If you think cats are low maintenance, easy pets, think again. First-time cat owners have to be ready to play with their cats, says Borns-Weil. “Kittens are very playful. They have a high need for interaction and stimulation and predatory play.” She recommends that new cat owners provide a stimulating environment for your cat by giving them access to puzzle toys and plenty of interaction with you. “They’re at this stage in life where play is really important to them or their development. You want to provide tons of opportunity for that predatory play,” says Borns-Weil. The only thing she doesn’t advise? Hand play. She’s spotted glove toys with pom-poms attached on the fingers on store shelves and recommends avoiding them. Likewise, you’ll want to try to put a stop to any “inappropriate” behavior. “You want to entirely discourage any kind of inappropriate play early on,” says Borns-Weil. “If they leap out at you when you’re walking by you don’t want to interact. You want to avoid and prevent.”,If you’re planning to become a new cat owner (or, as we like to think of it here at Chewy, cat parent), you’re probably looking forward to the joy of having a new creature in your house. But if you’re a first-time cat owner, be prepared for a few surprises. Cats can be prone to what new owners might describe as “weird behavior” (think: leaping up on counters, running wild in the dead of the night or playing in boxes). But rest assured, these behaviors are typical. “When you think about getting a cat, you’re kind of living with a wild animal,” says Stephanie Borns-Weil, a veterinarian and a behaviorist at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. “The cat will be happiest if you can provide an environment with your cat where it gets to do what cats do.” Here are eight behaviors new cat owners should expect and ways you can cope with them to make life easier for you and your cat: