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Comforting Your Cat When You Bring a New Pet Home #FeliwayCat

By: Author Paris Permenter

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This post is sponsored by Ceva Animal Health, makers of FELIWAY® for cats. All statements and opinions are entirely our own. As always, we only share products that we use with our own pets!

In the last few months, our cats have been through many changes: Ochi’s death in August and Jetty’s adoption in September, followed by Irie’s death and Barli’s adoption in March. Whether it’s the loss or adoption of feline or canine companions, these events all meant major changes in the lives of our cats–and for cats, as for us, change generally means stress.

April is De-Stress Your Pet Month, a time to take a moment to think about the steps we can take to minimize stress in our lives. Ceva Animal Health, makers of FELIWAY® for cats, along with the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, is working to make pet lovers aware of the ways we can all reduce stress in our pets’ lives:

We’ve been using FELIWAY® products with our cats to help them ease through this time of transition. FELIWAY®–which is odorless to humans–has three unique pheromone products depending on your cat’s needs: FELIWAY® CLASSIC, FELIWAY® MultiCat to help multiple cats feel calm together and FELISCRATCH by FELIWAY® to help redirect scratching onto the scratching post and help reduce or stop unwanted scratching in the home. Available in many forms– FELIWAY® MultiCat Diffuser, FELIWAY® Diffuser, FELIWAY® CLASSIC Spray, and the new FELISCRATCH®, these products help reduce cat tension and stress.

Create a soothing retreat for your cat.

When your resident cat needs a little alone time–whether that’s time away from a boisterous puppy, a joyful kitten, or a new human resident of the house–she needs to have a special place to go to relax and recharge. (Don’t we all?!) In our house, my second floor office is the cat zone for the moment. Although the office has always been shared by both our cats and our dogs, during Barli’s settling in period, the cats need a place to get away from the puppy craziness for a while. John built a Dutch door between our living room and the landing to the stairs, with a shelf on each side for the cats to use.

We’re also using FELIWAY® MultiCat, a diffuser which can help reduce tension and conflict between cats. Although our three cats have always gotten along, we don’t want a disruption in their relationships now that we’ve introduced a new puppy into the family.

Create separation and introduce slowly.

When we brought Jetty into the house, she remained in a large bathroom–with toys, a scratcher, bed, litterbox, and food and water, while Inca and Lucky enjoyed use of the rest of the house. They slowly became acclimated to each other beneath the bathroom door. Once they were familiar with each other, we brought Jetty out of the bathroom and let Inca and Lucky explore the bathroom while Jetty explored the rest of the house, each familiarizing themselves with the scent of the other without a face to face confrontation. Lucky was the first to join Jetty (he’s the official greeter in our house) but we waited many more days, each filled with slow introductions, before Jetty joined Inca, the shyest of our cats.

Spend time alone with your resident cat.

Reassure your cat that your relationship remains unchanged by spending time alone with her. A little cuddling and grooming will help remind your cat that she held a place in your heart first and that will never change.

Give your cat some vertical space.

Whether your resident cat wants to get up and away from a new kitten or a boisterous puppy, vertical space helps calm your cat and provide a safe vantage point to enjoy. Every room in our house includes raised surfaces just for the cats. Our “cat kitchen,” with drawers for pet foods and a countertop to feed the cats out of reach of the dogs, is a favorite spot in the kitchen area. We added a shelf to the side of our entertainment center so the cats can get up above the TV for naptime in baskets just for their use. My office has shelving as well as window perches for the cats to enjoy and relax on, even when the office is at capacity with three cats and two dogs.

Increase play time.

Along with spending time alone cuddling, it pays to increase play time with your cats as well. While little Barli is out on his twice-daily walks, one of us remains home for some wand play, a favorite with Lucky and Jetty. We’ve also added new scratchers and toys, too. The exercise helps to calm them during this time of transition, and it also serves as bonding time to reinforce to the cats that we’re all still one big, happy family.

Supervise interactions.

Be sure to supervise interactions, whether you’re adding a new cat or new dog to your family. Your resident cat needs time to form a relationship with this new family member but that relationship building may have to take place in short doses. Now in our home for one month, our puppy is still always supervised around the cats as we watch for body language that indicates that either the cats or Barli are feeling stressed–so that every interaction of theirs ends successfully, with no tension. And just as the cats are benefiting from FELIWAY® MultiCat and FELIWAY® CLASSIC Spray, Barli is wearing an ADAPTIL® Calm On-the-go collar, which similarly releases Dog Appeasing Pheromones. His ADAPTIL® doesn’t affect the cats–and the cats’ FELIWAY® doesn’t impact Barli’s behavior. (Read more about Barli’s use of ADAPTIL® over on DogTipper.)

Remain calm.

Our cats pick up on our emotions so it’s always important to de-stress ourselves as well as our pets. Even if there’s a hiss or a slap, it’s not the end of the world. End the interaction happily, separate everyone, and stay calm. Your cat will be calmer for it.

Know how happy your cat is.

Watch for signs of stress in your cat. Take a quick quiz on FELIWAY® to see how happy your cat is!

For more information on FELIWAY®:

Paris Permenter
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This post originally appeared on CatTipper.com and is the sole property of CatTipper and LT Media Group LLC.