Tell me about life with kittens

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have lived with kittens before but a. I wasn’t responsible for their care, and b. at the oldest I was 15 the last time we’re talking about kittens plural, and 18 the last time I lived part-time with a singular kitten who belonged to my mom and I saw only on weekends because I was in college. Since then I’ve only lived with adult cats. So, I’m sure there’s a lot kitten-related I’ve either forgotten or never had to deal with personally.

I won’t be getting the kittens until late spring or early summer, but I’m the type of person who likes to know as much as possible in advance, so I’m trying to think ahead. With luck I’ll be getting three little fuzzballs within at most a few weeks of each other: another Maine Coon like my late Shamus, a Balinese or Siamese, and a rescue kitten about the same age as kittens 1 & 2 who is negative for FIV/FeLV. They will most likely all be male (and of course neutered) and strictly indoor only.

Kittens are cute and I’ll be happy to be responsible for their raising, but they also are worrying because they get into so many things. What exactly should I be worrying about, though? I mean, I know you need to be careful not to step on them and to shut them in another room when putting wet clothes in a dryer, but what else?

Are they strong enough to knock over a flat screen TV onto themselves/their buddies? If so, I guess I’ll need to wall mount.

Will they try to eat my Christmas cactuses? I don’t have any other indoor plants, but given they’re the only plants I’ve ever managed to keep alive for multiple years, I’d rather not give them up if I don’t have to. I’ve read that they’re not especially toxic to cats but I don’t want them dead like the spider plant my late ferret killed, either.

Will cats who are kept inside all of the time try to escape like Shamus did? He’d been kept inside from the age of 20 months on, but I don’t know if his first owner let him out or if he just was built that way.

What unexpected issues have you had with kittens?

2

I currently have two cats, who we rescued from being homeless when they were kittens. There is a one year age difference, so we didn’t have them as kittens at the same time. I think getting 3 at once is great because kittens love to play, and they really love to play with other cats. So that will be a great thing.

Kittens are very active and crazy. They run and jump around, and want to either play or snuggle with you when they aren’t sleeping or eating. They jump all over you, and want to sleep under your chin or on your neck. And Smokey mewed pretty constantly. But Patches was quiet. She didn’t start getting meowy until after she was fixed. Alos, my kittens were both quite fond of chewing through my headphones and trying to break my laptop.

And yes, they do love plants. Chewing them, digging in the dirt, tossing it all out onto the floor, and sometimes peei’ing/poo’ing it. If they’re going to be inside all the time, maybe get some plants that are made for cats to chew on. And keep everything else out of their reach. Have lots of toys, and places where they can climb and jump. Kittens aren’t that different from adults just waaay more hyper and crazy. And they need a lot more attention, just like human babies do.

The male kitten took to the litter box right away and now he goes outside. Never had any problems there. But the female would only poo in her box, and preferred to pee on my bed. She liked going on soft things like towels, and so for almost a year I had to put up with her pee’ing on my bed and sometimes me. shudders But now she goes outside, too.

Patches, the female loves outside to death and we could not keep her inside. We managed to keep her inside until she was fixed, but it was a struggle. I think Smokey could have been okay as an outside cat, but with Patches being indoor/outdoor we couldn’t keep him in. But he still spends a lot more time inside than out.

One trick to keeping kittens/cats away from the door when you have to leave is to feed them right before you leave. They tend to hyper focus on their food and don’t pay any attention to you.

I love how cuddly they are as kittens, but it’s nice when they settle down and don’t demand your attention all the time.

3

They turn into cats.

4

Smokey knocked over the toaster oven once. We think the door opened, and he stood on it, which made it tip onto the floor. Freaked the little guy out. But he wasn’t exactly a kitten at the time, more an adolescent. Sorry for the typos in my last post. I tried to fix them but ran out of time.

I meant that I thought he could have been satisfied as an indoor cat if we didn’t have Patches, already. I know a lady who kept 3 cats in an apartment. And my brother had a cat who was always inside. He was mean and neurotic and bit everyone. But he was also left all alone all day, every day. The poor kitty.

5

They will also find holes/spaces in your house you never knew were there. I didn’t know the toekick under my kitchen cabinets had a gap in it until my kitten disappeared one day. Luckily, she came back out and I didn’t have to tear up the cabinets.

6

Kittens of the same age are a hoot. Play all the time. Mine were litter mates. I built a gym of blocks, PVC tubes and boxes. They were entertained. Now, they are a year old and don’t go to the gym.

They sleep a lot. And are loving when it is food time.

Congratulations and enjoy!

7

I wouldn’t trust a flat-screen TV around them. I strapped my 24" monitor to a cinderblock just to be sure. (It needed something to add a little height anyway.)

8

I got two kittens in November 2018. They have knocked over various things including kitchen chairs and, yes, a flatscreen TV (one of them was watching the Australian Open and trying to catch a tennis ball). (Also, it didn’t get knocked to the floor, just off its stand.) However, they were somewhat older when they started knocking the furniture down. Like, six months. Oh, they still knock over the occasional chair and once recently they jumped off the couch one after another and moved the couch a few inches (no harm done).

One of them also chewed off the strap on my leather purse. They absolutely destroyed the shoji (but this happens to paper shoji, it’s fixable).

All in all they have been quite delightful. Whatever kittens do it really doesn’t last long and then they are cats. Still delightful. I am so glad I got two.

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Also, kittens like to climb tall things. You are a tall thing. Hope you have a high threshold for pain.

10

Unplug everything unpluggable when it’s not in use; especially when you won’t be home to deal with the results before they become drastic.

Nothing will be out of reach on account of height. Small kittens can literally climb the walls. And yes I do mean ‘literally’.

Some cats adapt to living entirely indoors with no problem. Some cats don’t. No way to tell about these until you have them. Depending on where you live, you might need to keep them in anyway. Depending on where you live, you may be able to build them an outside space, if they don’t want to stay in but it’s not safe to let them out. Three of them should at least be able to keep each other tired out, which will help.

Give the plants their own room, if you can do that. Give the kittens some cat-suitable plants, especially if you can’t let them out.

They’ll find places to hide that you didn’t know existed, and/or thought that a kitten couldn’t possibly get into; and you’ll be hunting frantically for the Lost Kitten, who will probably appear yawning at you and demanding food just when you were sure they were gone for good. At two in the morning, when you have to get up at five.

Do not, repeat do not, ever get up extra early to feed them, no matter how hard they’re making it to stay in bed. If you do it once, you’ll never be able to stop.

You don’t need to spend money on toys unless it makes you happy. Kittens will play just as happily with some bits of crumpled up paper. And, of course, with absolutely everything else in the house that either moves or can be made to move.

You’ll wind up naming them things like Nuisance and Trouble and Chaos & Destruction. And they will be worth every moment of the Chaos and Destruction.

11

Oh you poor thing. I’ll keep you in my thoughts:D
The heady days of kittenhood. Babes in the house. So fun. My 2 Siamese bro/sis pair were active, playful and noisy. Never knew something so small could make that BIG noise. They’re still noisy. Less active. We still have crazy-cat-chase in the middle of the night a few times a month.
My advice, keep your eyes peeled. Watch for cactus chewing. Lemon peels ‘might’ stop that. Get some kitty toys. Mine didn’t like toys. Be regular in meal and snack times. With that many cats in the house get several litter boxes.
Goodluck.

12

We adopted two 6-month-old kittens from a local rescue group in October. Wilbur, who died last summer at the age of 19, was the last survivor of our previous generation of cats, so it had been nearly two decades since we’d had kittens.

I’d forgotten how lively they are and how fast they can move. When they chase each other around the house, it’s like watching an animated cartoon, it’s that crazy.

I’ve never had a problem with kittens learning to use the litter box. Obviously that’s not universal, but every kitten I’ve ever had has figured out the litter box right away, including Charlotte and Wilbur who’d been barn kittens before we brought them home.

Our cats have always been strictly indoor cats. We’ve never had a problem with them trying to escape.

Eventually they learn not to get on the kitchen counters or the dining table, but it always takes a while. We’ve just about trained our kittens to not try to get up there when we’re around, but even that’s not a done deal yet. It’ll take a good while longer before they stop getting up there when we’re not around.

Kittens adapt to their new people pretty fast. My experience is that on average, they spend a day or so checking things out while trying to stay out of your sight as much as possible. Then sometime during the second day, you’ll find a kitten in your lap when you weren’t expecting it. Your heart turns to mush and it’s game over. They own you. :slight_smile:

13

This, at least, I do remember from the last kittens my family had. It’s probably good that I can tolerate wearing jeans even during summer :smiley:

14

One favourite hiding place for kittens is your box spring. If you have one, make sure the covering hasn’t come away from the frame. First day, first hour even, we had our cat, it was lost. Took me a few hours to remember that hiding place!

15

crumpled tin foil works fine too.
And don’t forget the ice-cube-in-the-bathtub game. :slight_smile:

And be careful after opening drawers and cabinets.
When you close them, there’s usually a kitty inside.

16

Make sure they always have a litterbox available. When we were in college, my sister briefly took in an abandoned 2-month-old kitten, and one night, she took him and her other cat to bed with her, and then shut the door. She was awakened a few hours later by the wonderful smell of fresh cat poop, and eventually found a teeny tiny mound behind her TV.

Lesson learned.

17

Ah, airborne fluffy pointy screeching murder muffins. Bubble wrap all glass and wrap duct tape around every last tiny or large or microscopic thing in your entire house, including yourself. You will fantasize about killing them----until they flop sprawl on top of you and snore those little kitten snores and purr in that bubbly way kittens have. Buy life insurance. Purchase anaesthetic----not for them, but for yourself. It’s truly startling how a twelve-ounce kitten composed of six ounces of fluff can destroy dinnerware, carpeting, and small standing structures, like your garage.

18

How to teach a kitten to use the litter box:

Remove all potted plants, or anything similar, from a room. Put a cat pan in the room, with unscented litter of your choice. Put a kitten in the room. Leave kitten shut in room (well supplied with food, water, and pats) until kitten uses pan. Kitten is now litter box trained.

How to teach a kitten to stay off the kitchen counters and tables when you are around: Get a water pistol.

How to teach a kitten to stay off the kitchen counters and tables when no humans are home: This is probably not possible. Keep your butter (and anything else edible you’ve been in the habit of leaving on the counters) in the refrigerator.

I had a pair of kittens who took apart a box spring from underneath, pulling out all of its insides. (Box springs of that type, it turns out, work fine even without their insides; it’s the framework that was doing all the work.)

There may be a kitty inside even if you didn’t open them, depending on how they’re made. The construction of a lot of dressers allows kittens to climb in from the back.

19

Squirting with water didn’t phase Smokey. He thought it was a game.

20

Yeah, TheMysteryWriter, I had a dog like that. Loved to play with the hose, no matter how strong (within normal areas) the blast was. Definitely a problem when I was trying to wash produce.

Eventually I think she started to associate the hose with being given a bath, which she didn’t like, and the problem faded away.

A water pistol (plain water contents) works on most cats. Not surprised to hear that it doesn’t work on all of them, though.