apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hopefully you won't have to put packing tape on your furniture like I did to keep her from clawing at it. Oh my! and def! get her fixed BEFORE she goes into heat, trust me on this!
oh, and did I say "good luck"?

PS. sorry to hear about Coco!

good advice and good luck with your new kitty.

if it's a kitten, be aware of places they can climb into you may not want them to. We got our cat as a kitten from a coworker and did the exchange in the office. We couldn't find her and she'd climbed up into the wall heating unit! we managed to coax her out without removing the entire unit, but be aware of hiding places, esp. when they are in a new place and might be scared.

Oh the world is a dangerous places for kittens, isn't it? Don't forget about keeping her out of appliances.

2 things-

i agree with ec05. when i got my 2nd kitten he was small enough to fit into the gap between the baseboard/toespace and the bottom of my cabinets (didn't even know such a gap existed until he hopped up into it). there was nothing for him to hurt there (and he got too big for this rather quickly) but now you know where to look if your kitty goes AWOL

also we got out cats a jungle gym similar to the one in the link... best $30 we ever spent... it keeps them entertained, wears them out and provides entertainment for us as we watch them

http://www.target.com/Multi-Cat-Jungle-Gym-Large/dp/B000EPE3YU/sr=1-58/qid=1249415626/ref=sr_1_58/188-2047242-6314331?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&pricerange=&index=target&field-browse=1038602&rh=k%3Acat%2Cn%3A345452011&page=1

good luck with the kitty!

A new kitten is such fun, but.......
my friend got two new kittens at the same time. She thought they were safe. When she came home, she heard exhausted meowing. Both kittens had somehow climbed up her dining room curtains and were hanging to the fabric by their tiny claws and could not release themselves. Who would have thought ???
Enjoy your new family member !

What is this packing tape on furniture trick???!!! My cat DESTROYS upholstery.

Shopgirl, they don't like the stickiness on their paws, so it discourages scratching. You can also buy double sided tape to keep them off of countertops and whatnot.

When I brought home my super-scaredy cats, they hid under the bed for two weeks. I didn't worry about it much since I wanted them to adjust at their own pace. At the end of two weeks, I realized one of the black lumps under the bed was actually a crumpled t-shirt - and that I had no idea the last time I'd actually seen the cat! It took hours and I tore apart the house twice over, to no avail. I finally noticed a tiny bit of dust that had been pushed away from a teeeeny gap between the back of the stove and the wall. She had squeezed in there somehow and from there climbed into the workings of the stove from the back! Luckily I was not a diligent cook at the time! The space she managed to cram into was a little bigger than a large soup can, and even when I looked for her behind the stove, I was unable to see her as she had crammed herself in there so snugly...so it can be really tough to totally cat-proof a house. Just keep tabs on them and you should be all set.

Yeah, the double sided tape trick is working really well for me and my new couch new kitty. Of course she did claw a couple of small snags before I realized the tape was necessary... and then totally covered the arms and sides of the sofa with tape. I got some especially designed for this purpose called "Sticky Paws" at Petco. It's good stuff. Very sturdy. (I don't work for them, etc., etc., yada yada, insert standard disclaimer here. Just trying to help out fellow kitty people.) Comes in flat precut strips or on a roll like packing tape. Cats also don't like the feel of walking on aluminum foil FYI, so that can be useful for covering larger surfaces that kitty is not allowed on.
P.S. Sincere condolences to the OP on Coco's passing and congrats on the new baby.

Um that should read new couch AND new kitty... acquired both about 6 weeks ago.

Sorry about CoCo. I'd add allergy meds to the list just in case...a friend was going to add a 2nd kitten to their household and the family was allergic to the newbie and not the original cat. Go figure.

Spooky liked the natural pine pellets.
Katy
http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com

Be careful about that whole tin foil thing, ours decided to eat it. ¬_¬

Also, remember that your cat can't tell the difference between the carpet/upholstry they're supposed to scratch, and the stuff they're not. One of the books we read suggested avoiding carpet scratchers and using cardboard and sisal instead. Unfortunately, this came AFTER the carpet scratching post, but we only have carpet in one room, so it's not a huge deal.

my cat claws furniture too. what are good tricks if he likes to EAT the tape though?! i would think putting tape on the couch would be heavenly for him

oh, and good luck with kitty!! Its been far too long since mine has been a kitten to have any useful advice..lol :)

So sorry about Coco. And congratulations on your new kitty.

I've raised about 50 foster kittens and my best keep them from inappropriate clawing tip is to go to the scratching post right before you feed them, scratch the top - make it a game, so they scratch too. Once they get in a good scratch, go feed them. Every foster adopted from my home was trained this way.

All of my cats let me know it is time to eat by going and scratching on their post. It is a great habit to form.

Pictures of teh kitteh when you get her! :-) Love the Abbys.

Sorry to hear about Coco, but having a new kitty around will help you I'm sure.

One more thing I would advise for anyone with a balcony is to make it cat safe by adding a net (you can get that at a pet store). Also, I used to have just one cat (for 18years). He couldnt go outside so after 2-3 years we wanted to give him a companion, but he wouldnt have it. He was too used to being alone. Now we have 2 cats, brothers to be exact. I think any cat that cannot go outside should have another cat around for company. They can play together and keep eachother company, especially if you are gone all day long. And 2 cats are not really that much more work then one (and double the fun and cuddling).

One thing you should also always get for a new cat is a scratch post (and this should hopefully help with scratching other furniture). We have the scratching tree from IKEA: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20112073
Its better looking then normal cat trees, doesnt use a lot of space and our cat's love to run up it.

Have fun with your new kitty.

To prevent scratching the furniture in the first place, get her a scratcher or scratching post (I know, they're pretty ugly). Even those cheap carboard ones work great (and can be put out of the way when company comes). Get it right away before she has a chance to get into the scratching habit.

I tried getting scratchers in my old house but my cats were having none of it because they had already gotten into the habit of scratching my furniture (habit, scent, etc). They ruined so much of my stuff! I moved them and myself to a new apartment with new furniture, got them the scratchers straight away and neither of them have touched the rugs, furniture or anything else since we've been here (two years for one cat and a year for the other).

Cardboard Scratchers! The Scratch Lounger is highly popular in mine and my mothers house. All the cats love it.

my kitty had a habit of crawling down underneath a bottomless armoire and up into some drawers, so i had to be aware of what was in them. just another spot to look!

Things I learned after bringing home my adorable but inexhaustibly curious Siamese...

- If kittens get bored, they will make their own fun. Apparently it is very fun to push things off of shelves. Apparently it is very fun to dabble in green acrylic paint and run around the house. Definitely put away all of the fun stuff except for their toys!

- Establish good habits immediately. I wish I had done this with my naughty Matilda. It's sort of hard to scold a cute kitten, but they need to be trained away from bad behavior right away! Get a can full of coins and shake it every time the kitten scratches furniture or climbs somewhere off-limits. Saying "no" is completely pointless, and the kitten will learn to be rotten to get attention. By contrast, a loud and scary noise is an excellent deterrent- and the little one will learn quickly!

- Establish a schedule. Try to be really consistent with feeding times, and make sure kitty is aware of "bedtime." That was really tricky with Tildy- as a kitten she used to wake us up over and over again. Even now she gets very irritated with us if we change our schedule (especially if we sleep in on Saturday- she meows in our faces, jumps around on our stomachs, bites our toes, scratches the bedposts...)

Congrats, and best of luck!!

Our cats favorite scratching posts are the ones we made ourselves - by wrapping a board with hemp rope. I also suggest when the kitten gets used to you to spend time every day rubbing her paws and her ears. It will come in handy later on when you have to take her to the vet. If you plan on clipping her nails start early too, and give lots of treats!

Aw a little "hand" kitty. Lucky you they are so adorable at that age. Both my girls came to me as rescues even younger than 10 weeks. The first one was immediately adopted by my dog, who had to always be in the same room with her little kitten.

Kittens are so much fun! But just remember, they are also part devil.

We mounted one of those cardboard scratching posts on the wall by removing the insert and screwing through the outer box with a couple drywall screws. And taped over the ugly sides with some contact paper. We put it in a "show-off" place for the kitty, so she used it a lot.

The litter robot is fantastic! It may not be the most stylish option, but it is a huge leap in quality of life for both me and my two kittens. It makes litter box cleaning a weekly instead of daily task, and keeps their box clean all day while I'm at work.

When my two first came home they developed an immediate attraction to scratching a pair of mid-century lounge chairs from my grandfather. I used my mom's method of a squirt gun whenever they scratched the chair and a treat when they scratched their cardboard scratchers. It only took them three squirts to leave the chair alone.

It sounds like your kitty will be indoor only, so keep nail trimming in mind as well. If her nails are short and well kept her urge to scratch won't be as strong.

Also, cardboard boxes make fabulous nooks/hiding places for new kittens, once they are more comfortable you can cut holes in it for a disposable kitty play structure.

Good luck with your new companion!

Oh, Laure, I'm curious to know what the litter box of your dreams is!

keep safe your shoes, and your tennis shoes, my cat ate the shoe cords the first day, it was an awful show

I second that you MUST get the scratcher before kitty arrives, you have to form good habits from the start. The tape/foil tricks would never work on our cats, they love tape and foil. It's good to clip nails weekly from kittenhood too, it gets them used to it and makes play time a lot less scratchy. Don't do this if your kitty goes outside though, in that case he needs his claws! I would also agree that you should think about getting a second kitten-- they get into significantly less trouble with a friend to play with, you will get FAR more sleep at night while you wait for their sleep patterns to settle a little so they will stop attacking your toes at 3 AM, and also their personalities become much more distinct when you have more than one cat. My only other warning is to watch out for your electronics, every kitten I've ever had has LOVED to chew cords (and plants, books, furniture, boxes, shoes, etc., etc.). The top of the refrigerator is a pretty good hiding place for stuff until they learn to jump... then you end up with bags of cat food living in the microwave and your closets like us. We keep meaning to get a nice container... oh btw, our cats loved Royal Canin Babycat and did really well on it... they are huge, shiny, healthy beasts now. Emphasis on huge. ;)

One more trick-- if you find your kitten likes to play bite and does it too hard, you can take his face/muzzle gently but firmly in your hand and grasp it while you say NO in a sharp tone-- not loud necessarily but definitely firm/sharp. Sometimes I shake our cats' heads a little (not hard! more like a little wiggle, like "hey! pay attention!") when I do this. I don't know why (maybe it's a dominance thing?) but it seems to work like a charm for getting kitties not to bite and of course doesn't hurt them a bit or require squirting, etc., which I've always found irritating as well as ineffective. A lot of people say just never to use your hands as toys for your cats, but for me that would take away half the fun of having cats! We adopted two rescue cats who were terrible biters, about 6 months old when we got them-- we've had them for 6 months and now we can pet/play with them very safely, they rarely bite at all and when they do it's a loving, painless sort of chewing as opposed to the fierce biting they used to do. Your mileage may vary, but it's worked well for us so I thought I'd put it out there.

sorry about Coco, I've lost so many pets. It's never easy.

Definitely try to get the kitty into toys right away! My cat loves those little tin foil type balls.

Get that double sided tape roll in the kitty aisle and put it all on the sides of the sofa. Two scratching posts to leave on opposite sides of the house.

Have a spray bottle on hand if you don't like the cat to jump on counters. Tried this with my cat didn't seem to work but every cat is different.

Also, get kitty use to you brushing her hair and baths.

& don't forget to spay her! I got my cat neutered once I found out he was a boy and before the spraying started.

forget the litter box!
http://www.citikitty.com

best $30 I ever spent!

It really works and it's great bragging rights.

Good luck with the new baby, it's been so long since I had a kitten I'd need a refresher too.

Thank you thank you thank you Laure and everyone else for all your tips! I'm moving soon and will be getting my first kitten (outside of my parents' house) so this is soooo helpful. Bookmarked for sure!

fyi-- toilet training is not a good idea if you're in california, or anywhere near the coast. it will likely be flushed to the ocean at some point and cat 'stuff' is toxic to seals. i'm no expert, but I have read a few articles about it, which talked me out of the idea.