New Cat

[AlannaJade]

Hello all, just looking for some help and advice. We got a new cat on Thursday 15th, she has been fine and seemed she was settling well. She has been doing the regular hiding away, starting to come out, she is eating and using the litter. As she has got more comfortable she has started to come out of hiding more. However she is now growling at us, we aren’t going near her or pressuring her out, but she is coming over to us, rubbing herself against us then growling at us. She also did this when I had a plate of toast in my hands, rubbing up against me then growling and biting my leg.
is this normal new cat behaviour? We will be devastated if we can’t keep her but we have a 5 year old and concerned for his safety is she does become hostile.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, welcome!

Just to check, how old is she? Can you hiss loudly at her when she's starting to growl, every time, since she might not have had lessons from her feline mother about how to properly behave?

Has she had a checkup that included a really thorough look at her teeth?

How much, and what, are you feeding her?

 

[AlannaJade]

hello,
She is 2 1/2 years old,
She has had all her health checks recently and is fit and healthy

Currently eating twice a day, breakfast and dinner as recommended by her old owner. And is eating this fine.

we haven’t tried hissing back, as she was new we didn’t want to further scare her, but have been telling her firmly,’No’.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi and welcome to TCS! Given how recently you have gotten her, I think she is caught up between wanting to become part of the family but still hesitant, unsure, and fearful. I would be surprised if the growling continues for a long time, so that part I would be cautious of how you respond. The biting does warrant a 'No'.

What does the previous owner say about this behavior?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Oh, I wanted to add that your six year old is old enough to explain to him that she is still getting used to her new home, is a little afraid because it is new, and he needs to let her get more comfortable before it will be time for playing with her.

 

[Furballsmom]

And is eating this fine.

Is it enough? Is it canned, or dry?

 

[AlannaJade]

Hi and welcome to TCS! Given how recently you have gotten her, I think she is caught up between wanting to become part of the family but still hesitant, unsure, and fearful. I would be surprised if the growling continues for a long time, so that part I would be cautious of how you respond. The biting does warrant a 'No'.

What does the previous owner say about this behavior?

We are hoping it’s just her settling and will calm down.
The previous owner said she is really friendly and sweet natured, never bitten and scratched. We haven’t spoken to the previous owner about the behaviour yet as we didn’t want to worry them.

 

[AlannaJade]

Oh, I wanted to add that your six year old is old enough to explain to him that she is still getting used to her new home, is a little afraid because it is new, and he needs to let her get more comfortable before it will be time for playing with her.

Yeah, we have explained to him about her needing time to get comfortable with us, he is ever so good with understanding it, luckily.

 

[AlannaJade]

Is it enough? Is it canned, or dry?

We are giving her the recommended amount, it’s dry food, she hasn’t ever had wet in her diet.

 

[Caspers Human]

I think the problem is because the cat has just been summarily moved to a new house with new humans, including a child and she doesn't know what to make of her new surroundings. I believe that her reactions are because she's been uprooted, so to speak, and doesn't understand what's going on.

If the original owner said that she's a gentle cat, I tend to believe them. Cats might become defensive and lash out in unfamiliar surroundings but, as they say, leopards don't change their spots. I feel confident that, once she gets used to her new home, she'll calm down and return to her old, sweet self.

Just keep doing what you have been doing. Give the cat the space she needs and let her get used to her new home. It can take weeks and even months for a new cat to get used to a new home.

Time and understanding are the keys, here.

For now, keep feeding her the same food that she's been eating at her old home. She needs to have the stability of a familiar food supply in order to properly adjust to new surroundings. While I believe that a cat should eat at least fifty percent of its diet in wet (canned) food, now is not the time to make such a big change. Let her get used to her new home before you go tinkering with her diet. Just make sure she's got plenty of water to drink. Put out two or more containers of water for the cat to drink from. Both of our cats like to drink from the watering can that we keep on the bottom shelf of a plant stand.

You can start offering canned food along side her dry food after she calms down and gets used to her new home. When the cat starts eating both wet and dry, you can decide on a permanent diet but that's a question for later.

If you want to offer your cat something good in the mean time, consider Churu treats:

https://www.chewy.com/inaba-churu-seafood-variety-creamy/dp/666718

Our youngest, Elliot, goes kookoo for them! Many cats do.

Feeding a new cat yummy treats is a good way to make friends and build trust with a new cat.

 

[Biomehanika]

I think she will be fine, she is still very new to you and your home/family, it sounds like she is just unsure of everything still, hence the growling, but since she is doing it while rubbing up on you I don’t think she intends to be aggressive or mean. She’s just got a lot of mixed feelings lol. My newest cat Moose did the exact same thing during his first few days here. He would sense my other cats at the other side of the door, and let out a low persistent growl while rubbing against me, and he *loves* other cats. He was just unsure and nervous since everything was so new. It stopped after a few days.

I personally would not correct the growling behaviour in any way. No hissing, no “NO’s”, I feel like it might do more harm than good at this point while you are still building trust with her, and she will likely stop that on her own once she’s more settled in and comfortable. If she continues to bite, I would correct that though.

 

[Furballsmom]

Obviously I'm being totally outvoted on everything here - I wouldn't ever have guessed I was so far off base with my thinking, but in any case you might try adding a noon meal, whether dry or wet, and see if her behavior changes.

 

[Caspers Human]

...you might try adding a noon meal, whether dry or wet, and see if her behavior changes.

Food is almost always a good thing!
It's certainly good to try.

As to how to respond to growling, I would mostly ignore it but, when the cat does it, try to remember the situations where it happened. Use the information gained to figure out what triggers the cat. Once you've done that you can decide whether to respond.

Sometimes, responding to bad behavior reinforces it. If the cat gets upset and the human responds, it could make the cat more upset, causing a minor situation to become worse: The cat gets upset and growls. The human responds in a way that upsets the cat even more. The cat goes aggro and the human freaks out because they don't understand why. Everything goes haywire.

If you do decide to respond to your cat's growling and hissing, use a low tone of voice and say, "Be nice!" Don't yell but speak directly to the cat. (Yes, cats do understand when human speech is directed at them.) If the cat doesn't respond the way you expect, give them "three strikes." On the third strike, get up and go someplace else. Don't give the cat the attention she wants. Not even negative attention. To a cat, attention is attention, positive or negative.

When the cat behaves the way you want, give her lots of pets and praises. Offer a treat if you think it's appropriate.

When the cat behaves in a way that you don't like, don't give her anything...nothing...walk away and ignore her.
Cats learn by Operant Conditioning: Behavior gets a response which teaches a new behavior. It's the repeated cycle of Behavior > Response > Behavior > Response which makes a cat change behavior.

The way you respond to your cat, today, affects the way she'll behave tomorrow. You need to model the the way you want the cat to behave by tailoring YOUR behavior toward the cat. When she does what you want, reinforce. When she does things you don't like, discourage. When she does something you don't like but your response encourages her to do the thing you want, praise the heck out of that!

For instance, if your cat goes up on the kitchen counters where you don't want her to go, tell her to get down. If she doesn't listen, tell her to get down again. If that still doesn't work, go to the kitchen counter and gently nudge her down, onto the floor. Once she gets down, pets and praises are in order because she did the thing you wanted her to do. Repeat the cycle until the cat learns to stay off the counter.

For growling, take these examples:

Example #1) Cat growls. > You say, "Be nice!" > Cat quiets down. > You say, "Good kitty!" and give her pets. > Cat learns to "be nice" and stop growling.

Example #2) Cat growls. > You say, "Be nice!" > Cat growls again. > "Be nice!" > Growl. > "If you won't be nice, I won't play with you!" > Growls again. > You say, "Okay! That's it! If you won't be nice, I'll go somewhere else!" Then, you get up and leave the cat alone.

After repeated cycles of #1 and #2, the cat should decide that she likes #1 better and change her behavior to get what she wants. For most cats, it shouldn't take more than a half-dozen cycles of this before they start to get the message.

 

[AlannaJade]

Obviously I'm being totally outvoted on everything here - I wouldn't ever have guessed I was so far off base with my thinking, but in any case you might try adding a noon meal, whether dry or wet, and see if her behavior changes.

We could try that but it wouldn’t be consistent as we both work during the week so would only be able to give 3 meals at the weekend

 

[AlannaJade]

I think she will be fine, she is still very new to you and your home/family, it sounds like she is just unsure of everything still, hence the growling, but since she is doing it while rubbing up on you I don’t think she intends to be aggressive or mean. She’s just got a lot of mixed feelings lol. My newest cat Moose did the exact same thing during his first few days here. He would sense my other cats at the other side of the door, and let out a low persistent growl while rubbing against me, and he *loves* other cats. He was just unsure and nervous since everything was so new. It stopped after a few days.

I personally would not correct the growling behaviour in any way. No hissing, no “NO’s”, I feel like it might do more harm than good at this point while you are still building trust with her, and she will likely stop that on her own once she’s more settled in and comfortable. If she continues to bite, I would correct that though.

Thank you,
We have come back from being out and she has settled herself on the other sofa and hasn’t bothered with us, so hopefully she will settle. I’m glad to see everyone saying it’s just because she is new. We already feel she is apart of the family and would have been so upset to have to find her a new home. Fingers crossed in the next few days she will settle a bit more and the growling will stop.

 

[Biomehanika]

Thank you,
We have come back from being out and she has settled herself on the other sofa and hasn’t bothered with us, so hopefully she will settle. I’m glad to see everyone saying it’s just because she is new. We already feel she is apart of the family and would have been so upset to have to find her a new home. Fingers crossed in the next few days she will settle a bit more and the growling will stop.

Does she have access to the whole house? If she has had free roam of the whole house since day 1, that’s likely a big part of the issue too. Generally when getting a new cat it’s best to keep them in a single quiet room for at least the first few days, with all of their necessities, longer if you have other animals that they need to be introduced to, or if they are still having trouble adjusting.

Having access to the entire house right off the bat can be very overwhelming since it’s a large unfamiliar territory, and they haven’t been able to spread their scent on anything yet. If you are worried about how she’s adjusting and she seems on edge you may want to set her up her own room for a couple days and just do regular visits in there, and once she’s comfortable with you and that room, start giving her access to the rest of the house (while keeping that room accessible).

 

[AlannaJade]

Does she have access to the whole house? If she has had free roam of the whole house since day 1, that’s likely a big part of the issue too. Generally when getting a new cat it’s best to keep them in a single quiet room for at least the first few days, with all of their necessities, longer if you have other animals that they need to be introduced to, or if they are still having trouble adjusting.

Having access to the entire house right off the bat can be very overwhelming since it’s a large unfamiliar territory, and they haven’t been able to spread their scent on anything yet. If you are worried about how she’s adjusting and she seems on edge you may want to set her up her own room for a couple days and just do regular visits in there, and once she’s comfortable with you and that room, start giving her access to the rest of the house (while keeping that room accessible).

Unfortunately we are only in a ground floor flat so there isn’t really any room to allow her any of her own space entirely. We have closed the bedrooms off so she has just had the kitchen and living room to roam, hoping that would help her adjust.

 

[Furballsmom]

so would only be able to give 3 meals at the weekend

If you see that it makes a difference, there are automatic feeders that work for either wet or dry food.

Either way regarding her behavior, I'm glad to hear she appears to be relaxing.

Cat Music can be helpful as well, there's RelaxMyCat, MusicForCats, classical Harp music, harp music that's been written for cats et al.

This can be useful;

https://www.purinainstitute.com/sites/default/files/2021-04/body-condition-system-cat.pdf

 

[Biomehanika]

Unfortunately we are only in a ground floor flat so there isn’t really any room to allow her any of her own space entirely. We have closed the bedrooms off so she has just had the kitchen and living room to roam, hoping that would help her adjust.

Ok, since it’s not a huge space that maybe okay, but those are probably also the busiest spaces in the flat, no? She might do better in your bedroom for a couple days if you have space to keep litter/food/water and a scratcher in there. I have always been in a one bedroom apartment when bringing in a new cat and have always used my bedroom as the starting room since I’m only really in there at night to sleep. If she has already claimed some favorite spots where she is now you could just continue on as have you have been though, I do really think the growling should subside in the next few days.

 

[AlannaJade]

Yeah, we could have placed her in a small room to start, we thought with it being so small she would be okay,
She has found a spot on the other sofa now and likes to go under the sofa for some alone time, so fingers crossed that will be okay for her now.