Kitten-Proof Your Home

“The expression, ‘curiosity killed the cat’ has some truth to it,” says Dr. James R. Richards, Director of the Cornell Feline Health Center, Cornell School of Veterinary Medicine. “The little guys, kittens, are like adolescent kids. They don’t have a lot of judgment and experience. Think like a kitten when you look around the house to detect danger areas, advises Richards.

The feline perspective, five feet below your eye level, may not be what you’re used to, so ThisWildLife.com asked experts to advise us one room at a time.

Cat Behavior Specialist for the San Francisco SPCA, Mikel Delgado suggests you confine your kitten in a small room for several days to allow him to adjust to the new environment. Delgado recommends a bathroom. “Bathrooms generally have no electrical cords to chew or places a kitten could get stuck,” Delgado says. “In addition, you can make cabinets safe either by removing cleaning supplies, or by securing the cabinet from prying paws with a childproof latch.

Diana Engelbart, Cat Fancier Association (CFA) Purebred Rescue Coordinator and Birman breeder agrees that a kitten needs confinement to a small room to adjust, but she suggests the bedroom.Once your kitten relaxes in the safe room and you have begun to discover your kitten’s personality, increase its territory a room at a time.

“Cats,” says Dr. Richards, “have difficulty with household poisons or cleaning substances not because they chew the container (although they can) but because they walk through things. Cats lick their soiled feet to remove the substance. For this reason,” Richards, explains, “you must wipe up spills very quickly as well as securing cleaning products.

“Problems common to cats are amplified in kittens because physically smaller more curious, kittens investigate many situations adult cats would not,” Dr. Richards says.

Engelbart makes the point that the kitchen trash and recycling, where you’ve disposed of substances the kitten shouldn’t have, needs a secure cover or should be stored behind fastened doors. She also cautions, “Test your latches for heft.  Not all closing hardware keeps kittens from opening cabinet doors.”

Kitchen hazards include the stove. “Kittens can’t distinguish between a stove that’s off and one that’s on,” Engelbart says. “Check your pots before you turn on burners,” she advises. “New cat owners can’t imagine that a cat would curl up in an empty pot atop the stove, but they do.”

The San Francisco SPCA suggests adopters block access to the space behind the refrigerator and stove. These warm places are cat-attractive, but danger from electrical cords and broiler heat intensify problems of a trapped kitten. “Until you know whether your kitten goes for cords, cover the cords with PVC pipe or apply a bitter tasting but nontoxic substance to discourage chewing,” Delgado advises.

“The washer and especially a dryer with warm clothes,” says Englebart, “make attractive places for kittens to sleep, so keep the doors closed. Besides the electrical cord danger of these appliances, many washers actually change position during the spin cycle. An inch could be fatal for a kitten curled up behind for a nap.

Laundry products including soap, fabric softener (sheet or liquid) and all forms bleach pose toxic threats. Protect your kitten by replacing these items in overhead cabinets and wiping up residue each time you use them.

Engelbart teaches buyers of her Berman kittens that open shelving and tablecloths invite trouble. “A hutch displaying china and knickknacks entices a curious kitten. Not only could the kitten destroy your prized porcelain figurines, but also falling dinnerware could injure your tiny pet.

Dangling tablecloth ends provide a climbing wall for your kitten.  Your kitten claws up and the tablecloth slides down. Candlesticks and carving sets clatter to the floor and may strike your frightened feline.

Most kittens chew plants. Check your indoor plants against a list from your veterinarian or the ASPCA (available on the web) to ensure that your kitten’s first plant meal is not his last. If you are not sure, rehome your plant until you can determine its safety.

A place of relaxation for you, the family room can be deadly for your kitten without kitten proofing. Venetian blind cords make great toys from a kitten’s perspective, until a claw becomes hooked and the frightened kitten struggles, tangled in the cord. Secure the cords out of reach on cleats. A kitten imagines the woodstove temperature represents comfort rather than a second-degree burn when it jumps up for a nap. Fireplace flames flutter like a shiny toy. Your kitten may try to jump into the fire to play, so do keep your fireplace screen closed, your woodstove door latched, and your kitten supervised if you use any heat source other than a furnace behind a protective door.

Gliders and recliners promise kittens a dark, comfortable place to sleep, but their mechanisms work with a scissoring motion that can trap or injure. Keep the mechanisms locked unless you are present to protect your kitty.

If you notice your kitten licking the carpet, restrict the kitty’s access. Kitten intrigued by a new texture can have a toxic reaction to chemical finishes or cleaner residue. The fibers can cause intestinal blockage.

Linda Brackett, a Massachusetts adoption coordinator working with PetSmart says you cannot make a garage safe for a kitten. “Even if you close every substance harmful to a kitten typically found in garages (e.g. paint, antifreeze, fertilizer, gasoline, lubricants) in a locked cabinet,” she says, tools fall, kitty walks through oil or grease from the floor and after grooming, naps on your engine block. “Garages are no place for cats,” Brackett says.

Kittens, like curious people, prefer good vantage points and the best views come with altitude. “We have the impression that kittens can jump from significant heights as a matter of course. Some cats can, but most can’t,” Linda Berg, a breeder of Persians cautions.
“No cat, she says, “should be expected to survive a fall or leap from a second story landing or a window down to an entry hall or the ground.” Berg suggests her clients install barriers to prevent falls or leaps. “If appearance matters, use an unobtrusive material such as Plexiglas.”

Secure windows screens, particularly on upper floors. The San Francisco SPCA warns adopters that kittens can exert considerable force pushing to get a bird or a squirrel outside. Dr. Richards agrees adding, “Within the home, kittens misjudge distances and can easily be injured trying to jump from a balcony or a tall cabinet onto a hard surface.”

Shiny, wiggly, or small objects kittens can push around preoccupy kittens. If your children are past the age of swallowing small objects, remember when. Bag or box small game pieces or doll accessories or spaceship parts and store out of reach.

Decorations from the birthday party or junior dance team tryouts, anything-resembling tinsel or cellophane fascinate kittens. Put these out of reach. While it might be okay to play what Dr. Richards calls “fishing pole type toys” with a shiny object on a string while supervising your kitten, put these toys away after your play session.

Dr. Richards and Mikel Delgado each mentioned the classic image of a kitten with a ball of yarn as their worst nightmare. “Although kittens might like to play with yarn or string, this behavior can be deadly,” says Delgado. Dr. Richards explains, “Cats get in trouble when yarn or string or cassette tape gets into the mouth. Because their tongue barbs point backwards, they can’t get them out. 

In addition to yarn, Berg cautions that kittens swallow such unlikely objects as threaded needles and pins that are removable only through surgery. Dr. Richards agrees. “Linear foreign objects [like pins, strips of plastic or aluminum] can be terribly dangerous. Hung up in the intestine, the objects scissor back and forth and cuts through the intestine creating a terrible emergency.” The solution, putting materials away, keeps your animals safe.

Behavior specialist Delgado adds rubber bands and paper clips, lead the group of home office concerns. Again, neatness counts. Put these away when not in use. Bundle computer wires in PVC or other barrier, or apply aversive apple spray.

Use care in cleaning the litter box. “Remove all traces of the bleach based cleaning product you use to disinfect,” suggests Engelbart. Delgado adds that many veterinarians suggest non-clumping litter as kittens tend to “ingest to much of it when grooming, which can cause a deadly intestinal blockage.”

Linda Brackett reminds us that individual kittens prefer different “dangerous activities.” Learning which activities your kitten selects helps you focus your guardianship. Not all kittens chew wires. Not all kittens like high places. Restrict access to rooms that you cannot make safe for your individual kitten, and you will sleep more soundly at night.

Brackett also reminds us that kitten’s physical and social development means reaching hazards develops. For example, the six to seven weeks old kitten may climb the drapes. Kittens four or five months old could leap to the space above the kitchen cabinets and crash onto granite countertops on the way down.

Mikel Delgado from the San Francisco SPCA says, Get on your hands and knees and ask ‘What does your kitten see?’ Look under everything.” Berg and Brackett mention constant awareness to put away plants and foods or medications, special hazards people sometimes forget.

Dr. Richards reminds adopters to pay special attention to escape routes that lead to the outdoors, such as back doors, dog doors, garage doors, and window screens. “Even if the escape doesn’t hurt your kitten, the domestic kitten can’t handle the hazards out of doors.”

Once you’ve read the cautions, crawled through your home and addressed the hazards you can, love and enjoy your kitten. “Cats have lived with us for many years, and most of the time they do just fine,” says Dr. Richards.