Hosting cats: what is different

Most advice about hosting animals is written with dogs in mind, and applying it to cats produces predictable failures. The central difference is straightforward: dogs are primarily attached to people, and cats are primarily attached to territory.

Move a dog and they are largely with their person in a new place. Move a cat and you have removed the thing they are actually bonded to. Everything else follows from that.

The mistake that causes most failed cat stays

Giving the cat the run of the house on arrival.

It feels generous. It is overwhelming. A cat dropped into an entire unfamiliar building has no defensible space, no known exits, and no idea where anything is. The typical result is a cat wedged behind a wardrobe for four days, not eating, while everyone wonders why they are not settling.

The alternative — one room — sounds unkind and works far better.

Set up a base room

Before the cat arrives, prepare a single room that can be closed. A spare bedroom is ideal; a quiet corner of the house with a door is fine. Not a bathroom, and not a utility room with a noisy appliance.

In it, place:

• Litter tray in one corner.
• Food and water in a different corner, as far from the tray as the room allows. Cats will not reliably eat next to their toilet.
• Their own bed, unwashed, plus at least one covered hiding place — a cardboard box on its side works as well as anything sold for the purpose.
• Something to climb or sit on at height. Vertical space matters a great deal to a cat's sense of safety.
• A scratching post.
• Their own toys.

Open the carrier, sit down, and let them come out in their own time. Do not tip them out and do not reach in. Then leave the room and let them be for a few hours.

Expanding from the base room

Once they are eating normally, using the tray, and coming to greet you at the door — often two or three days — open the door and let them explore on their own terms. Keep the base room set up and accessible for the rest of the stay. It stays their territory.

Some cats expand to the whole house in a day. Some never want to leave the room. Both are fine.

Litter logistics

A cat who stops using the tray is one of the most common problems in a stay, and it is usually environmental rather than medical.

• Use the litter they use at home. Ask the owner to send it. Cats have strong substrate preferences and a switch from clumping clay to wood pellets is a real change to them.
• Use their own tray if possible, including whether it is covered or open. A cat used to an open tray may refuse a hooded one.
• One tray per cat, plus one. If you have a resident cat, that means at least three trays in the house — and the visitor's must be somewhere the resident does not patrol.
• Scoop at least daily. Cats are fastidious and a dirty tray is a common reason for going elsewhere.
• Position it away from noise and away from the food. Not next to the boiler, not next to the washing machine.

If a cat toilets outside the tray, it is communication rather than misbehaviour. Check the tray, the litter type, the location, and whether a resident animal is blocking access. Never punish it. And if a cat is straining without producing urine, treat it as an emergency — that is a potential blockage, not a behavioural issue.

Resident cats

Cat-to-cat introductions cannot be rushed, and unlike dogs there is no useful parallel-walk shortcut. Assume a week, and be prepared for the answer to be permanent separation.

1. Days one to three: complete separation. The visitor stays in the base room. The cats do not see each other. They will be entirely aware of each other by scent and sound, which is the point.
2. Swap scents. Exchange bedding between the two, or wipe a cloth on one cat's cheeks and leave it where the other can investigate.
3. Swap spaces. Let the visitor explore the house while the resident is in the base room, then reverse.
4. Feed on either side of the closed door, gradually moving the bowls closer to it, so each associates the other's smell with something good.
5. Visual contact through a barrier — a cracked door or a baby gate — for short periods.
6. Brief supervised time together, ending it while it is still going well rather than waiting for it to go wrong.

Back up a stage at any hissing, swatting, or hard staring. Hissing is normal early communication; the concerning signs are stalking, cornering, or a resident cat who stops eating or using the tray.

Some cats will never share space, and managing a stay with permanent rotation between rooms is a perfectly legitimate outcome.

Resident dogs

The dog must never have unsupervised access to the visiting cat, however reliable the dog is.

Give the cat vertical escape routes and a room the dog cannot enter — a baby gate the cat can pass and the dog cannot works well. Keep the dog on lead for early introductions, and make sure the cat is never cornered with the dog between them and the exit.

Do not let them outside

This is the firmest rule in cat hosting. A cat allowed out of an unfamiliar house will attempt to navigate home, and frequently gets lost or killed on unfamiliar roads.

Even for a cat who has outdoor access at home, the stay should be entirely indoors. Confirm this with the owner in advance, and be aware that it needs active management: cats are considerably better at doors than dogs are. Everyone in the household needs to know.

An indoor cat needs more enrichment to compensate — climbing, window views, and short play sessions with a wand toy in the evening.

Interacting with a cat you do not know

• Let them approach you. Sit down and ignore them; most cats find being ignored irresistible.
• Offer a finger at nose height and let them make contact, rather than reaching for the head.
• Stick to cheeks, chin, and the base of the ears. Most cats dislike being touched on the belly, the base of the tail, and the paws.
• Slow blinking is a genuine friendly signal and is worth returning.
• Do not pick them up unless you know they like it. Most do not, and it is the fastest way to lose their trust.
• Stop while they still want more. Overstimulation is why a cat bites mid-stroke.

Watch the food intake closely

This matters more for cats than for dogs. A cat that stops eating can develop hepatic lipidosis, a serious liver condition, after a relatively short period without food.

Measure what goes down and check what comes back. If a cat has eaten nothing for around 24 hours, that is a veterinary call rather than a wait-and-see.