It’s important that cat ownership not be taken lightly, especially for families with children – it’s a big responsibility.
To ensure that parents aren’t stuck with the brunt of the work once the excitement has worn off, Cat Person co-founder, Lambert Wang — who fostered over a dozen cats throughout years of volunteer work — has compiled some tips for raising a responsible and mature pet owner:
- Give your cat time to acclimate to its new environment. Help your kids practice patience when first welcoming a new family member. Help them understand that it might take a while for their new pet to adjust and feel comfortable. Sometimes it also helps to keep them in their own room for a few days. Start slow!
- Schedule pet playtime. Playtime can be a lot of fun for both new cats and kids, but should always be supervised by an adult to ensure that no one is getting too rough. Parents should be ready to step in and show how to gently play with a new pet and enforce breaks as needed.
- Set expectations for pet responsibilities in the house. Talk about and even write down all of the responsibilities that will come with cat ownership and enforce them as you would with any other household chores. Make sure your kids understand that the fun of playing with a new cat also comes with regular feeding, litter box changes and more.
- Have adults handle the feeding at first. This can help you to evaluate whether your new pet is prone to resource guarding and to keep an eye out for any food intolerance or other considerations.
- Have your children contribute financially. Of course, it can be a small portion of their weekly allowance or birthday money each year but it’s important to start demonstrating that pet ownership can be costly – but hopefully they will see that it is well worth the sacrifices!
