Kitten separation worries

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My three and a half month old kitten has been with me a week, he's so well behaved and seems happy.

We want him to sleep downstairs at night so shut the bedroom door - he miaows a few times but quickly goes quiet. I think he sleeps on the second to top step of the stairs as he's waiting for us there in the morning.

DP and I work from home and he follows us about for most of the day, apart from when he has a big afternoon siesta.

Today DP is working hundreds of miles away and won't be home until 10pm. I popped out for an hour just now, when the kitten was awake. Left his favourite toys out and the TV on.

I came home and he was sitting on the stairs, he'd clearly been there since I left.

We have a few plans next week where he'll be on his own and I'm worried he'll just sit on the stairs and be sad.

Will this improve as he gets older? I had thought when we have a week away this summer we'll get a cat sitter to visit once a day but now I'm worried.

It will improve as he gets older. Small kittens hate to be alone (which is why we only home small kittens in pairs), once they get to about 5 or 6 months it's much less of a problem.

Let the little lad sleep in with you?

He'll become more independent.

My 4 year old rescue cat is similar. She has only been here a couple of months so I am hopeful she will become a bit more independent. I let her sleep at the bottom of my bed or ds' bed and she seems happy with that. When we go out she sits on a bed and doesn't move (as far as I can tell) until we come home. She is scared of noise outside the flat and will hide under the duvet when scared. So I have booked her into a cattery when we go on holiday in the summer. The owner has assured me she gives the cats lots of attention. I am sure she would be too lonely at home. It might be different for your kitten though. My cat had a bit of a hard time before she came here.

I'd cattery a young cat, they do stupid things and a cat sitter can't be there 24/7.

But yes, 3.5 weeks is still Young enough to need mum. Can you buy him a small dog bed and pop a cheap fleece in there for him? They love dog beds. Cat beds aren't as good.

Thanks very much for the advice. I'm trying not to stress! Just want to be able to pop out for a bit without him being sad.

DP doesn't want him in the bedroom at night and wouldn't that make him even more attached to us?

Yes I'm thinking a cattery might be best for him when we go on hols, had thought he'd prefer to stay on his own turf but maybe someone popping in once a day won't be enough.

One of mine was literally glued to me for the first 6 months I had her...to the point that if she fell asleep and I went into the next room she was crying for me.

She's 4, I haven't seen her awake without food being involved for about 4 days, lol.

Thats good to hear. He likes DP but he is glued to me in particular. Today I was lying on the sofa and he wrapped his paws round my neck and fell asleep. If I move an inch he follows! He is totally adorable.

He is a BSH - we know the breed has a reputation for being aloof and were worried he'd be a bit anti-social!

A good way not to let him feel alone is to rescue and adopt another kitten... when they are both of them, they will never feel all alone and they can make some funny tricks at the begining... I have 3 cats (2 adopted and 1 rescued street kitten; later one of them passed away last year and I rescued another one) so when I let them alone I don't feel guilty that much because they can play all together even if sometimes I am angry when I am back home because I have more spaces to clean it up...^^