How do you socialize your kittens? How much direct interaction do you personally have with each cat and kitten?
We are a no cage cattery. Some of the best socializing comes from tripping over kittens in the kitchen. Our kittens are so laid back, if we step on them they often just politely chirp at us. The true sign of a kitten socializer are scratches on the legs as kittens try to climb up to you while you’re going about your day. We provide cat trees in every room to give them the option to chirp at us at eye level without the bloody legs.
Kittens are never caged which means we need to be very diligent in potty training and immediate cleaning of accidents. As soon as kittens learn to crawl out of their cat bed they are crawling onto our laps as we weight them and help put them into the litter box after every nap and every few hours.
When we start to do living room socializing, we carry the kittens out on a bed and place them onto our couch with us. They are free to leave the bed and if they fall we just put them back on the couch to protect them from older kittens that play a bit rough. In many catteries, socializing is in some type of pen in the living room.
We feed our cats and kittens raw and can food several times a day on top of open feeding holistic dry food. Once we progress to treats, they must take treats from our hands politely without biting or scratching us. This super positive reinforcement just enhances our kitten’s love for people.
Kittens grow up with a pug and an older kid. Once kittens are 3 months old they can come to cat shows and we start bringing them. Cat shows are very noisy, chaotic places. A cat that is calm at a show can handle any good home. They experience car travel, hotel rooms and walking around crowds. All of this travel means older kittens are a bit experienced in new places and open up sooner when going home, some even progressing to show baths and a blow dryer.