Is It Okay To Let 5 Month Old Kitten Roam House While At Work?

[maria_c5]

I am going back to work sept 4th and i was wondering if it would be okay to leave my 5 month old kitten alone from 7:30-4pm to roam the house. We were planning on leaving her in our laundry room, which is where we put her when we go to sleep. I just find this cruel because she has gotten so used to roaming the house and sleeping in different areas. She is a tiny girl, about 5 pounds. Although she is kind of skiddish when we are home, I am afraid she will try to jump off stairs or jump from our loft upstairs to downstairs as she fits perfectly between the railings. I fear for her safety but i feel bad leaving her in a room almost all day Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[rubysmama]

That's tough one. Especially with your loft and the stairs. Is there anyway you could block off the stairs and just give her access to the lower level?

 

[GoldyCat]

How big is the laundry room? Does it have a window? If it's a small room with no window, I think I'd let her have the run of the house. If the laundry room is big enough to put a cat tree in, it could work well, even if there's no window. Just be sure to eave a light on for her.

 

[maria_c5]

That's tough one. Especially with your loft and the stairs. Is there anyway you could block off the stairs and just give her access to the lower level?

we were thinking of putting babygates at the top of the stairs to the basement but i’m pretty sure she would be able to jump over them. The stairs are also very close to a railing which i’m sure she could climb over to so she could get to the next floor.

 

[maria_c5]

How big is the laundry room? Does it have a window? If it's a small room with no window, I think I'd let her have the run of the house. If the laundry room is big enough to put a cat tree in, it could work well, even if there's no window. Just be sure to eave a light on for her.

It is about the size of a master bedroom.
It does a have a window but its one of those basement windows that are high up she does not have access to it but it allows light in. We do have a perch but it is not taller than the height of a kitchen table. She does jump onto the counter and will sit there and we do keep the light on.

 

[kittyluv387]

I adopted my cat at around 5 months old. Pretty energetic too. I cat proofed the place a but but he was fine to roam the place.

 

[rubysmama]

It didn't look pretty, but my family once used a large piece of cardboard from a box to block a doorway to a room that we needed to keep our kitten out of.

 

[maria_c5]

She is fairly energetic but will sleep a lot and probably more when we are not around to entertain her. What did your cat proofing involve? We have blocked off areas she could get stuck in but that’s pretty much it.

 

[maria_c5]

It didn't look pretty, but my family once used a large piece of cardboard from a box to block a doorway to a room that we needed to keep our kitten out of.

I have heard about doing that but all our rooms have doors so it’s not a concern. The concern is mostly about blocking off the entrance to the stairs.

 

[rubysmama]

Here's an article that might have some kitten proofing tips for you:
Kitten Proofing Your Home: 13 Practical Tips

 

[maria_c5]

Here's an article that might have some kitten proofing tips for you:
Kitten Proofing Your Home: 13 Practical Tips

Thank you

 

[Pjg8r]

How is she in the other rooms when you are home? That’s a lot of time in one room - all day and then again when you are sleeping. In my opinion it depends on the kitten.

 

[maria_c5]

How is she in the other rooms when you are home? That’s a lot of time in one room - all day and then again when you are sleeping. In my opinion it depends on the kitten.

She is quite alright in the other rooms when we are home. She is easily spooked sometimes by us making a sudden noise or opening something. I’m just afraid without the distractions or us telling her no/removing her from trouble she will become more curious and hurt herself when we aren’t home. Unless it is bedtime (usually we put her in the room at 10pm and leave at 10:30pm) she does not like staying in the laundry room alone and will meow. Also if we go out and leave her in the laundry room as soon as we get home she is already at the door meowing

 

[LTS3]

Something like this would work to block access to the stairs: Solid Hardwood Indoor Pet Enclosure - CatsPlay Superstore

 

[maria_c5]

thank you

 

[Q2U]

I imagine that some folks are going to object to this, but it works for us. Andy was a friendly 8-week old feral kitten when he came into our home; he was afraid of nothing. We have 4 dogs and we weren't about to leave him home alone while Mrs. Q and I were both at work. We tried putting Andy in a large wire ("Precision" brand) dog crate, but he would climb the crate wire walls and I was very worried that he'd get a paw caught and hurt himself badly while we were away at work. After much (much)...much...research we purchased a 3-level "Ferret Nation" cage which has a wire grid much too small for a kitten's paws to fit though. I believe that our total cost was approximately $275.00; the cage is rock solid. We made a few modifications and -- 1-year later -- this cage has become the place Andy likes to go when he's very tired or he doesn't want to be bothered. His litter box if on the "ground floor", he eats and drinks on the "2nd floor" and he sleeps on the "3rd floor." There are passage ways in each floor so he can easily move between levels. We positioned it in front of a large glass door so he can look outside all day. The best part about it is the confidence we have that Andy is safe and securewhen we are out of the house. Here are some links and pictures...

The Basic 2-Floor Cage...
Critter Nation Double Unit | MidWest Homes For Pets

The 3rd Floor Add-On cage...
Critter Nation Add-On Unit | MidWest Homes For Pets

 

[lunaart]

We had a similar problem years ago when we first got two 4 1/2 month old kittens. We lived in a house that had stairs and balcony that overlooked hardwood floors 10 ft below. I had the same worry that they would accidentally slip between the railings when playing around and fall onto the floor.

It looked silly, but what we did was get some of those thin 3'x2' compressed fiber mounting boards (I think we got them at Hobby Lobby) and then used heavy-duty velcro-tape to latch them onto the railings. We placed them side by side all along the railing so there were no gaps for them to get through. We also attached a mounting board to a babygate so we could go through, but they couldn't.

I then got paranoid that they would jump over the top of the boards since they were only 3' tall, so one night I taped cardboard all along the top so it was too tall for them to jump over. It looked utterly ridiculous, but it worked well enough for 2-3 months. Eventually I got more comfortable about their abilities to navigate the stairs and took it all down. They never did have any problems with the stairs.

It wouldn't be a permanent solution, but if you only need it temporarily until she gets older, something like that might work for you.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I imagine that some folks are going to object to this, but it works for us. Andy was a friendly 8-week old feral kitten when he came into our home; he was afraid of nothing. We have 4 dogs and we weren't about to leave him home alone while Mrs. Q and I were both at work. We tried putting Andy in a large wire ("Precision" brand) dog crate, but he would climb the crate wire walls and I was very worried that he'd get a paw caught and hurt himself badly while we were away at work. After much (much)...much...research we purchased a 3-level "Ferret Nation" cage which has a wire grid much too small for a kitten's paws to fit though. I believe that our total cost was approximately $275.00; the cage is rock solid. We made a few modifications and -- 1-year later -- this cage has become the place Andy likes to go when he's very tired or he doesn't want to be bothered. His litter box if on the "ground floor", he eats and drinks on the "2nd floor" and he sleeps on the "3rd floor." There are passage ways in each floor so he can easily move between levels. We positioned it in front of a large glass door so he can look outside all day. The best part about it is the confidence we have that Andy is safe and securewhen we are out of the house. Here are some links and pictures...

The Basic 2-Floor Cage...
Critter Nation Double Unit | MidWest Homes For Pets

The 3rd Floor Add-On cage...
Critter Nation Add-On Unit | MidWest Homes For Pets

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No objections here. That is one cat-friendly design!
Baby Girl didn't have free time in the house til she was 2. Her mobility isn't the greatest and she has no fear, and a few times we got brave and left her out for an hour or two, we DID come home once to find her injured...not seriously, but limping and walking very strangely. Books and magazines were all over so we guess she probably tried to make a jump, didn't quite make it, and fell.
She's fine out of confinement now =)
A few others earned the rights to free access much earlier, and some never did (one of our house dogs NEVER earned the right to free roam. He made too much mischief.)

 

[maria_c5]

I imagine that some folks are going to object to this, but it works for us. Andy was a friendly 8-week old feral kitten when he came into our home; he was afraid of nothing. We have 4 dogs and we weren't about to leave him home alone while Mrs. Q and I were both at work. We tried putting Andy in a large wire ("Precision" brand) dog crate, but he would climb the crate wire walls and I was very worried that he'd get a paw caught and hurt himself badly while we were away at work. After much (much)...much...research we purchased a 3-level "Ferret Nation" cage which has a wire grid much too small for a kitten's paws to fit though. I believe that our total cost was approximately $275.00; the cage is rock solid. We made a few modifications and -- 1-year later -- this cage has become the place Andy likes to go when he's very tired or he doesn't want to be bothered. His litter box if on the "ground floor", he eats and drinks on the "2nd floor" and he sleeps on the "3rd floor." There are passage ways in each floor so he can easily move between levels. We positioned it in front of a large glass door so he can look outside all day. The best part about it is the confidence we have that Andy is safe and securewhen we are out of the house. Here are some links and pictures...

The Basic 2-Floor Cage...
Critter Nation Double Unit | MidWest Homes For Pets

The 3rd Floor Add-On cage...
Critter Nation Add-On Unit | MidWest Homes For Pets

View attachment 250684
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View attachment 250687
View attachment 250688

This was very helpful thank you! and cute kitty!

 

[maria_c5]

No objections here. That is one cat-friendly design!
Baby Girl didn't have free time in the house til she was 2. Her mobility isn't the greatest and she has no fear, and a few times we got brave and left her out for an hour or two, we DID come home once to find her injured...not seriously, but limping and walking very strangely. Books and magazines were all over so we guess she probably tried to make a jump, didn't quite make it, and fell.
She's fine out of confinement now =)
A few others earned the rights to free access much earlier, and some never did (one of our house dogs NEVER earned the right to free roam. He made too much mischief.)

Thank you! Yes i guess it does depends on the personality of your kitten