Many of us can agree owning a cat is an incredibly rewarding experience, but let’s not forget the bumpy road to peaceful cat ownership!
Cat ownership can be quite overwhelming, especially for first-time cat owners.
To help out any new or prospective cat owners, let’s go over the top 5 most common mistakes first-timers make!
1. Not Training The Cat While Young
Although most pet owners associate training with dogs, please remember that cats need to be trained as well.
Cats must be taught that furniture scratching, peeing on the carpet, and a number of other behaviors are undesirable and must be stopped.
If you start training your cat early, when the new cat is still a kitten, you will have a much easier time teaching it good behavior.
2. Underestimating The Commitment
The truth about cat ownership is that it takes money, time, and effort to provide the best life possible for a kitty.
Although cats are low-maintenance, you will still need to spend time every day providing the cat with attention, care, food, cleaning its litter box, etc.
Pet insurance, veterinary visits, flea medication, vaccinations, high-quality food, cat beds, and cat toys – the new kitten checklist goes on forever, and new owners must be aware of the commitment to cat ownership.
3. Spraying The Cat With Water
Spraying a cat with water is a popular tactic to get cats to stop doing what they’re doing at that moment.
However, this offers only a temporary solution. Most of the time, the cat will not learn that whatever it was doing was bad.
On the contrary, the cat might get really scared, get mad at you, or even start avoiding water.
There are many ways to discipline your cat, but spraying water shouldn’t be one of them.
4. Not Neutering Or Spaying Your Cat
One of the most important things on a new cat owner’s to-do list is getting their cat neutered or spayed when the time comes.
Neutering and spaying eliminates many of the cat’s undesirable behaviors, such as roaming and aggression in the male cat, and yowling and restlessness in the female cat.
Apart from eliminating these problematic behaviors, neutered and spayed cats tend to live healthier lives; and they’re not going to be contributing to the growing issue of cat overpopulation.
5. Giving Too Many Treats
Cats are adorable, and it definitely is hard to say no to giving them a treat.
Experienced cat owners will probably have learned to resist the temptation to give their kitties treats on demand, but first-time cat owners might struggle with it.
First-time cat owners, please, you should give your cat treats no more than once or twice a day.
Treats tend to be high in calories, so you’ll be risking unnecessary weight gain for your cat if you give treats too often.
To Conclude: First-Time Cat Owners, Don’t Be Afraid!
With all this being said, one thing that must be added is – don’t be afraid!
Cat ownership will come naturally to you, and I’m sure your new furry friend and you will be perfectly happy!
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