Bringing home a rescue cat: the first two weeks

• Pick a safe room: a spare room or a quiet corner with a door, not the hallway.
• Put the litter tray at one end, food and water at the other, and a covered bed or a cardboard box between them.
• Ask the rescue what food they’ve been on and buy that, even if you plan to change later.
• Check the room for gaps: behind the bath panel, under the floorboards, open chimneys and window vents.
• Have the microchip paperwork to hand, and your vet’s number on the fridge.

Open the carrier in the safe room, sit on the floor, and let them come out in their own time. Don’t lift them out. Some cats hide under the bed for two days; that’s normal and not a sign anything is wrong.

Go in often, but quietly, and do dull things: read, fold washing, talk softly. Let them choose when to approach. A wand toy is a better introduction than a hand.

• Open the safe room door and let them explore the rest of the house at their pace, with the safe room always open behind them.
• Keep meals at the same times and in the same place.
• Introduce other pets through the door first, by smell, then in short supervised meetings. Never shut two animals in a room together to “sort it out”.
• Book a vet check in the first fortnight, even if the rescue did one, so you have your own baseline.

In England, all cats over 20 weeks must be microchipped and registered on a compliant database. A rescue cat is usually chipped already, which means the job is to transfer it into your name: see updating microchip details and the cat microchipping law.

If you plan to let them out, add a quick-release collar and a tag before the door opens for the first time, not after. Our cat tag wording maker keeps it short and safe, and a QR tag carries the vet, the chip and a message form without your address being on show.

Most rescues ask for at least two to four weeks indoors, and longer for a cat that has moved area. Start with a short trip before a meal, with you standing in the garden and the door open behind them. Build up from there. There’s more in when can I let my new cat outside.

• Not eating for 24 hours, especially in an overweight cat.
• Runny eyes or nose, sneezing, or a cough that doesn’t settle in a day.
• Straining in the litter tray, or nothing in it for a day.
• Sudden hiding after they had settled, or flinching when touched.