Adopting out too early? The importance of waiting until kittens are ready.

Wow, it's great that since I put up the Vancouver Cat Adoption blog a few weeks ago, I've already had some requests to adopt the cat and kittens. Don't worry, they are not spoken for yet, as interested parties would have to apply through VOKRA and these kittens don't hit the 8 week mark until June 25th. For all of you who would like to adopt, there are PLENTY of cats and kittens in Vancouver that need homes. Just go to the website of the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue (http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/), or any of the other rescue groups out there, and they will let you know the procedure for adopting. It's just a little screening, a few questions, making sure that you understand the 15-20 year responsibility you are embarking on (indoor cats live to be that long today. If you let it outdoors, statistically speaking, I've read that they live 3-5 years? That's generalizing of course), and of course the adoption fee which helps makes the rescue group and its service possible (some people consider an adoption fee an indication of your seriousness for maintaining the life time quality of care that the cat needs).

Regarding adopting kittens…most people in Vancouver want to adopt a baby kitten, because they are just so darn cute. It's a rule of thumb that the kitten should not be taken aware from its mom, or at least its kindle (group of kittens) until they are at least 8 weeks old. But consider that some people (particularly breeders) believe that this is still too early, that the kitten should stay with the mom for at least 12 weeks.

It is possible to adopt a 6 or 7 week old kitten? The kitten mills and pet stores in Vancouver think so. My girlfriend works at a Vancouver mall that has a pet store, so I would go and visit with the kittens and the staff. What happens many times is that they get 6 or 7 week old kittens and put like fourteen of them in the back, where no one can see them, in one or two large cages and they bring them out when they are 8 weeks old supposedly. They say they keep them in the back so they can get their shots and because they are not 'ready'. But then, the store sells kittens like hotcakes, I would come back a week later and all the kittens are gone. Other than the vet shots, what other definition is there to being 'ready' at this junction?

Hypothetically, the moment the kitten can eat solid food, it can go off on its own, but that could be as early as 4 or 5 weeks. The importance of keep them together is 1) for it to be properly weaned off the mother, 2) for it to (hopefully) learn how to use the litter box, and 3) for it to learn social skills.

The last item is very important. You see, kittens like to play when they are young and don't know what it is doing at that age. It will bite, run, stalk, and pounce, and then forget what it was doing when something more interesting comes along because it's just a curious little ball of energy. During this time, it should learn how to play with others, such at other cats, or other kittens. A gentle and conscientious human can also be a good way to help the kitten socialize. What should happen here is that the kitten learns how to behave as the domestic animal that we will love when it grows old.

But what happens if the kitten is not socialized enough, or not socialized properly and it becomes a cat? A lot of what it learned regarding how to behave toward other living things (like humans) will really come out then. If a kitten is well socialized, it will be a happy, problem free kitten. If it isn't, then it's really a big question mark. For example, take feral kittens born in the street. I get them every summer in my old neighborhood and when ever I would approach one, it would run off, having had a rough life (I've seen a few dead cats in my neighborhood) and learning not to trust people. But don't worry, I would suspect that most of the time, the domesticated adopted cat will quickly adapt and learn how to behave well anyway in the care of a new home.

But there is the chance that the under socialized cat will also be one of those cats that are just hard to deal with, who sulk, are boring, are mean and hiss and scratch, who run away from people, or have littler box problems. And it's likely that these are the cats that are then booted onto the street or brought to the SPCA. And it's also likely that the cat hasn't been spayed or neutered, so it gets pregnant on the street and then has ferals, thus further contributing to the uncontrollable cat population. Remember, a lot of stray cats that live on the street, who have feral kittens, used to be someone pet for a few years.

Another thing I also wonder: if a kitten is adopted early into a catless family, will it learn any positive or negative habits will it learn from being played with by the humans?

I really am not an expert in all cat behaviour by any means, and these are things that I have observed myself. I think though, that the longer you wait to adopt a kitten (meaning leaving it with it's mom or pals for 8 weeks or older) the more affectionate and nicer the cat you'll have. The younger the kitten you buy or adopt…may get you a difficult sulking cat who sulks and doesn't seem personable at all.

By the way, these are my own opinions, I don't represent the views of VOKRA or any other animal rescue group. I try to keep myself informed and think of the best interest of the pet, but I could always be mistaken.