You’ve just adopted, or are planning to adopt, a kitten. Congratulations on your new family member! Is it a first kitten for you? Or has it been a while since you’ve had a kitten in the house? Are you curious about what’s new and wonderful in kitten and cat training? Do you want to know the basics?
If you live in a big city, you might take your new family member to kitten classes.
Like puppy classes for canine kids, kitten classes educate both the animals and the humans (including youngsters). Kitten-class curriculum includes what kitten owners need to know to keep their kittens happy, healthy, and safe. If you’re not able to attend a great kitten class in your area, you can introduce many of the same concepts by educating your kitten at home.
To learn how to be a good teacher to your kitten, first be a good student: educate yourself.
Start with some detailed study on cats and kittens. Use up-to-date sources. Online courses exist, if you’re able to invest some time and money in valuable learning. For example, the Train Your Cat course through Karen Pryor Academy offers a five-lesson course, 17 training activities, and 16 videos, with unlimited access for one year; continuing education units (CEUs) are available.
Karen Pryor Academy—Train Your Cat Course
https://karenpryoracademy.com/courses/train-your-cat/
Online articles and videos are a less expensive, if less thorough, source of cat and kitten education information. Look for reputable websites and experienced authors and presenters. Avoid information that insists on punishment or aversive treatment. Don’t waste your time on “crowd-sourced” suggestions. Look for science and proven facts instead. Use your common sense. If it sounds fishy, move along!
Five Training Tips For New Kitten Owners—Mikkel Becker
http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/training-tips-for-new-kitten-owners
Books can be expensive, too, so try your public library first! Borrow books from friends and family. Ask your veterinarian and veterinary technicians what books they might be willing to loan to you. Avoid books with red flags that indicate old-fashioned and unscientific methods. Squirt bottles and cans full of pennies are aversive, too, no matter how mild. Look for positive training information!
Pam Johnson-Bennett has written eight books on cat behavior.
https://www.catbehaviorassociates.com
Photo by Will Wuorinen
Your new kitten’s “training” begins the moment that you meet. Every interaction offers both you and your new family member an opportunity to learn from each other what works and what doesn’t.
To be a good pet guardian, first consider how to make your kitten feel safe. Safety will be his or her first concern, so you must make sure it’s your first concern, too. Don’t get all hung up in “how cute is that” and “we’ll worry about it later.” Worry now, relax later. You are setting precedents.
Set your precedents wisely.
Restrict your kitten’s access to a small secure area.
You may want your kitten to have access to your entire house once she’s “learned the ropes” and follows house rules. Start smart by confining the kitten to a small part of your home only, for her good and for yours. Second bathrooms, guest bedrooms, unused closets (if such things exist!)—all can make good kitten rooms, but only if you strip them first of anything you care about . . . just in case. (Why offer a kitten the chance to learn to climb curtains? She might enjoy it!)
Provide all the amenities your kitten needs.
Litter boxes, food and water, beds . . . scratching posts, places to climb, hidey holes, cat toys. And don’t forget the cat owner’s best friend—empty cardboard boxes! Your new kitten’s “safe room” set-up is limited only by your ingenuity, once the initial expenses of cat ownership have been covered.
Introduce other resident pets very, very carefully.
Do you have other cats—or dogs, parrots, hamsters? No, they do not have to “meet” your new kitten the minute he arrives at your home!
Understand that all your pets may never be close friends (though it’s possible), but do everything you can from day one to make certain that all your pets feel safe around each other. In many cases, that takes time and patience, on your part and on theirs.
Plan ahead. Your dog should be in a crate or behind a door somewhere in your living space so that, even if he barks, it will not alarm the kitten as you walk in your front door! The same goes for your cat or your parrot or any other living being in your home that can make noise or other disruption as your kitten arrives.
First impressions may be long-lasting. Do your best to make this one a good one!
Kitten-proof your whole house . . . just in case.
Your kitten is confined to a safe space when you’re not with him to supervise closely but . . . stuff happens. Kittens can be adventurous, kittens can be frightened, kittens can escape even with the best security measures you can imagine. Don’t take chances. If a kitten could harm it or be harmed by it, put it in a safe place . . . before you bring the kitten home. Safety first, even if it’s inconvenient.
Decide what you want your kitten to learn.
Before you bring your kitten home, after you’ve educated yourself about kittens and cats, have some good discussions with your whole household—including kids who are old enough—about how you want your kitten to be when he’s a grown cat.
How do you want that grown cat to behave? What are your hopes about his interactions with you, the humans, as well as with your other pets, your friends and family, and his whole catly world? Then . . . how can you make that happen?
Next week, we’ll talk more about how you’d like your young cat to behave as an adult and how you can make that happen by rewarding the behavior you want—home-schooling for your new kitten.
