Thread: 3 weeks today... eeek!

Whiskey was 14wks old when we brought him home. We closed all the room doors in the house and put his cat carrier in the living room. We opened the carrier and he immediatley and gingerly came out. He snooped about for a bit. We engaged him with his toys and he played hard. When he exhusted himself he'd come up to us for a cuddle and quick catnap. Then he was back to playing hard. He felt comfortable immediately as he is an explorer. After about 1 hour we showed him where his food & water were and where his litter box was. He did eat & drink some but it took about 1 day before he piddled. It was about 2-3 days before he pooed. We let him in our bedroom at night with us to sleep keeping the door open so he could get to his food, water, & litter. At 3am every morning we'd be awaken to a kitten jumping onto our stomachs to wake us to play. He's 8 months old now and only wants a cuddle on his terms. We hope it's just his teenage years.

Wish you the best bringing your furbabies home. May you have many healthy & happy years!

I'd already visited my boys about 4 times and left a fleece with my scent on it with the breeder, which they used as a blanket!

When they came home, there were myself and two of my best friends, we let them out of their carrier in the back room and showed them food, water, litter-tray. They went straight to playing, fighting and investigating. The cat tree got climbed up within an hour (they were tiny once, honest!) and the next day they were let out into the rest of the house - with some supervision. They were curious but wary - the way they should be in an unknown environment at that age - and they settled in straight away.

Brings a little moisture to my eyes remembering

Our 3 behaved almost exactly as Peter Galbavy's babies! They settled in really quickly too and also found their cat tree within a very short space of time. They had the run of the house (bar the bedrooms) from the start, but under supervision - we just let them explore what they wanted when they wanted at their own pace. Happy days - you truly do have the make the most of them being babies, they grow up sooo quickly

I know every kitten is different but really nice to hear everyones stories So thank you all for sharing yours.

Not long now... only 20 days! heehee! :D

I think that well-bred, well-socialised kittens are easiest of all to settle in, especially if you have 2, as others have said.

I took the same approach as Jackie - didn't confine them to any room, but started them off upstairs with their own food and litter tray there. But by the end of the second day, Herbie had explored the whole house and was using the 3 main trays in the cellar along with the big boys. He was (still is) very curious and confident and wanted to explore as much as he could.

Ours is quite a noisy house what with music and a big piano, and Herbie wasn't used to that so he would sometimes jump at an unfamiliar loud noise and make a run to hide away, like in his kitten tunnel or cardboard box or behind the washing machine (put a stop to that with a housebrick!)

So my tip would be to make sure your kittens have somewhere safe to run to and hide, so if they get frightened they can hide away safely. You don't want them lurking under the kitchen units or floorboards if you can help it! If you are ordering lots of new stuff for them, hang on to a couple of the boxes, they will do the job nicely.

We have converted the cupboard under the stairs to a kitten room for them if they dont want to be in the same room as us. Infact every room will be a kitten room. Only room we are not sure of yet is the room with the guinea pigs... that might have to be locked. lol!

They are definately well socialised. Was great to see them running around downstairs with the adults

I just brought my kitten home last Saturday. He settled in immediately with us. He hopped out of the carrier right away and ran around playing and eating. It was kind of weird how easy that was. Over this past week we have been socializing him and our dog and letting him explore the house. He's such a little character... We love him. Good luck.

Oh, on the subject of noise and music and vacuums - don't be too wary around them else they will never get into the "groove" of your household and will end up treating all these things as scary. Mine do not even notice my rather loud multi-room music (Squeezboxes are soooo cool :P) and only Leo is slightly shy of the Dyson.

Oh, Audrey, on the guinea pigs - introduce them early while they are still small the the guinea pigs shape, motion and smell can be learnt as "family" - else once they get too big to play gentle it may be a hunting treat for them... oops.

Originally Posted by JanieB

Well......! We were having 2 but there were 3 in the litter and we couldn't leave one behind - and I thought '2 can't be any more of a handful than 3....' - how wrong!!! Perhaps that's because they're coonies and I've only had 2 moggies before. They were, and still are, into everything together - so 3 times the trouble. They do have such a strong bond that hasn't changed and they're never far away from each other - with their own personalities though. I have to say the 2 girls are the most trouble! Love them all to bits though (just wish they'd stop breaking things!). Moonlight's latest trick is shimmying up the new, rather tall, scratching post like a bear, and turning around on the top of it. I'm sure your 2 will be into everything together too - double trouble.

We were having 2 too and ended up with 3. You have my sympathies

My 3 still prefer to sleep in their own room. I think they feel more secure in there at nighttime. I leave their door open now and they do wander around a bit but invariably they sleep in close proximity to each other apart from the little girl who has spent the last 2 nights in the bed with us and our old moggie.

During the day they just run around wherever they like and sleep where they like but it's only recently they have decided that that won't be their own room. Soon that will be freed up and I can get 3 more??