New cat mum - clueless

[Julianne65]

We have just adopted the most beautiful little one year old girl and have fallen in love. Now we have her home I am starting to worry our house is a potential death trap her her. I have a few questions:

I love fancy candles. Are they okay to be burned around a cat? More for the fumes rather than the flames as the candle would be out of reach.

Her litter tray does pong a bit but she’s really good with her tray. We scoop the poop and pee as soon as possible but I can still smell it a bit. Is there a way to stop the smell?

What cleaners are safe to use? I know Dettol is a no no and have got rid of all the Dettol products.

I’ve heard that oranges and lemons are toxic to cats. Can I never eat oranges again lol?

thank you x

I've got covers for my candles but they don't seem too bothered now

I have silicon covers for the hob as it does stay hot (induction) for a while. Haven't managed to stop them going on there behind my back

Never leave butter uncovered

I no longer burn essential oils as I read they can get on their fur, and haven't had certain flowers plants for years. Lillie's are especially toxic

Thanks everyone! I don’t like lilies anyway so that’s fine (don’t really have flowers that often). We have one plant which is pet friendly and she’s sniffed it once.

We have a cat tree for her and she loves sitting at the window, watching the massive pigeons that land in our garden. She might be a hunter!

This morning we have allowed her access to upstairs and it’s blowing her furry little mind! She’s been sitting watching out the window for the last hour.

Hopefully this will take her mind off the kitchen surface's.

Will take a look at the litter options. Don’t want to change it until she’s allowed outside incase she objects with a dirty protest.

You probably already know this but keep things like raisins, grapes and sultanas well away from her, and also chocolate. They can be very bad for some cats and you don't know if it's your cat until they get ill. We have kittens who decided to take it in times to eat grapes and chocolate one New year's Eve. It was very expensive vet wise! We now keep medicinal charcoal in the house just in case... One of our new kittens is horrific for getting into absolutely everything eating everything he can find so I like to be prepared!

Aww, she's lovely and clearly settling in well.

I introduced a different litter by adding another tray with the new litter in a different location to see which she preferred.

We have a lidded litter tray and use catsan, scoop poop and change every few days, never smelly.

Lillies is of course a thing, and I hate the smell anyway, but they are in so many bouquets. Aside from that we do have them in the garden, as do neighbours..... I'm not sure you can shield them from outside stuff tbh.

It’s also not just about protecting the cats from the flowers but protecting the flowers from the cats.

Throughly recommend a covered litter tray, it reduces the smell a lot.
You know about lilies- good!
Remember to leave water out if you feed her dry food. Although, in my experience they will ignore it apart from in the height of summer as they prefer to steal water. So get into the habit of leaving the loo seat down.
She doesn’t sound stressed from your description, but feliway plug ins are great if she is.
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If you get a cat flap, try and get a microchip one. They will only allow her in, meaning you won’t get any other cat invaders.

She's beautiful! Haven't read the full thread but anyway here's what I think...I use a wood clumping litter, it really helps with stopping the smell.

Artificial smells (like plug-ins etc) aren't great, I wouldn't use them with pets in the house. I suppose soy candles might be ok? Not sure.

Lastly, I have to laugh because whenever I eat citrus fruit around my girl she acts so offended! Like how dare I deign to eat an orange in her presence!

Citrus is only mildly toxic to kitties (the citric acid I guess) but believe me, cats HATE it and probably won't come near you if you eat an orange etc. I can't imagine it would be any issue, we eat lots of citrus and have never had any issues.

However, please make sure that any houseplants that you might have are cat-safe.

Sorry OP just read that you are aware about plants...I should have read the posts first!

Same here!
Tend not to have lilies as cut flowers though.

In any case, my boy is a lazy one so can't be bothered to investigate stuff in the house and has free access to a rural garden so its far more interesting out there.

Yes, I agree Catsan has a built in deodoriser so even if they poo it doesn't smell too bad. Once you've removed the poo there is no lingering smell.

Felight cat litter tray freshener gets rid of any smells after you've scooped poo out of the tray. Candles - I don't have them any more. Watch out for carpets being dug up if you close a bathroom door! I have clear plastic through the doorway on the rooms whose doors get shut

Gorgeous.

Get yourself an enclosed litter box and use Amazon corn based litter. Changed our lives: we have 4 cats/boxes. It is the easiest to clear, least smelly and most cost effective litter we’ve ever used. My most direct and honest friend tells me the house doesn’t smell at all.

If you have cut flowers, don’t have Lillie’s in the house, the pollen is deadly to cats.

Enjoy her!

I love candles.

I fostered for 10 years. I think with the candles you have to light one and watch the cat, most ignore them but some want to play with the flames.

My current cat I could not teach to not go on worktops, so I had to keep the kitchen door closed, now she doesn't seem to bother but with others I have just sort of gently swiped them off. I don't mean a whack just get your arm and move it towards the edge and they usually jump.

Thank you everyone. Well so far she is an absolute joy. She wants to be around us all the time but is still a bit shy of touching us. She doesn't really meow. When she does it's soooo faint.

DH is her favourite so far. She sleeps next to him in the evening. She's supercute.

Glad it's going well. She sounds lovely!

Mine go out now but thinking back to when they were kittens I used wood pellet litter - never noticed a whiff - beautiful puss by the way

Our cats go outside to the toilet but we keep a tray incase they are unwell or if they have had to be kept in for a specific reason. If they have pooped in the tray apart from removing it as soon as you notice it we light an incense stick. We did it with our previous 2 who lived to 26 and 17 years as well. The cats are not in least bothered by the incense and it gets rid of the smell immediately.