
Taking home your new kitten

Advice
Taking home your new kitten
There is nothing more exciting than bringing home tiny bundles of fur! They are beyond adorable, ridiculously cute, and all you want to do is smush them all day long.
However, kittens are also a big responsibility. They are babies, and like human babies they need a lot of nurturing. Their safety and wellbeing is of the utmost importance.
đ» Remember they are only little at 10 weeks old.
Preparing Your Home
These gorgeous little fur balls will be into everything and anything and could get stuck in all kinds of places, so here are a few steps to kitten proof your home.
Hiding places
These little munchkins can fit into unbelievably small spaces, and will find all the hiding spots where they absolutely shouldnât be and that you will struggle to find. So before they do their best Houdini impression and give you a cardiac arrest, blocking up and securing all hiding points is vital.
Behind washing machines, skirting in your kitchen, down the sides of appliances: absolutely everywhere they could use to win the worldâs most stressful game of hide and seek!
Windows
All windows must be locked and kept shut at all times. Kittens will squeeze through a window even if itâs open just the tiniest crack, or if itâs just pulled shut but not latched. No window is safe, even a skylight, no matter how high.
Doors
It takes a split second for a kitten to escape through a door, so having a system in place will ensure their safety. Believe us, they are ridiculously quick and utterly fearless. If you have a double door system and can create an âair-lockâ thatâs great. You could also add a layer of protection by using a door fly screen - but only one with a zip, not one with magnets.
Also, believe it or not kittens have managed to get out of letter boxes. Theyâve got tiny lockpicks on each paw after all!
Cat flaps
If you have a cat flap in your home already, tape it up with heavy duty tape. We honestly canât stress this enough. Tape, tape and tape some more. They use their tiny claws to open the flap at the bottom and off they go. Blocking it up will not work and your kitten will find a way out.
If you donât have a cat flap but would like to install one, we highly recommend installing one only once your kittens are ready to go out and have been fully vaccinated, microchipped and neutered.
Happy pheromones
Feliway is a spray or plug-in that delivers âhappyâ pheromones around your home. Itâs designed to help animals relax and feel calm. There is a specific one for kittens. Plugging in one or two around your home will relax and chill the animals in your home, including your new arrival.
Plants and flowers
Please ensure that all the plants and flowers in your home are definitely cat safe. Better to check and be safe than possibly very very sorry.
For the record, lilies are absolutely lethal to cats. They donât even need to eat them â just physical contact can make them seriously illâŠor worse.
Remember kittens are bouncy so any flowers and plants are at risk of being knocked over. Ensure they are somewhere safe and not in a breakable vase as this could cause serious harm to your kitten.
Food
Be careful that you donât leave anything around that will get examined, mouthed and possibly eaten by a curious kitty. Some foods are toxic to cats so we would strongly suggest not feeding them table scraps as they may contain toxic ingredients. Check first before giving human food to your kitty.
Some of the foodstuffs most toxic to cats include:
- onions
- garlic
- raw eggs
- milk and dairy products*
- chocolate
- grapes, raisins and sultanas
- alcohol
- dog food
*Cats might like the taste of milk, but most cats are lactose intolerant as they lack the enzyme lactase needed to digest lactose. Giving them milk or dairy products can result in bloating, diarrhoea and vomiting. Bad in a cat â potentially fatal in a kitten.
Breakables
Batten down the hatches for anything that can move. Kittens will jump onto any surface. Make sure all precious and breakable items are hidden away and help ensure kitty is safe from accidents and injuries.
Shelves
Kittens like to climb and they love to jump. Anything that they can jump onto, they will. Book shelves, cupboards, kitchen unitsâŠ
Please make sure everything that can move is moved.
Hot surfaces
We highly recommend not allowing kittens in the kitchen whilst you are cooking or just after. Whilst they would very much like to come and âhelpâ, it just takes a spilt second for those hot surface to cause horrific injuries to their toe beans.
Itâs not worth taking the risk.
Picking up your kitten
Whilst we understand that the humans are excited to get âhandsyâ with their new bundles of joy, this is a very big time for such tiny baby beans. This will be the first time that they are leaving the safety and security of mum and siblings, and it will be scary, daunting and frightening for them.
Please bear that in mind and try to keep the picking up to a minimum. Staying calm and making no loud noises will help too.
Cat carrier
Itâs highly recommend that you make it as comfortable as possible with lots of furry blankets so they have somewhere to snuggle into if they are scared. Itâs also an idea to spray a suitable Feliway calming spray onto the blanket.
If you can sleep on the blanket that you will use to bring home the kitten, it will be covered in your pheromones. Hopefully they will transfer onto your new kitten making the bonding process much easier.
Please see our guide on cat carriers
Travelling home
Strap them in the back of the car. Ensure someone is sitting with them who can constantly reassure them and keep them calm. Always use positive reinforcement âitâs okâ âyou're such a good beanâ etc.
Safe room
Put baby bean in what we like to call a safe room. No - not one you run to if there's an intruder - just a nice calm and quite room where they can slowly adjust, adapt and decompress.
Whilst they are very little, itâs important that you keep them with you, so your bedroom would be the best safe room, especially at nighttime. You wouldnât leave a new human baby on its own!
Please ensure thatâs itâs kitted out with everything they will need.
- food wet and dry
- water
- litter trays
- beds, blankets
- hiding places
- lots of toys
Odds are they will immediately try to find somewhere to hide, so if you can manage to make a hiding spot, tent or den for them to feel safe and secure this will help immensely.
Spending time with your cat in the safe room
We recommend that whilst bean is decompressing and finding it's paws that you go and spend as much time time as possible in the safe room with them. A kitten shouldnât be left alone for long periods. Letting bean come to you is key and vital for a positive experience. Itâs a big scary world when you are dinky.
Sitting quietly and letting bean know you are there will help them relax. Always use positive reinforcement (âsuch a good beanâ)and take it at their pace.
It might take baby bean a few days before they even come and say hello. This is totally normal. Itâs also normal that kitty might not use the loo or eat for a few days so please donât panic, but itâs worth keeping note. Kittens do adjust more quickly.
You could try enticing kitty out with things they canât resist like Dreamies, and of course the king of all bribes Lick-e-lix.
All kittens are different and have different speeds of doing things. Some will come on quickly and some may take a few weeks just to feel comfortable in their safe rooms, especially if they are naturally scared, timed or extremely frightened.
Kittens are nocturnal and will play at night. This is normal behaviour and may carry on for many months.
Whilst we understand that some people are light sleepers and bean might keep you awake, leaving a kitten on its own will have a negative impact on its mental wellbeing and it could become depressed and even more destructive.
Once bean has reach 4+ months and itâs not such a tiny bean, having it in a different room at night will be ok. Hopefully your kitten is now happily getting on with the other animals in your home so they will utilise them for help and support moving forward.
Your kitten should also now have the layout of the house down and is feeling more comfortable and settled in their new environment, so giving it more access to your home at night as long as itâs safe means you can catch up on that all important sleep.
Just remember when you are sleep deprived - a kitten's mental and physical wellbeing is of top priority.
Could you be a cat's forever human?
If you think you might be able to offer a cat their forever home, please fill out the adoption form and one of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you so much,
The Catitude Rescue TeamÂ