A kitten does not need a whole house on day one. It needs one room it can learn completely, with everything in it, and permission to expand at its own pace. Households that open the whole house immediately usually spend the first fortnight finding a kitten behind a washing machine.
The base room
- Litter tray in one corner, food and water in another, as far apart as the room allows.
- A covered bed or a box on its side. Somewhere to hide that is not under furniture you cannot reach.
- A low scratcher, because scratching starts early and the habit forms wherever you allow it to.
- Two or three small toys, none with loose string, ribbon or glued-on eyes.
Litter
Use the litter the kitten already knows, in a tray with sides low enough to climb into. One tray per cat plus one is the standing rule, and it applies as soon as the kitten has the run of the house. Scoop daily. Most litter-tray problems in adult cats trace back to a tray that was dirty, covered, or in a place the cat felt cornered in.
Feeding
Kittens eat little and often: four meals a day at eight to twenty weeks, dropping to three, then two by around nine months. Keep to the food the breeder or shelter used for the first fortnight and change it gradually afterwards. Cow's milk is not suitable at any age and causes exactly the digestive upset you would expect.
Let the kitten come to you. The ones you chase take twice as long to settle.
Ciara Byrne, Wexfur
Play, and what not to play with
Never use hands as toys. It is funny at six hundred grams and it is not funny at five kilos, and the habit is very hard to reverse. Use wand toys so the biting has a target that is not you, and put string, hair ties, ribbon and elastic completely out of reach. A swallowed length of string is one of the more serious things that can happen to a kitten.
Book the first vet visit within the first week for vaccination, worming, flea treatment and microchipping, and ask about neutering timing at the same appointment. If a kitten stops eating, has diarrhoea for more than a day, or becomes quiet and unresponsive, treat that as urgent. Small animals have very little reserve.
Before you act on this
General information from the Wexfur care desk, not veterinary advice. Every animal is different. Talk to your vet before changing a care routine, and book an appointment straight away if your pet seems unwell.
