AKICOLJ - rehoming cats

[adaeze]

Some of you will know my sister is moving to New Zealand, of all places, in a few weeks' time.  Some of you will also know that her cats aren't, and that one of them is coming to live with us.

My mother (who is taking the other two cats) says keep her indoors for a month.  Wellinghall's grandmother says "just butter her paws!" (not an option, as Molly has a weight problem).

I know a few of you have adopted adult cats / are heavily involved with re-homing charities (no, thanks, we don't want a hound to complete the menagerie), I wondered if anyone has any advice on getting them settled.

Comments

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I kept mine inside for (I think) about 3 weeks. I have no idea how necessary this was, but I didn't want to take any risks. I made the (possible?) mistake of unleashing them on the entire house at once, which I think they might have found overwhelming, but I understand that it's better practice to get them used to one room first, before expanding their territory to include new and scary places.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

We usually do the restrict to one room thing to start with - multiple doors between cat and outdoors make it less likely you will mislay cat in first few days before they know you, and also mean they won't have any difficulty finding the litter tray.

I really wonder if that paw-buttering thing was invented by some sort of early troll. Can't imagine it achieving anything other than an upset cat and a hell of a mess!

[adaese.livejournal.com]

ISTR paw-buttering being dismissed as extremely old-fashioned unreliable "advice" when my mother was adopting our childhood cats, mumble mumble years ago. I was very surprised when Wellinghall's grandmother trotted it out as a serious suggestion.

Restricting to one room to start with sounds like good advice.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

But be sure to spend lots of time in that room.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Butter on paws is good if cat is yakking up hairballs. I usually tried it with my long haired guy, before resorting to hairball meds. Also, i suppose, might work for constipation-- although vet might be better for that.

The butter for knowing where they live may be realted to knowing where they eat? Very old fashioned though. And messy for nice furniture.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

The clue is in the word *grandmother* ;)