[DeltAlum]

The good news is that cats are more self-sufficient than most pets. That is, as Valkyrie says, they can be left along for a couple of days.

We have twin brother littermates that we adopted from the local animal shelter. They're pretty nice little guys.

Our daughter's husband is also alergic to cats -- but they have two. He took shots, and they used a special anti-dander shampoo on the cats -- and, remarkably, his alergy seems to have faded away with exposure to their two cats.

The echo what others have said, feed the cats cat food and water. Their digestive system is up to human food, including milk.

We have a "kitty gym" on one floor of our new house, and have given the cats a "house" of their own under the stairs leading to the basement/family room. We installed a cat door in the wall in their little area and have folding screens across the entrance to the family room, because when we moved, one of the little guys got frequed out and started leaving little "presents" in that room. Fortunately, he doesn't do that anywhere else.

The other one does a little "clawing" on the carpet, but can be discouraged by using the squirt bottle technique mentioned above. They both love the "kitty gym/clawing post" which solves 99.9% of the problem

We do have the cat's food and litter in the same area of the basement, and they don't really seem to mind. If you have room to separate them, I guess that's good. We find, though, that the little guys often take their dinner and bathroom breaks at the same time, so the proximity isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I pick up the cats much as I picked up our children when they were babies -- being sure to support their stomach and backs. A little like carrying a football.

Enjoy your little guests. They can be pretty interesting.

Edited to add:

We do nothing to protect small objects from the cats -- but we watch our grand daughter a couple of days a week. That's a different story.