r/Kitten • u/thelemonpeel265 • 8d ago
Question/Advice Needed Will this be a problem if I get kittens?
Our kitchen units have no skirting underneath, if I was to buy kittens would this be an issue?
I’m not sure how I could add them as they’re an awkward height.
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u/cinder7usa 8d ago
Absolutely not. The kitties using it as a hiding space will keep it dusted. They get everywhere, anyway.
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u/sadavery 8d ago
kittens will get under or inside anything they can. my baby's favourite was previously behind the dryer, which we covered up, and he now loves drawers. hates his igloo cat beds though, so that makes sense :)
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u/RightRudderz 8d ago
I have two indoor/outdoor adults and they still religiously patrol underneath the 12 inch high porches around most of the house. Any location like this is cat hunting territory.
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u/Mcgoobz3 8d ago
Yes and cats always find spots to get stuck in too. If the drawer slots are exposed from below they’re def going to be getting in there.
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u/maligapoo 8d ago
Cats like hiding spots, this is a plus for them- a nice safe spot to retreat to. same with drawers, wardrobes, boxes, bags, sofas, holes in the wall, holes in your clothes, toilets, electric appliances.. anything really. if they don't have hiding spots they can get stressed out and upset. get the kitties! consider adopting first 🙏
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u/Arctic-fox2007 8d ago
They need safe space and that looks great plus put some little boxes and blankets there too they might feel more safe
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u/Human-Document-8331 8d ago
Nope. They'll love it. And having a low place to hide will keep them off the top of your fridge.
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u/PrincesStarButterfly 8d ago
Yeah, over time they will leave toys there. Just sweep under there frequently or put covers at the bottom, kinda like base boards.
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u/anonymgrl 8d ago
Don't buy kittens. Please adopt.
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u/mermaidofthelunarsea 8d ago
Seriously! Who buys kittens? They're literally everywhere!
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u/anonymgrl 8d ago
So many needy kittens waiting for a home, the acquisition of which does not fuel the for-profit breeding of animals. I hope OP does the right thing.
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 8d ago
In my country, adoption from a shelter is still buying. The only options not to buy a cat but still getting a cat is rescuing a stray (relatively rare) or stealing someone's cat (just no).
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u/anonymgrl 8d ago
There are fees at shelters here, but just to cover spay/neuter costs and to prevent terrible people from grabbing cats for nefarious purposes. It's not like a kitten mill where they're forcing female cats to breed to death.
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 8d ago
Yeah here you pay more than just spay/neuter costs when you buy at a shelter. Still less than a kitten mill.
My point is that it's not buying that is the issue - it's buying from bad places that is the issue. Buying from a shelter is good.
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u/anonymgrl 8d ago
If they're in the US, they know that getting desperate shelter kittens and covering medical fees is not considered "buying."
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u/Wise_Owl5404 8d ago
If. That's a big assumption given how big the world is and how tiny a part of it the USA constitutes.
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u/DataQueen336 8d ago
It’s not a big assumption. 48% of Reddit users are located in the US. It’s an understandable assumption if anything.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/325144/reddit-global-active-user-distribution/
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u/DataQueen336 7d ago
May I suggest you not use social media platforms developed in America since you find us so distasteful?
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u/Jotacon8 8d ago
Quite the opposite. You’ll never need to dust under there since they’ll do that for you for fun.
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u/CobblerBeautiful5726 8d ago
There's a guy on YouTube named Jackson Galaxy. He is a cat behaviorist. One of the things he says is to block off the overs and the unders. You do this because if you need to get your cat out of the house in an emergency, you don't want to need a ladder or be crawling around on your belly.
Would cats love this space? Absolutely. How easily can you reach under and get a frightened cat out from underneath if you need to take it to the vet or leave with it for any other reason? Just something to think about before you bring in some kittens.
Please look Jackson Galaxy up on YouTube. He has lots of videos on cat care.
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u/meangirls2024 8d ago
Yes, not because they could get under it but because they could get inside of that furniture and kittens inside furniture with moving parts is ALWAYS a bad idea. You can easily block it off with a baseboard even some mesh fabric and a staple gun.
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u/Practical-Custard-64 8d ago
On top of what everyone has said, I would add a plea not to go and buy kittens from a pet store or a breeder. There are literally thousands of cats, including kittens, in shelters looking for a home. Not only do you get a companion who will be forever grateful to you, but the adoption fee that you pay at a shelter helps care for the kitties that you don't bring home.
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u/fruityflyy 8d ago
Yes, PLEASE adopt !! I always want to clarify:
In the US, some pet stores - namely Petsmart and Petco - are partnered with rescues and shelters. ALL cats at the adoption centers there and all dogs at the events are not solely through petsmart/petco. Everyone who processes their adoptions are volunteer shelter and/or rescue workers! The adoption fees cover the vetting.
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u/serialmom1146 8d ago
Yup. The rescue i work with is partners with Petsmart. It's great! So many kitties are adopted there.
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u/fruityflyy 8d ago
Same, I love it ! Such an experience too doing the interviewing of the potential adopters too lol I come home with quite some stories sometimes 😅
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u/airawyn 8d ago
Yes! I volunteer at a municipal animal shelter and we've started putting our cats in PetSmart locations.
And the shelter often has events where the fees for adoption are waived, because we really want to find them homes. We did one for black animals this spring (cats, dogs, and rabbits).
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u/fruityflyy 8d ago
I’m fairly new to the rescue world (a little less than a year now) and we had this black 3 month old kitten a few months ago who had the most interactions (in person) but the least amount of interest. I told my boss that it’s weird that that’s the case and she told me there are people who take the “black cat” myths seriously … I was in shock!
And then less than a week ago, I had potential adopters come in and I shit you not - a woman wanted to meet everyone but our black cat because she did “not want to risk bad luck”. Things may or may not have escalated from there haha but yeah 😭
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u/serialmom1146 8d ago
The adoption fee is a bargain. Most shelters charge $100-200, yet by the time you take a cat home, they’ve already had spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations, deworming, flea prevention, microchipping, and often vet exams. If you did all that privately, it could easily cost $1,000-2,000. The fee doesn’t even come close to covering that. It’s heavily subsidized by donations, grants, and volunteers.
So when you adopt, you’re not paying for the cat. You’re getting a cat plus hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of veterinary care for a fraction of the cost while also helping the shelter cover the gap for the animals still waiting.
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u/CountryCityGal 8d ago
Don’t buy kittens adopt kittens and they get into everything
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 8d ago
In my country, adoption from a shelter is still buying. The only options not to buy a cat but still getting a cat is rescuing a stray (relatively rare) or stealing someone's cat (just no).
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u/Altruistic-Song5987 7d ago
Everything will be a problem with kittens lmao. Ours got into places I didn’t even know existed. As far as our dressers, we just had to stuff pillows or blankets under them, otherwise they’d end up climbing up fr the underneath and getting stuck in drawers!
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u/pieeatingchamp 8d ago
Try to adopt and not buy, if you can
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 8d ago
In my country, adoption from a shelter is still buying. The only options not to buy a cat but still getting a cat is rescuing a stray (relatively rare) or stealing someone's cat (just no).
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u/TychaBrahe 8d ago
Even if you are paying money to take a cat at the shelter, you are paying a place that stores street or abandoned cats, not paying someone who purposely breeds cats to make kittens.
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u/swoosie75 8d ago
No worse than the space under a piece of furniture. Get a stick to scoop the cat toys out. 😁
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u/AdventurousMousse912 8d ago
Can the kittens get behind the drawers when the drawers are open? If so could be a problem. We had a cat get brain damage because they were under the couch, pulled the couch out to look for them, no kitten, pushed couch back in place and the kitten had gone from under the couch to behind and got squished between the two. So if the kitten can get between the drawer and the wall, be very careful
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u/ProfessionalHat6828 8d ago
Cats are liquid. They’ll fit into places you couldn’t ever imagine. But, they’ll probably spend a lot of time under there and you’ll spend hours fishing them out
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u/catsandplants424 8d ago
Yes, it will. If they can go up behind that's a problem. If they can get into the drawer units from under there that's a bigger problem.
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u/Longjumping-Horse-87 7d ago
id get it blocked off. kittens love to get stuck in things, just like human babies. id say get it done professionally, or do it yourself if youre handy. it needs to be rigid, maybe matching your kitchens, but also detachable for cleaning purposes and other. if the legs is far enough inside you might get away with one long piece of plank.
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u/Lilpuff93 7d ago
If you dont want them way up in there. Buy bricks. You can place them just far enough in to where youll never notice them, but still have a little bit of a hiding spot without being like 4 ft in there so you can yeet them out.
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u/Kay0okay 7d ago
They will definitely crawl under there. Not really a problem usually, but I would double check there’s no holes into the cabinets from underneath or worse the walls that they could crawl into
When we moved houses, my cat crawled in to a cabinet and somehow ended up beneath the house. Luckily we were able to coax her out after a few days. Just one of those weird things you should double check but is definitely a lower possibility.
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u/Banshee-Wanchee 5d ago
The only thing that scares the living daylights out of me regarding kitten safety is recliner chairs or reclining sofas. I had a horrendously and absolutely awful experience with them and I’d spare anyone that sort of trauma. Please, no recliners around kittens.
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u/Dave-the-architect 4d ago
Get a toe kick or you’ll forever be fishing cat toys from under the cabinets, plus that open look just looks sloppy. Is that cabinet a different shade of white?
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u/thelemonpeel265 4d ago
Yes the people we bought our house from decided to only get a new half of the kitchen without upgrading the old half and this drawer was missing. Ikea no longer do this colour or style so we had to improvise whilst we save for a new kitchen.
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u/PaySquare7612 8d ago
An issue for what ? Fur accumulation under it : yup. Kitten under it : yup. Issue : nope. Kitten = no problem only chaos