How would you handle a 9 week old very timid kitten just purchased? This kitten does nothing but hide, I've only had her for a couple of days and understand she needs time to adjust. After contacting the breeder via e-mail, her reply was to leave her alone and let her come out on her own terms. We have a very active household and I'm concerned this kitten might not fit into our situation. I thought handling her was the thing to do. I'm very concerned about leaving her to her own devices. Please help!

-- Anonymous, January 17, 2000

Answers

Now I understand why you wrote your other question about whether we thought 9 weeks was too young for a kitten to leave its mother. Unfortunately, it obviously was too late for you to see my answer which was that I believe 9 weeks IS too young and that kittens shouldn't leave until at least 12 weeks. Now you have learned one of the reasons why. Your kitten is bound to be scared and overwhelmed to find itself away from its mother, siblings and familiar surroundings. I don't think you should leave her alone (ANOTHER thing I disagree with the breeder about, obviously!). I think you need to be very quiet and gentle with the kitten, but to spend plenty of time with her. That is NOT to say that your kitten should be placed in the middle of the "very active household" that you have referred to!! Does that mean you have a lot of children or other animals? I think your kitten needs to be kept in a fairly quiet room without access by other animals but with plenty of GENTLE interaction from you. This means just being with her and petting her gently. She will also need lots of quiet time to sleep and recharge her batteries.

-- Anonymous, January 18, 2000