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Before you bring your kitten home, be sure to do the following:
- Make an appointment with your vet. The vet will check her over for fleas, parasites, and diseases. If you have other cats, be sure a vet checks out the new kitten before she enters your home. If you don't have other cats, you can bring the kitten home and then take her to the vet for a checkup, testing, and vaccinations within the next week.
- Kitty-proof your home. Get down at kitten eye-level and pick up anything small enough for a kitten to swallow, like paperclips or nuts and bolts. Get rid of all your poisonous plants or put them out of your kitten's reach. Spray your electrical cords with bitter apple.
- Teach your young children how to handle a kitten safely.
- Gather the appropriate kitty necessities. Among these is a carrier, which you'll use to transport the kitten to the vet and then home.
Prepare a safe room. Read on for more.
Preparing a safe room
Set up a warm, quiet nest in a small room where the kitten can get acclimated for a week or so. While locking her in a room alone may seem to you like a punishment, it's a sanctuary to her. Cats are territorial creatures, so this little room of her own will help her feel comfortable and at home. She can get acquainted with her own space before she's thrust into your hectic daily routine. From her safe room, she can adjust to the sights, sounds, and smells in her new home.
 | Don't pick a room where your resident cat and dog like to hang out. That mixing and mingling will just foster resentment among your pets. Instead, chose a small room that sees little or no traffic like a guest bathroom. |
You'll want to furnish her room with the following items:
- Food and water bowls: Shallowbowls made of steel, pottery, or stoneware work best.
- Litterbox and cat litter: Place the litterbox against the wall opposite her eatery. You don't eat in the bathroom, do you?
- Bed or something soft to lie on: You can even give her a cardboard box with a towel or sheet placed inside.
- Scratching post or cardboard scratching pad: An inexpensive corrugated cardboard pad will satisfy her scratching needs.
- Toys: Give her balls with bells inside. You'll know when you hear the bells that she's feeling comfortable enough to play.
Make sure her safe room is actually safe. Remove anything sharp and anything she can break, swallow, or chew on that can hurt her. Keep her room warm; kittens are more susceptible to the cold than adult cats are because they don't have thick coats to keep them warm.
Timing her entrance
Unless you unexpectedly rescue the kitten, try to schedule her arrival at the start of your weekend, so you have plenty of time to help her adjust to her new surroundings. However, try to bring her home while the kids are still at school or when you know a lot of people won't be at the house. Doing so gives her a chance to get used to her new home while her surroundings are relatively calm.
| Also, holidays are hectic, with people coming and going and making lots of noise — all of which most kittens hate. If you want to give a kitten as a gift, give a stuffed animal and an IOU or a kitten carrier with the promise to adopt one. Kittens need to be kept quiet and calm while they're adapting to a new home, which is usually an impossible feat during a hectic celebration or holiday. |
Coming home
From a little kitten's perspective, everything is big and scary. That's why it's important to bring your new kitten into a calm environment — her safe room.
Surviving the drive
 | When you do bring your kitten home or to the vet, never let her run loose in the car. She may hide near the pedals or do something that may cause an accident. Not only could you be hurt, but she could also escape through a broken window or suffer injury. Take the same care you would with your kid. Always keep your kitten in a carrier strapped into the backseat. If the carrier doesn't have a seat belt strap, wrap the seat belt around the handle. Don't risk losing your kitten — or putting your own life in danger — just because you don't want to hear her cry. |
Finding sanctuary in The Porcelain Refuge
When your kitten arrives home, take him right to his safe room. Open the carrier door and step aside to ease his apprehension. Don't drag him from the carrier — he'll come out when he's ready, so let him check out his surroundings at his own pace. He may even wait until you've left the room before venturing out.
Keep your kitten in his room for the first day. Let him get accustomed to his corner of the world. He may have been outgoing at the breeder's house, but don't be surprised if he suddenly hides behind the toilet in this strange place — adjusting may take him a few weeks.
| Your kitten will likely miss mom and her siblings and may cry when alone. If he's lonely, one or all of three of the following products may comfort him: |
- Bach Flower Essence Rescue Remedy: A few drops orally help keep your kitten calm safely and naturally.
- SnuggleKitties: Different from stuffed animals, SnuggleKitties have a battery-powered heartbeat. This makes the kitten feel as if he's snuggled up to a real live cat. If you don't want to buy a SnuggleKitty, take just enough of the insides out of a stuffed animal to insert a ticking clock, and then sew the animal back together.
- Feliway: Spray this comforting facial pheromone in the bedding area. The pheromones emit a comforting scent made specifically for your furry feline. Or ask the person you adopted her from if she has a towel or toy that smells familiar to your kitten.
| Check on your kitten every few hours and take time to play with her and talk to her. If she lets you, pick her up. The more gentle attention you give her, the quicker she will bond with you. |
Let the kids go in the kitten's room one at a time and sit on the floor for a few minutes at a time; make sure they're quiet. Don't let other animals enter the room!
If you find your kitten rubbing her face against cabinets or furniture, you know she's starting to feel at home — this is how she marks her territory.
Seeing the sites
After the first 24 hours, watch how the kitten acts in her safe room. If she's walking around confidently with her tail up and her ears forward checking things out, open the door and offer her a short supervised excursion. Lock up the other pets and keep the kids quiet. While she's checking out the landscape on her big adventure, don't let her wander out of your eyeshot. She won't remember where she left her litterbox. So when you see her sniffing around, pick her up, rush her back to her room, and place her in her litterbox, pronto.
 | When you open the door, your kitten may simply stare at you as if to say, "Have you lost your mind?" Forcing a timid kitten out into the house will just make her more withdrawn. Instead, let her explore the household at her own pace. |
When your kitten seems more confident and knows where her litterbox is, you can let her out for longer periods. Continue to keep an eye out to make sure she doesn't get into trouble. Always put her in her safe room when you leave the house or go to bed, though, even after she's gotten comfortable in her new surroundings.
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