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KITTEN SOCIALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT
 Whether
you have taken in a pregnant stray or carefully bred your champion
Abyssinian, there Is much to do to assure that the resulting kittens will
grow up to be stable little charmers.
A
cats personality is largely formulated in the first eight weeks of life,
leaving health issues to the veterinarian. Here is what you can do to help
your kittens be all that they can be behaviorally.
Your first important task is to provide proper nutrition
for your pregnant queen. Since your female feline will lose weight while
nursing, allow her to bulk up before giving birth. Any perceptive cat owners
switch their expecting cats back to kitten chow to get those extra
calories per mouthful. Studies have
shown that a malnourished queen is more irritable with her kittens and
provides less mothering.
Consequently, her kitten
will be developmentally delayed, slower to open their eyes, walk and engage
in play.
As
they mature, such kittens show poorer learning ability, greater levels of
fear, aggression, and more anti-social behavior
toward other cats.
No Place like Home
When setting up a cat nursery, avoid the empty room/sterile box set-up,
especially for kittens two- to eight-weeks of age. Kittens kept in
a
more complex environment for their first two months are less nervous
later in life than those kept in un-stimulating surroundings.
Provide plenty of sensory stimulation.
A
radio or television can be left on in the room some of
the time. Flooring can consist of newspapers, old towels,
carpet square, linoleum tile, and perhaps even a piece of Astroturf.
A
small cardboard box for the kittens to
crawl on with a hole cut in the side can serve as a den once the kittens are
mobile. Do not use fresh produce boxes, though, for
they
may have been sprayed with harsh
pesticides.
Engage in gentle handling as soon as possible. Early human handling results
in precocious development when the kittens are two to three weeks of age.
Increase the sphere of handlers to include three or four people daily to
help the kittens learn to trust all humans. However, keep adult male cats
out of the
nursery, as the queen will perceive them as predators
and will be stressed unduly.
Family
Affair
Since kittens learn by watching how an adult cat operates it is
important to keep the litter with the
mother until at least eight weeks
of age, which coincides nicely with the end of weaning for most kittens.
Through observational learning they get the hang of using the litter box and
whether or not to cover waste, how to hunt and kill (although this behavior
is partially pre-determined genetically),
what foods are safe to eat and who is appropriate as a friend.
Kittens also learn to cope with stress and frustration, since Mom cat
controls the 'milk bar and they don't always get the
opportunity to feed until satiated.
Lastly, it is important to keep
littermates together until eight- to ten-weeks of age. Through their
interactive play, kittens learn to control their clawing and biting, and to
extend their acceptance of littermates
to felines outside of the family.
One
last note:
Hand-raised single orphans or those separated from their mother before eight
weeks often prove to be hyperactive kittens who cannot handle
frustration. As adults, they have a tendency to be fearful
and aggressive toward people and other cats. They learn less well and have a
predilection toward an asthma-like respiratory condition. Often orphans can
be spared this fate by adding them to another litter
or at least fostering them In a home with other cats
to serve as role models.
These guidelines for optimal socialization and development could just make
generalizations such as “aloof," "anti-social" and "scaredy-cat” no longer
applicable to America's most popular pet.
Jacque Lynn Schultz. CPDT
A SPCA Companion Animal Programs Advisor
National Shelter Outreach |
