If you’ve recently adopted a pet cat, you may be troubled by the reality of preparing your new friend for the social world. The key question is how to go about training and teaching a cat to live harmoniously with others, without jeopardizing the sacred owner-pet bond.
Fortunately, there are a litany of tried-and-true techniques for effectively socializing virtually any pet cat. Let’s walk through five of the most constructive steps you can take on this crucial journey!
1. Create a Positive Association with Touch
Touch is one of the most basic building blocks for developing a cat’s socialization. Without a positive and trusting response to human contact, it becomes impossible for a cat to develop social skills and relationships. This means that creating a warm and friendly association with close contact with people is a necessity for training your pet cat down the line.
But, how do you foster this positive mental association with touch? In the beginning, safe and comfortable handling will be your main tool. For example, an owner should always:
- Mind their cat’s comfort zone whenever possible
- Avoid immediate contact with the animal’s underbelly
- Lift their cat in a smooth motion from under the chest
- Use slow, steady movements and a soft voice
- Follow up with treats and other positive reinforcement
After this initial handling training (what some experts call “breaking the touch barrier”) is completed, try incorporating affectionate touch like pets, ear scratches, and cuddling. Don’t be afraid to take things slow if you find your cat’s body language seems skittish or nervous. Remember, this is supposed to be a happy and positive experience!
2. Use Treats for Positive Reinforcement
For all steps in the socialization process, owners can reinforce improved behavior by using positive reinforcement. Many reinforcement methods can produce excellent results, but one of the simplest and most effective for new owners is using treats. Giving cats their favorite treats, whether those happen to be pre-packaged options or DIY cat snacks, helps encourage the behaviors that precede the reward.
When using treats, two of the most important factors to keep in mind are timing and consistency. If you wait too long after the desired behavior to reward your cat with a tasty treat, they won’t be able to make a mental association between the two events. Likewise, rewards (at least at the beginning) have to be consistent. If a certain act only prompts a treat once or twice, your cat will probably shrug it off and not repeat the behavior.
Once your cat has started repeating their positive socialization behaviors (e.g., playing nice with other cats) consistently, you can slowly “trade in” the treats. Some owners accomplish this step by gradually substituting pets, toys, or even a simple “good kitty” for the normal treat.
3. Avoid Stimulation Overload
One of the biggest pitfalls to avoid as you socialize your cat is introducing too many stimuli at once. This can cause the pet to feel overwhelmed and stressed, leading to a fight-or-flight response. To sidestep this obstacle, it’s best to introduce environmental changes slowly.
Instead of having your cat go through the house all at one time, you’ll likely want to keep the feline limited to one (preferably small) room at first. Once the cat has gotten used to this environment, you can gradually take them to other areas of the house. Feel free to slow down if you think your friend is starting to get nervous or overwhelmed; there’s no rush!
It’s also a smart idea to have the cat meet new people and pets one at a time. This slow process can seem a bit cautious and time-consuming, but it helps minimize the risk of your kitty getting stressed or frightened.
4. Introduce Your Cat to Other Pets
The first time you introduce a new cat to one of your other pet cats or dogs can be stressful. But, there are luckily a few measures you can take to ease any worries and make this experience fun for you and the pets.
Firstly, make sure this is a one-on-one meeting. It’s tricky to keep sight of everything happening when you introduce your cat to multiple animals and there’s also the risk of a fight-or-flight response. Trainers also strongly recommend having cats first meet through a barrier, just in case things go south.
If this first meeting is a success, you’re ready to remove the barrier and have the two pets interact up close. Just keep an eye out for negative body language like flattened ears, bared teeth, or fur standing straight up. After the pets become friendly with each other, it’s time for some supervised playtime and then, hopefully, a lifelong friendship!
5. Start Socializing Your Cat as Early as Possible
Behavioral habits tend to ingrain themselves quickly, so it’s ideal to start socializing your cat right away. Under perfect circumstances, this training would start when your pet is still a kitten. However, if you’re adopting an older cat, you unfortunately won’t have that option. Nonetheless, you can still start with touch training and positive reinforcement soon after adoption!
Experts believe that the ideal window for socialization is when kittens are roughly 2-to-7 weeks old, though this window can stretch up to 8 or even 14 weeks. This period is the time when the animal’s brain is most open to new experiences. That said, older kittens and adult cats can still be socialized! It just takes a bit more time than it would if they were starting the process young.
