new kitten

Congratulations Thistledoo - I haven't had cats for over 20 years now, just dogs so I have no advice to offer. Except, my experience of cats is that they do their thing, they are not as open to "training" as dogs are, and are less complicated creatures. My good friend has a British Short Hair Blue - absolutely love cat, very chilled and laid back, unlike her siamese. I loved her American Coon cat, he was almost as big as one of my dogs, and had a huge personality.

How old is he Thistle?

From my own experience I feel sure your kitten will soon settle down. One of mine hid at first (so we called her Heidi).

He sounds lovely by the way. I once had a Russian Blue.

I have never had a kitten, only fully grown cats who came from the Cat Protection League and had been treated badly prior to coming to live with me. I did exactly what you are doing and found that after a week the cat wanted to explore its new home and owner.

He will soon settle down, know its boundaries and be a well loved member of the family.

He sounds gorgeous.

Had an eventful morning so far. Jojo managed to get behind the washing machine!!! Glad Mr thistle was home to move said machine, as it weighs a ton. He has eaten his food, and is now tearing around the room with his feathers on a stick. What a difference a few hours make. Phoenix, he is 13 weeks old. If I knew how to do it I would put a picture on for you all to see and say AHHH. Made appointment to see my own vet on Monday as he doesn't seem to have had all the vacs he needs. The breeder thought Feline Leukaemia wasn't necessary, but I think he should be done. All my other cats were protected from this awful virus.
Any opinions from other cat owners. The feliway thingy seems to be working. So it should at £27. OMG he is in the printer now, have to go.

petallus we had a Heidi too!

When I was seven our new kitten enlivened Coronation day by getting himself stuck inside the sofa! We nearly missed the whole ceremony! We've used a fel;iway thingy for various problems when one of the cats seems to have been stressed and they do seem to make a difference.

Lovely to hear about your gorgeous kitten Thistledoo. Sounds like you are doing all the right things although it is some years since I was a cat owner. I am sure you will have plenty of fun and laughs. Did you rescue the printer by the way?

Yes LizG I did manage to rescue the printer after all the paper was pulled out and partially shredded. Today he is much more bold and is tearing about the house. He is also very vocal, I was told British Shorthaired cats were not vocal at all.

You have years of fun ahead Thistledoo, enjoy your new kitty. I love British shorthairs, especially blue spotted, I expect he will be a big boy. I have had Bengals, sadly down to one now, which were originally a cross between BSH and Asian Leopard Cat.
You did everything the experts advise, the worst thing to do is chase or flush out the kitten from a hiding place unless it could be dangerous
I would definitely get the leukemia jab done too, it is a dreadful illness. I am filled with horror each time I am presented with a vet's bill after boosters, wormer and flea drops for my two, always a 3 figure sum, but it is something which I took into account before owning cats.

Regarding house training a kitten, Mum used to do this by holding the kitten over a suitable place in the garden, and scraping it's little paws in the soil, like trained cats do when they've just 'gone'.

She was on her hands and knees doing this one day, when my sister unexpectedly brought home her new boyfriend to meet Mum. Sister and boyfriend thought it was hilarious, Mum was deeply embarrassed - not sure what the kitten thought!

My cat is now 16yrs old. but I can remember bringing him home and settling him in. He hated being left on his own, but was agreeable to snuggle up to a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel. At night I left food and 'cat milk' for him. Kittens who have just left their mums are used to food being on tap,

Good morning all, just to give an update about Jojo. We are now into 4th day and he seems to be taking things in his stride. Hiding less and interacting well with us. Of course he is mega playful and is chasing everything that moves, appeared from utility room dragging a dishcloth, I have never seen a cat do this. He also managed to pull the cushion out of his igloo bed, didn't see him do this, but he looked very pleased with himself. Whats that all about. I have laughed more this last four days than I have in two years.

So pleased you and Jojo are having fun. My snow Bengal, Sugababe, used to re-arrange the bedding and furniture all the time. She once managed to move a single duvet from the top bunk to the floor.

British Shorthairs are so laid back [at least, when they grow up they are]. We lost a lot of cats due to living next to a very busy road so switched to Burmese house cats, but the breeder also bred Shorthairs. Her Burmese were never let out of their pens but the Shorthairs used to sit by the road side watching the cars go by. We bought a silver tabby from her and she was the same. Puppies, sweet as they are, are hard work, what with toilet training and crying at night but kittens are a delight. I doubt if I'll ever have a cat again [although I did have a nightmare a few weeks ago where I had a kitten and it was climbing up the new curtains that I treated myself to last year]. I'd had cats for most of my life and they never climbed up the curtains and then had years when every new cat did and my curtains were so shabby. Shorthairs are terrible hair wise, though, so get Jojo well used to being brushed every day. My cat hated it and it was the only time in her life that she ever got angry [most of the time you'd find her lying on her back with her legs in the air and we almost trod on her a few times]. She did get lost a couple of times. Once she went into my neighbours house and hid in the wardrobe and another time she got INSIDE our rather old falling to bits sofa and was so quiet we had no idea where she was. I do envy you . Enjoy!

We have had our new kitten nearly four weeks now, she is a joy. Doesn't get on too well with older cat but am sure they will be ok
Called her Tegan!
Mainly due to my daughters obsession with classic Dr Who
( we had a Peri and have a Nyssa)
Mind you, thus saying, why do we call them
Nisswiss and Tegweg?!
Bonkers!

We had two cats called Clio and Otto but they were always known as Clotto and Rotto!

Not just us then!

An aunt died, and we collected her cat, an elderly moggie named 'Twiddles' (of all things) - just like your kitten, Twiddles hid under the bed in the room we kept her in. She did that for almost a week!

My Siamese queen, Ming, only hid when the thunderstorm was RIGHT ON TOP OF US, and then she'd sneak into the airing cupboard. She never went there at any other time.

Thistle glad to hear your having so much fun! It's also good to hear of kittens not being taken from their mum's too early!

Or is it only me that thinks that they should be with their mum's until around 10 to 12 weeks? Next door neighbours got their 2 recent additions (Marvellous Marvin and his sister Sydney) when they were just 8 weeks!

Hello everyone, thank you for all your interesting tales of your kittens and cats. Jojo is settling in really well and now has the run of the whole house, so you can imagine all the places he can get into, under beds mainly after much tearing about. (wish I had vacuumed ) At the moment he is hanging upside down from the bookcase. Today was a big day I took him out into the garden on his harness and lead, he was so funny, he walk across the lawn on his tummy, but seemed to enjoy the experience. I only did it for 5 minutes so as not to spook him, tomorrow I think we will do a bit longer and explore a bit more of the lawn. We also visited the vet for FIL vaccination, but to my surprise when the vet look at the record card it turns out it had already been given. Cheapest visit to vet ever £3 50p for 3 sachets of wormer. Yes Phoenix I agree that 8 weeks is too young to leave the nest, my sons kitten was barely that and they are now having behaviour issues, such as scratching and being rough with their claws. Happy days.