Bringing your new Ragdoll kitten home
The day you bring home your new Ragdoll kitten is an exciting day for you and your family. Be sure that you are prepared for your new kitten. See the products we recommend for your new kitten.
For your young kitten, however, adoption day is a stressful event. It usually starts with a bath followed by travel to a new home. It always involves meeting new people and experiencing a new environment and new smells. Sometimes other pets are also introduced to the kitten. As a result of these stressful experiences, it is possible that your new kitten might not initially act in the traditional laid-back, “floppy cat” ways that are typical of ragdoll cats. They might respond to stress by being more curious or more timid. They might play more or sleep more. They might eat less or use the litter box less. Sometimes there can be a brief episode of diarrhea.
Just like people, cats have different personality traits that they are born with and others that are developed through nurture and training. Cat behavior changes as they grow from being like toddlers as kittens, through adolescence and into adulthood.
There are many things you can do to shape the personality of your kitten after you bring him or her home. We suggest introducing them slowly to your home and to other pets. If your circumstances allow for it, keep them in a small room to begin with and gradually enlarge their space. Have them greet your other four-legged friends through a gate or under a door when they first meet. We also recommend sharing scents from blankets or towels with each pet before the full in-body experience.
Once your kitten feels at home and has comfortably claimed his or her position as ruler of the universe, you might have some fun training them to fetch, roll over or even use the toilet. Yes, all of this is possible. Just Google, “How to train your cat”. For starters, here is a website that has some great information but there are likely many other websites that can offer helpful tips.
Most importantly, just love your new ragdoll and have fun!
