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In this post, I will cover what your cat requires when settling in Canada to ensure all your cat's needs are covered.
Once you arrive in Canada and bring your cat, there is a list of things to check to ensure you have everything covered.
I will share the experience with my cat Corita, some of the things might be different, but you can use this list to guide you and have a separate budget for these things.
Table of Contents
4. Buying a bed
7. Buy a bowl
10. Food
11. Cat litter
14. Catnip
15. Inhaler
Here are the details of each of the options I mentioned in the table of contents:
1. Registration with building management.
It will depend on where you are going to live. In our case, we live in a condo (42-floor building), and they need to have our pet registered, especially for emergencies.
This way, firefighters or similar can know the number of people and pets to evacuate in an emergency.
2. Registration with the municipality
Be sure to check the city's website where you will be living. For example, here in Mississauga, every pet has to be registered.
You must pay for a license for 1 or 2 years and renew it. In my case, the cat license only costs 20 CAD a year, and then they send a unique identifier with the license number.
If Corita escapes and someone finds her (it is supposed to go on her collar, but Corita doesn't have one), this can help to identify her.
3. Pet insurance
This is not mandatory, and there are divided opinions on this topic. But, in general, I think it happens with all types of insurance.
You never know if you will use it, but you must pay for it if you take it out.
The premium will depend on the age of your cat or pet and other characteristics.
We have one for Corita with Fetch. We pay about 100 CAD every three months, covering 5000 CAD with 300 CAD deductible.
Fortunately, we have not had to use it, but Corita is 8 years old, and we prefer to have her covered, just in case.
We prepared comparison charts to ensure we were buying the most convenient one. We quoted these companies: Petsecure, OVMA, PetsPlusUs and Petplan (Now it is called Fetch).
They usually have an online calculator where you can simulate the premium. So check with them and see what is most convenient for your cat.
4. Buying a bed
Corita is unique; she has 345 places she considers her bed, but we started with one and bought another to give her the best.
These are the beds we have. This was the cheapest one, it's all messy and sloppy, but she is obsessed with this bed.
This was the premium one, but she only used it for one season. Corita is constantly changing her mind.
I'm sure she'll be obsessing over this one again very soon.
You can find similar beds here.
5. Buy a litter box
Important from day one. As I discussed in the post on How to travel with your cat to Canada, this was the first accessory we bought.
This litter box is great because it can be in a corner and use less space; you can move it around and come with a little scoop.
6. Buy a water fountain.
When Aldo came with Corita, he brought the water fountain we had in Chile because Corita loved it, and it worked.
This model keeps the water running all day, so Corita goes there and can have fresh water.
A few months later, the fountain stopped working; after three years of use, the system failed, so we decided to buy a new one.
We tried Amazon to buy the same one, but it seemed expensive. So we went to the supermarket and bought this one.
Long story short, she didn't like it. She wouldn't drink water at all. I think the fountain was too high for her, and she would get wet. Also, the customer experience (Corita's experience) was not very good, so...
Finally, we had to buy the old one. And now she already goes and drank water.
7. Buying a feeder or bowl
We had an automatic feeder in Chile, but we decided to buy two bowls here: wet food and dry food.
I read that bowls in this position prevent the cat from vomiting, and I think it works because we have had very few incidents.
8. Buy a nail clipper
Going to the vet is expensive, so we decided to buy this nail clipper to cut her nails at home.
With a lot of effort, churus, and teamwork, we can cut her nails every few months, and there's no need to go to the vet.
And the couch thanks us.
9. Buy a scratching post.
I bought one, and she only used it once.
Writing this post, I have discovered that I have more failures than victories purchasing things for her 😄 Anyway, we still hope it will be used when we adopt a new kitten.
You can find other cardboard cat scratchers here
We got lucky because we found this one on the street.
It's common for people to leave things outside their houses when they no longer use them, and that's how we found it.
You can find some similar ones here.
10. Food
Corita eats Taste of the Wild brand dry food and Hills brand wet food, or that's how it was in Chile.
Our only problem was the shortage of wet food (Hills), and we had to change it to another brand.
If you are bringing your pet, you could try looking on the internet to see if the food you use in your country is available here, so you don't have problems figuring out on the spot which one to switch to.
11. Cat litter
Like the food, we could keep the litter we had in Chile. Our one is called Odour Buster - MultiCat, and it works great.
We have been taking care of pets in at least four different places with cats, and we have not found any litter that works better than this one, so we highly recommend it.
If you want to learn more about how we do pet-sitting, check out The Beginner Guide to becoming a Pet Sitter.
12. Mat under the litter box
In a short time, we noticed that Corita would spread the litter when it came out of the litter box, so we found this mat that helps retain the debris and can be easily cleaned up.
13. Find a veterinarian and do check-ups
When we got insurance, we were asked for an initial exam. We looked for a vet in the area, and from then on, we always went to the same place.
Keep your cat updated on his vaccinations, and remember that routine checkups are not covered by insurance (at least not ours), so have an amount dedicated to that.
14. Catnip
This is optional but great if you want them to feel playful and crazy momentarily.
We bought this jar and think we'll have it for eternity because we use so little.
15. Inhaler
Corita uses an inhaler every morning, and we found this special chamber for cats, which changed our lives. No kidding, in Chile, we used one for babies, but it was too big for her kitty face; it irritated her eyes a little bit, and this one is perfect.
There are for dogs and cats. This is a particular situation, but if you need one. It was expensive but worth it.
I hope this post has guided you to at least some basic things you will need when arriving with your cat in Canada.
If you have any questions, write me directly on the contact page or send me a DM on Instagram @julietafromhappysoy.