I am getting my first cat today - advice very much appreciated

[tacal]

Hi all,

I am new to this board. I am picking up an 8 month old little girl cat today from the rescue centre. She is small, very cute and seemed very friendly.

As this is my first cat I really don't know what to expect. If you have any good advice, please share it with me. I am worried I won't do the right things for her to feel settled.

I have a 6 year old boy who is soooooo excited about the cats arrival. He has decided we should call her Julie and he says we can sometimes call her Jools as a nickname. Her name at the rescue centre is Milo.

Thank you

Aww how lovely. We will need to see pictures at some point.

My tips for settling in would be to give the cat a lot of space. Some cats will be super confident and start exploring immediately, others take a bit longer to sniff everything out, and others do the full on hiding for a few days.

How exciting! I should make sure your little boy understands that she will need to settle in her new surroundings before she is up for much in the way of playing or cuddles. Having said that it took our cat about 24 hours before he was in charge!
Make sure your cat has a safe place to hide eg under bed, behind sofa and somewhere high up to sit and watch what is going on - our cat sits on a blanket on the back of an arm chair.
I hope you and your son enjoy the new arrival

As above. It's best you leave her alone and allow her to approach you.

Put her cat carrier in a quiet corner and leave the door open for her to decide when to come out. Put her food and litter tray really close by so she knows where to find her things. It is well worth investing in a scratching post and moving her to it every time she scratches something she shouldn't like your sofa. If you have a large house it may also be worth having a litter tray upstairs to avoid accidents. Keep her indoors for the first few weeks until she gets used to everything. Your son may also enjoy some toys (easy to make but also loads of choices to buy from) so he can play with the cat.

She may surprise you and be super confident from the word go but if she is withdrawn don't worry, leave her alone and she will gain confidence very quickly.

SparklingCat came out and sniffed the whole house. Then deemed us acceptable.

Pointlesscat spent the first day in the wardrobe then the next day decided my lap was acceptable. By the end of week 1 all rules about him not sleeping on the bed had gone out of the window!

thank you so much for your advice. I did read your replies yesterday but didn't get the chance post a reply.

My son has named our little cat Julie. She explored for two hours and kept away from us and after that she would not leave us she wanted attention all the time. It was lovely.

The problems I have are:

1. She wants to sleep on my bed. If I put her out the bedroom she cries. Should I let her on my bed or be firm and let her be upset? I let her sleep on my bed last night.

1. She is not eating. Won't touch the dried food. Have tried pouches. She eventually took a little bit of lily's kitchen fish dinner this morning but only a tiny bit. Is this normal? What should I do, keep trying different food?

Apart from her not eating and keeping me awake all night everything has gone very well.

Thanks again for your advice.

In a strange place it is usual for cats not to eat (or need to poo) for a few days.. I worried about my kittens but they were fine after 2 days. Just make sure there is dried down, and water (but put water dish away from food as they don't like it nearby) and a litter tray somewhere easy for her to get to.

Let her on the bed :) It's their natural habitat and nothing is nicer that a warm cat in the morning :)

thank you medusal I feel better now knowing it is normal for her to be nervous about eating. Thanks for the tip about the water bowl. I noticed she wouldn't drink the water next to her food so gave her a different bowl in a different place and she took a drink.

I will let her on my bed. She does seem happy there

I say the same thing on every new cat thread but treat for fleas ASAP, lesson learned the hard way in my house.

Congrats on your new cat.

Ah - I now have kitten envy. Congratulations on your new arrival!
I would let your cat on the bed. Cat's territory is ruled by scent and the bed carries your scent really strongly so they will want to add theirs. Unless you have a real reason like allergies I would let her... there's nothing better than a cute kitty curled up on your feet when you wake in the morning.
Re: food, I would give her a chance to get used to it and try not to change it too much - cats aren't like us and don't like too much variety in their food in my experience.
Make sure you have lots of scratching posts and high up places she can have access too. You can get a great 'cat sofa' on amazon that allows them to scratch/exercise their back claws too and keeps them away from your furniture.
Enjoy!

Make sure the food and water are well away from the litter tray too!