How to Help Your New Cats Settle in their New Home

Recently I was given a couple of adorable cats, from my friend who could no longer look after them as she had just had a little baby. The sisters have quite different personalities, Kimiko is the confidant cat and as soon as she arrived at our flat she prowled her surroundings like a proud lioness. Roxy however, stayed in her travel case for quite a while, then she ran away and hid and we had no idea where she was for about an hour! Luckily she was hidden under the TV behind some board games. Anyway since there are thousands of cats being given away, I thought I would offer some advice on how to help the little fellows settle in.

• At first, they may want to hide somewhere safe, so bring food to them if they don't come out to look for it, they may need some newspaper put down or something if they are too scared to come out to relieve themselves.
• If they are already litter trained, take them to where the litter tray is, I had to beckon Kimiko over with some treats and then do a scraping action on the litter tray, so she understood what and where it was. I gather she taught her sister Roxy where the litter tray was, so that was useful!
• Give them lots of treats, I found my cats love Dreamies, but they aren't that bothered about catnip, so try out different treats for your cat and see what they obsess over the most.
• A good bonding technique would be to sit on the floor, and let the cats come to you! If you are constantly standing over them it makes them feel small, and they may run away. So just sit on the floor with some treats in your pocket, and just let them sniff you and get used to your voice.
• Stroke them under the chin, my cats love that, they are utterly beside themselves when they get a good scratch under the chin.
• Play games with the cats, mine are very easily amused so every time I drop a piece of paper they go mad! They also love bits of string, a toy mouse, anything light they can bat around easily with their paws. They will then associate you with being 'the fun one' and like you more than whoever else is living with you.
• Don't pick them up constantly, I don't think they like it very much, give them lots of strokes and they will be cuddling up next to you in no time!
• Obviously don't forget to feed them and change their litter tray, my cats poop a lot and it gets rather stinky.
• Respect their strangeness, Kimiko likes to follow me into the toilet every single time nature calls, does anybody know why cats do this?
• Eventually they will relax and constantly follow you around, sit on your lap and be purring all day long, however you need to consider that cats need to get used to their new owners.

Well, I hope I have helped some new cat owners out there!