New kitten(s) how to keep safe at night?

[Superscared]

It’s over 20 years since we last had a kitten and we lived in a different house. The kitten was housed safely in a small utility room at night with nothing they could injure themselves on. Now we don’t have such a room. Our kitchen is a large open plan kitchen / diner / living area with lots of potential hazards for an unsupervised kitten during the night. Our previous cat would sleep in the large garage (fully heated with 4 beds) but again this would be dangerous for a young cat. Any suggestions? Play pen?? I want to plan before we actually get the kitten (or kittens - lone kitten issues didn’t get discussed 20 years ago but I’m taking into consideration now) so I’m trying to think of potential issues.
Also, what are your thoughts on getting just a single kitten?? We do have a dog too.

@Superscared Is there a bedroom the kitten(s) can sleep in overnight?

Two kittens are definitely better than one - they will play with each other.

What type of dog do you have, and how is he/she with cats? I had cats and a dog but 'the other way round' - introduced a pup to my two resident adult cats, although when one of the cats died, I introduced a new young adult cat to my by then elderly dog. There were never any issues, it was less difficult than introducing a new cat to a resident cat, but our dog was extremely soft and non-reactive.

There are things you can do to ease the introduction but you need to be sue your dog doesn't have a strong prey drive that might be triggered by a cat/kitten.

Lots of videos I see of reduces/fosters use bathrooms. With a towel in the sink often. I’d close the loo!

Dog crate. One big enough for litter tray, bed etc. stops you playing hunt the kitten every morning. Mine still sleep in a crate at night. They like crates better if they’re covered

Ours went in a large dog crate with small litter tray and bed in it.

My DH slept with our kitten in the living room for the first week.

Two kittens are better than one in my opinion. Mine were kept in a bedroom overnight until they were used to the dogs and vice versa.

We used a dog crate too. However ours had a rip in which I had skillfully repaired. Kitten got out. Couldn’t find her anywhere. She had got into the back of our brand new sofa which we had to slice open 🤣 she’s alive & well but we lost her a couple of times. They can make themselves so tiny!

The dog crate is a fantastic idea, thank you. The dog is a Cairn terrier, 12 years old. Our old cat tolerated him and the dog loved the cat. But now he’s the elder I’m not sure how he’ll receive newcomers. Obviously I want it to go as well as possible so would want to get the introductions right.

Introductions are all about the smell. Over time, animals in the same house acquire a 'house smell' but at first they smell alien to each other. What you need to do is anything you can to accelerate their familiarity with each other's scent:

• Bedding swap. Even before new kitten comes home if possible - get a blanket the kitten has used and give it to the dog; get one the dog has used and give it to the kitten.
• Continue to switch blankets once they are at home
• Let them smell one another from either side of a closed door before they come face to face
• When they first meet, hold onto the dog and make sure the kitten has an escape route
• Little and often for face to face meetings, gradually building duration
• Even once you are confident about them together, the cat should always have access to a dog-free space
• Be mindful that if the kitten goes to the vet for vaccinations, neutering etc. it will come back smelling different and might set your introductions back a couple of steps

My 14 year old full size cat recently got herself between a king size divan bed and the wall - I swear the gap is about 2 inches ! We were trying to get her in her basket to go to the vet and she hid. It is beyond me how she squeezed into the space. We had to wait for her to come out as I didn't dare try to move the bed in case it moved at an angle and I squashed her.

@Superscaredim sure the dog/cat thing will be fine. We have a dog to & introduced a kitten and adult cat to him. They are fine together. He loves the kitten. They often go nose to nose. Fine with the adult but they mostly ignore each other but I would say they are on friendly terms & occasionally go up to each other. Plse share kitten pics.

@DuckFilledPlatitudehahaaa Houdini cats!

I got three kittens together. I just popped them in bed with me from day one.

They learned early on that once the light went off, I'd stop responding to them no matter what (it took a lot of ignoring them for the first few days).

Now as teenagers they follow me to bed and we all sleep in a big pile. They only times they've ever woken me up is when there was an actual emergency - once for a fire, once when one of them had a seizure, and once when my late OH had fallen over and needed help to get up.

@DuckFilledPlatitude thats some great information thank you 🙏