We know how excited you must be, because we’re excited for you too! But now that you’re taking your new kitty home, you have to know how to introduce your new pet to the pets you already have at home! The way you introduce them is the same as when a human meets a new person and makes a good first impression. If the introduction is not done correctly and they start out on the wrong foot, it can be hard to bounce back. So, we put together as many tips as we can to help you do this correctly so all of your pets live together in harmony! This guide is talking all about how to introduce them to your other pets, AND your home. Follow this guide if you have other pets! If you do not have other pets, scroll past this guide to find a second version of this guide on how to introduce your new pet to your home without other pets present.
STEP 1: Give your new pet their own room.
Contrary to popular belief, walking in the door and just opening the carrier is not how any new cat should be introduced to a new home, even if they’re the only pet in the home. Your new cat has been living in our small apartments, and this might be their first ever home! A lot of our cats haven’t seen a TV, looked out a window, or even used stairs before. Then add new humans, new sounds, new litter and litterbox, new smells, and new surroundings into the mix- they can get overwhelmed quickly. Cats who are overwhelmed can get things like upper respiratory infections easily, and you don’t want your new kitty getting sick the first few days with you so its important you let them decompress as soon as you get home. It’s best to start them in their very own “safe room” while they decompress.
When choosing a room for a safe room, I recommend a quiet room in your house. I would not recommend using a basement, laundry room, or child’s room. I recommend a room that you can close the door to, like a spare bedroom, a bathroom, maybe even your bedroom? Once you choose which room you’re going to use, set it up with a litterbox, food, water, a bed and some toys as their “safe room” for the first few days. By starting with one room, they have their food, water and litter all close by, so even if they want to hide, everything they need isn’t too far away. They may hide when you visit, but when you’re not around, feel safe enough to come out to eat, drink and go to the bathroom. You are definitely welcome to spend time with them in their safe room during this period, but if they’re hiding, don’t force them out of their hidey hole to interact with you. Just go at their pace, when they’ll ready, they’ll come sit with you.
It is recommended they stay in their ‘safe room’ for at least 3 days, but it depends on the kitty and the situation. Wait to move to the next step until your new kitty has gone both #1 and #2, ate and drank, and comes to visit you when you walk in the room. If they run and hide when you come in, or they are hiding still, they aren’t ready to move onto the next step yet.
Step 2: Let your new cat and your other pets smell each other by cracking the door. After the 3 (or more) days of decompressing on their own, its time to let your new kitty and your current pets meet each other! You want to start this off slow, so I recommend you stand on one side of the door, and open the door just enough for the animals to smell each other, but not enough to be able to get out. This way, if one of your current pets is unhappy and wants to run away, your new cat won’t chase them (or vise versa) and you can also be sure interactions won’t escalate to fighting. Let them sniff each other through the little crack and see how they react. Remember, hissing and growling are normal when introducing new animals to each other, and this should be expected. If it goes well, move on to step 3! If it didn’t go well, revisit this step a couple times a day until they are ready for step 3 -or- go to step 2.5!
Step 2.5 (the optional step, only use this step if your kitty is struggling with step 2!) The Jackson Galaxy Tip Some cats do great with introductions to other pets + new humans + new surroundings. For other cats, it’s really overwhelming and it can be hard for them. If this is your kitty, that’s okay! They just need this extra step, which I stole from the famous cat behaviorist, Jackson Galaxy! We’re going to take one of the many stressful things out of the equation. Instead of letting your kitty out to explore the house with your other pets, you’re going to give them time to explore the house without your other pets. Set up a room (it needs to be a different room than the one your new cat is using as a safe room) for your current pets to go in for a few hours and put them in it for a bit. Then, let your new kitty out to explore the house for a few hours without your current pets around! Giving your new kitty this time to explore the house without your other animals present will also help with introducing them later, because your new cat will smell your other pets scents around the house, and will also leave their scent behind to be smelled by your current pets later. Also because your new cat is able to explore and get a handle on their surroundings without worrying about the other pets they don’t know yet being there too. Be sure you leave the door open to your cats safe room, not only so they know where their food water and litterbox are but also because that is the room they are most comfortable in. After a few hours of exploring, you can let your new kitty back into their safe room, close the door, and let your other pets out. They will smell your new kitty around the house, so it will really help! You can toggle between step 2 and step 2.5 for a few days until your kitty is more comfortable and ready to move to step 3.
Step 3: Let your new cat out for a couple hours at at time while you are home. Once your pets are acquainted, you can let your new pet out when you’re at home. Make sure you leave the door open to their room, so they know where the food, water and litter box are. Praise good behavior, like if they smell each other without hissing or growling, and scold any slapping, hissing or growling that may occur. If hissing and growling is still happening when you’re going to leave/ go to sleep, make sure you put your new cat back into their room. If your cat is nervous, they may want to retreat back to their safe room, and that is completely okay. That is the point of the safe room- that they have a space they feel safe in. That is a sign that they are not ready to be free roam 24/7 yet.
When it’s time, you’ll know. You’ll notice hissing and growling have ceased, and maybe you even caught them laying together! That’s when it’s okay to leave the door open forever, and even remove the litter box, food and water from the extra room. Just make sure your new cat knows where the other litter box, food and water are located in the house! Physically show them where you move the food water and litter box, so they understand they are now in a different place. When picking a location for your litterbox permanently, keep in mind cats do not like them to be in dark, loud or confined spaces. We don’t recommend putting them in the laundry room or in the dark corner or the basement.
Keep in mind! The introduction process may take longer depending on the temperament of the animals and the situation. For some people, it may take a few days, for some people it may take a few weeks, and sometimes it may take a few months. The “magic number” that is recommend by behaviorist is 3-3-3. 3 days to decompress in their own room, 3 weeks to get comfortable enough to start being themselves and 3 months until they are fully comfortable and settled. Be patient and trust the process. You wouldn’t get rid of your child if they were fighting with their sibling, so please don’t give up on your pet either.
Again, Congratulations on your new pet! We’re so happy for you and your entire family!
We know how excited you must be, because we’re excited for you too! But now that you’re taking your new kitty home, you have to know how to introduce your new pet to their new home! The process of introducing your new pet to their new home is so important, so we want to be sure we’re giving you all the advice we can on how to make this process go smoothly and the least-stressful for both you and your kitty!
STEP 1: Give your new pet their own room.
Contrary to popular belief, walking in the door and just opening the carrier is not how any new cat should be introduced to a new home, even if they’re the only pet in the home. Your new cat has been living in our small apartments, and this might be their first ever home! A lot of our cats haven’t seen a TV, looked out a window, or even used stairs before. Then add new humans, new sounds, new litter and litterbox, new smells, and new surroundings into the mix- they can get overwhelmed quickly. Cats who are overwhelmed can get things like upper respiratory infections easily, and you don’t want your new kitty getting sick the first few days with you so its important you let them decompress as soon as you get home. It’s best to start them in their own “safe room” while they decompress.
When choosing a room for a safe room, I recommend a quiet room in your house. I would not recommend using a basement, laundry room, or child’s room. I recommend a room that you can close the door to, like a spare bedroom, a bathroom, maybe even your bedroom? Once you choose which room you’re going to use, set it up with a litterbox, food, water, a bed and some toys as their “safe room” for the first few days. By starting with one room, they have their food, water and litter all close by, so even if they want to hide, everything they need isn’t too far away. They may hide when you visit, but when you’re not around, feel safe enough to come out to eat, drink and go to the bathroom. You are definitely welcome to spend time with them in their safe room during this period, but if they’re hiding, don’t force them out of their hidey hole to interact with you. Just go at their pace, when they’ll ready, they’ll come sit with you.
It is recommended they stay in their ‘safe room’ for at least 3 days, but it depends on the kitty and the situation. Wait to move to the next step until your new kitty has gone both #1 and #2, ate and drank, and comes to visit you when you walk in the room. If they run and hide when you come in, or they are hiding still, they aren’t ready to move onto the next step yet.
Step 2: Let your new cat out for a couple hours at at time while you are home. After the 3 (or more) days of decompressing on their own, its time to let your new kitty explore more rooms! You’re going to want to start this step when you are home, and return your new cat to their safe room when you go to bed, go to work, or leave the house. For the first few days of exploring the house, you’re going to want to limit exposure to the WHOLE house. Start with just the “general” rooms of your house; hallways, dining room, living room, kitchen. If your house is multiple levels, start with the level your cats safe room is located on and close doors to the other levels if possible. Close doors to closets, bedrooms, bathrooms, the basement/other levels of your house, etc. The idea is to keep stress levels down, so by introducing rooms slowly, they are less overwhelmed. Once your house is ready for them to check out, and you have appropriate doors closed, open the door to their safe room and let them come out when they are ready. If they want to stay in there for awhile, or only venture a few feet away from their door, that’s okay! Go at your new cats pace! The key to this step is to BE SURE you leave the door to their “safe room” open and keep their food, water, toys, beds and litter box in that room. If your cat is nervous, they may want to retreat back to their safe room, and that is completely okay. That is the point of the safe room- that they have a space they feel safe in.
Step 3: Open up more doors to other spaces of your home and allow them to explore. Once your cat is no longer retreating to their safe room when they hear loud noises or are nervous, start opening up doors to other spaces you have closed off. Do not move anything from the safe room until your cat is comfortable and exposed to the entire space in your home that they are going to be living in. If they are still being introduced to new rooms of the home, don’t move their litterbox on them. Remember- stress levels low, only do one thing at a time!
When it’s time, you’ll know. You might have fallen asleep on the couch and woke up at 3 am to your new kitty perched on the back of the couch next to you, not sleeping in their safe room. You may discover kitty loves playing with your kids when they come home from school, and only visits their safe room to eat or use the litterbox. That’s when it’s okay to leave the door to their safe room open forever, and even remove the litter box, food and water from the extra room. Just make sure your new cat knows where you move the litter box, food and water in your home!!! Physically show them where you move the food water and litter box, so they understand they are now in a different place. When picking a location for your litterbox permanently, keep in mind cats do not like them to be in dark, loud or confined spaces. We don’t recommend putting them in the laundry room or in the dark corner or the basement.
Keep in mind! The introduction process may take longer depending on the temperament of the animals and the situation. For some people, it may take a few days, for some people it may take a few weeks, and sometimes it may take a few months. The “magic number” that is recommend by behaviorist is 3-3-3. 3 days to decompress in their own room, 3 weeks to get comfortable enough to start being themselves and 3 months until they are fully comfortable and settled. Be patient and trust the process. You wouldn’t get rid of your child if they were struggling adjusting to their new environment, so please don’t give up on your pet either.
Again, Congratulations on your new pet! We’re so happy for you and your entire family!
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