Bringing Home a New Pet: Creating a Safe Environment
This blog series will have three installments. There is a lot of information here, but please don’t get overwhelmed! With a little time and planning, you will soon be well on your way to safely welcoming your new pet into your home and successfully integrating them with other furry family members.
As the holidays approach, many families consider adding a new pet to their home. If you are thinking about adopting a cat or dog this winter, please consider that the best way to ensure a safe and successful integration is by taking introductions slowly and monitoring each step of the process. In this first part of this series we’ll discuss the basics and foundation of setting your new pet up for success in their new environment.
BEGIN WITH AN ACCLIMATION PERIOD
When you first bring your new pet home, they should be kept separate from all other pets and limit the number of human visitors for around two weeks. Keep your new pet in a room of their own, with everything they need. This two-week period allows your new dog or cat to get used to the smells and sounds of their environment, without getting overstimulated by meeting new furry friends or finding themselves in a dangerous situation. Limiting your new pet to one room allows you to control their environment while monitoring their health and well-being closely and carefully.
You can keep track of how much food and water they’re taking in, whether or not cats are using a litter box, and dogs relieving themselves by using a pee pad or when on short leashed walks outside. According to a guided video by the Baltimore County Animal Services, some cats can develop an upper respiratory infection (URI) or virus when first moved to a new home. Moving to a new home can be a stressful event for a pet and a URI can be triggered by that stress. Keeping your new pet separate from other pets in the house will prevent spreading any illnesses that may develop.
INTRODUCING HUMAN FAMILY MEMBERS
While your new pet is getting used to the smells and sounds of their new pet-siblings, it is a good time to slowly introduce human family members. It is important to never force a new pet to play. If your new pet hides or acts shy, start out simple by quietly keeping the new pet company. Bring in a book and read out loud or listen to quiet music to get them used to the sounds of your voice and home. A great way to bond and create trust with your new pet is through offering food or yummy treats. If your new pet associates spending time with you as a positive experience, they will learn to trust and reveal their true personality sooner.
Meeting several new people at once can be intimidating to a pet in a new environment. Slowly introduce other family members to your new pet and make the introductions short, quiet and a pleasant experience. When introducing children to a new pet, it is important to always have an adult present who can teach the child appropriate ways to interact with their new pet and supervise the interaction, for the pet and the child’s safety. Slowly increase the length of each visit and number of family members who interact with your pet over time as trust and openness increases.
SLOW AND STEADY INTRODUCTIONS
Both cats and dogs can get overstimulated easily when introducing them to other animals, regardless of their age. Personality also varies from pet to pet, and you can never tell how two animals will react to one another until they are in the same space. The two-week acclimation period gives both new and existing pets a safe and slow way of getting used to sharing space.
The Humane Society of the United States explains that cats are naturally territorial. Many cats don’t like to share space or resources, they can be fussy about changes in their environment, and they can become aggressive or disobedient when upset. For all these reasons, cats should be introduced to new fur siblings slowly and carefully.
THE NOSE KNOWS
Start introductions by getting each pet familiar with the other’s smell, prior to any face to face meetings. If you have a resident cat, offer them a blanket or pillowcase that smells like the new pet. If there’s a way to do this before the new pet even arrives in your home, even better! You can get a sense of how your resident pet will react to the new animal based on their reaction to the new pet’s scent.
Once the new pet is in their private room, bring something that belongs to your resident pet into the room with you. Do not leave the item unsupervised, as the newcomer may try to mark it as their own with urine or decide to destroy it to assert dominance.
COMMUNAL DINING
Once your pets are aware of the others’ existence, you can help create positive association by feeding them “near” each other. Set up the new pet’s room dining area near the closed door. Set up your resident pets’ food dishes on the other side of the closed door. You can start several feet away and move closer each day or each meal, depending on how all pets are behaving. Be sure to monitor them so that no one avoids their meal out of stress, fear, or anger. If any of your pets have issues with resource guarding, you may need a behaviorist’s or veterinarian’s advice before moving forward.
SWAPPING SPACES BEFORE SEEING FACES
If all animals are comfortable with the process so far, you can trade your resident and new pets’ spaces, letting the newbie roam around the rest of the house while confining your resident to the “private room”. This will help desensitize the pets to each other. Both pets should be closely monitored and controlled while swapping spaces, to assure that they are both safe and comfortable.
VENTURING OUT
You will know that a cat is ready to spend time in other places in the house when they begin greeting you at the door of their “private room” whenever you enter. When you do let your new pet explore, be sure it is safe for them and ensure all other resident pets are securely separated from the area. Give your new pet time to explore new areas and keep the room they’re familiar with open for them to retreat to, if they need a break.
Some cats may not be ready to venture out of their safe space even after two weeks of this process, and that is completely okay. Moving at their own pace, rather than yours, will help them feel safe and comfortable when they decide to join active family life and other parts of the home. Even once the acclimation period is over, be sure that all pets have safe spaces to where they can escape to in cases where they get overwhelmed or simply want time alone.
By: Jen Pendragon
NEXT WEEK: SPECIFIC STRATEGIES FOR INTRODUCING A RESIDENT CAT TO YOUR NEW CAT
HOLIDAY MESSAGE
With the holidays just around the corner we would like to take a moment to discuss pets and gift giving. It is understandable that many parents like to present their children with pets as gifts for the holidays, but this must be done with care. This should only be done with the understanding that regardless of the child’s age, adult supervision should be provided in the care of the pet on a daily basis. This would include feeding, monitoring and maintaining the pet’s waste elimination (to ensure healthy urinary and stool output is present), play time, etc. Caring for a pet is a large responsibility and not something to be taken lightly. Please think of rescues and shelters this year, and all year, if you are considering adding a pet to your family.