Shelter surveys put upper respiratory disease in as many as 30% of cats, and the highest-risk window is the first week after a stressful move — the week your new cat arrives home. Plan for a vet visit inside 7 days, 14 days away from resident cats, and a house that opens one door at a time.
The whole month on one page
Three numbers organize the first 30 days: 14 days of isolation, 30 days before a repeat FeLV test if exposure was possible, and 21 days before the whole house is fair game. Everything below explains one row of this table.
| Days | Space | Food and output | Medical |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–2 | One room, door closed | 3–4 small meals; count litter clumps | None; observe only |
| 3–7 | Same room | Same schedule, weighed in grams | Exam, FeLV/FIV test, stool sample |
| 8–13 | Room plus 10-minute supervised walks | 4 meals, water refreshed twice daily | Start dewormer if advised |
| 14 | Quarantine line | Full appetite expected | Clear, or extend by 10 days |
| 15–21 | Second room, scent swaps with residents | Meals at fixed times | Booster if due |
| 22–30 | Whole house, supervised | Weekly weigh-in | Second visit, weight recorded |
Days 0 to 2: one room, four meals, no visitors
Set the room before the carrier opens: a litter box at least 1.5 times the cat's body length, water away from food, one hiding place that is not the litter box, and a door that closes. Expect the cat to hide for 24 to 48 hours; that is normal, not a sign of a bad match. Do not drag it out, do not bathe it, and do not invite friends to meet it.
Feed 3 to 4 small meals a day. A 4 kg cat needs roughly 200 to 250 kcal daily, which is about 55 to 65 g of a typical 3,700 kcal/kg dry food. Weigh the portions so that a drop in intake is visible as a number rather than a feeling. Count urine clumps and stools for the first three days; zero urine in 24 hours is an emergency, not a wait-and-see.
Days 3 to 7: the vet visit, and what the timing buys you
Book the exam for day 3 to 7, not week three. In US clinics a first exam runs $45 to $95, an FeLV/FIV combo test $40 to $60, and each vaccine dose $25 to $35. Prevalence in North American test data is about 4% for FeLV and 5% for FIV, so the test is worth it even indoors.
The 2020 AAFP retrovirus guidelines matter here: a negative result taken right after exposure can be too early, so a cat with known or likely exposure is retested after 30 days for FeLV and 60 days for FIV. Ask for the weight in grams and keep it — that single number becomes your baseline for the rest of the year. Our guide to FIV and FeLV testing windows covers false positives and confirmation.
Day 14 is the quarantine line, not the finish line
Feline calicivirus incubates in 2 to 14 days, which is why two weeks of separation from resident cats is the standard advice. Mild respiratory signs last 5 to 10 days; severe cases can run up to 6 weeks. If sneezing started on day 10, quarantine does not end on day 14 — it ends 10 days after the last new symptom.
Use the two weeks for scent exchange: swap bedding between rooms, feed on opposite sides of the closed door, and let them smell each other without seeing each other. The full protocol lives in introducing a new cat, and it assumes you did not skip this step.
What a respiratory infection looks like in numbers
Feline herpesvirus and calicivirus cause about 90% of these cases. The numbers below are what change the plan.
- Temperature above 39.4°C (103°F) — fever, call the clinic.
- Breathing above 30 breaths a minute at rest — count flank movement for 30 seconds and double it.
- Eating less than half the usual portion for 24 hours — in a kitten, 12 hours is already late.
- Weight down 5% in a week — a 4 kg cat losing 200 g has lost 5%.
- Thick yellow or green nasal discharge, squinting, or a cat that stops grooming.
Read the day-by-day course in the 21-day URI timeline and the pathogen differences in FHV-1 versus FCV.
Week 3: open the house one door at a time
Between days 15 and 21, let the cat into a second room for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, with the first room still available as a retreat. Add resources by the n+1 rule: one litter box per cat plus one, and the same for bowls — two cats mean three boxes in three locations, not three boxes in a row.
Vertical space does more work than floor space: a cat tree with a shelf at eye level lets a nervous cat watch the room without crossing it. With a resident cat, keep sessions short and separate them before either one stares.
Week 4: boosters, weight, and the real bill
Kitten vaccines are given at 8, 12 and 16 weeks, with the final dose at 16 weeks or older; an adult cat with unknown history gets two doses 3 to 4 weeks apart. Deworming is usually two doses 2 to 3 weeks apart, because the second dose catches larvae that matured after the first. Flea prevention is monthly, year-round in most climates.
Budget $200 to $450 for the first month at a general practice: exam, combo test, two vaccine doses, dewormer, and flea treatment. A private clinic at the top of the range, plus a dental check, can pass $600 — check microchip and registration cost before adding extras.
Five things that set the month back
- Free-feeding from day one, so a 20% intake drop is invisible.
- Bathing it to "clean off the shelter smell" — stress reactivates herpesvirus.
- Letting the resident cat in on day 3 because they seem curious.
- Skipping the vet visit because the cat looks fine; carriers shed virus without signs.
- Moving the litter box to a basement corner where the cat cannot see the door.
Set the box up properly with the litter box setup checklist, and track grams with weighing a cat at home.
When to call the clinic today, not Monday
Open-mouth breathing, a resting respiratory rate above 40, no food for 24 hours in an adult or 12 hours in a kitten, a temperature over 39.4°C, or a cat that has not urinated in 24 hours. A cat that hides and refuses food for more than two days is at risk of hepatic lipidosis, which is far more expensive than the visit you were avoiding.
This article does not replace a veterinary diagnosis. A cat with a fever, laboured breathing, or no urine output needs to be seen the same day, and dosing decisions belong to the vet who examines it.
Frequently asked
How long should I keep a newly adopted cat in one room?
A minimum of 14 days if you have resident cats, because calicivirus and herpesvirus incubate in 2 to 14 days. With no other cats in the home, one closed room for the first 3 to 7 days is enough, then open a second room for 10 to 20 minute supervised visits and reach the whole house around day 21.
My new cat is sneezing on day 5. Is that an emergency?
Not automatically. Clear discharge with a normal appetite and a temperature under 39.4°C usually means a mild viral infection that runs 5 to 10 days. Call the clinic the same day if the cat stops eating for 24 hours, breathes more than 30 times a minute at rest, has a fever, or develops thick yellow-green discharge.
Do I need to retest for FeLV and FIV after the first negative result?
Yes if exposure was possible. The 2020 AAFP guidelines recommend repeating the test at least 30 days after exposure for FeLV and 60 days for FIV, because antigen and antibody can take that long to appear. A single negative test taken the week of adoption can miss an early infection.