How to Prepare Your Home for a New Pet: A Room-by-Room Checklist

To prepare your home for a new pet, start about a week early, get down to pet level to look for dangers, put away cords, cleaners, medicines, and toxic plants, and set up a safe space with a bed or crate, food and water bowls, and toys. A few hours of prep makes the first days calmer and much safer for your new dog or cat.

Pets explore with their mouths and paws. Anything they can reach, they may chew, swallow, or knock over.

Step 1: Do a "pet-eye" walk-through

The AAHA suggests doing a safety check at your pet's level. Get down on your hands and knees and look around each room. You will spot things you never notice standing up, like loose cords, small toys, coins, and gaps behind furniture.

Do it once when you start and again after you set everything up.

Step 2: Remove common dangers

Step 3: Pet-proof room by room

Kitchen

• Use childproof latches on lower cabinets.
• Keep food, knives, and sponges off the edges of counters.
• Store trash under the sink or use a locking can.

Living room

• Hide or cover cords behind furniture.
• Move breakable items and candles up high.
• Check under couches for small things pets could swallow.
• Tie up window blind cords.

Bathroom

• Keep the toilet lid down. Pets may drink from it, and cleaning tablets can be toxic.
• Store medicines, razors, and cotton swabs in closed cabinets.

Bedrooms

• Keep shoes, socks, and hair ties off the floor.
• Close closet doors.
• Put laundry in a basket with a lid.

Garage and laundry room

• Store antifreeze, pesticides, paint, and rodent poison up high. Antifreeze tastes sweet to pets and is very dangerous.
• Keep the dryer and washer doors closed, and always check inside before starting a load.

Yard

• Check fences for gaps and loose boards.
• Remove toxic plants and mushrooms.
• Keep pools covered or fenced.
• Store lawn and garden chemicals safely.

Step 4: Check your plants

Many common houseplants can make pets sick. VCA and the ASPCA list plants like pothos, aloe vera, sago palm, and lilies as dangerous. Lilies are especially dangerous for cats, since even pollen or vase water can cause kidney failure.

Before your pet arrives, check each plant on the ASPCA's list of toxic and non-toxic plants, and move or remove anything risky.

Step 5: Set up a safe space

Your pet needs a quiet place to rest and feel safe, especially in the first few days.

• Dogs: a crate or small gated area with a bed, water, and a few chew toys
• Cats: a quiet room with a litter box, bed, food, water, a scratching post, and hiding spots

Keep the litter box away from food and water bowls.

New pet supply checklist

For dogs:

• Food and water bowls
• Food recommended by the shelter, breeder, or vet
• Collar, ID tag, and leash
• Crate and bed
• Chew toys
• Poop bags
• Brush and nail clippers
• Baby gates

For cats:

• Food and water bowls
• Cat food
• Litter box, litter, and scoop
• Scratching post
• Carrier
• Bed and toys
• Collar with ID tag

Step 6: Plan the first vet visit

• Book a vet visit in the first week.
• Ask about vaccines, flea and tick prevention, and spay or neuter.
• Get a microchip if your pet does not have one, and register it with your contact details.
• Save emergency numbers, including your vet, the nearest 24-hour animal hospital, and the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435.

Step 7: Get your home ready for pet hair and messes

• Pick easy-clean fabrics or use washable covers on furniture.
• Keep enzyme cleaner handy for accidents, since it removes odors so pets do not return to the same spot.
• Vacuum often. Pet hair and dander add to household dust. Our guide on why a house gets so dusty has easy tips.
• Keep food bowls clean so fruit flies and gnats do not show up. See our guide on getting rid of gnats.

Fun extra: how old is your pet in human years?

Curious how your dog's age compares to yours? Try our dog years calculator.

The bottom line

Prepare your home for a new pet about a week ahead. Walk through at pet level, put away cords, cleaners, medicines, small objects, and toxic foods and plants, and use latches and gates where needed. Set up a quiet safe space, buy the basics, and book a vet visit in the first week. Keep the ASPCA Poison Control number, (888) 426-4435, and your vet's number where you can find them fast.