INTRODUCTION INTO THE HOUSE
The same applies to the cats.This is why we require a 7 day in-home quarantine, which sounds far more foreboding than it is. Basically keep the new kid in a bathroom or spare room, separate from your other cats. Even if you don't have other cats, if the kitty should break with a cold we don't want the rest of your house contaminated. The bathroom works great because you're in there a lot on, well - your own 'business' which involves significant 'sit-down' time. Plenty of opportunity to socialize with the kitty and love it up.
Why seven days? Because most cold and flu viruses have a 3-6 day incubation period. Therefore if it doesn't show signs of illness with 7 days, it's probably free of anything it picked up at the pound and we can allow it to start mingling with the rest of the household.
Another advantage of isolation ofother cats is for socialization purposes. It sounds strange that we should keep cats apart, so they get along better, but it is absolutely true.
When cats first meet, it seems they take an insta-matic picture of the other cats response. If their first meeting includes: arching, hissing, and spitting, it's not going to be a pretty picture. They seem to carry this image of the other cat around with it and hold a grudge, sometimes life long. It's as if each time they come into contact with the newer cat, they pull out the picture (even if the newer cat is being nice and calm at the moment) and say 'see, I don't like ya and I never did!'.
If, however, you let them introduce under the door first as they sniff each other, you have a far greater chance of getting them to accept each other. They may hiss and spit at each other, but since they can't see each other, they don't take this 'grudge' picture. Usually within their 7-day isolation period they will stop aggressing towards each other under the door, you can let them see each other, since they have already gotten use to each other's smell. If either cat starts acting cranky, just shut the door and try again later. It's that simple.
This technique is especially helpful if you plan to foster sequential, (different) cats. If each time you bring a new cat into the household and (in your resident cat's opinion) the new cats are always spitty, hissy buttheads, your resident cat is going to resent any visitor and could get stressed out. So we must make sure your resident cat feels:
They are the king/queen of the universe
This new cat is only a minor inconvenience to their lifestyle
The new cats really aren't thaaattt bad, they just smell a little funny.
If these introductions go well, resident cats usually adopt a non-chalant (read: kitty arrogant) approach to these new invaders and simply ignore the peons. Which is exactly what we want. If they want to make friends and be buds, that's cool, but most older cats will simply be tastefully disdainful and ignore the newcomers.
FEEDING
Feedings should be twice daily with the food left down for about an hour (ex: put it down when you first get up, then pick it up before you go to work and do the same around dinner time). The benefit of twice daily feeding over free-feed systems (leaving the food down all the time) is that you absolutely KNOW the cat's appetite every twelve hours. Most cats will run to the bowl, eager to eat. In this way we can gauge its appetite very carefully.
If we allow free-feeding, it can takes sometimes days to figure out if the kitty isn't eating enough. Which, as we discussed earlier, is important since cats hide their illness very well and it is extremely important to catch problems as early as they arise.
WATERING
No, put the sprinkler away.We're talking about putting water out for the kitty. This may seem way basic, but the water bowl should be cleaned out and re-filled with fresh water twice daily.
Some foster cats may be a tad, shall we shall, eccentric. Some cats will only drink from glasses (human type glasses and sometimes only if it has ice and dash of lemon!). Another favorite trick is to only drink from running faucets. To these individuals, we usually cater. Just be sure everybody has the fresh water they crave (condiments are optional ), at least twice daily.
LITTER PAN DUTY
The litter should be scooped twice daily. This way you can check stool consistency and be sure the kitty is urinating appropriate amounts. Most cats will defecate once to twice daily and urinate 2-3 times daily. Each amount of urine should be about the same size and color. If the kitty is urinating frequently (either large or small amounts), you may want to consult your vet.
If the cat ever cries, strains or spends an inordinate amount of time in the litter box, your vet must be notified IMMEDIATELY. Especially with male cats. We use high quality food and urinary tract problems are rare, but can happen so we must be alert for them.
Anything other than nice normal brown, formed poop and nice yellow urine, should be noted and addressed.
WARNING SIGNS TO WATCH FOR
If the kitty does any of these things, even once, you should be concerned. It most instances, it will be nothing, but again we always want to be on the safe side.
Sneezing Coughing Gagging/hairball stuf Wheezing Tires easily Diarrhea Straining to urinate or defecate
Bleeding from any part of the body
Abnormal twitches Loss or decrease of appetite Change in attitude or behavior Lethargic or depressed Breathing heavily
Or any other problem or concern that you have!
Food Brand Recommendations
What you may hear about "supermarket" cat foods being the equivalent of "junk food" for cats is not just a ploy to get you to buy the more expensive brands. Just like there's a range of how people-food is made, different brands of cat food are made with different standards. While most of the inexpensive foods you buy at the supermarket are nutritionally sound and will certainly not hurt your cat, they are not the best choice. We have found that cats will eat more of supermarket-bought foods, the theory being that their bodies "know" that they need to substitute quality with quantity. These foods are certainly a value, however, and we recommend Whiskas brand, especially their "Mealtime" flavor, as the best of that group. If you have a few more dollars to spend, any food you buy at a Petco, Petsmart, or similar pet supply chain is probably a superior brand. We recommend Nutro foremost, with Science Diet an acceptable second choice. Two newer brands on the market, Innova and Wellness are even more nutritious and we highly recommend them. They use human grade ingredients. Most pet stores will give you samples of foods so you can make sure your cat gives it the "paws up" before investing in a whole case or bag. You will find that not only does your cat eat less of these foods, but they will produce less feces-- always a plus! Kittens should be fed kitten food until they are at least six months old. Sometimes this is difficult if you also have an adult cat. If it proves impossible to get your kitten to eat kitten food when there's adult food around, eating adult food will not hurt your kitten; she will probably just eat more of it to get the proper nutrition, and if she's active she'll burn it off. Elderly or very sedentary cats should be given "lite" food. Pregnant and nursing momcats should ALWAYS be fed kitten food.