Chickadee was not a model student on day one…
Last year, we got so many hissy kittens at the shelter that we realized we needed a better way to keep track of their progress as they went from feral balls of hiss into sweet, loving house cats. That’s why we decided to launch Kitten Charm School, which is our new initiative to help support fosters who are working with this vulnerable population of shelter animals.
…public speaking and holding terrified her…
The socialization window for cats–that is the time when they are able to learn that humans are nice and good–is between 2 and 14 weeks, so when we get in kittens that are small but fierce it’s crucial that we get them into foster homes where the fosters have the training, resources, and support to help the kittens feel safe and get them to stop being scared of or aggressive towards people.
…but a few days later, Chickie realized school was cool!
Kitten Charm School provides fosters with that training and provides a ton of cat behavior resources, and a support network that they can go to if they have a question, need some help, or their kitten is behaving in a way that they don’t expect.
Rocco was a real wallflower and hid in the corner when he got to Charm School…
Socializing feral kittens is a lot of fun and incredibly rewarding. There’s nothing like the moment when you finally get them to click into a melting puddle of kitten cuddle! You can easily socialize kittens while you watch TV or relax in the evenings, and you can even do it if you work a full-time job and are gone from the house all day. All you need is a little bit of time, some patience, and a lot of love.
…but by graduation day he had come around and was Mr. Popularity!
Did you know that the only difference between a feral cat and a good pet is that the good pet was around people when it was a kitten? If you’d like to help out, you can sign up to be a kitten foster here, and be sure to mention you’re interested in Kitten Charm School!
