We're getting a kitten...would love advice!

Adorable! Advice? Non-toys make the best toys, so I wouldn't go crazy buying a bunch of cat toys. Aluminum foil balls and straws are our cats favorite toys. They come running when they hear us get out the foil.

My best advice is too keep the kitten contained in a single room with its litterbox until you are sure it has good litterbox habits. This might be for a few days or a week.

And kittens can chew, so watch the electrical cords, phone cords, etc.

That is an absolutely precious picture!

If your kitten gets a hold of ribbon, make sure to take it away or monitor them the entire time they are playing so they don't ingest it.

Many houseplants are toxic to cats, so if you have any make sure they are out of reach.

Don't feed your cat first thing in the morning. Wake up and do parts of your routine before feeding kitty or else you will be woken up every morning by a demanding cat!

A small amount of coconut oil swiped on top of the front paw every few days can help with hairballs.

Be sure to neuter/spay. Will the cat be allowed to go outside? If so...do NOT declaw. If you will be taking it on car rides, start early. A cat carrier will be your friend when going to the vet. Despite our thinking, milk is not their friend. Yours either, unless you enjoy dealing with diarrhea. If it is long haired, you may want to give it fur ball formula food. Scoopable litter can be a good thing. Cats love boxes.

I second the getting two!

In 2010 we got 2 adorable little boy siblings. They were the best of friends and hilarious to watch. In August 2013, one of them ran off. The left over one was soooo bored and depressed! He did nothing but sleep in the bathroom window all day long. in Summer 2014, we were given 2 sisters to add to our buddy man. He started coming out of the bathroom and playing again! Cats are very social animals contrary to what others say. The love the companionship of other cats.

As kittens you probably dont need to do a slow intro. They will be fine together.

O.der cats need to smell/see each other to get used to each other. Some cats are chill with other cats, especially cats who were living outdoors in a feral colony. Most housecoats who are only cats will have a much harder time. The rescue I work with does the following: buy or borrow a large dog cage. Put the new cat, with box, food and a bed or carrier it can hide in inside. Put the cage in the middle of the house. When all the growling and hissing (on both sides) stope, let the new cat out. It works well, it usually takes from 4-7 days, in some cases longer or shorter. It's a safe way to I trochee a new cat to the clan.

When I bought my house, I got 3 kittens all from the same litter.  When only one of them was left, we adopted 3 more kittens, all from the same litter.  And now that our Grandpa cat has left us, we are looking to add 2 more kittens, probably from one litter, and officially become crazy cat people.  But I would think at such a young age, a kitten would look at any similarly aged kitten as a playmate/surrogate sibling and they would accept each other easily.

our current batch include 3 from a litter (Toby, Tabby and Mini), a stray (found as a 3m old kitten) that's about 3 weeks younger (Smokey) - the four of them were 5 in May. Then their mum who is almost 6 and was a pregnant stray (Little Friend). Oreo came home as a kitten to a household that had two adult sibling cats (who have since passed) - he's 12 now. Midnight is another stray - no idea how old he is. He's Little Friend's outdoor buddy - the others are all indoors.

We've only had problems once- when Little Friend was pregnant and then nursing, she wasn't very friendly to the other cats. Once her kittens weaned, she was fine. Other than that - we do have our indoor cats separated now because the trio don't get along with Smokey and he was having some serious anxiety issues becausee of it. So the trio are in one part of the house and Smokey is in the other part and Oreo moves between both areas as he gets on with all of them.

I will suggest handling the new kitten(s) a LOT - we spend a ton of time holding and petting and talking to and playing with ours when they are small and they are the friendlist cats...

-- I second getting two at once; it's great fun for the kittens, and for you, having them to watch! Kittens are great when they run around and bounce off the walls... we call it 'getting a wild hair up their a*S' at our house...

-- Make sure you pay attention to what things really interests them (things you don't want them to have, I mean), and cat-proof accordingly. Our newest cat (our third) has a thing for pens, pencils, drinking straws, etc. and no matter where they are, she can find them. And shortly thereafter, we can't find them, lol, or we hear things falling on the floor in the middle of the night. (plus, we have dogs, too-- stuff that gets knocked on the floor usually gets eaten or chewed up.)

-- I take it back; when we lose things, we usually can find them under the refrigerator, the stove, or under the door of the pantry. haha!!


ETA: ooh, @gajenny, I'm glad your cat came thru the surgery okay!! that is one of my biggest fears.


--  You may want to think long and hard about not having a full-sized Christmas tree the first year, depending on how energetic your kitten is, or at least try and cat-proof as best you can-- no tinsel, put the non-breakable ornaments near the bottom, and be prepared to chase the kitten out from under the tree a LOT. (we use a spray bottle with water.)  Our Christmas tree is a fake one, and it still gets chewed on sometimes, even though our youngest cat is two.

I agree with getting two. Also, start clipping their claws right away so they'll get used to it. And do it regularly every ten days. Manhandle their paws a bit while they're young (gently pushing out their claws) when just hanging out too. Same goes for brushing, but try to do it every couple of days, even though as kittens they don't need it.

The other advice is to never use your hand as a toy. When they're young it can be "cute" but curbing the "attack the hand" behavior when they're older is tough!

Kittens are so fun. We have two right now, though they are growing sooo fast! We chose brothers from the same litter. They both think the dog is the cat's meow.

At first, we set up a room that had everything they needed and locked them in during the day. Now, they are free to roam. They are high energy and are all over the place - I'm really glad they have each other as playmates. The drawback to two is that they sometimes ignore the people because brother is much more fun.

Pay attention to their personalities. One of our cats really doesn't like the be held, but he is perfectly content if he can climb into your lap and be petted. I call the other "the cat I carry around."

I'll reiterate about NOT 'declawing' if you don't know much about it then read up on it...it's not about removing the claws, it's an amputation of their toes at the first knuckle.
In humans it would be the equivalent to chopping off the top of every finger and toe at the first joint. It's inhumane and illegal in almost every country except the USA.

Buy your cat a decent (tall & sturdy) scratching pole, it's a natural behaviour to scratch, that's how they leave their scent to mark the house as "theirs" and also to help them shed the outer layer of their claws, you don't want them scratching anything else, so give them a good/approved place to do so.

If he's not already neutered when you get him, then have him done within the first 6 months, cats can be fertile from any time after about 3 months, the male hormones makes their urine smell and they will also make him want to roam in search of a female. Both of you will be happier when those hormones are out of the picture.

Keep him inside and/or in an enclosed cat run in the garden. Studies have shown that indoor/outdoor cats who are allowed to roan freely outside live about 5 years, cats kept inside only or in combination with an outside enclosures live 12+ years. If you want to have him for a long time, DON'T let him roam the neighbourhood freely, apart from pissing off your neighbours when he poops in their garden or kid's sandbox or fights with their cat, he's at risk of being run over, mauled by dogs or at the hands of human cat haters.

Someone else already mentioned hand play, and they are absolutely right, do not 'play' with him with your bare hands (encourage him bite fingers, etc) hands are NOT toys, at some point he'll get it wrong and the play you taught him will end up with a child getting bitten or scratched and the cat will end up being the bad guy who injured the child. Play with him with toys/objects only, never fingers.

Handle him a lot, once he's been with you a couple of weeks and his used to you, pick him up, turn him over, handle his feet, look in his mouth. The more he gets used to that stuff the easier he'll be to handle at the vet and if her ever needs pills etc.

I would absolutely recommend getting more than one - for all the reasons mentioned. If you are going to have exclusively indoor cats, I would recommend NOT paying any attention to them as you enter the house. Walk inside, close the door, and go into a room a fair distance from the front door before interacting with them. We did this to deter them from running to the front door (and, possibly outside) when we came home from work, or shopping, etc. Now, when they hear the front door open, they run into the kitchen (onto their favorite "chicken rug"), and wait for us to come over and greet them with head bumps and rubs. No worries about them dashing outside when the door opens!