I forgot to mention that I also find kittens to be cute and fun and not overwhelming. I did have to take down some curtains (the curtains had tiny square holes that the kittens loved climbing; they don’t climb normal solid curtains). But other than that they didn’t get into too much trouble.
When we got the kittens I was working from home full time. They were twelve weeks old when we got them. For the first two or three weeks we kept them in the bedroom that I turned into my office so I could be with them while I worked. We also let them out to explore the rest of the house when we were both home to supervise—we were mostly concerned about making sure they didn’t have any bad interactions with our grown up cat.
Eventually we let them run around the house all day but kept them in my office at night. I would have felt bad doing that to just one kitten, but since they had each other I was fine with it. After maybe a month or so we let them roam the house all the time. So we had time to get used to them and get them used to our house.
I’d say their personalities developed as they got older, but none of them are radically different from what they were like as kittens.
And cat-proofing your house, if they are prone to putting things in their mouths they shouldn’t (the Derp will chew on (and swallow) anything string-like, so nothing string-like can be left around…) But honestly, it just makes your house tidier.
Mine too, the Derp was always bold and derpy even on Day 1 (ok maybe Day 2) and the Little Ninja was always shy and sensitive.
The veterinarians I worked with usually made assessments based on current cat’s personality and exposure to other cats, regarding whether to get a kitten or adult, but it’s a crapshoot. The only consistent recommendation they’d make is that if someone did not have a strong preference for sex in the new cat, and had an adult female that was fairly aloof rather than fairly social, getting a male cat (any age) or a female kitten (not an adult) might reduce potential territorial behaviors (that are personality driven more than sex hormone driven).
In my years in vet med, though, it came down to the personality of each cat. We’d have people that were completely mystified their cat could care less about the newcomer when they were BFF with the former cat. Just like people, even if we get along with everyone, we don’t necessarily click on that level
So… with the Derp (and also one other cat I lived with who was a string-chewer) it was only really the very thin cords we had to worry about, like antenna wires and thin headphone wires. Thicker cables like power cables/cords and even USB cables he ignores. I did think about if I had to get some of those “cord keeper” type things (that are like tubes that contain all your cables) but never had to.(But it would make some spaces like near the computer more tidy, lol.)
I do play with shoelace toys with the Derp, and it hasn’t carried over into him attacking cords, but if I was REALLY really worried I would maybe avoid those types of toys because they look basically the same.
Oh, also, I can literally never leave knitting or crochet stuff unattended because it takes him 10 seconds to find it and chew on it and start swallowing it. But that’s just a habit I had to change. Keep knitting in a zipped bag, always, when unattended. Also, I have to keep a cover on my sewing machine, or not leave thread in it, because thread would be REALLY bad (and I have caught him trying to eat thread also. Le sigh.)
My first was about six weeks old when I got her. The only thing she ever chewed on was plants she could get to. She was a shelf climber though and knocked things off the refrigator with glee.
My second was dumped in my house while I was on vacation. He was about 10 weeks. He left everything alone chewing-wise except people He was the escape artist.
My temporary foster (a client of ours going through immunotherapy of some sort) chewed EVERYTHING. We lost many sets of fancy headphones to this guy!
Ohhh kittens. I only found the Kitten Phase exhausting because we did not have a door to our bedroom when she was a kitten - and there was a 3/4 wall above our head while we slept (it was a studio) and so she found it very fun to jump on our heads at 3AM. It was her favorite activity. We started keeping a spreadsheet to see what made her decide to wake up up at 3AM, but it stopped being necessary. If you can kick out the kitten after she decides it’s 2AM WAKEUP TIME ~~ like we couldn’t, I think it would’ve been fine.
Oh, she did destroy a paper lamp but also it was so cute while she did it that it was hard to hate her.
But otherwise she was VERYVERY CUTE and also kittens sleep like 20 hours a day so it’s nothing like a puppy you have to entertain.
Once again, I had a kitten and I want one again so…
She wasn’t fooled by plants I had available FOR her; no, she would jump and run up the wall to get to the dried rose arrangement I was super sentimental about and hung from the ceiling like a weirdo so it was out of her way
Boy Cat likes to chew on the ends of phone chargers (has destroyed multiple iPad chargers) and give test bites to my purse straps. Every single purse gets little bite marks on the straps!
I had to move a fake plant to the top of a high shelf (which I think he can’t get to because there is other stuff up there blocking the solid surface), because he kept chewing on the fake plant, and I do not doubt he would swallow it if he chewed a piece off.
OH - also he chews on the pulls for blinds, which means they all have to be looped up over the curtain rod or top part of the blinds. Luckily he has never tried to chew the strings between the slats, but the dangly cords are just too tempting not to play with (and then chew). But he has been a string chewer since like day 1. Some cats don’t even care. Little Ninja barely cares (though she plays with shoelaces).
But that’s just a habit I had to change. Keep knitting in a zipped bag, always, when unattended. Also, I have to keep a cover on my sewing machine, or not leave thread in it, because thread would be REALLY bad (and I have caught him trying to eat thread also. Le sigh.)
He was the escape artist.