The first-time cat owner guide is the checklist for the first year with a cat in the Philippines: what to have ready, the first week, the health schedule, the papers, and the mistakes a first owner makes. Every item links to the guide that explains it.
A cat asks less of your day than a dog and more of your patience. It sets the pace of the relationship. Give it a room, a tray, a post, and a window, and it comes to you.
Contents
Before the cat arrives
- A carrier. Every vet visit and every emergency starts with it.
- A litter tray, unscented litter, and a scoop. Two trays for one cat, in quiet spots away from food.
- A scratching post taller than the cat, and something horizontal to scratch as well.
- Two wide, shallow bowls, and the same food the cat eats now.
- A bed or a box, and a high place to sit: a shelf, a cat tree, a cleared window sill.
- Toys on a wand, so play happens with you and not with your hands.
- Screens on the windows and the balcony. A cat falls; it does not always land.
- A veterinarian chosen, with the first visit booked for the first week.[1]
The first week
- One room with everything in it, door closed, for the first days. Let the cat open the house at its own speed. See The first week at home.
- Place a kitten in the tray after meals and naps until it goes there on its own. Most do within days.
- Sit on the floor and let the cat come to you. Do not pull it out of a hiding place.
- Two short play sessions a day with the wand toy. Never with hands; a kitten that learns hands are prey bites an adult later.
- The first veterinary visit, with the seller's papers and a stool sample.[2]
Health in the first year
- Week one Check-up, stool test, first deworming, flea check, first or next core vaccine dose. Ask about testing for feline leukaemia and feline immunodeficiency virus.
- 6 to 16 weeks Core vaccine series every two to four weeks, final dose at sixteen weeks or later. Rabies on the veterinarian's advice.[3]
- From the first visit Monthly flea prevention and deworming on schedule, indoors or not. Cat products only; a dog flea product can kill a cat.
- By 5 months Spay or neuter. A female cat can be pregnant at four months. See Why and when to spay or neuter.[4]
- 6 to 12 months Booster dose.
- Every year after Check-up, weight, teeth, and boosters on the schedule the veterinarian sets.
The daily routine
- Two measured meals, or three for a kitten, and fresh water in a wide bowl away from the food. See Food and water basics.
- Scoop the tray every day. Change the litter and wash the tray weekly.
- Two play sessions with the wand toy.
- A brush once a week for a short coat and every day for a long one; a long-coated cat in this climate mats and overheats.
- A look at the cat. A cat that eats, plays, and uses the tray is well. A change in any of the three is the first sign of illness.
Papers
- IAGD record. Free, from the register page or the SuperApp. The QR on a collar tag brings an escaped indoor cat home.
- Microchip. At a veterinary visit. A cat slips a collar; the chip stays.
- LGU. No national law requires cat registration. The rabies law names dogs; a rabies vaccine for a cat is still the veterinarian's usual advice. See How to identify and register your pet.
Costs to plan for
Food and litter every month, flea prevention every month, the vaccine series and sterilisation in the first year, a yearly check-up after that, and one unplanned visit a year. Cats cost less than dogs to feed and more than most owners expect in litter.
Common mistakes
- Letting the cat outdoors. Traffic, dogs, poison, and fights shorten an outdoor cat's life by years.
- Milk. Most cats cannot digest it.
- A dog flea product on a cat.
- One tray, in a busy corridor, cleaned twice a week.
- Punishing a cat. It learns to fear you, not to stop.
- Playing with hands.
- Ignoring a day without food. A cat that stops eating gets sick fast.
Common questions
Kitten or adult?
An adult from a shelter is often already sterilised, vaccinated, and tray-trained, and its temperament is known. A kitten needs supervision and more vet visits in the first year.
Puspin or pedigreed?
The Puspin is hardy, suited to the climate, and free or nearly so. A pedigreed cat comes with a known look and, often, a health history to ask about. Either registers in the IAGD.
Can a cat be left alone for a weekend?
One night with extra water, an extra tray, and dry food, yes. Longer, no: someone visits daily to feed, scoop, and check.
