New kitty is arriving on Sunday, how do I make it less stressful for him?

[Boonlark]

I'm adopting an older rescue kitty, who I'm picking up on Sunday.

I know it's going to be stressful for him, so what can I do to make it easier for him?

I've already taken a blanket in so that I can take it with him on Sunday. Anything else? Also is feliway helpful?

Watch Jackson Galaxy on you tube. You need to make a basecamp so new cat comes in and knows where their space is.... bed.... litterbox.... food and water.

YY to his own smell blanket
They should give you some food that he's eating , any changeover has to be very gradual.
Same with litter , keep with what he knows to start
Our little male was so shy , (he's improved a lot but still spooky). When he ventured out from under the table to cross the floor we all held our breath

He'll likely choose a space space , might be under the sofa .
His litter tray should be away from his food bowl/water bowl.

And all animals thrive on routine , it makes them feel safe and re assured .
They might give you 4 weeks insurance so you've got time to shop for good deals on cover .
Are you keeping his name ( we always changed names - New Name for a New Life )

Now .........photo ?

Following! We have a kitten coming in 6 weeks so looking at ways to make the move easy for her and manage 2 excited kids!

Hey :) a 10 week old moggie recently joined our house. He wasn't rescue because we have a 3.5 year old and I wanted to try to increase the chances of finding the perfect cat who would tolerate my mad house. Fortunately the very confident kitten we'd first met did turn out to be perfect :)

Anyway, to answer your question, I read so much ahead of this kitten arriving (to the point of driving everyone including me mad). Things that may or may not have helped:
When I went to pick up I stayed a while, played with him there, but first got down on all fours, looked beyond him and rubbed my head against him (LOL) then during the car journey home I mewed back at his mews to show I was listening and connecting with him, also blinked very slowly, rarely looking directly at him. All these things apparently mimic cat behaviour. He purred liked a tanker when I stopped the car outside my house. We had a smallish spare room where we'd set up his litter, food (same as from his house) and water, plus scratching post (same as one from his house - he likes horizontal cardboard pads) and 2 weeks previously I had left the cat basket with a deep velour/fleecy blanket in the bottom which he immediately took to. Opened the basket to let him out in his own time and as much as he was comfortable with I handled and stroked him, chatting to him quietly and warmly. Our rambunctious 3.5 yo wanted to meet him so I judged it but warily I let my son into his supposedly safe space to stroke him on that first day. Because after that the door was closed my child quickly forgot about him so the cat wasn't harrassed. We spent a lot of time in there with him and I slept in there with him for 3 hellish nights of being woken by a small furry savage and the stench of cat poo!! That said, he was extremely cute at bedtime... cuddling into my chest for hours each night. The kitten was desperate to explore so we let him out on day 3 when the child was at school and I explored the house with him. Within a week he was pretty comfortable and within 2 weeks we dared to leave him alone for a couple of hours. Then I had a day for 4 hours when I was out and even with my husband here and petting him regularly he sat under the bed until I arrived home. He's now pretty much 4 months and he'll tolerate up to 4 hours but is incredibly angsty when we're back, so I don't think it's right at this age. They say a max of 4 hours until 6 months I think? Nights have been hard. I returned to my bed after a few days and for perhaps a week after that we were savaged through wee hours (even though he's an intelligent cat and was already pretty gentle from the gentle training I've done on this eg absolutely no hand or toe play, even under duvet and stop play if he gets bitey). We had a moment of thinking we'd shut him downstairs at night, but honestly he's so lonely even when I'm there and not playing with him that we felt it would be cruel for a lone kitten of this age. thankfully 1 month in and he knows not to bother us tooo much. He sleeps against a hot water bottle at the end of our bed and often comes in with me in the early hours. We keep a little light on downstairs, make sure the litter is clean at bedtime, give him a play at around 9/9:30 for 20-30 mins. He tolerates my son who can be very jealous but we've all begun to settle together. I watch him extremely carefully and now we've adjusted our reprimands to "I won't let you shout / run at etc the cat" said in a gentle way holding him quite firmly and that seems to be working so much better. The one thing I'd say is that one cat seems inadequate - our cat is so social - he jumps in between me and my son in half a second flat while i'm drying him on my lap after bathtime or will come and settle on my awkwardly set legs while I'm playing trains with my son. He's always around us mewing for attention .Mews a lot through the morning when he seems desperate for a playmate. We tend to give him anywhere between 5 and 25 mins play before 7:30am, then the same at 9am, then the odd 5 mins during the morning, then 15 mins at 5pm and 15 - 30 mins before bed. And this doesn't seem enough. I came on here to ask how people look after lone kittens. I wish we could afford a second for him to play with. We are already letting him out during daylight hours and even this doesn't seem to satisfy him. In terms of play he absolutely loves a rattley mouse i drag around on a string. Particularly loves playing when I'm sitting down and I move the toy around my body so he can jump over me. ALso loves a thing that movese like a lizard on a fishing rod. balls thrown down the stairs are great at zoomie hour late at night, but he can be quite uninterested when he isn't in hunter mode. We have a scratch tower that's 85cm high (apparently the min size you should have for a cat) and it's been awesome seeing him strengthen while climbing it. We also have a shorter squat one which we've put on a high shelf and again he's climbing it to sit up at hte ceiling now. The height and challenge of it seem to be excellent for him. Enjoy your new puddy tat! Let us know how you get on!

Thanks for all the advice! I pick him up tomorrow. He's very confident at the rescue centre, but I know it could be different at mine until he feels more settled.

I love the idea of the slow blinking, and mewing in reply.

I was planning on keeping the door to the kitchen wedged open, so he can have the lounge and kitchen as one room. Will that be OK, do you think?

I'm not sure where to put the litter tray. I've got a small utility area/cupboard without a door, but it also has the tumble dryer in. Would that be too loud?

We were adviced to keep our cats in one room ( we have a kitchen/dining room/lounge all open plan ) so they had space ( adult cats )

If he has his tray in with the tumble frir you can get him used to noise , the drier won;t be on all the time and you;ll find his tray use will be fairly regular .

I can vacuum right next to FemaleCat , she doesn't bat an eyelid
I can breathe a bit too heavy next to MaleCat and he goes into orbit .

I sometime do the slow blink with him, he follows me , winks then gets bored and closes his eyes I cannot see you therefore you will go away

What colour is he ?

tumble frir = drier

Even my hands are tired !

Any updates (and photos ) of the New Fur Overlord ?

Very sad update.

He came on Sun and was amazing, confident and affectionate. He loved being groomed etc. The dc arrived back from their df on Monday and youngest had a bad allergic reaction, even with antihistamines. None of us have reacted to cats before. So I had to take the overlord back to the rescue and deep clean the lounge. I'm so upset,not just for me, but for him. He's so lovely and didn't deserve this

Ahh very but you really cannot overcome this and it sounds like your DC is very allergic to the cat .

Better to find out quickly before the cat gets too settled , he'll find another home I'm sure .

I had similar with my DD and our guinea-pigs but she was fine till we got GP3 (coarse coat) and worse with GP6 ( also coarse coat ) luckily didn;t affect her breathing .

Oh, what a shame!