Am I being cruel? Locking kitten in kitchen.

[bouncingbelle]

Am I being cruel to lock my 10 week old kitten in the kitchen at night? We initially had him in our room but he repeatedly peed on the bed and i can't cope with that anymore. He's been home 2 weeks and does seem v settled, and has his litter tray, food and a bed in the kitchen, as well as two other (caged) pets for 'company'. It just seems a bit mean? Our last cat always slept in with us and I just expected this one to do the same. I'm at home all day so he does get loads of attention/ cuddles all day....

I dont think its cruel. He's got somewhere cosy to snuggle into I assume? I couldn't put up with peeing on my bed either, not good!

Yes, he loves to sit on the cushion on the kitchen chair during the day so I presume he sleeps there at night, but he also has a cosy bed which is in the living room during the day and I,ve put into the kitchen. He just seems so little, but glad someone else thinks it's a case of needs must!

To give him a bit more comfort you could give him a jumper or something that smells of you. At the risk of it bring peed on of course! Hope you got a better nights sleep :)

Plenty of posters have their cats sleep in places like the kitchen so I wouldn't worry about it. I'm like you - always have my boys in bed with me - but they need a litter tray in or very near to the bedroom in my experience. (Twoago was scared of some things downstairs later at night in a previous house and wouldn't go out of the bedroom to use his tray.)

If needs must, though. Being peed on at night doesn't rank high in my list of jolly experiences.

He is very young and needs comfort but then again cat pee on the bed is intolerable. Is there no compromise? Could he not sleep in his cat carrier in the bedroom?

It's worth thinking about why he soiled the bed. When he slept in the bedroom did you put his litter tray in with him? Does he soil anywhere else?

Feliway is worth trying to help hi. Deal with stress.

I took the litter tray into my bedroom every night, so he did have one in the room. He hasn't had a single accident since arriving here,except for on my bed, even if he gets into my room during the day, he will jump up on the bed and pee on it? It's constant - the other night he had peed on the bed at about 2am, I couldn't face dealing with it, so put the whole duvet in the spare room and brought the spare duvet through - which 2 minutes later he then peed on again! If he's not on my bed, he doesn't pee, he slept in the clothes basket for 2 nights (his choice!) in my room and didn't pee. I'm at my wits end with this!

I don't mean this in an awful way but how well do you clean the bedsheets after each pee? Sometimes the smell is perceptible to the animal but not to us.

I think you need to keep him out of the bedroom at all times unless supervised or in a cat basket to try to break the habit.

Um, what are the caged animals? They might get very stressed if they're rodents, cats being their natural predators. Other than that I think it's fine.

All my cats have always spent the night in the kitchen, either with litter tray when younger or with access to the cat flap.

I'm washing all the bedding at 90 degrees, don't know what else to do with it :( someone suggested putting bicarbonate of soda in washing but doesn't seem to make much difference. Rotating between two different quilts and blankets to give them time to dry. Has anyone ever used the sprays you can get in pet shops to keep pets off certain areas?

Yes, it's large rodents! He loves to sit and watch them during the day, they are used to cats and don't seem bothered by him in the he slightest. I,ve never had a kitten before, always had rescue cats. Starting to understand why now!!!

Glad the general consensus is that I'm not being cruel tho, I just feel like a bad cat mummy!

I don't think it's particularly cruel, but wonder why he is being locked in the kitchen as opposed to simply bring kept out of your bedroom and allowed to roam the rest of the house?

Why don't you just shut your bedroom door and let him have the run of the house?

Good point! He's a bit hyper at night time (and a bit too fond if scratching my sofas) hence why he's stuck in one room - he also stands outside the bedroom door and meows pitifully if he knows I. In there, I can't bear it!!

At one point we had to shut dcat1 in the kitchen at night - dd, who was about 4 at the time, loved giving her her breakfast which we left measured out in a cup in the kitchen cupboard. Unfortunately dcat started waking dd up earlier and earlier as she realised she was the softest touch. It culminated in us being woken at 4:30 by dd howling because dcat had woken her up so we had to take action. We put a cosy bed in the kitchen and shut the door. At first dcat was outraged but as her miaow is v quiet we could cope. She quickly learned that was the new routine and was fine about it. After a couple of years we let dcat have the run of the house again and we'd obviously broken the habit as she'll only start asking for breakfast once she's heard my alarm go off

Ours have slept shut in the utility room since we got them. They're fine in there.

We leave the light on though, otherwise they get up & rampage about, knocking things off the shelves!

naughty Minton cat slept downstairs locked in until he was nearly one, mainly because he kept waking people up by biting their toes in the middle of the night. He's better behaved now and sleeps in a little house on our landing or under the DSs beds.

Not cruel at all, I have done this with both of my cats since they were 8 week old kittens. As long as they have all they need ie a bed, food, water and litter tray it is fine.

Not nice being wee'd on at 2am!!

Not cruel
Both my cats aren't allowed in bedrooms as the dogs aren't allowed upstairs unless they're having a bath. The cats were shut in the kitchen now they sleep on the back of the sofa or on their radiator beds( not on) in the dining room