Introducing the new baby, or grandparent, etc.
Introducing a new human, whether 3 months or 80 years old is much the same as introducing a new companion animal.
There are two major factors that will ease the adjustment for any cat or kitten. Time and attention.
Time: The best advice is to introduce the cat and the new resident gradually and be patient! It takes most cats about 4-6 months to develop a friendship with a new human.
Attention: To put it in the cats perspective, look at things from his or her point of view. First of all, to a cat, everything is about territory. Cats think "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine". If the resident cat is an only child (no other cats, animals or children) in the home. And you bring in another living being, the cat will feel like its territory is being threatened. It will be fearful that it will loose its current stable environment.
When this happens the cat reacts with any or all of the following:
- The cat will react aggressive towards the new human perceived as a threat.
- The cat will mark its territory to drive the perceived threat away. To mark its territory, it will spray, urinate, defecate, or any combination of the above to drive the "intruder" out if its territory.
To alleviate problems introduce the cat to its new "friend" using the Cat-to-Cat introduction method.
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