Kittens staying at home the whole working day
Cats and kittens have a reputation for being able to spend long hours alone without any trouble. True enough — they can bear long stretches of solitude; but that is a long way from saying it is easy for them, let alone that it suits them. It is particularly true of the active, people-minded breeds such as the Siamese and the Abyssinian.
The fact is that kittens want company and
need it. The other fact is that you have to go to work in order to bring home the tins they eat out of. How is that to be squared?
The best answer for everybody concerned is to consider taking, or buying, two kittens at once. They will keep each other amused while you are out, and take a good deal of the stress out of their own lives in the process. Two kittens from the same litter come with a guarantee that they will find each other’s company particularly easy.
If two are out of the question just now, do not lose heart. There is a great deal you can do to keep a single four-legged companion happy.
Getting the kitten used to people
The more different people your kitten sees, the more used to people it becomes. Invite cat-lovers to the house, and arm them with treats and with the kitten’s favourite toys. Before long your kitten will be quivering with impatience at the sound of the doorbell and running to see who has come to call on it.
All of this, of course, is to be done at the cat’s own pace, with the greatest respect for any doubt or fear it shows. Encourage it, tempt it — but never force it, never frighten it and never hurt it.
Food
A kitten that spends many hours alone needs food and water it can get at whenever it likes. We suggest leaving dry food out all day to pick at, or using an automatic feeder, which puts out a portion at set intervals. Most pet shops sell them.
Amusement
Anybody can be bored, and your cat is no exception. Fix it a perch by a window that looks out on a busy street. Leave a television or a radio on, tuned to classical music or to talk, with the volume kept low. Rotate the toys, so that every few days the kitten has different ones.
Exercise
Exercise is one of the best cures for stress anyone knows of, and kittens left alone through a whole working day are under some degree of stress almost without exception. So see that the kitten gets one hard bout of play at the very least every day. It helps it to unwind and to bear the lonely hours better. Two sessions a day are ideal, of ten or fifteen minutes each, one in the morning and one in the evening; and the more of the aerobic about them, the better. A kitten chasing a ball, leaping after a toy or pouncing on one you are dragging along the floor is a fine game — nearly as good to watch as it is to play.
The best time of all
If you have only one kitten, and particularly if it is still small, try not to go straight out again when you come home on a weekday. That is very hard on an animal that has, after all, spent the whole day waiting for you. Without taking the rule to extremes, try to keep your social life to the weekends, or else have your friends come to you.
One lovely way of spending the time is grooming the kitten’s coat. It will look forward to those few minutes together — and so, as it turns out, will you.