New kitten.. advice needed please!

[PH19]

Hi!

So we’ve recently adopted a 10 week old ginger tom from the RSPCA. We’re 2 adults, no other pets or children. We’ve both grown up with cats, but our first cat together.

We have had him a week now & we could do with some advice on a few tricky situations...

Our house is all open plan and for the last week he’s had company almost constantly, but he doesn’t seem to sleep at all? Even if we’re sat quietly he’s on the go.. we dedicated a ‘safe room’ for him but if at any time we put him in there he cries constantly until after 10-15 we just have to let him back out as it’s never ending!!

Also the first night we tried to keep him in our bedroom with us to make him feel more safe but he just runs around, doesn’t settle & wants to play so he’s in his ‘safe room’ at night but he cries on & off during the night & very early in the morning. We know he’s fed, watered, had ALOT of love & attention all day so we know we can’t really do much more. We have a little hot water bottle for him & blankets, etc... we just want to stop the constant crying, as we worry about our neighbors complaining too!

Any advice would be so helpful as we feel so bad hearing him cry but he won’t settle when we’re around and he doesn’t settle when he’s alone..

Thank you!

[Kay]

I think you're finding out the hard way why it's often recommended to home two kittens rather than just the one!

If that is something you could consider, I can thoroughly recommend it, as not only would they use up a lot of energy on each other, but you would have hours of fun watching them do it

[Mollycat]

My cat was adopted at 6 years old with a 9 year old and they would chase each other around at night, and to invite him to play she would yowl the house down. She is now alone and 12 years old and still yowls at night - I haven't slept deeply for 6 years. It's much easier with a kitten.

Asking a young active cat to be quiet and sleep for 8 hours while we do goes against their nature. They are most active at dusk and dawn and sleep in shorter bursts. Best establish a routine so that there is a series of things that happen before quiet is expected of him, including playtime with you and maybe a bedtime treat, then lights out and say goodnight or night-nights time or something he will learn to recognise, and then completely ignore whatever racket he makes and mischief he gets up to until morning. Or reward him with a cuddle for getting on the bed and snuggling up to you quietly but no other attention. I'd love to say he will learn and give up but one of mine still hasn't!

The one thing not to do is ignore-ignore-ignore and eventually give in. He will learn that as long as he keeps going eventually he will win, and then he will never stop. Make a decision, his room your bedroom or free range, pretend to be asleep and stick to it no matter what.

[fjm]

I second the advice to get two kittens - so much easier all round. And Mollycat is absolutely right about giving in at once or not at all. But it is still very early days - he has just left litter mates and possibly Mum as well, and been catapulted into a world of new people, new stuff, new routines, new everything. If a second kitten is not possible I would concentrate on establishing a routine through the day, with strong signals for playtime, rest time and meal times. And remember any attention can be rewarding, even crossness - digging for toes under the duvet and then fleeing in excitement from a roaring human is a favourite kitten game for a reason!

[PH19]

Thank you all for your advice!

I don’t wan to jinx it... but he’s definitely settled! No more crying at night, he sleeps a lot more now on our sofa too and seems very comfortable around us & in our home. We didn’t give in when he cried, so he must have learnt quickly as he happily goes to bed now...

We were just so worried at first because we knew he must have felt lonely, but he’s settled with his new family now

Xx