Advice Please! About New Kittens.

[Indys Mamma]

I use a dog crate for Indy, I have 2 elderly so I confine him at night/when I'm out (and the dogs can open the doors)

he is now 4 months old and puts himself in his cage when he's tired/hungry or needs his litter tray! so I think they are great 

it also means that you know they are safe when you are out/asleep even if other pets aren't an involved

[Angeladeedah]

The wood pellet litter is much better - that's what I wanted to use for my 2 but Harvey won't use the litter tray unless its clay litter.   I couldn't understand it at first when he was a baby when he just done the toilet everywhere then finally I worked it out.   Every now and then I try again but he still doesn't like it.

[Millys Mum]

Wood is better than clay incase they eat it, worlds best is the best i think as it clumps well and hides those kitten odours but as your paying i would stick to the wood, better for your wallet  theres also a better chance of new owners sticking to that.

Toys - if you are leaving alone them alone with them then ping pong balls are great as nothing to chew. Feathers and anything stringy should be for supervised play and regularly checked for loose bits.

[nessa (A C S )]

Hi Jennifer,
I have been following this thread, I one time tried news paper but ended up regretting doing so every book, newspaper ect got presents left on them , With kittens I tend to stick to woodys or smartcat. you will find out as you go along witch litter suit your budget better, with the older cats I some times used tescos own brand but that is only when I am running low on woodys. I think at this stage I have tried everybrand of litter.

I too crate all mine when they come in as in a lot of cases we dont know there back ground and it is also more secure and cosy for them
Speaking of mites I better go and make a bottle for my little fur babies

[Jennifer]

The rescue has them on newspaper, which one of them keeps trying to hunt! (Leo likes paper, apparently.)

They're much more confident today. They're okay with being picked up. Both the black ones fell asleep on me earlier (I sat at the opening of the cage) and the other was too busy trying to play with my hands (which I'm trying not to encourage!) so I think they'll be fine.

Thanks for the advice guys!

[Desley (booktigger)]

Is litter not provided by the rescue? Might still be a bit early to let them out of the cage, if they are still nervous, you might struggle catching them again. Good luck with them

[Jennifer]

Yep, I normally wouldn't go for a cage either, but with the PC, TV, a slightly tatty sofa with dangly threads and a open gas coal fireplace in the living room it's not an easy place to kitten-proof, and having never looked after kittens before we're still learning how to keep an eye on all three at once. 
We're taking them up to the bathroom for an hour or so later on, since it's already kitten-proof and then we'll go from there.

We've given them temporary names because "the white one", "the black one with the big sock" and "the black one with the smaller sock" were taking too long to say 
Leo(nidas), Archi(imedes) and Py(thagoras)... 
Charging my camera batteries now - photos later! 

Edit: Couple of questions -

Litter - it's just non-clumping woodchip for kittens, right?
Toys - are there any cat/kitten toys I should avoid for 6 week old kittens? (I'm only getting small ones, balls or feather ticklers or something)

[Angeladeedah]

Aw - they are soooo cute!

When I got my 2 kittens I gave them the run of the livingroom - that's where they slept (along with me!!), ate and done the toilet for the first few days.  Never even gave it a thought to get a cage for them.   

[Jennifer]

Yep, shortly after the photo I put a blanket (Pauline provided a bag of them ) in and they've been sleeping comfortably on that. We're going to buy them litter tomorrow because I don't like the newspaper as they can't cover it up like they want to, and it's not absorbent enough, so thanks for giving me another reason to switch - I hadn't thought of that! 

I don't have a scratchpost for their cage. I have a large one which they can use when I let them out the cage - that'll be tomorrow, we've left them in the cage for today because they were very nervous. The same Freecycler also gave me a radiator bed (not useful for kittens, but will be if I take on an older cat!) and a 3ft cat tunnel, which I think these guys will like!

They're sleeping in a little pile as I type. 

[Millys Mum]

 

Proper litter would be a good idea too, i know people who have taken on kittens that were trained to newspaper and had problems as they then peed on any papers around the house!! Hard habit to break then 

[Desley (booktigger)]

Bless them - do you have a small scratch post or something for their cage? A bed (I normally use a folded up fleece blanket) will be nice for them too. Good luck with them.

[nessa (A C S )]

Such cute kittys well done for taking them in

[Tiggy's Mum]

Tiny babies 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

Ahhh they are gorgeous 

[Jennifer]

Yes 

They're three boys and Pauline (Wellcat) reckons they're about six weeks old. They're so tiny. 

I'll post better photos later, I don't want to get in their face with a camera just yet.

[Tiggy's Mum]

Are they home yet? 

[Jennifer]

Thank you both.

Helen, I'm looking through that thread now! It's very helpful. Picking the kittens up has been put off until tomorrow morning, so I've got plenty of time to sort things out for them.

[Millys Mum]

If you can borrow your sisters crate that would be ideal to start them off, do you know their background? If they are nervy or semi feral then being in a crate is the best thing for them as a scared kitten in a small gap behind the wardrobe isnt a good situation!
Once you have assessed them and their toilet habits (not all kittens will come litter trained as some people find it to hard to give a tray and wonder why they pee on the floor  ) then let them out to run about in one room, add extras as you feel happy 

They are learning lots at that age so the more things and people you can introduce them to the better (not all in one go tho!)

Kittens like regular meals and clean trays so plenty to keep you busy, if you hang around for a while after each meal you will get some deliveries, best removed asap as kitten poop really smells 

If they end up with the whole run of the house then trays upstairs and down would be advisable as they only have limited storage and cant always make it back to the one tray

[Tiggy's Mum]

  How exciting for you 

I haven't fostered before but I am a recent kitten Mum...

She thinks the kittens will need about two weeks before they can be vaccinated and stuff, so how old would that make them? About six weeks?

Vaccinations are normally done at 9 weeks then around 3 weeks later for the second lot.

so.. what do you do with kittens? I don't want them to be in the trap too often - and I'm home all day - but is it ok for them to have the run of a whole room? (laminate flooring all downstairs! no urine-soaked carpets for me!)

When my two first came home I kept them in the spare room until they had settled down, eaten, drank and showed me they knew how to use the litter tray!  They had their bed, lots of toys and a scratching post to keep themselves occupied if I wasn't in the room with them (not likely - I couldn't leave them alone!).  As you don't have any other free roaming animals I don't see why they couldn't have the run of your house, if you were happy with that, once they've settled in a bit.

Are they like my chinchillas - if there's a tiny little place of mischief I haven't recognised before letting them out, they'll soon find it for me and make some kind of mess out of it? What does kitten-proofing entail? Am I asking really stupid questions?

YES - kittens are mischief magnets!  Definitely not stupid questions, I asked the same thing before I got the boys so this thread might have some ideas for you http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,3122.0.html  Main things for me were:  No wires that they could chew (although as it happened they weren't interested in wires), no chemicals on surfaces, no small gaps they could get trapped in, no unattended string etc

I don't know if I have been particularly lucky but the boys have never had a toilet accident, only scratch their scratchy poles, the only real damage has been if they've knocked things of shelves etc

That is to say, I'm very nervous and excited, but I'm sure there's something I haven't thought of yet and I'm worried I'll make a mess of this.

I'm sure you'll be a great foster Mum, can't wait to see pics of the new arrivals. It will be lovely for their new families to have photos of them when they're tiny babies too 

[Jennifer]

I'm completely overexcited at the moment. I'm about to foster three kittens (my first foster!), I'm picking them up tomorrow night. The lady was very busy and sounded quite harrassed, so I've put off any questions until tomorrow night when I meet her. She thinks the kittens will need about two weeks before they can be vaccinated and stuff, so how old would that make them? About six weeks?

The lady who runs the rescue is using all of her kitten pens at the moment so she's going to improvise by giving me a large cat trap which she says would be big enough for them for a fortnight, so it obviously isn't completely ideal, but I think it's a pretty good way to improvise! She was obviously very glad for my offer of help and didn't want me to go away and lose interest.
I'm asking on Gumtree if anybody has an old kitten pen I can have, and I'll ask on Freecycle in a moment, but I'm not sure that anything will come of this.
I may ask to borrow my sister-in-law's dog crate (she doesn't use it) as it's pretty large and could securely hold kittens, but I may just move my fridge out of my under-stair space and block that off for them.

Anyway, there's the details, now I need your help. I haven't lived with a cat since I was 10 and I'm now worried that I don't know what to do. I've never had a kitten (but I'm pretty competent with animals and I've got you lot to ask if I need help!) so.. what do you do with kittens? I don't want them to be in the trap too often - and I'm home all day - but is it ok for them to have the run of a whole room? (laminate flooring all downstairs! no urine-soaked carpets for me!)

Are they like my chinchillas - if there's a tiny little place of mischief I haven't recognised before letting them out, they'll soon find it for me and make some kind of mess out of it? What does kitten-proofing entail? Am I asking really stupid questions?

OMG. Forgive me! I just feel really kind of... "oh my god, kittens! yay, cute! wait, wait, kittens! what do you do with a kitten? and THREE of them?"
That is to say, I'm very nervous and excited, but I'm sure there's something I haven't thought of yet and I'm worried I'll make a mess of this.