Bringing a New Pet Home: The First Week

The first week with a new animal sets patterns that last for years. Most of what goes wrong in that week comes from doing too much, too warmly, too fast.

Make the world smaller first

A whole flat is overwhelming. Start with one room, with the bed, water and litter or pads all visible from one spot. Expand the territory over days, not hours.

This is counterintuitive if you are excited. It is also the single thing most likely to reduce accidents and hiding.

Let them come to you

Sitting on the floor doing nothing is more effective than approaching. Animals decide the pace of a relationship far more reliably than we do, and the ones given that choice settle faster.

Decide the rules before day one

Whether the sofa is allowed, whether the bedroom is open, who does the morning feed. Deciding these while a small animal is looking at you hopefully is how households end up with rules nobody agreed to.

Keep the food the same at first

Whatever they were eating before, continue it for at least a week. A new home and a new diet at once is the usual cause of an upset stomach in the first days. Transition slowly afterwards, over about a week.

Give them something that smells of nothing

A washable blanket that becomes theirs — unscented, unwashed for the first while — becomes a portable piece of safety. It is what you will take to the vet, to a friend's house, on the first journey.

The quiet is not sadness

Many animals are subdued for several days. It usually is not unhappiness; it is assessment. Appetite and curiosity return in their own order. If neither has by day four, call a vet.