Guidance for new Cat owners.<\/p>\n
During Covid, many people have purchased their first pet EVER.<\/p>\n
This can be a steep learning curve, so after advising puppy owners yesterday how to set their pet up for life, we now have some \u2018homework\u2019 for new cat owners.<\/p>\n
Cats are solitary animals. If forced to share, they prefer to share the airspace only with cats from the same familial blood line. This means when we pack unrelated cats in together, we need to respect some rules.<\/p>\n
Cats need their own ‘safe-zone’; somewhere they can escape other cats, pets, humans and kids. The cat should always be able to safely and calmly access a feeding zone and a toilet zone.<\/p>\n
If the kids are home during Covid, and the cat\u2019s house is occupied 24\/7: you need to rethink if the cat litter tray is now in a constant zone of transit. If near the back door and kids in-and-out constantly, leave that tray there but set up a second tray in a quieter, calmer zone. In that calmer zone, up the ambient heat, drop the lights and leave food and water, so the cat can secure themselves away from exhausting group share time.<\/p>\n
Size is important. To know how to provide cheap but big litter trays-read our post on the topic.<\/p>\n
Cats not only Love Heat; they Need Heat so read our blog post on that topic. The link is below.<\/p>\n
You will need to transport your cat to the vet or to a new house at some point during its life time. You may have to flee a bushfire and so need a transport cat box. The days of lending cat boxes out or borrowing from a friend\/vet\/unknown Facebook contact are over. Every cat owner now needs to have their own cat box. But before you rush out and buy any-first read our post in the last link below.<\/p>\n
Cats suffer stress and pick up on stress more than most pets. The hair cortisol of a cat owned by an anxious owner mirrors the hair cortisol \u2018stress hormone\u2019 of the owner. Cats over-groom for lots of reasons, but stress is a major player. Equally so, inappropriate urination around the home or bladder infections in the cat, are often markers that the cat is stressed. To help prevent this, read our other posts linked below and also read the vet based International Cat Care to find great tips on how to enrich a cat\u2019s home environment. We also have plug-in diffusers and sprays to help cats lower their stress levels.<\/p>\n
Those days are over for cats. Keep your cat in your yard and know with whom it is spending its outdoor time. Outdoor enclosures for cats can be cheaply home built with Bunnings products or: you can purchase pre-built enclosures like Kit-Kat enclosures. Regardless, keep your cat under your watch at all times, but especially during Covid-19.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.oakflatsvet.com.au\/problem-cat-carriers\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.oakflatsvet.com.au\/cats-risk-lives-search-heat\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n