A Room for a New Cat

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Part of the video series: Introducing Cats to New Homes

Summary: Keeping a new cat, or a cat in a new home, in a small room introduces the smells and shapes of a new environment without overwhelming the new pet. Find out why a new cat needs its own room with tips from an animal shelter worker in this free video on introducing cats to new homes.

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Presenter

By Tracy Carreiro
eHow Presenter

Tracy Carreiro is a graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. She has been a practicing veterinarian for nearly 20 years. Growing up on a dairy farm, she grew to...read more

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Series Summary

Cats are great companions and fantastic at keeping rodents under control. They are very smart creatures that are not only able to learn simple tricks but also how to use simple mechanisms. Cat owners love the ease with which young cats can litter train themselves almost immediately. Cats have an incredible sense of direction and balance and, for more than 9,500 years, cats have lived with humans as pets. The Egyptians believed that domesticated cats brought good luck and wanted them to stay close. Despite their elegance and power, cats still need a proper home with proper nutrition. In this free video series on introducing cats to a new home, animal shelter worker Tracy Carreiro gives many tips for keeping a new cat safe. Carreiro shares advice for setting up a small room for a new cat to explore before being overwhelmed by the whole house. She also teaches pet owners how to introduce cats to dogs, a house of cats, and other animal pets. Carreiro talks about a time line for cats adjusting to new homes and how to ensure all cats in a multiple cat house are happy.

Video Transcript

"Having a small room, where your cat can remain isolated when it first comes into the house, is very important for several reasons. The first reason, is that if your cat has any infectious or contagious diseases, that might spread to the other animals in your household, it will remain separate for them, until you can get it healthy and well. The second reason, is that a new environment, a new house, can be very overwhelming for a cat, so you want to start out in a small area, such as a guest bedroom, or an extra bathroom, or even a child's room, where the cat can get used to one room, and feel comfortable in that space, before it's allowed access to the whole house. It will also give the cat a chance to get used to the new smells in the environment, get used to the smells of the other animals that are there, and will also give your other cats and animals, a chance to acclimate to the smells of this new pet. If your cat has any toys, that it comes with, or a bed from it's old home, it would be great to bring that along, so your cat has something familiar from it's old environment, as it's transitioning into its new home."