Bringing a Kitten Home: What to Do in the First Week

Give the kitten less space, not more. For the first three to seven days a new kitten should live in one cat-proofed room — a spare bedroom, study or bathroom — with food, water, a litter box, a bed and a scratching post, and nothing else it can swallow or pull down. A kitten that gets the run of the whole flat in week one spends its energy hiding instead of eating, and you spend the week fishing it out from under the sofa.

Set up the room before the cat arrives

Do it the day before. Cover cables and blind cords, remove plastic bags and anything smaller than a ping-pong ball, and block the gap behind the radiator and under the bed so the kitten cannot wedge itself out of reach. Keep the door shut and put a sign on it. Room temperature of 22–24°C suits a kitten that has just left its littermates. Put food and water at opposite ends of the room, both at least two metres from the litter box, and use the same litter the breeder or shelter used — changing home and litter in the same week is how you get a kitten that holds its bladder for 24 hours.

Day one: open the carrier and step back

Put the carrier on the floor, unzip it, and leave. Do not tip the kitten out or carry it to the litter box to "show" it. Most come out within 10–30 minutes; a shy one may stay inside for a day, which is normal. Sit on the floor for 5–10 minutes at a time, talk quietly, then go. Three short visits beat one long one. Offer a tablespoon of wet food nearby and leave again: eating within 24 hours, one use of the box and a warm body mean the transition is working.

Feeding: four meals a day, and a scale that decides

Four meals at 8–12 weeks, three at 12–16 weeks, two by six months. Give as much as the kitten eats in 15–20 minutes, or leave dry food down and top it up twice a day; kittens under six months should not be rationed. A 1 kg kitten on wet food takes roughly 1.5–2 pouches a day plus a little kibble, but the packet and the scale outrank any chart.

Weigh every morning before the first meal on a kitchen scale with 1 g resolution. A kitten this age gains about 10–15 g a day, 100 g a week. Flat weight for three days or any loss means more calories or a vet visit. Do not change food in week one: keep the breeder's brand for seven days, then swap 25% every two to three days. No cow's milk — most cats are lactose intolerant and it causes diarrhoea.

What a normal litter box looks like

On wet food, expect three to six urinations and one to three stools a day. Use an open box with a lip no higher than 8 cm, scoop twice daily, wash weekly with unscented soap. No hoods and no scented litter for a kitten: the space is small, the smell concentrates, and it may avoid the box for life. No stool for 48 hours, crying in the box or straining with nothing out is a same-day call.

The 72-hour vet visit

Book it before you collect the kitten and bring a stool sample under 24 hours old. The vet should weigh the kitten, run a faecal float for worms and giardia, check ears and teeth, and set the vaccine schedule: FVRCP from 8 weeks, repeated every 3–4 weeks to 16 weeks, with FeLV by risk. Deworming usually runs at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks, then monthly to six months. Ask for a written record with dates and product names — boarding and travel will ask for it.

Handling, play, and the resident cat

Three to five handling sessions a day, one to two minutes each: an ear, a paw, the mouth, then a treat. This is what makes nail trims possible at two years old. Play three or four times for 5–10 minutes with a wand toy and end with food, so the hunt concludes. Never use hands as toys.

With a resident cat, keep them fully separated for 7–14 days: swap bedding daily, feed on opposite sides of the closed door, then swap rooms for an hour a day, then allow short views through a cracked door. The first meeting is five supervised minutes with a towel ready. Rushing this is the most common reason two cats never settle.

Call the vet today if

• The kitten has not eaten in 24 hours, or has not urinated in 12.
• It is limp, cold, or hiding and unresponsive.
• There is vomiting three or more times, or diarrhoea with blood.
• It sneezes with eye or nose discharge — cat flu in a kitten moves fast.
• Its gums are pale, white or blue.

By day seven most kittens eat four meals, use the box reliably and meet you at the door. If yours still hides at every sound, extend the base-room period by a week and keep visitors out; slow beats a setback. When you are ready for vaccines and microchipping, see our health guides, and the cat age calculator shows how old your kitten is in human years.

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