Socialising Kittens

There’s nothing sweeter than when your cute little kitten rests on your lap and kneads your legs with their paws. It’s the equivalent of a kitten massage!

Through this display of affection and contentment, your kitten is displaying a natural behaviour that goes all the way back to the day they were born.

The things your kitten experiences in their first few months will influence the rest of their life. The more they experience during this important time, the more open and trusting they'll be as an adult cat.

Mother knows best

A kitten’s first and most important teacher is their mother. They'll teach their kittens everything they need to know to survive, from how to look after their coats and claws, all the way through to toilet training.

It’s a big day when you bring your new kitten home for the first time. Not only will their arrival enhance your life – it will change it too! Before your kitten arrives, make sure you have everything you need to help them settle in calmly and happily.

If you have children, or another cat, then you’ll need to make careful and gentle introductions. If you take things steady to begin with, before long you’ll all be living happily together!

In the wild, your kitten's big cat cousins have little contact with outsiders, depending entirely on themselves when it comes to hunting and survival.

Your little kitten shares these natural instincts, so it's important to help them ease into their new life with other cats or animals.

The more time you spend with your new kitten, the more you’ll get to know them– and the more you’ll appreciate how their character and behaviour are driven by their natural instincts.

While your little kitten’s home lifestyle may seem very different to what they'd experience in the wild, they still display many of the same behaviours as their big cat cousins. Understanding their natural instincts will help you get to know your kitten as they form their own new family with you.

There’s no doubt about it – your little kitten is very adorable. If you have children, they’ll quickly fall in love with the family’s new furry friend. However, if your children are noisy, move suddenly or pet your kitten too much, they might become frightened.

So it’s a good idea to establish the ground rules early on, and teach your children how to play properly with the new arrival.