New Kitten First Week Checklist: What to Track Each Day

Bringing home a kitten? During the first week, keep a simple daily eye on food, water, litter-box use, sleep, play, hiding, weight, and anything that looks noticeably different. This new kitten first week checklist gives you a simple way to know what to watch and if you should call your veterinarian.

Bringing home a kitten is exciting, but the first few days can also feel surprisingly confusing.

Is your kitten eating enough? Are they drinking? How often should they use the litter box? Is hiding normal? How much should they sleep? And if they seem quieter one afternoon, is that just part of settling in or something worth calling the vet about?

You don't need to spend the first week hovering over your kitten.

You do need a simple routine.

The easiest approach is to check a handful of everyday things once or twice a day and write down anything that seems different. That gives you a record of how your kitten is settling in instead of relying on memory when your veterinarian asks, "When did you first notice that?"

Your New Kitten First Week Checklist

Before getting into the details, here's the short version.

Every day, check:

• Food: Did your kitten eat normally?
• Water: Is fresh water available, and have you noticed a meaningful change in drinking?
• Litter box: Is your kitten using it?
• Play and activity: Are they interested in playing or exploring when awake?
• Hiding: Are they gradually becoming more comfortable, or staying unusually withdrawn?
• Sleep: Are they sleeping normally for a young kitten, with periods of activity when awake?
• Weight: Follow the weighing schedule recommended by your veterinarian.
• Photos: Keep a few clear reference photos so you can compare changes over time.
• Notes: Record anything unusual rather than trying to remember it later.

And one more item belongs on every new-kitten checklist:

• Veterinary appointment: Arrange the first visit within the first week at home unless your veterinarian recommends an earlier visit. AAHA specifically recommends a first veterinary visit within the first week and sooner if the kitten seems sick, is not eating, has diarrhea, is sneezing, or seems unusually quiet.

Day One: Don't Try to Learn Everything at Once

The first day is mostly about giving your kitten a manageable place to settle.

A new home means unfamiliar smells, sounds, people, rooms, and routines. VCA recommends initially giving a new kitten a quiet, restricted area with food, water, a litter box, resting space, and opportunities to explore gradually rather than immediately giving them the run of the entire house.

Day-one checklist

• Set up a quiet, kitten-safe room or area.
• Put food and fresh water somewhere easy to access.
• Keep the litter box away from food and water.
• Provide a comfortable hiding/resting place.
• Let the kitten explore at their own pace.
• Offer gentle interaction rather than forcing attention.
• Note what food they were eating before coming home.
• Record their starting weight if your veterinarian or breeder/rescue has recommended doing so.
• Take a few clear reference photos.
• Book the first veterinary appointment if you haven't already.

Don't be surprised if your kitten spends part of the first day hiding.

A new environment can be overwhelming. A kitten that spends some time tucked away and then gradually comes out to eat, explore, play, or interact is giving you very different information from a kitten that remains withdrawn and shows other concerning signs.

The goal on day one isn't to decide whether everything is "normal."

It's to establish your starting point.

What to Track During the First Seven Days

1. Food: Is Your Kitten Eating?

Food is one of the simplest things to monitor and one of the most important.

Start by finding out what your kitten was eating before you brought them home. Cornell recommends continuing the previous diet initially and making any change gradually rather than abruptly switching foods. Kittens also need a nutritionally complete diet appropriate for their life stage.

For your daily notes, you don't need to calculate every calorie.

Instead, record things like:

• Ate normally
• Ate less than usual
• Ate very little
• Didn't eat
• Seemed especially interested in food
• Vomited after eating

The useful information is often the change from your kitten's usual pattern.

Don't wait if your kitten stops eating.

A kitten refusing food deserves attention, particularly because very young kittens can become seriously affected by not eating. Cornell notes that food avoidance can be especially dangerous in kittens younger than six weeks.

If your kitten isn't eating, contact your veterinarian for advice rather than trying to diagnose the reason yourself.

2. Water: Look for Access and Changes

Always provide clean, fresh water.

Cats don't all drink the same amount, and kittens eating wet food may obtain a significant amount of their water from their food. That means simply watching how much water disappears from the bowl doesn't tell the whole story.

For your first-week log, keep it simple:

• Is water available?
• Is your kitten drinking?
• Have you noticed a clear change from their usual behavior?

You can also note whether the kitten is eating mostly wet food, dry food, or a combination, because that provides useful context.

If your kitten has poor appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, marked lethargy, or other signs that could accompany dehydration, contact your veterinarian promptly.

3. Litter Box: Track Use, Not Just Accidents

The litter box is one of the easiest places to observe your kitten's routine.

Your kitten should have easy access to a clean litter box. Young kittens may need a box with low enough sides to enter comfortably, and Cornell recommends keeping litter boxes away from food and water.

For the first week, record:

• Used the litter box
• Urinated normally
• Passed stool
• Had an accident outside the box
• Stool looked unusually loose
• Straining or vocalizing
• Any blood you notice

You don't need to inspect every piece of litter as though you're running a laboratory.

You are learning what your kitten's normal routine looks like.

One important rule: straining is not something to ignore.

If your kitten repeatedly strains to urinate, produces little or no urine, appears painful, or you see blood in the urine, contact a veterinarian promptly.

Likewise, persistent diarrhea, especially when accompanied by poor appetite, vomiting, or lethargy, warrants veterinary attention. Cornell notes that kittens can be particularly vulnerable when digestive problems occur.

4. Play, Hiding, and Sleep: Learn Your Kitten's Rhythm

A new kitten may spend plenty of time sleeping. That's not surprising: kittens have a lot of growing and learning to do. The more useful question isn't simply:

"How many hours did my kitten sleep?"

It's:

"What is my kitten like when they're awake?"

Look for periods when your kitten:

• Explores
• Plays
• Responds to you
• Shows curiosity
• Eats and drinks
• Uses the litter box
• Moves around normally

Also note hiding.

Some hiding during the first few days can be part of adjusting to a new environment. VCA recommends giving a new kitten a quiet, secure area where they can retreat and gradually become comfortable with the rest of the home.

What matters is the overall picture.

A kitten that hides for a while and then comes out to eat and play is different from one that remains unusually withdrawn, doesn't want to interact, isn't eating, or seems lethargic.

If your kitten suddenly becomes much less active or unusually quiet, contact your veterinarian for guidance. AAHA specifically lists unusual quietness among reasons to seek veterinary attention sooner rather than waiting for the routine first visit.

5. Weight: Start with a Reference Point

Kittens grow quickly, so weight is worth tracking. But don't compare your kitten to a random number you found online and assume that number defines what their weight should be.

Growth varies with age, breed, genetics, nutrition, and individual development. VCA recommends looking at body condition as well as weight when assessing growing cats.

For your first week, the most useful thing is establishing a reliable record.

If your veterinarian recommends regular home weighing, use the same scale and a consistent method.

For very young kittens, weighing may need to be much more frequent. VCA's guidance for orphaned kittens, for example, recommends daily weighing during the first four weeks of life. That schedule is specific to very young, nursing/orphaned kittens and shouldn't automatically be applied to every newly adopted, weaned kitten.

Your veterinarian can tell you how often your particular kitten should be weighed.

6. Take Reference Photos (Before You Think You Need Them)

You don't need a professional camera.

Take a few clear photos of your kitten when they are settled and comfortable.

Useful reference shots can include:

• A side view
• A top-down view
• Face and eyes
• Coat
• Overall body shape

The purpose isn't to diagnose anything from a photograph.

It's to give yourself a visual reference.

A kitten can change surprisingly quickly as they grow. Having dated photos makes it easier to compare later instead of relying on a vague memory of what your kitten "used to look like."

For body condition, use veterinary reference material rather than trying to decide what a kitten's healthy weight should be from appearance alone. Cornell's feline body-condition guidance explains how body condition is assessed using features such as the ribs, waist, and abdominal fat.

The First Seven Days: A Simple Daily Log

You don't need a complicated spreadsheet.

Use this:

The point isn't to create perfect records.

It's to make the first week visible.

By day seven, you should have a much clearer idea of what your kitten's routine looks like than you did on day one.

What Counts as "Call the Vet"?

This is the part new kitten owners often find hardest.

There is no universal checklist that can tell you exactly what every kitten needs because age, medical history, vaccination status, source, and existing conditions all matter.

But there are some situations where contacting your veterinarian shouldn't wait.

Contact your veterinarian if your kitten:

• Stops eating or is eating substantially less than usual.
• Has repeated vomiting.
• Has persistent or significant diarrhea.
• Becomes unusually lethargic or quiet.
• Has difficulty breathing.
• Has significant nasal or eye discharge.
• Seems painful.
• Is losing weight unexpectedly.
• Is repeatedly straining to urinate or cannot urinate normally.
• Shows blood in urine or stool.
• Develops another sudden or concerning change.

Cornell lists lack of appetite, persistent vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory signs, weight loss, urinary difficulties, lethargy, and breathing changes among signs that warrant veterinary attention.

AAHA also recommends scheduling the first veterinary visit within the first week at home, with an earlier visit if the kitten is sick, not eating, has diarrhea, is sneezing, or seems unusually quiet.

If you are unsure, call.

You don't need to figure out what's wrong before contacting the veterinary team.

Your First-Week Review

At the end of the first seven days, take five minutes and look back.

Ask:

Food

Is my kitten eating consistently?

Water

Is fresh water always available, and have I noticed any meaningful change?

Litter

Have I established what normal litter-box use looks like?

Behavior

Is my kitten gradually becoming comfortable in the home?

Sleep and play

Do they have normal periods of rest and activity?

Weight

Do I have a starting measurement and a plan for future weigh-ins?

Photos

Do I have a few clear reference images?

Veterinary care

Is the first appointment scheduled or completed?

That's your first-week baseline.

Not a diagnosis.

Not a score.

Just a record of what your kitten's first days at home looked like.

Once You Have the Checklist, Make It Easier to Keep

The hard part of tracking isn't knowing what to watch.

It's remembering to record it.

That's where a daily check-in can help.

Borzi's Daily Check-in is designed around a few quick observations, including appetite, energy, and digestion. Instead of creating a separate note every day, you can keep those observations together in your kitten's timeline.

The goal isn't to turn kitten care into paperwork.

It's to make the routine easy enough that you actually keep doing it.

What the First 7 Days Give You

After several days of check-ins, you have something you didn't have when you first brought your kitten home:

a baseline.

Borzi's 7-day view uses recent check-ins to show how the latest days compare with the kitten's recent pattern.

For a first-time kitten owner, that can make the difference between:

"I think she's been eating less?"

and:

"Her last few check-ins have been different from the first several days."

That doesn't tell you why something changed.

And it shouldn't.

If something concerns you, your veterinarian is the person who evaluates the change and decides what needs to happen next.

The value of the record is simply that you have something concrete to bring to that conversation.

Your New Kitten First Week Checklist, Saved

The first week doesn't need to be perfect.

You don't need to measure every sip of water, photograph every litter-box visit, or spend the entire day watching your kitten sleep.

You just need a simple routine:

Eat. Drink. Litter. Play. Hide. Sleep. Weigh. Observe. Record.

By the end of the week, you'll know your kitten's routine better than you did on day one.

And if something changes later, you'll have a reference point to compare it with.

That's the real purpose of a first-week checklist.

Not to make you worry about your kitten.

To make the unfamiliar familiar.

Start your kitten's first check-in

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should I track when I bring a new kitten home?

Start with food, water access, litter-box use, activity and play, hiding, sleep, weight, and any noticeable changes. Also schedule the kitten's first veterinary visit within the first week unless your veterinarian recommends an earlier appointment.

Is it normal for a new kitten to hide?

Some hiding can occur while a kitten adjusts to a new environment. Providing a quiet, secure area where the kitten can retreat can make the transition easier. However, unusual or persistent withdrawal—especially alongside poor appetite, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, or other concerning signs—should be discussed with a veterinarian.

How often should I weigh my kitten?

It depends on the kitten's age and circumstances. Very young orphaned kittens may need daily weighing, while the appropriate schedule for an older, weaned kitten should be determined with your veterinarian.

What photos should I take of my kitten?

Clear, dated photos from a few consistent angles can give you a useful visual reference as your kitten grows. A side view, top view, face, and overall body photo are practical starting points. Use veterinary body-condition guidance rather than trying to diagnose health from photos alone.

When should I call a veterinarian about my new kitten?

Contact your veterinarian if your kitten stops eating, develops repeated vomiting or significant diarrhea, becomes unusually lethargic or quiet, has difficulty breathing, shows urinary problems, loses weight unexpectedly, or develops another sudden concerning change. AAHA also recommends a first veterinary visit within the first week at home.

Related reading

• Why Indoor Cats Still Need Daily Health Tracking
• Every Little Change: Why Daily Notes Beat One Scan
• Borzi Cat Health Tracker & Daily Check-in

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional veterinary advice. If your kitten stops eating, seems unusually quiet, or shows other concerning signs, contact your veterinarian.