Kitten In Bathroom Overnight?

[Kittyloverr]

Hey guys. I have a new kitten. She's a sweetheart, but also seems to be nocturnal. She was sleeping in my room since we got her, but every night she's running around like crazy and jumps on my bed only to bite the cables connected to my charger. And I end up with 3-4 hours of sleep. At the moment I need sleep, as I have conditions requiring me sleep well. I had to make a decision. Take her back to the shelter or put her in the bathroom. I had no other choice. There is no spare room and I really don't want to take her back. I just put her in the bathroom, with her bed, a heating pad, water, litter box, and a couple of toys. She clawed and whined for a little bit, then went to lay on her bed. She's not crying at the moment, but I just feel awful. Is this alright? She'd be in there for about 9 hours max.

 

[talkingpeanut]

How old is she?

 

[Kittyloverr]

How old is she?

3 months old

 

[Docs Mom]

That is how my kitten (s) started out...
It's usually the best temperature in our house. It keeps them out of trouble and serves as her safe place.
AND the bathtub is a great playground.

Superballs and pingpong balls make great perpetual motion toys ! I could hear her knocking the ball around at nite...
Just make sure to kittenproof it first.
Electrical cords, nasty stuff in bottles, anything heavy that could fall on the kitten... they usually get to places you don't expect them to be...

 

[talkingpeanut]

Before bedtime, you need to thoroughly exhaust her with play first. It will help her to not be bored and to really sleep. Doing this may allow her to sleep with you, but is also true for sleeping in another room.

You also need to leave some food out for her at night. 9 hours is too long for her to be without. At her age, she should really have kibble to snack on at all times and meals of wet food throughout the day.

 

[di and bob]

She'll be fine as long as she has water and kibble and toys. Make sure you have the toilet lid down, we had a rescued baby squirrel drown in there once, so I am paranoid about toilets and baby animals. She will learn your habits in time, especially as she gets older, kittens have way too much energy as you found out!

 

[Daisy6]

3 months old

What you need to do is kitten-proof the other rooms and create barriers so during the night she can run around safely without damaging stuff. The bathroom is only good for so long before she gets bored and kittens are very active at night.

 

[Azazel]

How much are you playing with her during the day? She needs lots of play time before you go to bed. I personally wouldn’t lock her in the bathroom.

 

[LTS3]

It's fine to put your kitten in the bathroom as long as she has a litter box, food and water bowls, and toys. If the bathroom has no window for natural light, keep a nightlight on so the kitten isn't in complete darkness. If the bathroom is large enough, provide a large box tipped on its side facing away from the light so the kitten has a dark place to sleep. Otherwise, you may need to provide a "step" (empty box, old phone books, etc) so the kitten is able to get into the bathtub where it's not so bright.

Be sure to kitten-proof the bathroom top to bottom. Think along the lines of baby/ child proofing: toilet lid down to prevent drowning, plug up the sink and tub drains, all cleaning products (personal care, household cleaning, etc) and medications put away behind secure doors or taken out of the bathroom entirely, same with gadgets (hair dryer, etc) and bobby pins and other hair products, etc.

Give your kitten plenty of playtime to wear out some of that energy. A session an hour before bedtime helps and include a few sessions when you are home. 15 minutes is good but some kittens can go much longer and seemingly never wear out.

Kittens just want to play and zoom around. Many do settle down by a year old. Some don't like my now 8 year old Aby If you end up taking her back to the shelter, consider adopting an adult or senior cat that is not super active and fits into your lifestyle better.

 

[Kittyloverr]

Before bedtime, you need to thoroughly exhaust her with play first. It will help her to not be bored and to really sleep. Doing this may allow her to sleep with you, but is also true for sleeping in another room.

You also need to leave some food out for her at night. 9 hours is too long for her to be without. At her age, she should really have kibble to snack on at all times and meals of wet food throughout the day.

Yes I have been playing with her in the day, to tire her out. It doesn't seem to be working though. I woke up earlier today to take her out, she seemed fine. She didn't even cry.

 

[Kittyloverr]

What you need to do is kitten-proof the other rooms and create barriers so during the night she can run around safely without damaging stuff. The bathroom is only good for so long before she gets bored and kittens are very active at night.

Well my problem isn't that she'll damage things. I don't want her to hurt herself as well. In my roomm, since my desk is next to my bed, she jumped on my desk and began chewing on the cable on my desk. She only does this at night. I play with her a bit in the bathroom before I leave though.

 

[catlover73]

Kittens can and do learn their human's sleep routine. My now 12 year old Starbuck was adopted as a 6 week old kitten. She was too small when I first adopted her to have full run of the house un-supervised. I started a set play time routine and then fed her before going to bed. I kept up this routine when she was big enough to have full house access unsupervised and she first started sleeping with us. This transitioned to a set amount of cuddle time as a signal we were going to sleep. She adjusted to our schedule and started sleeping through the night in our bed very quickly. Now if she decides we should be going to bed she sits in the bed room meowing at us ordering us to go to bed.

My 4 year old Casey was adopted as a 7 week old kitten. We also made sure to tire him out and feed him before going to bed. However, we noticed very quickly that he would go to his own sleep spot on the bed while we were getting ready for bed. He would get snuggle time before we turned out the lights in the bedroom. He figured out on his own that lights out meant it was time to go to sleep. The adjustment period for Casey was much shorter because he was bigger than Starbuck and did not have to be locked up at night for his safety.

I have 4 cats that sleep in our bedroom with us and they generally do not wake us up.

 

[Daisy6]

If that is all she does, you can coat the cords with something sticky or stinky.

 

[Azazel]

If that is all she does, you can coat the cords with something sticky or stinky.

Yep, or get a cable cover to wrap the cord in.

 

[war&wisdom]

I use PetCords to cover the electrical cables in my home (I have two 17-week-old kittens):

For thinner cables (charge cords etc.): http://a.co/4CYUdr8
For thicker cables (lamps, larger electronics, appliances): http://a.co/h1AawoQ

You can cut them to your desired length. There are some cheaper options, but PetCords are unscented (nice for your nose and both safe and non-irritating to the kitties) and conveniently-sized. I usually use a couple pieces of electrical tape to secure the wrap, but you probably don't need to; I'm just a little paranoid.

My kittens have tried chewing the PetCords wraps, but the material tough and they can't bite through, so they get bored quickly.

Obviously, when you're present, you can distract them from chewing with toys, but if you're sleeping or out of the house, these provide peace of mind.