Get well started...
❤️ congratulations on your kitten from cattery CatsbyLove...
When the kitten comes to its new home, it is a very big upheaval for it.
It leaves the safe base of its mother, its siblings, its aunts and uncle, and its familiar environment with the smells and sounds it knows.
It needs a little help, and you can read more about that here.
The kittens are leaving home...
If the kitten is bought as a pet, it is sold neutered (at the buyer's expense at an advantageous price) before it moves away from home.
The kittens are ready to leave home when they are 16 weeks old. They are then health checked, chipped, fully vaccinated (8-12-16 weeks).
If needed, I would like to tell about my experience with letting the kittens be 16 weeks before they move away from home.
They get a blanket that smells like "home", toys and packed lunches.
The kittens are socialized to other cats, dogs, children and adults, and general household noise.
Secure and comfortable through play
The first thing when it is home, put it in the litter box and then show it where there is food and water.
Show it where it should sleep - preferably with the blanket that smells like "home".
Understandably - it's completely natural - the kitten may seem frightened - it's all bristling and it wants to hide. It can also hiss and splutter. It doesn't know that you only wish it well, so it defends itself. Therefore, let it emerge by itself, do not try to pull it forward.
Sit quietly on the floor and let it come by itself... call Kitty-Kitty and its name... try to make it curious with a teasing stick, roll the ball, put the pillow with catnip, it has brought it from here... Through play and treats it becomes safe at the new home...
- be completely calm and quiet and give it time... - show patience...
- leave the pets it may have to interact with in the room, but keep them from being "on" the kitten. Make sure it has escape routes and won't be cornered...give it a "Secure Base" - somewhere it can have a "hell".
The kittens is socialized...
The kitten will be socialized and used to common family sounds, vacuum cleaners, children and adults, other cats and dogs, but this does not mean that it immediately trusts your family, cats, dogs, smells and sounds. But that will get it down the road, so give it time. Someone lives under the sofa for a week and only comes out at night. Others come immediately - both are completely normal...
Cuddle time is always on the kitten/cat's terms. Few kittens/cats like being carried around.
But feel free to continue practicing that it is picked up and carried, gets eyes/ears dried. Hold the kitten close to the skin of its face, rub and caress the side of its head. This is how cats pet each other.
Cuddle time is best when the kitten has played and just before it goes to sleep. There is the most motivated for snobbery.
Outdoor time...
Wait to take the kitten outside until you feel that it has confidence.
Accept that it wants to explore the environment - show it how to re-enter the house...
until the kitten is safe in the outdoor environment, go outside - sit and play with toys - offer treats. You can rattle the bag and offer, and it will learn to come at that sound. Feel free to teach the kitten various small "arts" - "sit" - "give me five" - "fetch" - "cover" - "roll" etc.
The more such games are played with the kitten/cat, the closer it bonds and the longer it stays fresh and youthful...
I wish you and the family all the best with the new family member - and of course I would love to hear how the kitten develops.