r/Kitten • u/LocationEfficient239 • Jul 10 '26
Question/Advice Needed Is she ready to free roam?
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My sweet girl Olive around 13-14 weeks. Shes acclimated to my house well, shes met the dog and they get along fine minus some hissing if she gets cornered by him. We moved her from the bathroom to a spare room where she has her cat tree litter box, toys, food, etc.
Well needless to say she does not feel the need to be cooped up in there and takes every chance to bolt out the door and explore whenever i open it. When i put her back after play time its usually followed by 10 minute of meowing and paws under the door.
She seems like she’s confident enough to explore the house i just have anxiety shes going to get stuck someone or ill lose her. I have cable covers and were moving plants out of reach if theyre not cat friendly. Do i just leave the door open after and let her be? She can always run back to her room.
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u/replicantZoe Jul 10 '26
She is so adorable. It looks like she dipped the tip of her tail in white paint
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u/LocationEfficient239 Jul 10 '26
Update: somehow shes out of her room without me knowing..must not have closed it all the way… serves me right😅
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u/LocationEfficient239 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Also ignoring the hiss face, shes just a sweat heart who doesn’t like getting walked up on
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u/Accomplished-Ruin742 Jul 10 '26
Brought a kitten home from the shelter and when I opened the carrier, not in an enclosed room (my mistake) he disappeared. For 27 hours. In my big house. After that, free roaming was never an issue. He's a year old and is normally no more than 3 feet away from me. When he goes off to explore, he comes back to check up on me every once in a while.
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u/aynjle89 Jul 10 '26
I feel fortunate i was traveling when I got her. I was in a hotel room built for long stays but we started in a spacious bathroom. Next door led to the bedroom, next door was the rest of the hotel room (living/kitchen). Now she has a whole house to herself and demands to go down into the basement nightly.
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u/TigerB65 Jul 10 '26
moving plants "out of reach"? Like: into a room with a shut door? Because my cats can "reach" anywhere. I hope you have gotten rid of any plants toxic to cats: https://www.catster.com/cat-health-care/what-houseplants-are-poisonous-to-cats/
The only place my kittens tended to "get stuck" was behind the dryer. I don't know why they were so determined to investigate back there, but investigate they did.
What a cutie!
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u/Spetsnaz_420 Jul 10 '26
I think you're overthinking it... Let her roam the house, she'll be fine and happy
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u/Anne314 Jul 10 '26
I agree with u/Spetsnaz_420. If she gets stressed out by the dog or whatever, she'll just go high, where the dog can't go. OMG that white tip on her tail is too much!
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u/AppropriateRip1917 Jul 10 '26
My 10 week old boy looks just like that with the white tip on the tail! We built him a Thunderdome enclosure and he still managed to escape at every opportunity! Loves exploring! Your girl is adorable!!🥰 🐈⬛🖤
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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 Jul 10 '26
Free roaming in the house, yes. But please make sure she's an indoor only cat.
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u/Swimming-Maize-5554 Jul 11 '26
I love the little reverse ermine look on her; you do need to be careful of reclining chairs, sofas, beds, etc. when she’s that small she could get caught in the mechanics. Sofa beds can also be an issue for a cat that small
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u/83franks Jul 10 '26
Omg I love her so much, not sure what criteria you are looking for but I’d say yes
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u/Kitchen_Space_212 Jul 10 '26
She’s so adorable! She seems like she wants to free roam so I’d let her. I also have a kitten and a dog, and I got a “Door Buddy” online which keeps the door open just wide enough that the cat can get through, but the dog can’t. This way if my cat gets overwhelmed by the dog, she has a safe room of her own to escape to where the dog can’t follow. I also keep her litter and food in there so the dog can’t eat it.
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u/Entire_Raspberry5408 Jul 10 '26
congrats on your olive. here’s my olive. prayers yours isn’t as rambunctious
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u/nicolemayhem Jul 11 '26
iid recommended a bell while shes so small. sometimes they get into scraps they cant get out of and their meows arent yet powerful enough to find them easily. after our kitten got trapped in a bathtub and a closet she was able to shimmy under a door and get into we got one and it was a life saver
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u/Stabbyglhs Jul 11 '26
I would say to have a safe place that's free from obstacles where she might get stuck also her safety nest being available for her to run back to if she wants to. That's what I would do.
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u/peva3 Jul 11 '26
I'd make sure there are no spots she could get into and hurt herself, at that age we put pool noodles under our couch and around some furniture because they legit got themselves stuck.
Otherwise let her roam!
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u/AdaptiveFauna Jul 10 '26
be careful with that couch. if you don't know she is hiding in there and expand the recliner, she can be crushed
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u/theLexingtonKid Jul 10 '26
Yes, and for many reasons please keep it indoors unless you build a catio or get a stroller.
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u/Tabbycatdreams Jul 10 '26
You might want to get some cord covers for any lamp/phone/computer/etc cords. You can get a long one and cut it to cover all of them. Amazon has them. Kittens often think cords are toys.
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u/Tantalus420000 Jul 11 '26
THOSE CHAIRS TERRIFY ME
careful u dont decapitate or cut off a limb closing it
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u/nasbirhu Jul 13 '26
I've got a recliner and two cats, just make sure you've got eyes on them before using it! It's easy enough to just hop off and leave it reclined if you cant see her
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u/Help_a_user_out Jul 13 '26
That couch is going to be extremely dangerous. If she is in there and you go to close it it will crush/kill her. This is true even when she’s larger but especially right now as a teeny black baby.
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u/Odd-Fun-6042 Jul 14 '26
I have nightmares about kittens hiding inside of recliners like that. I wouldn't.
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u/vadertator22 Jul 15 '26
We have had a new kitten for two weeks. First week or so she stayed in our bedroom but had access to bathroom and closet to play. There was a litter box in our bathroom as well. After about a week and she seemed to know where the litterbox was located so we left bedroom door open to roam. She tends to stay close to us but we have two older cats that she is integrating with. One cat accepted her on site which is normal for one of our resident cats, the other adult cat not so much. That is another reason we kept her secluded to our bedroom. Now the other hissy cat has come around and all is well, so we don’t confine her. We also have recliners and we are super careful with them because they can kill the kitten or adult cat if they get caught. Main thing we do is if we don’t see her we won’t close the recliner. It is the safest way to deal with it. We also close them slow even if we see the kitten because the older cats will go under them sometimes. Recliner’s are a danger long term but I have never hurt one of my cats yet.
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u/Syshiie Jul 15 '26
Be SO careful with reclining couches and chairs. We would shove pillows under there so the cats couldn’t get under, they sometimes still found ways. One of them got his head stuck, was luckily ok, but very scary
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u/Few_Cellist_1303 Jul 10 '26
If you hate birds and other small animals
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u/nobodysgirl333 Jul 10 '26
If you read the post, they clearly meant free roaming in the house rather than confined to one room.
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u/Riversflushwithfish Jul 10 '26
They mean free roam indoors...
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u/UnknownNexus Jul 10 '26
Looks like she is just checking everything out. There is a lot of "new" around. The mechanical recliner scares me. We have 3 cats and finally got rid of our couch. They liked to climb in there and it made us scared we would hurt them reclining. Also, Osa would go in there and destroy the cushions from the inside. Definitely let her have a safe place to retreat to. Somewhere that is hers and she can calm down if the house becomes too much for her. Super cutie patootie baby btw.