Creating 'safe' room for new kittens

[SarahK]

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The plan is to start looking for kittens this weekend (assuming I finally finish painting

So I have to choose a room to use as a safe room. I have 4 to choose from (its a lot of house for two people!)

Option 1: the utility room
Pros: it is gonna be where the litter trays are placed. It is also where the window that will lead to the outdoor cat run will be (when we get around to building it.) It has a tiled floor. It's furthest away from our bedroom so during the first few nights of crying for momma, we'll have the best chance of sleeping!
Cons: The washer is really loud. Although I can remove any chemicals and cover wires, there is quite a few nooks a crannies to get into. Not really a place one would sit to get to know the kittens.

Option 2: The bathroom
Pros: Tiled floor, not too much trouble they could get into.
Cons: There isn't much room to put there stuff, it's high traffic, hubby may be uncomfortable with little eyes watching him 'go'

Option 3/4: Bedrooms
Pro's: Its empty, there is nothing they could get into, it's big enough to fit all there stuff and I can comfortably sit in there with them.
Con's: one of the bedrooms has a carpet, the other a wooden floor - I don't wanna end up with a stinky house!

So what do ya'll think? I'm trying to minimise the chaos that I'm bringing home!

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Stinky carpets are not a problem with cats. They will naturally go for the litter boxes so that's not a problem. They are not like dogs! A blessing for sure.

I say pick a bedroom. Put all their stuff in there including litter boxes. This will make it their room.

There is NO NEED to lock them up at night unless you don't want them on your beds. Cats don't whine like dogs and will be quite content on the bed with you. They're pretty self sufficient little creatures.

Maybe one of the bedrooms has a window near the location of the planned outdoor run for them and you can just extend that to the window and have them access the outside through a window. You can put a cat flap in the window too.

Washing machines and toilets are often bad places for cat boxes due to some cats freaking out from the noise but the utility room is your best bet. If they get used to it as kittens there should be no problem. So you can have the cat room and the litter box in the utility room. I'd still keep it in their room though.

[SarahK]

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Is it best to put the litter boxes in one room or should I have them in a few locations around the house?

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Two cats, one box one location.

You're going to be very surprised how little training you're going to do with cats compared to dogs.

Tip - to keep them off things like your dinner table and counters in the kitchen:

Simply pick up kitty and put him on the floor. Keep repeating until the bad behavior stops.
NEVER speak while doing this. Just pick him up and put him on the floor. It will take a couple weeks before this is fully sunk into his kitty head but it is a tried and true method that's worked for me for 20+ years now.

Also, start nail clipping weekly NOW so this becomes part of their routine and not something that upsets them and gets you scratched. All my cats sit nicely for nail cutting every week or two because I started this young. Same for brushing their coats.

Start young and they are well behaved cats as adults.

[SarahK]

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Thanks
I'm gonna have you driven mad with questions over the next few weeks! So apologies in advance. But in return, you'll get the first photos!

[Twitchin Kitten]

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No problem with a ton of questions! I enjoy helping with the pets.

[LKTraz]

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As time goes by, a good way to get a cat to cease a behavior you don't want is to get a spray bottle which will allow you to adjust it to a straight stream. When kitty starts doing what you don't want him/her to do.....give them a squirt of water. Say nothing just like the move them maneuver Twitch mentioned.

They have no idea where it came from but they sure don't like it! It doesn't take long till kitty decides they won't do that because it means they'll get squirted.

Also, talk to them just like they're people. Ours respond very well to simple comments. The old boy, Chino, who passed away a couple months ago at the age of 19 understood us so well that we didn't even have to address him and he knew we were talking to him and what we were saying.

Our 2 adolescent boys (Claude and Wombat) are pretty good at it now at 9 months of age.

[SarahK]

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Thanks - Sorry you lost Chino, but what a great age for him to get to.

We have decided that once we know they are reliable in the litter box - which I presume they will be, I doubt the shelter would let them go otherwise - they can have the run of the house at night, except our bedroom. Brian is afraid that if they sleep on the bed he might roll over and squish one - he is a deep sleeper and wouldn't even notice. Plus, I can't sleep with a door open, so they're either in or out, and I'm guessing that being kittens they'll probably want to spend they're evenings running wild so I will probably rather running around the house and sleeping on the sofa.
Hmmm, new leather sofa coming in a few weeks, may have to get out that squirt bottle!

[LKTraz]

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Once they are about 4 months old even a restless sleeper shouldn't be a problem.

Barb swears the Nipper surfs her at night! She tosses and turns alot and Nippy will wake from a deep sleep at a the sign of a twitch then sort of logroll with Barb then go right back to sleep. I've been laying awake with the TV on and seen it happen.

All of our cats take turns sleeping with us and most have been doing it from around 4 months old. Not one flat cat ever.

If you introduce them to snoozing with you when you take a nap on the couch, the transition to going along to bed with you is a piece of cake for them!

[SarahK]

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Well, I'll have to see how hubby takes to them - he's never had much contact with cats before, so he's unsure of them. He gets on well with all animals, so eventually I'd say it'll be his idea to let them sleep on the bed

We're going to the Animal welfare league on Saturday to see if anyone chooses me - it might be Sunday before we bring them home, because we may be going to dinner with friends on Saturday night and don't want to leave the kittens on there own on their first night.

Quick question - the cat room is all set up, but there is a book case in that room, with books and other stuff on it - should I take it out?