If you have found yourself looking for a new furry friend, you might find all the available tips and tricks to prepare your house a bit overwhelming. Taking care of any new cat or kitten requires you to provide a happy and safe home, but this is much easier than it sounds.
With all the available feline-specific toys, gadgets, and safety products, cats have never had it better. There are two very different methods, steps, and needed preparation for introducing a new friend into your home, depending on whether you have other pets or not. In this article, we will go over setting up a home without any other animals.
Prepare a designated cat area
When you bring your new friend home, AHS reminds us that “An animal that displays a happy, playful attitude at the shelter may act wary and fearful in a new environment.” I recommend leaving it in the open pet carrier in a dim, quiet room that you have cleared of anything dangerous, edible, inedible, and valuable. Having an item with the scent of the kitten’s previous home in the carrier can be helpful.
This room should have a litter box filled with a medium amount of litter, a scoop, a receptacle for waste, food and water dishes (preferably stainless steel or glass), a bed, and a scratching post. Many new cat towers have a lot of really great features and incorporate a lot of creature comforts.
How to Set Up Kitty Basecamp Video By Maryland SPCA
Allow it access to more of the home
Once the kitten gets used to its new environment, it will begin exploring every nook and cranny of its room. It might take some time for it to come out of its shell, but once it does, you might want to make more areas of the house open and accessible.
The kitchen can be a very dangerous place, and that’s especially true for our curious furry little friends. The best practice is to not let any animals on the cooktops at all; not only is it unhygienic, but it is also a fire hazard to you and your pet. Be sure to lock away any cleaning agents, chemicals, and other poisons. Be cautious when closing cabinets, refrigerators, and freezers because cats can sneak by without notice and get trapped inside. Don’t leave any food out that the kitten may get into. Felines require a specifically balanced diet to maintain peak health, and most human food is not ideally suited for cats.
Suppose your new family member will be in the other shared spaces of your home, such as the living room, dining area, home office, exercise room, or anywhere else. In that case, you will need to take time to make the area free from exposed wires and other hazards as well. Your new kitten will need to sharpen its claws, and you may wonder about the best methods to keep your furniture looking new and unmolested. There are deterrent sprays, and people even try covering the area with plastic, double-sided “sticky” tape, cellophane, and even aluminum foil.
These solutions seem smart but will probably not work unless used in tandem with appropriate scratching structures provided nearby. You can sprinkle catnip on the scratching posts to get your kitten used to using them instead of your furniture. You or your vet can carefully trim your cat’s nails, so they aren’t quite as sharp, which is a safer and less pain-filled experience than declawing, which has fallen out of favor by most Veterinarians.
Choose kitty free zones
One thing that you need to decide is what rooms are off-limits. Either for health reasons, cleanliness, or personal preference, it is important to keep animals out of areas they are not allowed. Securing these rooms may be as simple as having working doorknobs or having the doors hinges spring loaded for automatic shutting.
Some people disallow cats in their laundry room because many cats have taken a quick nap burrowed in a pile of clothes, which may still be in the cleaning process. There are many electrical hazards as well as dangerous chemicals and running machinery. Bathrooms can also be a possible problem area with toiletries such as body lotions, deodorants, and hair products, all of which may contain ingredients that can be poisonous to kittens. Hair irons, straighteners, curlers, and other corded electrical devices pose a serious risk, so be sure to secure all your medications, even over-the-counter ones.
With a quick clean-up and a new focus on safety, your house will be ready for you to bring home your new furry friend. By treating your kitten like an infant that can go nearly anywhere in your house in the blink of an eye and destroy things, you can avoid potentially having an injured kitten or broken and damaged household items. A new kitten can wreak havoc with things in your house, and you will be glad you took the extra precautions
