Hello InfiniteLove,

In case if any of these books didn't arrive yet, I can offer you tips how to take things correctly and less stressfully for both of you.

1. Find a suitable room where the cat can stay for the first days, and provide enough cardboard boxes for the cat to hide, as well a bed for her to hide under. In the same room, put the food and water bowl (make sure it's glass, steel or unleaded ceramic, not plastic) in one corner, preferably near the provided cardboard boxes, and a catpan with clumping litter material (with baking soda in it, nothing else) on the other opposite corner of the room, cause cats will never eat near the catpan. The cardboard boxes can have small holes to allow the cat to run thru them like a tunnel and so on.

2. On the first day of arrival, put the newcomer in that room and close the door. Allow the cat to accomodate for 2-3 hours and keep the place quiet.

3. After 2-3 hours you can go in the room and sit down with a book and read the book. Allow the cat to come out of hiding slowly on her/his terms. Don't even make eye contact at all. When she/he comes and approaches you and starts to purr, then you won her/his heart and you can start petting the cat slowly. You can alow her/him to roam the house one room at a time till she/he gets used to the whole house and the complex smells that exists in the place. She/he has to map the house based on the particular smells that exists in various places.

4. Purchase Rescue Remedy flower essence in a bottle with a dropper, and put several drops in the water bowl. It's a remedy that helps dissipate the stress.

5. It's also a good idea to purchase organic catnip of high quality. Catnip acts like an aphrodisiac to cats, so use a bit and sprinkle on the scratch post in case she/he is not declawed. It would be a good idea to purchase the first book I recommended (the one written by an animal behaviorist) for tips how to encourage the non-declawed cat to use the scratch post instead of any piece of furniture.

6. To help with the food, ask your co-worker to bring her favorite food and you can learn over the time to switch to better quality food, since cats are creatures of habit, they are harder to switch to new kinds of food, so you have to have lots of patience and never give up. The best high quality dry food I can suggest are Wellness Core, Innova Evo, Azmira (and dry food that doesn't contain grains at all and no fillers like potatoes, rice, etc). As well find treats like freeze dried chicken meat. Give one morsel at a time every 4-6 hours. Over time offer the canned food and switch the cat fully over the canned food and then you can switch to species appropiate diet to help the cat to have better health and beautiful fur/coat and eyes, and you'll have less worries about the health, and that means no vet bills in long run. Of course you can take the cat for annual check-up but remember no vaccinations.

I think that pretty much covers all the tips for the first months.

If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask me since I have a cat and I cared for her since she was a small kitten.

Ynaig