Kitten Socialization Checklist

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIALIZATION

Kittens are most open to new experiences between 4 and 17 weeks of age, after which they become more cautious and wary. So, the first three months of your kitten’s life is the most important time for exposing them to as many new people, animals, stimuli and environments as possible, so they can learn positive associations and how to interact successfully with the world around them. Early socialization and positive reinforcement training can go a long way to creating a lifelong bond between you and your cat (Check out our cat training classes: Kitten Kindergarten, Kitten Playgroup and The Trainable Cat). It is important for kittens to be socialized with various people, sounds, handling, objects and textures in their environments prior to 12-17 weeks of age.To raise a well-socialized cat, it is critically important to expose them to novel stimuli — different types of people, sounds, objects, textures, foods, handling, etc., during this time. This guide will help you move at an appropriate pace through your kitten’s development. Try to provide most (80%) of these experiences each week or so, with handling occurring daily.

Remember to be creative! This list is not exhaustive, so take time to consider what your kitten’s life will be like in your home throughout their lives and add to this list accordingly. Do you have other pets? Are there children in the home? Will your cat go outdoors? What sounds and stimuli are present in and around your home? For an example of some other ideas, check out our socialization guide for puppies or see our Pet Training Classes for all of our kitten and cat training opportunities.

Also, check out our Well-Socialized Pet Resources YouTube Playlist and enroll in our free Well-Socialized Pet Chats ($0, 30 min, online via Zoom) hosted over Zoom each weekend! These chats cover six topics related to socialization; how animals learn, desensitization to sounds, socializing with animals and people, conditioning body handling, exposure to novel objects and environments, and enrichment each of which are followed up by an email full of related resources. Sessions are appropriate for all pets of all ages; register for six consecutive sessions to hear all the topics.

Please note: Some videos, resources and infographics linked to this article are centered around or feature dogs. However, these resources and concepts are relevant and can be applied to cats and other pets.

MAKE IT POSITIVE

When introducing your kitten to new experiences, reward with treats and praise so they create a positive association with the new activity (How do we know what our pet finds rewarding? Read this article: Rewards). We want your kitten to associate "new things" with "good things!" Take frequent breaks and go slowly, to avoid overwhelming your kitten or causing them unnecessary stress. Always give your kitten the choice to interact with something or not, as well as the choice to opt out at any time. If your kitten feels forced into an interaction or experience, they may shut down and form a negative association with that experience (Check out: The Importance of Choice in Animal Training and How Cats Learn). Furthermore, we want to reinforce your kitten's calm, appropriate behaviors around new people, animals and things.

For an example of what rewarding calm behavior can look like, watch this video: Rewarding Calm Behavior. In this video, the trainer is rewarding the dog and cat for remaining calm in each other's presence.

BODY LANGUAGE

Observe your kitten’s behavior and body language to see how they are feeling about an experience. Check out our YouTube playlist: Reading Body Language.

Cats will display a range of behaviors that indicate whether they are comfortable and calm or not. Indications that your cat is experiencing relaxation or positive emotions include a soft, relaxed and "neutral" body, narrowed, soft eyes with constricted (small) pupils, a loose low or softly swishing tail, calmly approaching and choosing other behaviors while in the presence of the new thing, such as grooming, playing, able to look away from the thing, calmly moving away from the thing, sitting or lying down. Indications that your cat is experiencing stress, overstimulation, fear or other negative emotions include a stiff and alert body, tense facial muscles, crouching with tail held tightly against their body, showing teeth, wide eyes with dilated (large) pupils, puffed up tail and fur (piloerection), stiff tail vibrating up high or large swishing tail, ears back, and being unable to break focus from the new thing (fixation). Other stress signals and behaviors include swatting and clawing, hissing, yowling, spitting, biting, fleeing, hard stare and fixation (intent focus) and apparent agitation. 

When socializing your kitten to something new, the goal is calm, relaxed body language and indications of positive emotions. Ask yourself: Are they enjoying this? Are they comfortable and calm? Are they eating treats? Do they seem relaxed and comfortable? Are they showing enthusiasm or are they being avoidant? If they are not enjoying it, take a break from the activity to avoid causing your kitten stress and negative associations with novelty (Check out these videos: Trigger Stacking & Stress Hormones and Counter Conditioning). Never force your pet to interact or share space with something or someone, because this can cause your kitten to become "sensitized" or more sensitive to and weary of a stimuli, person, animal or thing. For more information on desensitization, check out this article: What is Desensitization and Counter Conditioning in Dog Training? (This information is applicable to all animal training, not just dog training).

Check out this B&T Lecture: Can You Speak Dog or Cat? to get an in-depth feel for the nuances of body language.

USE TREATS & FOOD

As early as 4 weeks, we can increase socialization by pairing new things, experiences, sounds, smells and people with treats. This helps your kitten associate new things with good things! For example, as your kitten leans in to sniff a harness or leash or looks at the nail clippers, give a treat. Remember to reward the action, and give the treat right away (within 3 seconds), so they understand investigating was a good behavior! This will get them more comfortable with exploring new objects and environments, because good things (treats, praise, etc.) happen when they do! Additionally, pair treats with physical touch, body handling and petting. Feed your kitten treats at the same time that you are touching them. If they stop eating the treats, stop touching them. 

Have a variety of treats at hand. Try wet food in a syringe or on a popsicle stick or spoon. Try wet treats like lickable Churu treat packets, meat-based baby food, tuna, boiled chicken. Try store-bought treats, soft or crunchy. Take note of which treats your cat prefers  and have more than one type of treat on hand during training sessions — this helps them not get too bored or wander off because they never know what they’ll get next!

Assess your kitten's comfort levels. Try placing/sprinkling treats on the ground. Try putting them in a dish or puzzle toy. Try giving treats by hand. See what your cat gets most excited about and what they eat. Note: some animals are not comfortable taking treats from hands. If you see your kitten stiffening up, stretching slowly toward your hand and then quickly retreating, or avoiding the treat from your hand completely, try tossing the treats to them or placing them on the ground, instead.

Check out our Enrichment Resources YouTube Playlist for more fun ideas on how to utilize food and treats.

Trainer tips: Exposing your kitten to different textures of food can help avoid picky behavior later. Additionally, you can reserve part of their meals and use it for training, to ensure they still hungry enough to be interested in working for food and to avoid overfeeding your pet. Reward good behavior you observe throughout the day — investigating new things, scratching appropriately, jumping on appropriate surfaces, allowing petting, greeting people, etc.! When you reinforce the good, appropriate choices your kitten is making on their own, you will be helping them learn which behaviors are expected and desired in the home.

TAKE IT SLOW

Handling and exposure to novelty should only continue (with treats and positive reinforcement!) if your kitten is comfortable, relaxed and enthusiastic. Be sure your kitten is actually calm and relaxed, rather than shut down. When an animal is overwhelmed or fearful, they may freeze up, remain very still and quiet, and act unresponsive. These signs are often mistaken for calmness. However, these are actually signs that an animal is shut down. A shutdown animal may be unresponsive, avoidant and seemingly apathetic or aloof. This is because they are overwhelmed and giving up, NOT because they "don't care about" the trigger or are unfazed by it. 

Don’t force your kitten to interact with a new environment or a new object; instead back away a bit until your kitten relaxes. Always give them a choice in how they engage with - or don't - new experiences. If your kitten starts to struggle or avoid the handling or new thing, decrease the type of handling or increase your kitten's distance from the new thing/trigger. Work your way back up, slowly.  Then use treats and praise in a silly or calming voice to help them feel more confident or enthusiastic in approaching the new and potentially scary thing, person or sound. When your kitten shows you their boundaries, respect and listen to them. These exercises should continue in the home when adopted at 8 weeks as long as the kitten stays relaxed.

Trainer tip: When working on body handling or touch sensitivity, offer your kitten a spoonful of wet food or a lickable treat packet. You could also smear some wet food on a small dish or a licky mat (any easy-to-clean food-safe textured surface). Make sure the food is at an angle where you can still easily and comfortably do the handling! As soon as they begin eating, begin handling. The moment they pause, stiffen up, move away or show other subtle stress signals, stop handling. Your kitten is telling you they need a break. When they resume eating, resume handling. This pairs the sensation of the handling with the high-value reward of food! For additional information on handling sensitivity, check out: Letting Cats Decide When to Be Pet to Avoid Hostility & Increase Affection, What Consent Looks Like in Cats and Behavior Challenges: Does Your Pet Not Like To Be Touched?

MEETING NEW PEOPLE

Kittens should be allowed to choose if and when to approach strangers on their own and get treats for coming up to visit (Check out these videos: Social Pressure & Animal Interactions and Aggressive Behavior & The Importance of Choice). Encourage slower rather than sudden movements, “soft” as opposed to direct eye contact, and calm or lightly playful voices as the kitten is choosing (or choosing not) to approach or interact. Another great way to build a positive rapport with strangers is playing with wand toys!

Trainer tip: Meeting people can be hard if your kitten vanishes before they even see them! Use YouTube or recordings on your phone to gradually expose and desensitize your kitten to sounds like doorbells, knocking, groups of people interacting (in a manner similar to what they’d experience in your home). Start at a very low volume and treat your kitten every time they appear to perceive the sounds and remain calm. Only raise the volume if they’re staying relaxed — the moment they appear nervous or stressed decrease the volume, so they calm again; continue with rewards several times and then end the session. Soon the sounds of people arriving and sharing the space will be a very positively conditioned response! If your kitten is particularly shy or nervous around new people, check out: Behavior Challenges: Shy & Fearful Cats and Adopting: Shy & Fearful Cats.

MEETING OTHER ANIMALS

Introducing a kitten to another animal is usually a bit easier than introducing an adult cat to another animal. But that doesn't mean it can't come with challenges. There are ways we can set our pets up for success to promote positive, safe introductions and interactions. 

For in-depth step-by-steps on introducing your kitten to another pet, check out: Introducing Cats and Introducing Dogs to Cats. For more information on animal interactions and play, check out our Behavior and Training Lecture: Introducing New Pets. 

UTILIZE TOYS & INTERACTIVE PLAY

Play is a great way to interact with you kitten and connect with them in a fun and appropriate way. Additionally, interactive play can be more enriching and exciting for cats than solo play. Some cats prefer “air games” that simulate hunting for birds or bugs and some prefer “land games” that mimic hunting for rodents or other small animals...and some like both! To determine this, use a wand toy (a handle with string attaching to a toy) to make the toy fly and see if the kitten chases it. Then try making it crawl on the ground and hide behind things, slowly “sneaking” out from hiding as if it were a mouse or lizard. Move slowly and quickly, up and down to see what your cat prefers to chase. Try different types of toys — some wand toys have feathers, others have fuzzy cloth at the end and still others have raffia or other grass. There’s a wide variety out there, so try a few different things. Never use your hands or feet as "toys" when playing with your kitten. Although it can be cute when your kitten pounces at your toes or plays with your fingers, this can become a habit that your kitten will bring into adulthood. It is not as cute when they are all grown up and bigger and stronger. If we show our kitten this is an acceptable way to play, they will continue to play this way throughout their life. 

Some cats love playing fetch and other interactive games, whereas others prefer to keep themselves busy with solo play. Keep trying until you figure out what your cats like. While playing and introducing toys, be mindful not to put it too close to their faces, especially if they are shy, as we don’t want the toy to scare them. When you are done playing, make sure to give your cat a treat or a meal to initiate a "cool down" period to mimic what happens in the “wild”: hunt/play, eat, groom, sleep, repeat! This should also help to prevent them from getting too amped up, allowing you to get some peace and quiet from them at night.

Trainer tip: Rotating through different types of toys and play in a way that suits your cat’s energy levels can be a good way to avoid or minimize overstimulation (such as play biting and play aggression). Whether your cat’s play mode goes from high energy to low, or low to high, utilize the more “up close/near you” toys when they’re playing at lower energy and games like fetch or wand toys when they’re playing at higher energy levels. Remember, it’s important NOT to use our hands as toys — we don’t want to teach our kittens that biting is acceptable at any age! If you are struggling with your kitten becoming overexcited or overstimulated, check out: Behavior Challenges: Overexcited & Energetic Cat Tips and Cat Behavior: How to Socialize an Overstimulated Cat.

Before a Kitten is 4 Weeks Old

• Touch all four paws
• Touch ears
• Touch tail
• Pick up
• Pick up and hold
• Stroke the back
• Introduce low-level noises (see below)

At 4 Weeks Old

• All of the above
• Start giving treats (see below)
• Pick up all four paws
• Touch and apply gentle pressure to and around toes
• Stroke or lightly fold back upper ears (as if to examine)
• Gently touch inside of ears
• Lift tail gently
• Pick up and hold with towel
• Hold while feeding
• Wipe body with towel
• Cover with towel
• Introduce to crate
• Ride in car in crate
• Introduce toys

At 5-6 Weeks Old  

• All of the above
• Introduce to nail clippers
• Vet visits
• Lay on side
• Syringe feed meat flavored (chicken or turkey) baby food (as if to give medication)
• Play with toys

At 8 Weeks Old (Usual Adoption Age)

• All of the above
• Clip nails
• Introduce harness
• Put on table
• Put on scale
• Gently pinch and lift skin into a ‘tent’ along back near nape of neck (as if to give a vaccine)
• Introduce more noises and people (see below)

Noises

Begin playing sounds at very low volume and increase the volume only if kitten appears relaxed and comfortable. YouTube is a great resource for sounds, and this channel is a great place to start! Also, check out this article on Behavior Challenges: Decreasing Fear of Loud Noise and this video on Managing & Preventing Noise Phobias.

• Baby sounds
• Dog sounds
• Street sounds
• Sirens
• Vacuum
• Blender
• Doorbell
• Thunder/Fireworks

New People

• People of different genders
• People of all ages, especially children of varying ages
• Different ethnicities
• People of different heights and body types
• People with different mobility
• Bearded men
• People wearing hats, glasses, masks and skirts
• People moving suddenly