HOW TO INTRODUCE YOUR NEW CAT TO YOUR HOME/YOUR OTHER PETS

The 3-3-3 Rule

Cat behaviorists have a rule they call the “3-3-3” rule, and here at Pet Angel, we live by this rule! The rule goes like this: When cats first arrive to their new home, they need 3 days to decompress, 3 weeks to adjust, and 3 months until they are fully comfortable and consider your home their home. So bringing home your new pet and just opening the door to the carrier and giving them free reign of your whole house is not the best way to start your new cat off at home. Instead, you’re going to want to start them in their own room for the first three days, allow them to explore while supervised the next 3 weeks, and understand that they won’t be fully comfortable for 3 months after your adoption. Keep this 3-3-3 rule in mind while going through this introduction process, and remember to be patient and go at your cats pace. Even if you’re excited, you don’t want to take things too quick and they get sick! 

STEP 1: GIVE YOUR CAT THEIR OWN "SAFE ROOM"

For the first 3 days (minimum) you are going to want to start your new pet out in their own room, which we call a “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, or even your bedroom! Whichever room you use is going to be their favorite room for the first few weeks they’re in your home, so keep that in mind! Once you choose which room you’re going to use, set it up with a litter box, 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 once they get home, everything they need isn’t too far away. They may hide when you visit, but when you’re not around, they will feel safe enough to come out to eat, drink and go to the bathroom, since everything is very close to them. We highly encourage you 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. Use treats, wet food, and stick toys to urge them out of hiding, but do not physically force anything upon them if they’re hiding. 

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: SOLO EXPLORE TIME

After your cat is decompressed, it’s time to start introducing them to your home! However, we’re not going to bring your current pets into the mix yet! 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 for the first few times without your other pets. Set up a different 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. Once your current pets are set up in their own room, Open the door to let your new kitty out of their safe room 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, and that’s because you’re basically introducing them without them even meeting! Your new cat will smell your other pets scents around the house while they adventure around, and they will also be leaving their scent behind to be smelled by your current pets later. Additionally, doing this step will give your new cat the ability to explore your home and get a handle on their new surroundings without worrying about the other animals they don’t know yet being there too, keeping their stress levels low! Be sure you leave the door open to your new cats safe room while they explore, not only so they know where their food water and litter box are but also because that is the room they are most comfortable in. Do not force your new cat to come out of the room if they’re not ready. Just open the door and let them venture out when they are ready, and explore on their own terms! After a few hours of exploring, you can put your new kitty back into their safe room, close the door, and let your other pets out. Your existing pets will smell your new kitty around the house, so it will really help when you move on to step 3 and start to introduce them! We recommend you do this for a couple hours for a few days before you move onto step 3. This step would be the beginning of the second 3 in the 3-3-3 rule (The 3 weeks it takes to start getting comfortable!) 

STEP 3: SNIFF THROUGH THE DOOR

After the 3 (or more) days of decompressing on their own, and about 2-4 days of adventuring around the house solo, its time to let your new kitty and your current pets meet each other! Do this step when your new cat is in their safe room, and your existing pets are free roam! 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 get through the door to each other. 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 4! If it didn’t go well, close the door, leave everyone be for the rest of the day and try again tomorrow. It’s okay if you have to do this a couple days in a row, but if you do go that route, I recommend revisiting step 2 each day as well. Toggle between step 2 and 3 for a few days, so your new cat continues to get used to your home without the other animals present, and the scent swapping will continue to happen without them having physical access to each other. 

STEP 4: LIMITED, SUPERVISED TIME TOGETHER

Once your pets are acquainted through the door, and they aren’t hissing or growling when you crack the door anymore, you can let your new pet out with your existing pets for a few hours with you present. For this, we recommend you keep your current pets free roam and open the door to your new cats safe room, allowing your new cat to come out if they wish or your existing pets to enter the room if they wish. Make sure you leave the door open to their room, so they know where their food, water and litter box are. Do not remove your new cat from their safe room or shut them out of the room. As the animals interact with one another, praise good behavior, like if they smell each other without hissing or growling, and gently seperate them if any slapping, hissing or growling occurs. Remember, hissing and growling is normal, but puffing up, or actual spats are not good signs, and the animals should be seperated to decompress if that is occurring. We recommend the first couple of times you do this, that it is always supervised and your animals are together for a few hours, and then you put your new cat back into their own room for the night or if you are going to leave the house. Start with an hour, 2 hours the next day, 3 hours the following day, until they’re out for the entire time you are home! If hissing and growling is still happening when you’re going to leave the house or go to sleep, make sure you put your new cat back into their safe 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

When you notice hissing and growling have ceased, or maybe you’ve caught them laying together, that’s a sign that your new cat is integrated into your home and no longer needs to stay separate! That’s when it’s okay to leave the door open forever, and even move the litter box, food and water from the safe room to where you will keep the food, water and litter box permanently. However, 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 litter box 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. Typically, this is step done around week 3-4 of your cat being home. However, if your cat is taking longer, or your current pets are taking longer to warm up to the new arrival, that’s okay too! Go at THEIR pace and remember- keep stress levels low!!! 

CAT INTRODUCTION REMINDERS

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. Remember the 3-3-3 rule. 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. 

The 3-3-3 Rule

Cat behaviorists have a rule they call the “3-3-3” rule, and here at Pet Angel, we live by this rule! The rule goes like this: When cats first arrive to their new home, they need 3 days to decompress, 3 weeks to adjust, and 3 months until they are fully comfortable and consider your home their home. So bringing home your new pet and just opening the door to the carrier and giving them free reign of your whole house is not the best way to start your new cat off at home. Instead, you’re going to want to start them in their own room for the first three days, allow them to explore while supervised the next 3 weeks, and understand that they won’t be fully comfortable for 3 months after your adoption. Keep this 3-3-3 rule in mind while going through this introduction process, and remember to be patient and go at your cats pace. Even if you’re excited, you don’t want to take things too quick and they get sick! 

STEP 1: GIVE YOUR CAT THEIR OWN "SAFE ROOM"

For the first 3 days (minimum) you are going to want to start your new pet out in their own room, which we call a “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, or even your bedroom! Whichever room you use is going to be their favorite room for the first few weeks they’re in your home, so keep that in mind! Once you choose which room you’re going to use, set it up with a litter box, 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 once they get home, everything they need isn’t too far away. They may hide when you visit, but when you’re not around, they will feel safe enough to come out to eat, drink and go to the bathroom, since everything is very close to them. We highly encourage you 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. Use treats, wet food, and stick toys to urge them out of hiding, but do not physically force anything upon them if they’re hiding. 

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: SUPERVISED, LIMITED EXPLORE TIME

After the 3 (or more) days of decompressing on their own, its time to let your new kitty explore more rooms! You know your cat is ready for this step if they are eating, drinking, going both #1 and #2 in the litter box, and come out to see you when you come in the room. 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 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. Do not force them out of the only place they feel safe with all their cat things in it, and then close them out of the safe 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. We recommend you do this for a couple hours each day while you are home to monitor their progress, returning them back to their safe room when you go to bed, go to work, or leave the house. This is when the second 3 in the 3-3-3 rule (3 weeks getting comfortable in your home) begins! 

STEP 3: EXTENDED, LESS-LIMITED EXPLORING TIME

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. Start with one room at a time, and just open the door allowing the cat to explore the space when they are ready to do so. This is when you can start to introduce them to the next level of your home, your basement, and your children’s bedrooms. Just pick one room at a time! Do not move the food, water, litter box or toys from their safe room at this point, and return them back to the safe room when you go to bed, go to work, or leave the house. Remember, we want to keep stress levels LOW to prevent illness! Only introduce new rooms into their life, don’t move anything else on them yet or force them out of their safe room. 

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 litter box or eat, no longer spending time in their safe room. That’s when it’s okay to leave the door to their safe room open forever, and even move the litter box, food and water from their safe room to where you are going to keep them permanently. However, when you go to move their things out of their safe room, we recommend you physically show your cat 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 litter box permanently, keep in mind cats do not like their litter boxes to be in dark, loud or confined spaces. We don’t recommend putting the litter box in the laundry room or in the dark corner or the basement. Typically, this is done around week 3-4 of your cat being home. However, if your cat is taking longer, that’s okay too! Some shy cats need more time to warm up! 

CAT INTRODUCTION REMINDERS!

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. Remember the 3-3-3 rule. 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.