4month old kitten needs supervision?

Hi,
After having a cat for 18 years, who unfortunately passed away 5 years ago, we decided that we wanted to have another cat. We went for a 4 month old male ginger kitten called joey. Its still another 2 months before we can get it neutured and let it out the house, so it currently stays indoors. We have found that joey needs constant supervision during the day as he will try to eat anything he finds on the floor and loves climbing on everything everything, very curious cat indeed. When we need the break or need to eat lunch/dinner, we keep him in the spare room (which is also where he sleeps and eats) until we ready to let him out and supervise him again. As we can't supervise him all during the night, we keep him locked in his room (has a glass door to keep an eye on him). He cries for about an hour and then he quietens down, but he generally prefers to be exploring the house. Are we being too cautious by supervising him or should we just let him roam round the house?

A friend of mine lost her 3 senior cats about 6 years ago and adopted 2 youngsters shortly after losing the last one. She called me and asked me the same question. The problem is that when you live with an adult cat as long as you have, you forget about the antics of youngsters. She ended up "kitten proofing" her house, rather than trying to contain them. She put away the breakables, kept the stuff off the floor that could be a hazzard to her kittens, and found some good interactive toys as an alternative to the things they tried to play with. Things worked out very well for her.

I personally don't like to confine cats, and particularly kittens. A neighbor of mine did that with her cats and all of them were pretty anti-social. I honestly don't know if it was the neighbor's personality that caused this, or the fact that they didn't get a lot of interaction with people. I suspected the latter. Cats are very social (contrary to some people's beliefs) and need time with you to become good cats.

My new kitten is the same age.
I put her in a bedroom when we are not home with the other cats.
They play all the time and it has worked out good.
Mine was fixed in November.
I do not let her lose ion the house when we are not hear because she can get into alot of stuff.
Make sure you watch him.

When I got Seti we weren't sure how old he was. He looked super young and we did confine him for his own safety when we weren't there. It turns out he was older than he looked due to malnutrition but I'm glad we gave him a safe space. He also eats everything off the floor and is amazingly adept at finding the most freaking dangerous thing to play with that we seemed to never notice. We have a "cat proof" house as we had 3 adult kitties before bringing Seti in but he still managed to find stuff he shouldn't have had. Fortunatly, as he got a little bigger and could go in with the adult kitties they helped keep him in check! His personality seems no worse for the wear. In fact, I'd say he's more confident than he's ever been.

He's been here a little over a year now and he still keeps me on my toes where the others don't. It's just his personality!

My kittens were usually about 4-5 months old before they got total freedom. If you are worried at night, no reason you cannot keep him in one room for the night when you are sleeping.

I think it depends on your kitten and your house. My kitten (8 months) gets into everything. He will carry plant leaves and flowers around in his mouth. Jump onto the top of the refrigerator, the mantle, counters, etc. I also have a dangerous balcony on the second level that I have to cover with a sheet to keep him from sitting up there or falling 2 stories. So, obviously if I'm too busy to keep an eye on him, (or at nigt) I put him in the laundry room where he has three beds, his litter box, food/water and toys. Sometimes I keep him in a bedroom where he can lounge on a bed and look out the window. For me, it's better safe than sorry. We're home alot so he's out roaming free most of the time but I think it's okay to keep them in one room if necessary for their own safety. When he's older and I don't have to worry about him being so active and getting into trouble, I won't worry about it as much.

I do almost the same thing with Jake who is 2 months old, except for I keep him in my bedroom when no one is home and he sleeps with me in my bedroom at night...It works out well, I think it really depends on how long the kitty stays along though- if you are not home for 8-10 hours it could get boring for your kitty..Just wait a few more months and you can let her roam free...

Thanks very much for all the advice, its amazing how the internet can create communities like this. I guess you are right that we are not used to having a kitten even when we owned a cat for 18 years.

He is starting to cry a lot less now when we go to sleep, think he is starting to get use to our sleeping pattern of sleeping at night and awake during the day.

I will go today to the pet store to find him some toys, as I think he is not being actively stimulated enough.

As he likes to play with/then eat anything he finds on the floor, it makes the christmas tree a big hazard, as we all know there is always tree needles on the floor.