Where should my kittens sleep?

When I bring them home...can they sleep right with me? I do not need to confine them to a room do I?

Or does anyone have any good potty training techniques? links or BTDT tips-either or

Their Mama Kitty, Sheryl, will show them the ropes, but once I get them here, I just need to be sure they know where the potty is-right?

What about food?

I am able to have close contact with these babies while they grow-so I plan to try to be as involved as I can with their nurturing until they are ready to leave their mamma.
I want to be able to buy their first foods too.

So-Tips for foods?

Sorry so many questions!

TIA!

My advice is to set them up in a small room w/ food/water/litter/toys. You'll need 3 litterboxes once they have run of the house. Kittens tend to be very into playing & do not often realize they have to go potty until it's too late to make it allllll the way to the litterbox, so place them strategically. It is OK for them to sleep with you. At first, they'll be curious, scared, & miss mommy. But once they settle, you'll have two holy terrors!

Young kittens are like young children - they WILL get in trouble if not supervised. You don't want to bring them home and turn them loose in the middle of the room.

Set up their food/water and litter pan in a small room or bathroom for about a week or so. Unless you are there to supervise them for a few weeks/months (depending on age) they should be confined for their safety and your sanity when you are not there.

When we brought Charlie home (4 months old) he was confined to the library by himself for about 2 weeks. We would let him explore under supervision and didn't let him in the basement for a month (cause he was too small). He made friends with our dog in a few days, but it took much longer for Ling to accept him.

BTW how old will they be? The ideal age for leaving mom/siblings is 10-12 weeks old minimum - even better if 16 weeks old

hhmm
I am having a hard time trying to see this work in my home.
I have 2 small bathrooms.

SO I set up there food and litter in this same room close the door and leave them there except for when we can give them 100% attention?
GoldenKitty45 I am confused about your post. You left him in there by himself?? All the time-or just for hours?

What about those kitty play pens?
Could I get one of those and put their litter box food and things in it and keep them there?
and
I am hoping to be able to hold my kittens a lot and put them down to play while supervised.

So I put them in this room when I cannot hold or watch them play?

GoldenKitty45 my brother has these babies so I could have them stay with mamma as long as need be (so hard for me!!). I was thinking 8 weeks only if they have weaned only because of them needing their shots then (another whole road to travel down for educating myself too -I know that is why I am here early!). I can always take them for their first visit and bring back to mamma if need be.

It's best if they stay with mom until 10-12 weeks. You may not realize it, but that is a crucial period of learning, I can see with shelter kittens the one who've stayed with mom....they tend to know when it's too much fighting/biting/playing.

Kittens will destroy, well, everything. I'd leave them in either a cat proof room(perhaps your bedroom?) or else in the small bathroom when you cannot watch them. BTW, make sure you cat proof your entire home before they come home. Then they can find things you never thought about & you can cat-proof again!

As far as sleeping, my vet says wherever they want.

I agree with the others - let them stay with the mother cat until they are 12 weeks old. Momma cat will teach them acceptable behaviour like not biting and litter box issues.

On the other points, I'm not one who likes to keep them confined but if you have 2 of them, it may well be a good idea. You don't have to keep them confined when you are home to supervise them, but it is a good idea for when you are out of the house.

Do kittenproof your home. Put away grandma's priceless ornaments or anything else that isn't nailed down and breakable! Kittens can get into places you wouldn't believe possible.

If you have house plants, be sure they are not the kinds that are poisonous to kitties (lily family plants are not good for kitties).

As for sleeping, I've always slept with my babies from day one. When they were really little, hubby would make a ring around the bed of pillows so they wouldn't hurt themselves if they fell off and a little ramp for them to climb up to the bed. Now, having said that, I only ever had one at a time so I don't know what 2 together would get up to in the middle of the night.

I got one of my cats at 8 weeks old and it was FAR TOO YOUNG!!!! I cannot stress this enough, he had learned nothing about acceptable cat behaviour, and although I love him dearly and will put up with all his transgressions because I adore him, I don't think anyone else in their right mind would put up with him for more than an hour. Those few weeks more with mum and siblings are absolutely CRUCIAL if you want a well adjusted adult cat. I have one that I got too young and one that I got at 13 weeks, and the one I got at 13 weeks is completely well mannered and well behaved, whereas the other one doesn't recognise acceptable boundaries and still (we've had him well over a year now!) savages my feet at every available opportunity, because he wasn't with his mum and siblings long enough to learn that biting hurts.

Both of mine were confined to one room for a few weeks when I first got them, they are now allowed free run of most rooms (except the bird room obviously) when I'm not there. You don't keep them confined to 1 room 24/7 - just when you're not there and therefore can't keep an eye on them and correct their behaviour, kittens explore things with their mouths, climb into small spaces, and don't understand potential danger, so confinement initially with supervised exploration helps them to learn this.

We got Isaac 2 weeks ago and he's 4 months old. He spent 3 months at the SPCA shelter in a cage with a very lively other kitten. We've found that making their world a little smaller at first it good. He was actually not interested in exploring the house much and the more we could keep things calm and not change things, the better. eg. we moved the litter box from one place to another and that did not go over well. We've also closed up some rooms to him so he could get used to the place. Now, he is starting to explore more and is getting to the litter box each time now. In the first bit, the less change the better. Also at first, we would put him in his litter box several times a day.

If you want them to sleep with you go for it! We close our door at night and Isaac sleeps in the living room, otherwise he's under the bed scratching around all night...

good luck!

He stayed in the library with bed, food, water, litter pan when we could not watch him as he explored. Its a few chairs in there - nothing to hurt him. In fact its really where Keno sleeps but at the time, Keno had to move out and sleep on her bed by the door till Charlie was ok with the dog.

Let the kittens stay till a minimum of 10-12 weeks - longer the better. Its far more then just weaning and litter box training. The longer they stay the better adjusted they will be. They learn to play with each other and humans and more cat socialization skills. Too many people think its ok to send them to new homes at 6-8 weeks old - most of your social/behavior problems are due to taking them from mom/siblings too soon.

thanks for all this info gang..

This new one I brought home today is a young one..I felt bad for him. The mamma was gone, or so the lady said so.

I will have the other two babies to play with him next month so all hope will not be lost for the kitty social rules I hope...

Mine slept with me from day 1 and I had only 1 litterbox and never, EVER had any accidents.

oh I am having such a hard time with this...they do not pee in the night ?
no accidents on the beds????