Bringing your kitten home

Having a new fury baby addition to your family is exciting but it needs to be understood it’s a massive upheaval for them, think about it, they are leaving a home / environment they knew and were born and nurtured in, they are leaving the security of their mother and their play mates their brothers and sisters. But here are steps to help.

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As a breeder we will do what ever we can to help with this transition.

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There’s a lot to consider when it comes to welcoming a new kitten. You’ll need to be fully prepared before collecting them and know how to approach their journey home especially if its far, the first day and night with you, including what to feed them.

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During the first week, it’s best to begin establishing routines as well as taking them to the vet and beginning to socialise them. And it’s important to know how to introduce your kitten to friends, family, children and other pets. As well as how to handle their first adventures outdoors be it in a catio, cat proofed garden or on leash.

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So on to the steps, make sure you’ve kitten-proofed your home and set up a room with everything they'll need, including a bed, food and water bowls, a litter tray and toys.

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You’ll need a cat box to carry your kitten in too, we will keep our to be kitten owners updated on diet and tell them the wet and dry food the kitten is eating. It’s also a good idea to find a vet you trust and make an appointment for a check-up a few days after collecting them.

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Our kittens will not be rehomed before 12 weeks this is the GCCF/TICA and Maine Coon cat club breeding standard. They will be wormed prior, flea treated, fully vaccinated and microchipped.

It’s ideal to collect your kitten when you have a couple of quiet days to spend at home with them and no visitors scheduled. Aim to collect them in the morning so they have time to get used to your home before night time. Ours is a regular home with visitors, children but is still quite quiet, so going from a quiet to noisy home can be stressful for a kitten not used to a lot of noise.

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For transporting a darkened carrier will help your kitten feel protected, we can provide a piece of bedding so the kitten has a scent, for longer journeys, dry night pads should be in the carrier and clean up pet friendly wipes for accidents. Keep things calm and drive slowly to prevent startling your kitten. Either fasten the cat box in with a seat belt so it doesn’t slide around or have another passenger hold it steady. Be prepared your kitten may make noise all the way home, you may need to stop and offer water and food on longer journeys.

 

In the first few days you want to keep things calm and quiet, kittens are very sensitive to new surroundings, so it’s crucial to be careful when welcoming your new arrival. The new sights sounds and smells and separation from mum can make the kitten stressed, this can lead to digestive distress. Have the kittens space prepared and let your kitten explore at its own pace do not force it, resist urges to cuddle with them straight away. Exploring is tiring so they may nap and need to know where the litter try is, ensure the litter is the same as we used wood pellet.

Your kitten maybe timid initially, just watch them while they explore the surroundings and keep up with social contact. Don’t leave you kitten alone for hours, this time needs to be build up slowly.

 

Your kitten needs that safe space for the night and they may cry over the first few nights, the first night they may do better with a light on rather than off.

For their health and wellbeing, kittens need lots of sleep in a quiet place where they can relax and feel secure. Your kitten may sleep for around 20 hours out of 24 and may still need as much as 18 hours’ sleep as an adult cat.

New sounds can startle your kittens, eg washing machine, music, hair dryer or hoover. Only introduce new sounds if the kitten seems ok with it. The noises can make kittens anxious so take care of your kitten.

Stick to the same diet at first

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We can’t stress this enough, so please follow the below.

Any sudden changes in your kitten’s diet can cause digestive upsets and stress. So, for the first week, give your kitten the same food and feeding routine as their previous owner. Then you can slowly switch to a different routine, if you choose, and kitten food suitable for their age. You would want to incrementally switch by mixing the foods gradually increasing the new food until changed over. Also remember over feeding is bad for your kitten and will also cause digestive distress. The kittens stomach is small at the time of collection about the size of a walnut.

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Provide somewhere quiet to eat

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This should be somewhere your kitten feels secure, away from where you and any other pets eat. Cats don’t like to eat too near their litter tray and should always have fresh water available. It's important to keep water bowls away from their food to avoid contamination.

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Don’t give your kitten milk or table scraps

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After weaning, kitten's lose the ability to digest the sugar in milk and cow's milk can give them diarrhoea. If you feed them scraps from your meals they may begin begging or become ill or overweight from eating too much of the wrong foods.

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Be patient with your kitten's reduced appetite

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The stress of moving to a new home may mean your kitten doesn’t eat very much at first, but their appetite should return once they’ve settled. Also, remember that cats don't naturally eat large meals – they eat several small meals a day. If you are ever concerned about your kitten's eating habits, consult your vet.

 

For more guidance read the following:

https://www.royalcanin.com/uk/cats/kitten/collecting-your-kitten-and-their-first-week-with-you?utm_campaign=on-on-rc-gb-consideration-birthandgrowth-cat-ear-oth-brand-qsv&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_source=google&utm_content=oth-win_exact&utm_id=20990129656&utm_platform=Google+Ads&utm_v=3&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20990129656&gbraid=0AAAAADDBKrW8aI_EAzSKynMF5xduYAlg9&gclid=CjwKCAjw7MLDBhAuEiwAIeXGIdvNyHj929CJZO24vWZneiOVN0_NlZwpI-UHKeSEVGZvoIZY01zX0xoCMbQQAvD_BwE