First night down..

Yesterday, we picked up our kitten Libby who is 5.5 months old and she is our first pet. We have her confined to the bathroom/bedroom at the moment. We got her home about 6.30pm and initially let her out in the bathroom then let her explore the bedroom. She tried to hide at first but after a few hours she was playing with us- da bird was a hit!. We went to sleep around 12am and she was walking around etc 1am came and she got the crazies.. jumping on and off the bed, walking on the dressers etc. We were desperately trying to ignore her at that time because I don't want her to learn that 1am is play time.

3am she came up and actually slept in between us for a few hours but around 6.30am she got up and started walking around meowing- she probably meowed about 15 times- jumping on/off the bed- before she went into the bath tub and fell asleep- until we got up just now.

I saw her drinking water several times and she ate some of her wet food, I can see she has used the litter box (peed) but we don't know why she was walking around meowing. Do you think she was looking for her former owner? Her owner had kept her in her bedroom and she was isolated from the other cats. Libby had been separated from her mother about 4 weeks ago because she (Libby) had to have heart murmur surgery- which was successful.

I gave her new wet food a few minutes ago, she has dry food out as well. I might wait to give her the next wet food til later tonight and see if that helps her sleep- but she isn't eating all the food so I don't know if that would help.

Does anyone have any tips/advice for me?

Thanks.

Give her some time. It's just been 15 hours or so. I find that newcomers generally pace around, cry out, etc for a few days, and then will settle in to the new place.

Sounds like it's going really well, actually.

Enjoy!

Cally

Thanks Cally.

It may just be her normal play time. Cats are nocturnal critters. Mine are always most active between about midnight and 1:00 AM, then again around 5:00 AM. It was hardest when I had only one because she wanted me to play with her. Now they mostly just hop off the bed and go in another room to play with each other.

I think just give her some time. You're right to try to ignore her during times you don't want her to get used to thinking of as play time or treat time or something. Eventually she'll adjust to your schedule. Our Billy talks all the time - but the first few days he was definitely calling for his brother. Now he just talks to us.

Laurie

Thanks everyone.
Libby still hasn't made a poop.. is this normal? She's been here 25 hours now.
I know she's not eating a lot either, not sure if she's had any dry but she appeared to have eaten several bites of wet. I just put a fresh plate out and she sniffed it then decided she'd rather rub up against my legs. Maybe I'm expecting a kitten to eat more than they actually do since I'm a newbie at this.

Libby doesn't seem unhappy. She's has been playing a lot then napping etc, rubbing against us and furniture etc. At the moment she's exploring..

Am I just paranoid?

Thanks.

You're just a nervous new cat mom. Remember to nap when kitty does!

Cally

When I first got Avalon, she was three months old and was with most of her twins the whole time. My husband's brother - the girlfriend of his has a mommy cat who had kitties and was trying to get rid of them. When I was doing a lot of research on where to get a kitty, I ha no knowledge of this fact since they live across the state line.

Then I just happen to mention to his brother when he called for my husband that I was looking for a kitty and he said great since his gf was trying to get rid of the liter. They had two kitties left and brought them both over so I can pick and choose. I chose the cuter one. Once they took the twin sister kitty back, Avalon started crying a lot. She cried all night and all day for a couple of days till she got used to us. She just missed her twin sister and the my husband's brother and his gf as well as her kids.

She probably forgot them by now. I helped them find a home for the other kitty when I talked to this cashier at a department discount store. She wanted a cat so she gave me her number and she just got the other kitty today.

Your kitty is in a new environment with new people, new smells, new sounds, new everything! She'll need several days to settle in and adjust to her new home. Once she does, her appetite will probably increase and her litter box activity will get into a routine. You can also start working with her to establish a bedtime routine. My cats know that when the TV goes off, I'm heading to scoop boxes, then brush my teeth and face, then heading to bed. They get in their beds and I brush them for awhile, then I turn out the light and we all go to sleep.

Once she's comfortable in her new home, things will settle down for both of you.

Stephanie