What to Expect After Adopting a New Loved One

Whether you rescue an older dog or a puppy, a lot of dogs tend to follow the 3-3-3 rule when getting acclimated:   3 days of feeling overwhelmed and nervous,      3 weeks of settling in,       3 months of building trust and bonding with you . Much of the same can be said with a feline, except a feline can go into total shutdown mode quickly and resort to hiding, refusing to eat, and soiling inappropriately. Where a canine is more likely to act outward with aggression. Even if they try to isolate, it is more physical showing shaking and whimpering. It is all very scary to the new animal to enter a place, even a great place. They wonder if they will be moved again. They wonder if they will be harmed. There are just so many unknown factors that come into play. Along with adoptions with our rescue, you get the much needed support to make sure our baby has the best chance of finding their forever home this time. We often know our animals very well and want to be there for them through life. Please don't hesitate to ask us for help or to even send us a text updating us on how things are going. 

As a general rule it is best to give your new pet some space and private time. A physical place for them to feel safe is great. With a cat, we always recommend a designated area where the door is closed and any other animals can greet each other thru smells under the door way. You can rotate letting the new pet out and putting your existing pets in the closed in area. This too will allow more smelling of each other. We find that even with a bath, a rescue animal comes to a new home with some pretty offensive smells. Often they have been recently fixed and will have lots of hormonal smells, but each one carries their own pheromones complicating things even more. Your pets need to understand they are not replaced. It is very unreasonable to expect any bonding to go on during the first week. Keeping different areas also is very important in case your new baby develops anything contagious after the move. Stress quickly brings out all kinds of underlying potential issues like ring worm, URIs, or UTIs. The quicker these conditions are addressed, the better. 

For felines, there are numerous resources on The Kitten Lady's page. She has dedicated her life to learning and educating people about all ages beginning with neonatal kittens. Alley Cats is another great resources. And please don't hesitate to ask us anything. Whether it be showing us a poop pic the following day or asking us something 5 years down the road, please know we are here for you. We experience many things and often have had multiple vets advise us on the best practices. One of the main things that we tend to know about unfortunately is FIP infection. It is no longer a death sentence. Just know that you can also contact us, and if for any reason you ever need to rehome your baby, it is in the contract that you speak with us first. And just in case you missed it, we do not allow our cats to be declawed. There are other humane ways of dealing with inappropriate scratching. Our number 1 goal is for the furrbaby to be in the right home for him or her. The number 2 goal is a happy family. Animals can't talk, so when something is going wrong, they have to show it in other ways. It is at no fault to them or no shame to the family if the match doesn't work out. We just want the best for everyone.