Just brought home a kitten

[MimsyBorogroves]

From our local animal rescue.

They're saying he's 7 weeks - and he's small. Was taken from Mum last week. His birth date (born in rescue) doesn't quite add up though as he would be almost 9 weeks, so there's some confusion there. Full whiskers and teeth.

He's happily eating and drinking, had a sleep on me and is generally being an absolute terror knocking things over and chewing.

We've had cats from kittens - but always 12 weeks plus.

I've shown him the litter tray many times, but he's running straight out of it. He's been here since 3pm and no sign of any wee or poo - is that normal? We were going to let him sleep with us tonight. Litter tray is on the middle floor (we are in the loft conversion) - do we bring it to our room or leave it in its normal place? He's more than capable of running up and down the stairs like a twat but I'm worried he will forget where it is, or just not use it at all? He's had a tray in the rescue.

Any help would be great, I feel like I have a newborn again.

When he's eaten, place him in the tray, move his paws around in it, gentle massage his tummy a little and wipe his undercarriage with a damp flannel to encourage him to do the biz. Have the tray near him - up and down stairs is too much on his first nights away from everything he knows.

Wipe him over with a (different) damp flannel. He's likely to have fleas, too. Dip a flea comb in hot water and, when you find the things, dip it back into the water (and repeat - this got 56 of the fuckers out of my first kitten, who the rescue practically threw at me for free because they didn't have anybody spare to look after a five week old kitten dumped in their mailbox).

Are his eyes still blue? If they are, 7 weeks is more likely than 9, by which age they should be changing.

He'll need company and to be warm. A furry pillow or blanket will be more comforting (mine still treat a throw as their 2nd/3rd parent even though one's nearer senility than kittenhood). And the best place of all for a tiny kitten is in your jumper. Yep. I did that for all my very young ones. Start as you mean to go on - you touch their toes/spread them to check claws and pads, you touch their tummy and tails and teeth - nothing is off limits, because you're their new Mum. Every day without fail.

I love having tiny kittens.

Great advice from @MitziK, so... PHOTOS PLEASE!!

Thank you @MitziK. His eyes are green (they were last week when we first saw him too) so I'm crossing fingers he's older and they just can't count.

Picture, you say?

Awww he’s gorgeous! He reminds me of my childhood cat. Does he have a name?

Best to get a second tray - one per floor is my rule of thumb for avoiding kitten poo on the carpet. Don't move them too much, he may be one of those creatures of habit who once he gets the idea in his head that "toilet happens here" may carry on even without a tray there. Mitzi has covered all the rest!

Yabu to boast about your delicious dcat!!

Oh he's a handsome chap!

Try and get your vet to see him early next week. My little one was six weeks old when I got her. The vet was brilliant, gave a lot of advice about socialising her and making sure she ate the right things.

She had once accident outside her litter tray on day one. I lifted her straight into her tray and she was perfect after that. She was so small I had to get a try with very low sides!!! She slept on my shoulder for the first few weeks.

Lovely - and about 9 weeks (just small), going by those eyes.the rest of his face.

Name?

Where have you been @Mitzik?! Very good advice.

Mimsy ensure you're using same cat litter as the rescue centre - what your beautiful kitten is used to. I inadvertently traumatised my teeny rescue kitten by presenting him with woodchip litter instead of Catsan - he refused to use and was so clean, didn't go elsewhere. Luckily, I realised mistake quickly but poor sod pooed all over tray / wall / floor / himself in rush to use normal stuff.

We are using woodchip too. I wonder if they did use something different. He slept all night on our bed til 7am, I put him straight in the litter box, he ran off, went back on the bed and had a wee there. Argh.

He's called Parsnip.

He’s a beautiful wee chap.

Wood chips quite big for small paws, ultra clumping is the best ime.

Clumping litter is dangerous for kittens because they end up eating some and it can block their stomachs.

Wood pellet is fine. He's a bit young to be separated from his mother and siblings (surprised any rescue would let kittens be adopted before at least 8, ideally 10, weeks, tbh...), I would keep him in one room with everything he needs and keep putting him into his litter tray regularly. If he's 7 weeks, he would have been litter trained for at least two weeks if not longer by now, it's usually very instinctive for them.

Parsnip is beautiful. You're going to have issues if he's now identified the bed as the place to go. Wash the bedding using biological powder and contact the rescue centre to ask what litter they were using. As I said above, mine completely refused to use woodchip but immediately rushed to use the tray when I put down Catsan. It's the normal stuff stocked everywhere - don't think it's clumping litter.

I forgot about kittens eating the clumping stuff, catsan is non clumping.

Ours ate poison berries when he was first allowed out. Two nights in a row. Kittens do weird things. Dh cut the bush back after that.

I had a thread up last week looking for advice if you want to search for it I got some good tips there. My kitten was 10 weeks when I brought her home and I have no idea where she was peeing (bought a UV torch, didn't work) and it took me a couple of days to find her poo. I had started off with woodchip and she wouldn't go near it so I changed to clumping litter and within a few days she was using her tray. Still having accidents (found a poo behind the TV yesterday) but made a lot of progress. A bit worried now reading about kittens eating clumping litter.

Eating litter isn't something I've ever seen with any of ours, thankfully

(which is about 30 all told, not a huge sample I know - they were all from farm-originated moggies rather than any 'breeds' though, so pretty sensible creatures)

Omg! I ❤️❤️❤️ Parsnip!

I never saw my kitten eating her litter - but used non clumping at first just incase.

We moved to clumping when she was six months old and it is great. Pets at home anti bac stuff. No more smells.

Right, I went out and got some clay stuff (non clumping) designed for kittens and he had a massive wee straight away. Hurrah! Do I keep carrying him over to the tray at regular intervals, or leave him to find it (hopefully) himself now?

He's manic. Don't remember any of this stress with the last kittens!

I'd take him to it for a while yet. Once he decides your legs are a tree to climb, I'd say he's probably ready to be left to find it for himself (I reason that if they're big, strong and confident enough to do that, they're ready to be trusted to make their own way over - although he could still get randomly scared by something and have some accidents).

There's nothing like the energy between 9 and 12 weeks. Film as much as you can!

I filmed him last night when he was completely exhausted, lying on me and falling backwards because he was so tired. Ridiculously cute.

Brilliant!

By the way, to get the best photos, you can train them to associate the phone out to take photos with getting treats/something interesting.

I suspect they would see it as having trained you that photos come at a price, but it results in them looking at you, rather than looking anywhere but the camera, so it's still a result for both of you...

More pics please of the gorgeous Parsnip!