No, that's not a reasonable expectation unless you have some way of physically restricting the cat to that area or unless there is something so threatening downstairs that the kitten decides to stay upstairs on her own.

Why do you want the kitten staying upstairs?

Honestly, no. When we'd moved to our bi-level house 10 yrs ago, from a one bedroom, one level garden apt-turned condo, we brought our 10 and 11 yr old cats with us (they'd only lived in that condo). They rarely went downstairs. Now, we didn't spend much time down there as we used it as a place to keep many boxes of stuff (for way too many years--still!).

Fast forward to 5 years ago. Our first cats had passed on and we brought home some kittens. They went wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. I'd be willing to bet your new kitty will do the same!

Why does the kitten need to stay upstairs, which is presumably away from where the people in the house are most of the time?

In my experience, bonding is determined by time spent with the kitten. The kitten should sleep with the person you want her bonded to (a kitten should never be expected to sleep alone) and that person should spend as many waking hours with the kitten as possible especially for the first month or so. She should be handled (held), petted, played with...a LOT.

I don't mean to be insulting, but they aren't like gerbils. They aren't a "play with it and then forget about it" pet. You get the best results (a well bonded friendly cat) when you put the time in. Good luck, and post a picture.

Thank you for bringing one home! There are so many kitties in the shelters.

Is she to occupy one floor until she is acquainted with the other animals and settled? Or to be an upstairs only pet?

Certainly the first few weeks keep her confined to a 'safe' area, while she gets her bearings and gets to know her new family. As already mentioned, bonding time is directly linked to how much time she is around you and your family.

Our kitty spends 90% of his time upstairs in our home by his own choice. It's warmer, has all the comfy sleeping areas and window bench to sun on. If I gated the stairs, he probably wouldn't care as long as he got to sleep with us at night.

Why do you want to bring a cat into your home if it can't share your home with you? If you want an animal to band with you, it should be with you, not confined to a part of the house where you are not.

Cats take work in that they do need attention and love. If they want to stay in a certain part of the house, it should be their will, not because they are forced to be isolated.

Good luck, whatever you do.

Maybe I didn't write exactly what I was trying to say. I will not restrict the kitty from downstairs BUT we spend most of our time upstairs, especially when my husband is out of town during the week. I told my daughter it will most likely go to sunroom where the rabbit is and watch birds because that is what I don't want. I do not want anything to happen to my rabbit and they can have heart attacks. See I really am an animal person so I don't want harm to bunny either.
I plan to keep one litterbox upstairs, is there any problem with that? I appreciate your responses and can tell you all love animals too.

Carla

Keep a litter box around and provide a suitable scratching post, i would use a rough one buy the $$ they are worth it the fuffy ones are lame. A way to save lots of money is to find an old dry log - maple and ash work good, and buy a wood plank and non toxic wood glue.

Good foods include Innova EVO, Ziwi peak,instincts, Orijen ( though dry is hard on teeth) Honestly though a raw meat/bone/organs diet is the best thing you can do esspecially as a kitten she still has the desire to eat like her wild forbears. Go to www.Felinefuture.com to learn more, or to raw fed cats.
Look up "what goes into pet food" Most vets are IMO terrible at foods. they are brainwashed by the big companies at vet school that use horrible things to create their foods. S/D- IMAS, Science diet its all garbage. You can find the good foods at specialty pet stores, go online to www.Naturapet.com and they have a search engine where you can type in your city/state/zip and they find good places to buy food for your new kitten.

Good luck with kitty.

Thank you for the additional information. Now your original query makes a lot more sense.

I've never had a bunny and know very little about them, but I have seen photos and videos of adult bunnies and adult cats getting along very well. I've also seen one of my own cats kill HUGE adult bunnies that were essentially his own size (and he was quite a large cat). So I think it depends on how the animals are socialized with one another while young and on the individual psychology of each animal. Just as with dogs and cats, if a dog isn't raised with cats, or a cat is fearful of a dog, you're a lot more likely to have serious and potentially lethal problems between the two.

At 4 mos old, your kitten should still be young enough to not react to your bunny as a prey animal, esp. since I assume your bun is quite a bit larger than the kitten right now. I also assume that since your bunny has been living with cats, he won't be overly fearful of a new kitten, so hopefully won't trigger a predatory response.

To be on the safe side, I recommend that you buy a kitty harness (NOT a collar) and light leash for the kitten so that you can easily control his behavior during those first few introductions to your bunny. That way you can readily pull the kitten away from the bunny if he shows aggressive interest or if the bun seems too stressed. Just be sure to supervise all of their interactions until you are satisfied that the kitten doesn't treat your bunny like prey. Take care, though, to close the door to the sunroom whenever you can't directly supervise until you're sure that the kitten is safe with your bun and vice versa.

Chances are that your kitten will prefer to spend most of his time upstairs with the family, at least until he is feeling very comfortable in your home. If you have lots of interactive toys and spend plenty of time playing with him, he'll be more interested in playing with you than watching birds or checking out the bunny.

As a safety measure, both for your bunny and for your human family, get your kitten used to having his claws clipped weekly. By keeping the hooks trimmed off of the tips of his claws, you'll keep them dull enough to prevent any significant damage to you, your human and animal family, and your belongings.

Let us know how things go when you get the little guy home. Oh, and don't forget to put away all of your breakables and remove your drapes before you bring that kitten into your house. Kittens are natural born demolition experts!

Laurie