Which "safe room" for new kitten

[Crimbles]

Hello,

We are collecting a 10 week old kitten tomorrow and i'm now having second thoughts about which room in the house to initial settle her in and would love some advice please. I have the choice of:

• Utility room (quite a small room) with litter tray in adjacent downstairs loo.
• Open plan kitchen/diner/snug (with litter tray in utility room next door which she can access).
• Lounge (no direct access to utility room so litter tray would need to go in there too). However, i understand cats like their trays in a different room to where they sleep etc so unsure if this is a suitable space?

The open plan room was my first thought but now i'm worried it might be too daunting/busy for her. DH says utility but that feels a bit small and also mean to isolate her as we obviously don't spend much time in there!

New kittens need to live inside your cardigan snuggled up to you.

Thems the rules.

What's the plan, is this for over nights or during the day?

Are you zhutting it in?

Have you other pets?

I'd have her go got where she wants during day ( but watched!) but in a small easy to clean room with not too many hidey holes where I could lose her over night. But with a nice bed and little tray.

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon

New kittens need to live inside your cardigan snuggled up to you.

Thems the rules.

We all know this is where she will end up

@TheSpottedZebra

What's the plan, is this for over nights or during the day?

Are you zhutting it in?

Have you other pets?

I'd have her go got where she wants during day ( but watched!) but in a small easy to clean room with not too many hidey holes where I could lose her over night. But with a nice bed and little tray.

No other pets but 2 (sensible) DC.

Both initially. When she gets used to the house/us I was planning on giving her more space to roam during the day. --Although no doubt she will be snuggled in our bedroom tomorrow night!

Ps pics will follow tomorrow...I know the rules

Dkitten went in dd's room. Took her a year to venture to the other end of our house!! Still her place of safety!!. We have 4 ddogs!!
She sleeps under dd's duvet with her head on the bedside cabinet!

My vote is for: - Open plan kitchen/diner/snug (with litter tray in utility room next door which she can access).

@Santaisstilleatingmincepies

Dkitten went in dd's room. Took her a year to venture to the other end of our house!! Still her place of safety!!. We have 4 ddogs!! She sleeps under dd's duvet with her head on the bedside cabinet!

That's adorable.

My old cat - who ran away to live with the circus - lives downstairs in his new home. He yowls for his new mum when she is upstairs as he won't go upstairs but needs to know where she is.

Mine was straight into the kitchen/diner/snug. A much bigger space than his cage at the Blue Cross. Same age but he managed and that is still where he goes at night a couple of years on.

I wouldn't go too small personally, there's no need imo. All they need to know is where the litter and water is, the rest is easy. The litter tray doesn't have to be in a different room.

My cat has a bed in between the radiator and sofa but sleeps either there, on the sofa or on a footstool.

@Santaisstilleatingmincepies

Dkitten went in dd's room. Took her a year to venture to the other end of our house!! Still her place of safety!!. We have 4 ddogs!! She sleeps under dd's duvet with her head on the bedside cabinet!

This would be DS's dream scenario!

We did kitchen breakfast room. Not too big. Easy clean floor in case of accidents. Just the first night. Then they explored the next day and took over the household.

I just let mine choose their own safe space. They had full house access straight away (made sure it was safe and cat proofed etc). And then they chose where they went. One was adventurous and climbing up walls straight away but the other stayed under the kitchen table for a whole day. She’s still my little shy one. Every kitten is different so follow their lead. They don’t need to be shut in one room.

@AlfonsoTheGoat

My vote is for: - Open plan kitchen/diner/snug (with litter tray in utility room next door which she can access).

Thanks Alfonso

Thanks everyone. I feel so much better for sounding you all out. I'll report back tomorrow!

At 7 I got my first dkitten. I still remember taking her home on the bus! She slept under my duvet. The best place ime.
Here is ours when she first arrived..

Just watch for small spaces. Climbing up chimney. Under dishwasher.

My last 2 kittens - not at the same time! - overnighted in my en suite (loo seat closed obv) with bed, litter tray, food & water.
Then during the day that door was open and they had the run of bedroom too.
Other cats did a lot of curious sniffing at bedroom door over the next few days.
Worked out pretty well

We went open plan space with litter tray in an obvious place. They were really confident actually though so quickly had access to the rest of the house.

Rule is we need a picture though!

In my experience they decide for themselves and you get no say in it whatsoever

Our first was in the kitchen until she escaped behind the washing machine and DH had to pull half the kitchen apart to rescue her then we put her in the living room and she got stuck up the chimney!

The second was happy enough in the living room (he was too fat to get stuck anywhere ) and the third had the bathroom for a few nights and then the run of the downstairs with the other two

Please please everyone with a new dkitten keep vigilant with them and dishwasher /washing machine. A friend a few years ago put their dishwasher on before they went to bed.
Found one of their new dkittens dead in the bottom.

Absolutely tragic..

Thanks all. We've kitten proofed the open plan room and DH is blocking up the tiny gap between our washing machine and utility wall tomorrow morning, just in case she attempts to squeeze in there.

That's tragic about the dishwasher incident We will be super vigilant (and with closing the loo seats too).

I'm so excited! Not sure I will get much sleep tonight. The DC's think she is coming at the weekend, I can't wait to see their faces

And pics will be posted tomorrow, I promise.

GAAA! HUGE emoji fail - I meant shock about the dishwasher

Laptop stand. Under laptop, on lap, warm, safe, largely unnoticed.

Did mine for his first weeks, at any rate. I did have the cat basket alongside the sofa for weeks as well, but underneath the laptop was definitely his chosen place when it wasn't draped around my neck like a small, furry scarf

We popped ours in the lounge initially just overnight as I didn’t want her escaping out of the cat flap as kitchen/diner is open plan.
She has a bed and tray and food etc and is fine. As soon as we are up she has free reign.
I think I will still want to keep her in at night for a while even when she can go out. If the layout was different we would have let her roam. Also the older cat used the cat flap so we can’t block it or anything.
I would go utility initially just because it’s safe and secure. Then move up to the bigger space and free roam as kitten gets older.
Our kitten loves jumping on my head if I let her in the bedroom later on and I know I couldn’t have that all night cute as she is.

Meet Poppy! She's been home about 2 hours and is already playing with her toys and has eaten half a pouch of kitten food. She's been pretty brave so far, exploring her surroundings and has had a brief nap. So far so good!! Kids are besotted already.

She's beautiful