Solacefarm

This is a little guide to help you and your new kitten to become acclimated to each other. It is, by no means, definitive, but it should have some helpful tips anyway. 

When you first get your kitten home, even if you don’t have other animals already in the house, you should keep it in your carrier for an hour or so. This allows the kitten to get used to the smells in your house. If you have other animals in the house, this will give all of them time to meet each other in reasonable safety.   While you’re waiting, set up a small room that will be the kittens. Bathrooms are best, but a small bedroom is ok as well. You’re looking for a room, they can’t escape, and can’t hide from you easily. Put their food, water and litter box in this room. 

After they’re looking a little more comfortable, move the entire crate to their room. Close the door, and let the kitten out. Help the kitten to notice their food, water and litter. At this point, you can either play with the kitten, or leave it alone for another hour or so to let it adjust to it’s new home. Leave the crate in the room with it, and find something of yours, something you’ve already worn and has your smell on it. (If this is to be a particular person’s cat, make sure it’s their clothes you’ve put in the carrier.) 

Some kittens are super friendly immediately; some kittens take a little bit to adjust. Remember if you’ve purchased a Siberian or a Pixie-Bob, they have a higher chance of being a bit standoffish when they first arrive, so you need to be patient. 

It’s a good idea to keep them in their room for a week or so, until you’re comfortable that you’ll be able to ‘catch’ them once they’re out in the rest of the house, make sure you point out to them where the ‘real’ litter and food bowls are. (You should keep their set in their room until you’re fairly certain they’ve used the real set at least a couple times.) 

While they’re still in ‘their’ room, you want to be sure to hold and pet the kitten for several hours a day. It doesn’t have to be all in one shot, just whenever you’re sitting down, watching tv or whatever, make sure you have the kitten, and you’re holding it and petting it. The more often you can do this, the faster the kitten will bond to you. 

If the kitten fights you a little bit while you’re holding it, just be patient, and make sure you have a good grip on it. If it fights you a lot, then move to it’s room, and hold it in there. Pixies take their bob-cat look seriously sometimes, and can be disagreeable about being held. However, with patience, it’ll come around and remember that it’s supposed to be domestic. 

I received two pixie kittens for my breeding program, and they were terribly unfriendly. I gave them to my daughter because she’s home all the time and would be able to devote more time to making them friendly. She used this method and now they’re total lap cats, and even allow her 2 year old daughter to carry them around. (And, as anyone with a 2 year old knows, their idea of carrying around a kitten isn’t always the most dignified or comfortable method.) 

Time, patience and love is all a kitten really needs. (Well, food, water and litter are fairly high up there as well) Within a week of ‘forcing’ yourself on the kitten, you should notice the kitten ‘forcing’ itself on you.

 Some other tips that might come in handy are:

	If the kitten is to be a certain person’s cat, not a family cat, the person should be the one feeding the kitten, handling the kitten, and caring for the kitten. An occasional petting from another family member is ok, but the kitten needs to know that the certain person loves it the most.
	When cats urinate on objects that are not appropriate, check to make sure the litter box is clean. If it’s clean, the kitten/cat is angry about something. Take inventory of what’s changed recently, did you get a new pet, have you been ignoring the cat for some reason, or working more hours. If nothing’s changed, then go back to keeping them in their room for a few days; let them reacquaint themselves with the litter box. It might be a new brand of litter they don’t like.
	Never let your kitten/cat go outside by itself. There are lots of germs and bugs, not to mention cars and pregnancies,  they can get while they’re outside. If you think the only way your cat will be happy is if it gets to go outside sometimes, then use either a leash and harness to take it for a walk, or set up a large open cage for it to play in. There are too many dangers for a lone cat running around outside.
	Always take the kitten to a vet as soon as you get it. This protects both the breeder and yourself. Most breeders will have taken the kitten to a vet before they sell it, and it should come with a clean bill of health. However not all breeders do, and sometimes your vet will find something their vet missed. Also most kittens need 2-3 more sets of shots after you get them, and the first visit is usually a good time to get them.

 We don’t claim to be experts on raising kittens, but we’ve had a little bit of experience. If you have any questions about your new kitten, please don’t hesitate to ask. Mail us at advice@solacefarm.com and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. (Give us a little extra time if you write over the weekend, we don’t always have access to a computer.)

 Good luck with your new kitten, and it will bring you many years of happiness :)