Socializing your kitten needs to take place early in his/her life, during the first 2-7 weeks. As the ASPCA tells us, a kitten should be handled by humans and learn to live in our world.
A kitten needs to be comfortable with different people, sights, sounds, noise, smells, other cats, dogs and other animals. The more pleasant interactions your kitten experiences, the less stress s/he will have growing up.
A kitten missing socialization in the early weeks of life may never be fully sociable. Feral cats particularly may take months or years to become tolerant of a familiar person, but may never really learn to trust completely. Fortunately, most cats are forgiving of an unpleasant early existence once they learn that the home they are invited into is a safe, warm place.
Socializing your kitten doesn’t mean taking him/her away from mother cat. Cats teach their kittens many valuable lessons. But sometimes there are circumstances where it is best to remove the kitten from its environment to a safe, loving home.
Receiving proper socialization is crucial for your kitten to develop into a happy companion.
