1. Sensory Introduction

This step involves familiarising each animal to the other one’s scent before a physical introduction. Repeated exposure to each other’s scent will help to desensitise each animal to the other, reducing stimulation and potential fear when they first meet.

Dogs in particular get very excited by new scents and will often sniff new cat/kitten extensively when they first meet. Prior exposure and/or desensitisation can help to reduce this initial excitement which can often be overwhelming and intimidating to cats/kittens, who then may react due to fear of aggression.

• After your fosters have been quaratined for the required time, it is recommened to swap theirbeds/blankets with your pet’s bed/blanket.

• Observe each animal’s response to the other animal’s bed/blanket closely.

• If the animal sniffs the blanket and does not display any ‘negative’ behaviours this is agood sign, and you may repeat this step a couple of times to ensure a consistentresponse before proceeding to the visual introduction.

Negative behaviours include any of the following:

• hissing/growling/barking at the bedding or surroundings

• avoiding the bedding

• inappropriate toileting on or near the bedding

• referred aggression to the owner or other previously socialised pets if approached during exposure to the bed or shortly after exposure

If however, either animal displays signs of negative behaviour, you can try to ‘pair’ this scent with a positive experience. This can be achieved by placing the animal’s food bowl (with fresh treats or a ‘novel’ food inside) onto the bed and repeating this process until the negative behaviour abates.

If the negative response to the bed/blanket does not abate with repeated exposure, it is best not to proceed any further.