We've re-homed a cat - any top tips?

[IwishIwerewitty]

We have re-homed a gorgeous cat who I think is about 5 years old. He had to move from his previous home due to someone having allergies rather than any problems.
We brought him home yesterday and he seems to be fine. He is very friendly and is with us quite a bit, but pops upstairs when he wants some quiet.
I have bought some food (Sainsbury's dried as that is what he had before - well dried, don't know about the Sainsbury's bit), he has his litter tray which he has used for pees, not done a poo yet. I don't think - hope I don't find a surprise anywhere!
I have two DC's - 16 months and 3.5 and he is Ok with them and I am teaching them to be gentle.
So - I need to get him a vet, also should we look at pet insurance; is it worth it for cats?
My main concern is letting him outside. He is a very outdoorsy cat and his previous owners didn't have a cat flap, just let him in and out when he wanted. We have glass doors and don't know if we can get a cat flap in, so I'm hoping he will let us know when he wants to come in and out.
How long should I keep him in for and how will I know when he is ready to go out?
We have a lot of cats in the neighbourhood, will he be OK making his mark and getting a territory?
Think that's it. I'm quite excited as he is so lovely and it is great having another personality in the house.

If he's going to go out then definitely get him insured.

One of my cats was bittn on his tail by a fox and it became infected to the point the vet said he thought he'd have to aputate. Luckily a couple of doses of antibiotics saved his tail but it was still expensive as there were lots of vet visits and x-rays. Same cat had an abcess on his ear caused by a fight and it spread to his brain. He ended up needing surgery. After all the vet visits, surgery, three nights at the animal hospital and tablets it cost about £2000.00.

I wouldn't let him out yet. Let him have a week or so to get used to you all and his new home. Whenever I've had a new cat I've taken them out in the garden in my arms and had a wander around so they can see what's out there and how to get back in the house again. You could start that now but make sure you have a strong-ish grip on the cat. When you do let him out for the first time do it on a day when you're going to be in all day so that you know if he has come back or not and don't feed him before he goes out. He'll be more likely to come back if he knows breakfast will be waiting for him.

If you get a cat flap then get one you can lock so that you can keep him in at night.

Good luck.

Cats protection advised us to keep our cat in for 4 weeks before letting her out. We managed 3.5 before cracking As this cat is used to going outdoors I think you'll struggle for that long but I would definately keep him in as long as you can.

He is already looking wistfully outside and it's been about 24 hours! Poor thing. He is currently asleep in my DD'd drawer. So sweet.
I will look at pet insurance. Another insurance to add to the list. I swear half our income goes on insurance!

Amandoh - would you recommend keeping him in at night? I had assumed he would be OK..

I agree keep him in for a week or two at least and get him insured.
I never thought there was much point insuring cats but when we ended up with 3 I thought about the reality if we had to pay for vets. And unfortunatly one of mine got injured and vets bill was £280 luckily we were insured as I wouldnt of been able to afford it as we had just come back from a holiday.
We let our cats have access to the side room at night and theres the cat flap so they can go in and out as they please. Depends on how close you are to busy roads perhaps?

I have always tried to make sure that all of mine are in at night as I read (Years ago) that the majority of cases of cats being knocked down by cars or being injured in fights happen at night.

Aside from the safety aspect...
They are a bloody nuisance crying to get in at 4.00am!

Ha! Yes I can imagine.
We will keep him in for at least 2 weeks then and see how it works out with him going in and out.
Thanks for everyone's advice.

Hi there,

Absolutely get your cat insured! It is worth it's wait. Cats tend to get into lots of scrapes as they're outside climbing trees and "free-running" a lot (love that advert...).

We had ours insured by Argos, very reasonable price.

Unfortunately our gorgeous cat became ill last October after having had no problems at all and died the same day. She was only 6. Argos not only paid out all the money for her vets fees, but also her purchase price of £450! In addition, they paid out £100 (max) for her to have an individual cremation.

I know that sounds really morbid when you've only just got your cat, but it's just a case to prove that Insurance really is worth it. It gives amazing peace of mind.

Well done you for re-homing aswell! He's a very lucky boy!

He may be too old and set in his ways, but as a temporary measure you could try a collar and lead and let him out for a little supervised fresh air.

Our cat wasn't hugely impressed but at least I felt she got some air and a change of scenery.

When we rehomed our cat we got him insured (got a good deal through RSPCA fwiw. Don't let the cat out for a few weeks. Our cat is a sweet little thing, and there are a few cats in the neighbourhood so I was worried but she has her own little territory so I think your lil cat should be just fine.
Also I would think of getting your cat microchipped.

Yes definitely get him insured and microchipped. Also keep him in for a month if you can, then introduce him to the garden so he can scent it etc :p

I lost one of my cats to cancer and as he wasn't insured, the vets bill in total over a year of the illness cost around £1500.

I lost a cat to a road accident and some very kind person took him to a local vets who where able to trace me because of the chip. Well worth it.

Now my current cat has IMHA (immune mediated hemolytic anemia) fortunately is insured, but is a life long disease until it takes him

You can get cat flaps to go in glass doors, although I would recommend getting someone in to do it for you. We tried once, but ended up having to get a reglazed unit with a hole cut for the cat flap. Also with cat flaps try to get one with the magnetic tag that goes on the cats collar. We have had a few visitors :p Saying that my cat refuses to use the flap when we are in and "knocks" on the glass door until we let him in!!

Thanks everyone. We are looking at getting our doors reglazed and putting a cat flap in for him.
Will take a look at insurance now.
The neighbour hood cats came and stared at him through the window yesterday. Don't think they were very happy. Hoping he will be able to kick some butt as he is pretty big.
I feel all maternal towards him and chased them off.

If the doors are double glazed you HAVE to have new ones if you want a cat flap, as cutting into the existing glass will break the seal, and the world will end. Or something.

Depending on how your houses is configured, putting a tunnel through a wall might be an option. This is what we went for, as we have doubled glazed back doors, and what with the tiny replacement window having cost £90 we didn't want to replace perfectly good doors. So we have a flap on the inside, a tunnel made up of about five extender portions, and another flap on the outside.

My Neighbour just mentioned this - putting a hole in the wall - might be worth a look. Thanks

Please keep him in at night. A nice big cat is merely a nice big dinner to a fox.

Oh really? Blimey. A lot of foxes around here too - you can hear them at night.
I think in his previous home he generally came back at night anyway so hope he will do the same and we can lock the cat flap to keep him in.