When to leave a kitten roam the house at night

[Dznypal]

We’ve been letting our almost 3 month old kitten roam the house when we’re gone for a few hrs at a time. So far it’s been working out fine. She’s been good
Now the next big step is to let her roam while we’re sleeping.
I’d like keep her out of the basement since there’s to many nooks and grannies she could get stuck in since we don’t have a door we put up a pet gate only problem is there’s a litter pan down there. There are 2 others in the house though. We have a 7 yr old cat. She’s not to thrilled with the little one but she’s doing good also
So I guess what I’d really like to know is at what age for a kitten to roam the horse at night.
At night is when the older cat curls up and sleep with us and im
Sort of afraid she’ll feel pushed out
Thanks for any advice

 

[Disneyland1084]

It's been almost 30 years since I had kittens. Two females from the same litter. From day one we let them roam the house anytime day or night, but we didn't have other pets. They were VERY active during the day and sometimes at night we would hear them play. They would often go in my parents bed at night. Why don't you try letting her roam at night and see how she does? Do you think your older cat would mind if she slept on the bed too? See how it goes and take it from there. ...This is a little off subject, but as my cats got older, one of them spent most of her time outside, sometimes all day and night. One night a neighbor across the street walked into his kitchen at 3 am in the morning, saw my cat and screamed,lol. She was very nosey. Not surprising we lost her at 8 years presumably to a coyote.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I think you're over-thinking it! I mean that in the best way--you want to do what's right, I get that. She'll be fine.

Our twins are now 6 months old--we let them roam at ~12 weeks, once we were confident they could manage. It was funny--we had a ~6ft, mesh enclosure that we kept them in at first (they were found abandoned at 4 weeks old). Maui (boy) got neutered on 10/1, so we re-set up the enclosure, thinking that he could recover there, separate from his sister, but still see her. Well, it didn't work--we were so worried he'd hurt himself, trying to get out to be with Pele, that we relented and opened it up. But then, all the cats loved playing in/around the enclosure so much, we kept it up for a week as a play area. So--go figure!

P. S. Pele gets neutered on 11/5--the vet just wanted to do Maui first, to avoid developing bad habits (spraying, roaming, etc.)

 

[bjscheel]

Our kittens are about 6 months and they have run of the house all day but they're shut in the porch at night indefinitely and they don't complain. We have a 10yo male in the house and it gives him a break from them. And us too! Before the big guy became the only one left, he and his bonded buddy were on the porch at nights for 9 years and they never minded it. They would request to be put on the porch. And our old lady had the house to herself overnight.

Also the vet said they're supposed to be on kitten food for a year and it's hard to keep separate because he likes the kitten food and they like the adult food so at least I know they'll at least have only kitten food overnight.