to keep insurance ~ but especially during their first year.

If you have any other animals, only allow supervised interaction until you know that they are comfortable with each other. Even then, always supervise access between species for a minimum of the first 6 months together. Accidental deaths can be avoided.

It is so exciting to bring home a new kitty that we may forget that they are leaving their family and all the sounds, smells and experiences they have come to know.