First cat... any tips and advice please!

[LetMeJustCheckMyCitrusPocket]

We've seen a lovely little rescue cat and are hoping to bring her home at the end of the week.

First family cat, never had one before so just wanted to ask for any tips or advice at all that might be useful to help her settle in well, that we maybe wouldn't think of ourselves!

Thank you 🙂

What a cutie - fabulous colour!

She’s gorgeous 😍

She definitely rules the roost already!

One thing.... she's already taken a chunk out of the living room carpet scratching at it, and had a good go at the sofa too.

We've got scratching posts/boards but she doesn't seem interested in them...any tips to make them seem more attractive or to help save all our soft furnishings 😬😁

i think ikea do ones that tie round furniture legs or something. might be worth a try?

Catnip or catnip spray initially. The scratcher needs to be very stable and large enough. I have a fairly big wooden one from amazon with a replaceable sisal mat. Underneath you can put a sachet of catnip. My cats are fully grown and can comfortably fit their whole bodies on it while they scratch.
Not to say they dont scratch elsewhere but it has definitely helped. Otherwise its a lot of correction, positive reinforcement, sparing no's.

You can also get sisal pads thar attach to the wall or furniture which would be cheaper if you have something suitable.

Have a look on Amazon for some ideas. You can get scratching boards both sisal and cardboard which you can put on the floor or attach to walls with something like Command Strips. There are mat type ones from sisal, there's L-shaped ones you can put up against furniture, I have an oval cardboard bed sized one Tobias likes, he also thinks the simple cardboard boards with one side wavy are great.

Off cuts of a rough carpet scattered around in the areas she's most fond of scratching could encourage her to use them e.g. jute, or short pile door mats

She’s beautiful! We have a clooker (as we say in Scotland) and I am sorry to say that no amount of thoughtfully chosen alternatives to the living room carpet have been remotely successful. Likewise stern no or redirecting him. Does what he wants. He does use the post on his cat tree, but the carpet’s his favourite and looks pretty sorry for itself in places. He doesn’t bother with sofas or anything though.

Our last cat used the silver birch tree out the back as her scratching post. Likewise she never went on the kitchen sides, whereas this boy is king of the counters. I choose my battles and have shares in Method spray and kitchen roll.

(I just read that back and it sounds like we have a bad cat who I don’t like. He’s overall a very good cat, just a little orange nickum, and we love him very very much.)

No. I’ve tried all manner of scratching posts and mats and and she’ll only scratch the carpet and the armchair. I even put a scratching mat on the armchair and she went round the other side to scratch that.

Thanks everyone! Think I need to invest in a few different scratching things and maybe some sprays to try and will cross my fingers. It's early days and must still be so strange for her so no wonder she's trying to mark things.

She's been very friendly and likes a fuss but sometimes when we've been stroking her, and she's seemed happy, she turns and opens her mouth towards us as if to bite. Maybe too much even though she seemed okay at the time?

Just trying to get to know her, she's a real little personality!

@Judystilldreamsofhorses I'm Scottish and I've never heard the word clooker before! Is it regional? Every day's a school day 😁

Ha! I’m NE Scotland so it’s maybe derived from Doric. Clook essentially means to catch/snag, so you might clook your sleeve on a nail, or clook a thread on your jumper. In this context it’s generally “Louie, stop clooking!”. I’ve also heard cats’ claws referred to as their clooks.

(My favourite regional word is “bosie”, which is a cuddle or having a baby/animal nestled to your chest - “Louie was right up in my bosie easier”.)

@Judystilldreamsofhorses I've heard bosie used before by someone from the NE, it's very sweet, but neither of these have I heard used in the Central Belt before 😁

The sudden change from purring to attacking is totally normal. Might be overstimulation. Mouthing is a warning so listen and stop. Some cats are more fighty. My current cat only bites when hes unwell. Im not saying yours is unwell for a second! Hers sounds entirely normal. Just saying of you look for patterns and get to know your cat they can communicate things to you that are individual.

Also if shes a kitten she might just be learning and play fighting with her siblings would be normal so she might be responding as of youre a cat. Still, if you dont want to be scratched and bitten,now is the time to tell her by not engaging if she's biting or mouthing. It's also totally fine to move her away if she gets carried away, she'll look hurt but she'll be fine in 30 seconds!

@spstchmu thank you for that, it does probably seem like over stimulation, she's 2 so not a kitten anymore either. Think we just need to watch for her cues and hopefully will be easier to read her as we get to know her better.

Just noted your username. Excellent!

"And my emergency citrus pocket"... brilliant 😁

Bit of a super fan over here. Sorry to derail. The lemon is in play!

What a brilliant thing to do. We have had our rescue cat almost a year and he’s made a huge difference in our lives especially ds.

I tried swapping the cat litter after a while - he was not impressed so we still use wood chip but it’s good so it’s not an issue.
just get registered with your vet asap and get the cat insured asap too - our rescue gave a month free but I didn’t go with them as I found something better/cheaper. Also the rescue chipped him but the chip company tried to get me to pay for enhanced services and it was really confusing (I didn’t)

Ours still behaves as though he’s never been fed so he gets breakfast at 4am in a pop up cat feeder otherwise he wakes me up. He’s very good at scamming us too - if I feed him at lunchtime he’ll often then try & get ds to feed him as well

and he has a lovely bed but mostly sleeps in an Amazon box with a fleece blanket lining it under my desk

we did the one room thing for about an hour but then he was inspecting the whole house but they’re all different

In case no one has said get a Feliway plug in. Calms them down.

Also, she might hunt. You can’t stop this.

Absolutely gorgeous and if I know tabbies, hunter!

The only litter my cat won’t use is wood chip.

A cat food mat for her bowls is a good idea. Food goes on mats. I’ve only ever fed mine Whiskas or Felix tasty shreds plus dry food and dentabits and dreamies. Dentabits are good for their teeth. You can buy cat soup which they like and don’t forget water.