To put kitten in kitten jail for short periods?

[QuestionableMouse]

"Kitten jail" is a loose term - it's huge dog crate with everything he needs. He only goes in overnight (from maybe 11 to 6) and for the odd hour through the day.

Feeling guilty because I've put him in a little early tonight because i have a deadline for some work and he keeps climbing up my leg which is really painful!

He's perfectly happy in there, settles beautifully and goes to sleep! I'd love him to be out overnight but he hasn't quite got the idea that night is sleeping time for humans and likes to pounce on my face!

Am i being a bad cat owner?

Good idea .. wish we’d had one for our kitten! She kept us awake for weeks!

No, you're not being a bad cat owner. But you know...if you let me know when he's being a pain in the ass I'll come over and entertain/cuddle him for a while 😉

Looooook at that gorgeous face!!!!!!

Might it not be better to allow him just one room overnight. I think a cage is a step too far. My poor girls lived in a pen from 4 weeks to 7 months - they were rescues. It's been a long hard journey to settle them.

It has food, water, a sleeping place and a litter tray all spaced far enough that he doesn't freak out about toileting in his eating/sleeping area?

Aww, what a little cutie. I have a crate but never shut them in it when they were kittens. I covered it with a blanket and put their beds in it, so they had a safe place to go if they chose to. Personally I'd feel way too guilty locking them in it. Can't you lock her in a room so she has more space?

One of our cats is crate trained. She goes in willingly on command. We never leave her in there more than an hour because she doesn’t have a litterbox, it’s just a crate with a comfy bed. She is absolutely human food obsessed though so we can’t eat if she is free to roam because we have an open plan house.

Unfortunately I can't shut him in a separate room as he gets really upset! The crate is in my bedroom so he can see/hear me.

I really don't want him closed in all night but he jumped on my face and nearly put his claws* in my eye which as I only have one working eye totally freaked me out! He's also chewed a chunk off my hair!

(* I do trim his claws but he has access to three scratching posts so theu don't stay that way for long!)

One of ours is self crate trained.
She had to be crated after an operation for a few days and obviously liked the experience.

It’s a giant cage, think two storey XXXL dog cage, in our utility, with litter tray and she sleeps in there by her own choice. We close the door but don’t lock it as it swings otherwise and she pushes it open and goes out the cat flap as she so desires.

I’d definitely crate a kitten if necessary.

“He's perfectly happy in there, settles beautifully and goes to sleep!”

this tells you everything you need to know

Think it's a bit cruel. Just put him in a room.
Bloody hell.

How will he ever learn how to behave if he’s in a cage overnight .

Aww he's adorable. How can you resist that little face! You can see he's a little rip though 😊 Good luck with the training

I've never, ever heard of cats in crates unless recovering from major surgery.

Our cats have had free-roam of at least one room of the house since we brought them home.

My two sleep in the front room at night. We tried letting them loose tonight but they were going mental charging around the place so they’ve been locked up again. I think a dog crate would be a bit mean though!

He's very small so I think a crate is fine for now. As he gets bigger then dispense with it, which will give him ample opportunity to learn how to behave at night etc.

He's happy and settled in there - not doing him any harm. Cats love enclosed spaces, it makes them feel safe.

You might want to start leaving it unlocked at night.

I used to put my last cat in a large crate overnight when he was about 18 months - 3 years and calmed down a bit. Like yours he would settle quickly and go to sleep.

If he was left with access to me he would try to wake me up through the night, getting quite vicious if I didn’t respond. Shut in a room he would yowl and scratch everything to pieces. I lived in a flat so he couldn’t go out overnight as he would have disturbed the neighbours if he wanted in during the night. So the crate was a desperate last resort as I simply couldn’t function on such broken sleep. It was worse than when DD was newborn. He died of old age many years later, having had several years of living in a rural cottage, coming and going as he pleased.

I kept mine in a cupboard overnight when she was wee... it was an understairs cupboard, so about 3ft by about 7ft... but still a cupboard 😂

We had an older cat that took quite a while to accept her and a dog, so it was the easiest way of keeping them all separate overnight.

it was only for about the first 6 weeks or so till the other cat got over herself... the kitten is 12 now and doesn’t seem traumatised by it.

We shut our cat in the kitchen overnight. She sleeps in a cat bed and is always in there until someone goes through in the morning. She has water and a litter tray (too greedy to have food leftover) and at bedtime trots through and hops into bed at “beddy-bed”. If left to roam she is in our bed at 5, pulling my hair and stamping on DP’s head.

Sorry - but I think crating cats (with the exception of those recovering from surgery) is completely wrong.
So OP - Yes, I think you bloody well should feel guilty about doing this. Why did you get a kitten if you don't like kitten behaviour?

Equally a bit of research on your part might have shown you that two kittens will play with each other.

So to confirm...
you not only crate your kitten every night, but you also

• crate it for 'the odd hour a day',
• crated it early tonight because it wants attention and lets face it, you are busy so are finding its behaviour irritating.

So to answer your question, Am i being a bad cat owner? Yes - you are being fucking dreadful - get rid of the crate and if you don't want a kitten to be a kitten then rehome it to somebody who does.

Absolutely agree.

My two girls had to be crated for periods last summer as we had a flood and had huge industrial fans that could have chopped tiny paws off running for many hours a day all over the house.
When the dreamers rattle even now they run into their room look for their crate.

We hired a huge dog crate for our new kittens at night when they couldn't be supervised to keep them safe - we have an open plan house and the resident cat took a little while to get used to them, so we were afraid she might attack them. Once the cats were all friends, all 3 happily piled into the bed in the crate, whether or not the cage door was open. And after the crate went back, they liked to share (too small!) enclosed boxes for play and for sleep.

I don't agree with.locking cats in a cage, however big. My cats sleep.in their tipis in the kitchen overnight and they can go in and out through cat flap as they please.

To sleep at night not so much as long as she has plenty of space and everything she needs.

To crate her for wanting to play, needing attention and basically just being a kitten? Yeah that’s not ok.

I've never crated him for wanting attention. I put him in the other night because he was tired hyper and kept climbing up my leg (which is scratched to bits). Within five minutes he was flat out asleep but he hasn't quite figured out napping without an enclosed space yet.

I didn't even close the door and he stayed there until almost 6am so i think he was quite happy.

Now my big cat is more used to him, I've stopped using it anyway.