Common Mistakes of New Cat Owners
Cats are among the most personable and entertaining creatures sharing our homes and lives, but owning them is not always as simple or straight-forward as many people believe. There are many “common” mistakes made by new cat owners, but chief among them is forgetting that each cat has its own personality.
Sure, the ginger tabby looks just like the one you had as a child, but for some reason this new “version” detests being picked up and carried around, is a sofa wrecker, and hates children. This is a clear indication that the new cat has its own personality, and may even have its own history that you can never know about – which is particularly true if the cat is adopted as an adult.
This means that the most common mistake to try and avoid is forgetting that your new cat has a very unique personality, and an individual set of needs. This is often the reason that a cat scratches, growls, refuses to eat or use the new litter box, and generally avoids its adoptive family for a short period of time, but is something that can be prevented by simply respecting the cat’s space and reactions.
The next most frequent error made by those adopting a cat is in their choice of which cat to adopt in the first place. Yes, a kitten is an adorable creature, but if there are toddlers in a home or children who tend to “rough house” too often, this can lead to disaster. It really pays to consider the age, size and appropriateness of the cat selected. Almost any welfare society will have the entire range of felines, from new kittens to adults, in need of a home. A few visits to a single location or center will usually allow a family or an individual to find their perfect feline mate (or even two.) .
This leads to another mistake frequently made by new cat owners, and that has to do with preparing the home environment. In the excitement of acquiring a pet such as a cat, many people go a bit overboard with the accessories. It is important to remember that the household alone will prove a huge distraction to the new cat, and before trying to offer them a climbing or scratching post, toys, and all kinds of bedding it is more important to just let them find their litter and feeding areas and get used to the house. Of course, there is the flip-side to that, which is not getting a home prepared for a cat and allowing easily moved or breakable objects to remain in place. This is particularly true of kittens and cats with a tendency to climb.
If a new cat owner understands that their pet needs time to adjust to the living space and has a distinctive personality many common mistakes and misunderstandings can be avoided altogether.
