October 03, 2002
Thursday

So you're getting a kitten! I'm going to assume that, if there's one thing you've picked up from Dr. Fran, it's her mantra. That it's always, always, always easier and cheaper to prevent something than it is to fix it. And so, you are reading this before you've gotten the kitten. If

Gina Digital photo by M.C. Kauffman ---

the kitten's sitting next to the computer right now, or hiding somewhere in your house, you've got a little catching up to do.

Let's start at the very beginning on this one, and assume that you have other animals. Let's say you have two pets, a dog, Rover, and a cat, Tuna. Tuna's a male, so your new kitten is going to be a female, because behavioral problems are more likely among same-sex pets.

Unsupervised introduction of any animal into a new environment with resident pets can result in lifelong aggressions between the animals. There are ways, however, to make the introduction less disruptive. The thing you're trying to avoid is the cataclysmic, in-your-face, miserably-hard-to-undo Surprise! meeting of the new housemates.This process takes two full days spent paying close attention to your pets, but the payoff is huge.

So you have to spend a weekend, paying close attention to your pets. Bummer.

First, let's put Rover and Tuna in a room nearest the entrance, so we can unobtrusively take Rover out for walks, and put him back in without meeting the kitten. You have outfitted this room with a food dish for each animal, - Tuna's dish is up where Rover can't reach it - and a litter box for Tuna, covered and turned kitty-corner to the wall so Rover won't grab a snack out of there after Tuna's used it. We leave them in there for the day, and go get Simba the new kitten.

We bring Simba in, and show her where all the cat boxes are, dropping her gently into each of them so she knows that this is where the moveable earth in the house is. I'll cover litter boxes in its own set of columns, so don't miss those, they're important. Right now, the focus is on acclimating her to the other animals, and we'll continue the process next.

Next: Meeting the resident pets...

franimaldoc@sitnews.org

• E-mail Dr. Good your comments & pet questions.
• E-mail your dog's photo for publication on Pet Talk/Pet Health. Include your dog's name and the name of the photographer.

Submit an Opinion - Letter

Sitnews
Stories In The News