A big part of taking care of kittens involves keeping them as safe as possible. There are many potential kitten safety hazards around the home, but with a bit of forward planning, risks to your kitten can be minimized.
Tips On Taking Care Of Kittens – Potential Hazards By Room
1) Living room
- Poisonous houseplants. A lot of plants are toxic to cats. If in doubt, put them out of reach.
- Electrical wires. Some kittens have a thing about chewing wires. If yours does, put the wires out of reach or get some plastic wire covers from a hardware store.
- Pot pourri. The oils used to fragrance this can be poisonous to cats.
- Candles and open fires. Screen off the fire and never leave a kitten unattended with candles burning.
- Curtain tie-backs and blind cords. Kittens can get caught in these. Remove tie-backs if necessary and tie up blind cords out of reach.
2) Bathroom
- Filled baths and sinks. Never leave a full bath or sink unattended
- Open toilet lid. A kitten may fall into a toilet and not be able to get back out. Keep the lid shut!
- Toilet and bathroom cleaners. Most of these are highly poisonous. Make sure they’re out of reach.
- Human medications. Store them in a cupboard out of reach.
3) Kitchen
- Washing machine. If you store clothes in your machine before washing them, your kitten may climb in unnoticed and go to sleep. Keep the machine door shut to avoid this, and always check the whereabouts of your kitten before using the machine. Same applies to electric clothes dryers.
- Refrigerator and freezer. Close the door as soon as you’ve finished using them.
- Hot hob rings and open oven doors. Always shut the oven door after use and put covers on hot hob plates. Don’t leave your kitten unattended in the kitchen while you’re cooking.
- Human foods. Some are poisonous to cats. Keep human foods out of reach.
- Uncooked meat. This can cause food poisoning, and should be kept out of the way.
- Cleaning products. Most are poisonous and should be stored somewhere your kitten can’t access.
- The garbage. Your kitten could eat something poisonous or some old meat that’s gone off. Put all rubbish into a sealed bin that your kitten can’t get into.
4) General hazards to consider when taking care of kittens
With new kitten care, there are a number of general hazards that could occur in any room in the home:
- Unsafe cat toys. Some toys have small pieces on them that could be swallowed. Check any toys for this before you buy them.
- String, rope, thread, fishing line and wool. These can all get swallowed in large quantities so should be kept out of reach. Pom-poms and balls of wool or string don’t make good cat toys for this reason.
- Small objects – for example pins, needles, rubber bands, paper clips. These can all be swallowed by a kitten.
- Tobacco products including nicotine patches and gum. These are poisonous to cats.
- Swivel chairs, folding beds, drawers, reclining chairs. A kitten may go to sleep inside one of these and could get badly hurt if they’re moved.
Taking care of kittens isn’t as difficult as this list may make it seem, so please don’t be put off. This may sound daft at first, but if you are a new cat or kitten owner, sticking post it notes up around your home with THINK CAT!written on them will get you used to doing just that. Stick them on or near the biggest potential hazards – e.g. the fridge, washing machine, dryer, oven, toilet and fold-away bed – and anywhere else that could be dangerous.
