This course is for testing purposes only, no registrations are allowed.

Kitten Kindergarten is an early socialization, training, and education program. The sessions focus on better integrating your kitten into your family, teaching your kitten how to be a well-behaved cat, and instructing owners on normal kitten and cat behavior, as well as how to recognize and prevent common behavior and health problems.

Kitten Kindergarten is a kindergarten class focusing on young kittens (8-13 weeks old) because kittens’ development is accelerated compared to puppies. The sensitive period of socialization –when a kitten is most able to learn appropriate social behavior—occurs between the 2nd and 7th week of life, social play develops from 6 to 12 weeks old, with social fighting and fearful playing starting at Week 14. Socializing kittens is easiest prior to Week 14 when kittens become more fearful, so are more likely to experience new things negatively, and have play/fight styles that may interfere with training.

In this class we will discuss exposing kittens to different stimuli, including body handling, as well as socializing them to help reduce the incidence of the most common feline behavior problems: inappropriate elimination, aggression (directed toward other pets as well as people in the household), and compulsive disorders. We will also be discussing measures owners can take to help protect the health of their cats, and recognize when health problems emerge.