Might be getting a kitten, got some questions

[Linnet]

My friend at work has a cat which is pregnant and I said I might take one of the kittens.
I got a book on kittens from the library as I've never had a cat before so wanted to read up on it.

In the book though it says that when you get the kitten home to put it in a room by itself for 24 hours and not introduce anyone else to it until the 24 hours are up.

Do you really need to do this? I don't have an empty room that I could put a kitten into for 24 hours as every room is used.

other questions are,
how old should the kitten be before it can leave its mother?

Should we buy it a bed or will a box do?

Can you start kittens on dried food straight away?

Would a kitten use one of those covered litter boxes or would we be better to get an open one first of all when it's little?

Thanks

The longer ou leave the kitten with the mother the better, if you make it to about 12 weeks then the kitten should even be litter trained by the mother!

IME they tend to sleep where they want to, not in a bed.

Start the kitten on the food it has been on with its mother and then wean it over to the food you want to use gradually.

Try to start with the litter box it has had at home.

I have not done the leaving alone thing (seems a bit mean when it has beent aken from its mother and home. I would keep it veyry quiet though, no screaming grabbing dcs

HTH - good luck with your new Kitty!

Agree with KC

Cats Protection has a good website with lots of good advice (your book sounds a bit weird, tbh).

All the best x

we acquired a kitten by accident a few years ago, it was seemingly abandoned round hte corner from us, noone admitted to owning it, and i put posters up etc

as i wasnt planning on keeping him i didnt do any of that, just gave him some food and told the kids not to fuss over him too much or get too attached in case we found the owner

he made himself right at home within a few hours, and would pop out to the garden to go to the toilet

after a week noone had claimed him so we took him to be vaccinated and kept him (he was about 12 weeks old the vet said)

you can get kitten food for them until a certain age then can wean them onto adult food

dried food is best i was told to help prevent tartar build up on their teeth

he has never had a box, he just sleeps wherever

he is about 3 now, very placid even before he was neutered, and lets the kids smother him in cuddles until they are done hten legs it

kittens meant to be 8-12 weeks befor ethey leabve their mother, I think.

We didn't put ours in a room of its own but we did put its bed in an out-of-the-way corner as it got tired and wanted to go away and lie down.

Box or cushioj will do - try to tuck it away in a corner.

Coverd litter box fine.

find out what it's been eating to date. If wet food, you might want to take a couple of days just switching it over to dried

we've just rehomed 2 cats via cat protection and their advice was to use the one room method.

we too don't have a spare room but they shared our bedroom for the first couple of days. we kept the door closed and visited periodically - door left open at night though as wouldn't hear the dcs otherwise. they started scratching at the door so left it open to explore upstairs and they found their hiding places / places to sleep from there.

we moved food etc downstairs after a week. both are very settled now. One ran out of house after dd2 scared them after 6 days and they found their way home despite much panic from us.

I've never put a new kitten in a separate room, though I've made sure it knows the way to somewhere it can be quiet and alone if it gets a bit overwhelmed.

Put the litter tray near to where it will ultimately be getting out from, and put the kitten in it, so it knows where it is.

We've had two new kittens in the last 3 years even though there were at least 2 other, well established cats already here both times, we haven't had a problem with them settling.

Wean it from the food it's used to on to the food you want it to eat.

If it's a lively and brave kitten then you can probably dangle paper on string and play on the first day. Some kittens are less used to people than others - particularly if they're from CPL or similar. Coming from a person you know, your kitten will probably be well socialised when you get it.

Don't let it out for the first 4 weeks or so, and then go outside with it for short bursts. Make sure it knows how to get back in by itself - catflap or whatever. Kittens are usually a bit cautious (but excited!) about going outside at first, and I imagine it won't have gone out before you take it, as they shouldn't go outside until they've been vaccinated.

Have a lovely time with your new kitten. Have you seen the 'Mean Kitty' series on youtube? They're very funny.