Introducing a New Pet to the Household

Ideally, you want to introduce a new pet slowly.  We had great plans for introducing Joy, our new kitten, to Gus and George, our older pets.  In my case we wanted to confine our new kitten, Joy, to a room in the house with litter and water and a bed to sleep in, spending lots of time with Joy, and with the older pets, individually.  Once Joy became comfortable, we would allow her access to the rest of the house while confining other pets.  In my defense, I did try to keep them separate, but Joy was more interested in investigating her new home and kept escaping into the rest of the apartment!  Introducing Joy to the dogs should have been done through a gate in the doorway, blocking the dogs from entering while allowing the new kitten the security of her safe place.  Each would have been fed treats so they associate their introduction with yummy treats.  We were planning on letting our new kitten set the pace.  If she hid, we would have let her, allowing her introduction to take a little longer.  Taking things slowly could help avoid a bad first impression.

The best laid plans!  Joy escaped my daughter’s room, where her bed, food, toys and litter were kept.  We were not ready for her introduction and neither were any of the other animals in the house!  Gus, one of our Shih Tzu's, saw Joy run and immediately his prey drive kicked in.   He went tearing after her at full speed, scaring her into action too.  It is a small apartment so she just ran in the opposite direction from Gus and found herself in a dead end, the bathroom.  We all followed, intending to rescue our new kitten from the big bad Shih Tzu.  The bathroom appeared empty except for Gus, who was sniffing around in search of what he thought would be his new favorite toy.  No sign of Joy in the bathroom, so we assumed she had doubled back without our noticing.  As we were leaving the bathroom I took one last look behind the door and there she was, in typical Sylvester style, claws locked into the wall balancing precariously on the top of the wainscoting, the hair on her back and tail straight up, and a look of sheer terror in her eyes.

That was their first introduction.  I worried that it would set the scene for the rest of their existence.  Luckily for us, Joy is a sparky girl with a huge attitude and a very forgiving personality.  She has indeed become Gus’ favorite toy but the feeling is totally mutual.  They often chase each other through the apartment and are later found curled up next to each other, the best of friends.

Laurie Hancock, Receptionist 

Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic