Leaving my new kitten at home - New cat owner seeking advice

Hi all! I am a brand new cat owner, finally fulfilling a lifelong dream (I'm 21). I have adopted a 9 1/2 week old orange barn cat named Théoden (we call him Theo for short). To clarify, while he is a barn cat, he was not feral and he comes from a long line of domesticated cats from a family friend's farm.

I am very worried about separation anxiety when I'm going to have to start leaving him home alone for extended periods of time. I adopted him on Wednesday evening (the 25th), and since then he has almost always been near me or my girlfriend, mostly me (we do not live together). He has also visited my office and met my coworkers, my girlfriend's office and met her coworkers, my girlfriend's house, my grandma's house, the vet twice, and has had tons of car time (which he is now perfectly fine with and enjoys napping during in his big cozy carrier).

He is rather attached to me now that we have bonded. He likes to follow me around the room, he'll follow me from room to room when I start to walk away from him, he seems unsure of how exactly to play if I'm not directly interacting with him, he whined (especially the first day or two) when I left the room and shut the door behind me, and more and more he is just wanting to be near me as much as possible.

I feel like all of these things are starting to improve, but I don't want to just assume that and take his psychological health for granted. Is behavior like this normal for a young kitten, and he'll grow out of it when he starts being left home alone? Or is it indicative he is overly attached and will have issues being left alone. If it's normal, I have no problem with him being this attached, I love the affection. I just want to make sure I'm not letting him be too attached and setting him up for trouble. I thought maybe I could do a test run to kind of warm him up. I'm currently leaving him alone in my room, which is where he'll stay when I'm gone, for about an hour and a half to see how he takes it.

His first real test comes tomorrow morning, I am leaving my apartment around 6:30 am and I'll be home around 12-2:30. So around 6 hours.

I know there's the potential that I'm being silly and overdramatic, but I've been dreaming my whole life, of the day I could take in a kitten so I really just want to do right by him as best I can.

I apologize for writing so much, I am definitely stressing out a lot and would love some thoughts and opinions! I've attached some pictures of the little rascal for you all to see.

Thank you!

- Jon

What an adorable little guy!  You really did hit the jackpot with Theo - he sounds pretty wonderful and is going to a beauty, full grown.   I had a cat (also a ginger tabby) who was affectionate like Theo so to me, his desire to be near you sounds perfectly normal.  You do want to make sure he has a lot of toys for when he is alone, plus, if possible, a window he can look out of.  (And be sure your room is kitten proofed.  Kittens can squeeze into the most surprising and difficult to locate places imaginable.  Unplug everything, too, in case he chews on things out of boredom).    You won't know if he tends to extreme separation anxiety until you've actually left him alone for awhile, but if he does, one possible solution is getting another kitten.  Anyway, I don't think you sound at all silly or overdramatic.  You sound like a good cat person, someone who wants the best for his new companion.

I hope we see and hear lots more about Theo in the future!   And welcome to TCS!  

Affection like that being normal (at least from your perspective) is great! I guess I've just only ever heard cats stigmatized as loners and disliking people, so those things always linger in the back of my mind. 

He has a number of small toys, a tower, a scratching post, his kitty bed for night time, as well as full reign of my bed during the day my bathroom connects, and the door stays open with his food and water inside as well as his litter box right by the bathroom door. I've kitten proofed in detail after a terrifying moment on day one when he discovered a hole in my kitchen molding I didn't even know I had! I can't leave a window open only because of safety/privacy reasons, my bedroom window view is the apartment parking lot and lots of folks coming and going by.

Thank you for the advice! I know I'll be around plenty (hopefully contributing more than asking, but we'll see).

Oh my! He is adorable!

As the previous poster said, it will be hard to tell if he has extreme separation anxiety until you actually leave him alone.

It has also been my experience that male cats tend to be much more affectionate than females (again, just my experience). So you might just have a really affectionate boy on your hands

If you can handle it, I'd say to get another kitten for him to play with while you're away

Do you have one of the toys that consist of a ball cats can push around a track?  There are a range available - here's the one I have.  



My Chula wants all of her toys to be in motion which requires something battery run or my involvement.  This is the only toy she will play with on her own and she loves it.  

That is one of the reasons I got a boy, it's always been my understanding they're more affectionate. I guess I'll just have to see. I'm sure some day I'll have another cat, right now that'd be a bit much probably. But, if it's what's right for my current little guy I'm sure that'd be a very legitimate option for me.

Also, forgot to ask in my original post, how long is too long to leave alone at once? With cats in general? How long will folks leave their cats alone on average?

I think he's been getting better today about playing with his toys alone, at least he has been this afternoon. Again I've only had the little guy for about 4 1/2 days so the sample size is tiny.

I'll order that turbo scratcher, if it seems like he hasn't moved his toys much throughout the day I'll see how he likes it!

Jon Conant said:

 
That is one of the reasons I got a boy, it's always been my understanding they're more affectionate. I guess I'll just have to see. I'm sure some day I'll have another cat, right now that'd be a bit much probably. But, if it's what's right for my current little guy I'm sure that'd be a very legitimate option for me.

Also, forgot to ask in my original post, how long is too long to leave alone at once? With cats in general? How long will folks leave their cats alone on average?

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Here's an article that gives some insight into leaving cats alone.  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-long-can-you-leave-your-cat-alone-for    The usual time recommended is overnight though I wouldn't leave a kitten alone for that long a time.  When I was still working, I left my cats alone about 9  hours a day five days a week and they did fine, but there were two of them.  

Yeah, and a bored kitten is the last thing you want, as they will find ways of entertaining themselves that are not necessarily good!

I know on occasion my brother and sister-in-law have left their cats for a weekend (so two nights). However, they had more than one cat at the time, plus none of them were kittens. The one time they were gone longer than a week, they had someone coming over every day for feeding/water/litter box cleanup, in addition to my mom coming over just to cuddle and play for a bit.

I agree with Margd, definitely best to not leave the kitten alone as long as you would an adult cat. Just too much trouble they can get into, and if they find themselves in a bad situation, you obviously want to be there as soon as possible to help. And kittens are crazy, they get into everything and find themselves on top of things and can't figure their way down. Think the proverbial kitten stuck in a tree. They do figure their ways down (because if they are up something once, they will be up it again!) but that's usually after doing it several times. Like my boys getting on top of the cabinets, or on top of the shower doors.

Interesting, okay. I have no intention of leaving him over night, at least not when he's a baby. I work weekdays, a typical 8-4 job with commute time, so it'd be anywhere from 10-12 hours, hopefully sooner because I can prioritize getting home to him quickly (as opposed to lazily heading home).

Thank you for that article link! I love reading as many opinions as possible.

Jon Conant said:

 
His first real test comes tomorrow morning, I am leaving my apartment around 6:30 am and I'll be home around 12-2:30. So around 6 hours.

I know there's the potential that I'm being silly and overdramatic, but I've been dreaming my whole life, of the day I could take in a kitten so I really just want to do right by him as best I can.

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A 9 week old kitten can get into mischief when you are not at home. It's best to confine the kitten to one kitten-proof room whenever you are not at home. The bathroom is usually a good place but oses hazards like the toilet and household cleaners and such. Put everything away behind secure doors (all medicines, personal care products and tools, househould cleaners, cotton swabs / q tips, etc), keep the toilet  lid down, plug up the tub or shower drain if possible. Put your kitten's basic necessities in the room (litter box, food and water, toys). If there is no window, keep the bathroom light or a nightlight on. You may want to put a big cardboard box in the room as well so the kitten has a dark place to go to for sleeping. A battery operated radio set to NPR or other station at a low volume may be helpful to prevent your kitten from being too lonely.

When I got my Aby as a kitten, he had to stay in the bathroom for upwards of 12 hours while I was at work. At night he was put back into the bathroom. He was not happy at all at being confined to one room but since he was a troublemaker I didn't want to risk him getting into some sort of trouble while I was away. I don't think he stayed in the bathroom for more than a couple of days before I gave him ull access to the entire place.