Why adopt two Kittens?
The socialization phase does not end at the moment a kitten is adopted. They are still very much developing and need an equal in their new environment. Imagine yourself as a young child and you are adopted by a loving family of Chimpansees. Though they love you as much as they can, you can never really communicate with them. Wouldn’t that make you very lonely? As humans we can shower a new kitten with love and toys, but it can never quite communicate with you as it can with another cat or kitten.
This may result in behavior we call unwanted like biting, playing too wild, scratching and urinating outside the litter box. Adopting two kittens makes the transition much easier on them and they always have a friend around.
Bijkomend voordeel voor jou is dat je twee keer zoveel hebt om van te houden en om mee te spelen! Je kunt je abonnement op Netflix wel opzeggen ;-)
Behavioral Issues Motherless Kittens
In an ideal situation, kittens stay with their mother at least 12 weeks after birth. They need this period to learn ‘how to cat’ from their mother and siblings.
At KRCF we are often confronted with kittens that were separated from their mother at an early age. Too early anyway!
While we do our best to provide them with the best care we can, we can never replace a real cat mom. We feed them formulated milk, which provides them with all the necessary nutrients, but not the mothers antibodies against disease. This makes bottle babies more susceptible to infections, at least until their own immune system kicks in. But the mother provides them with so much more in the early stages of life. She cleans them, teaches them how to eat solid food and to groom themselves. And she teaches them manners! Manners on how to behave among other cats and human beings. About not to bite fingers, not to climb trousers and not to hate other cats.
Kittens that are orphaned at a young age are at risk of becoming ‘anti-social’ towards other cats and humans too. It is crucial that they interact with other cats from 3-4 weeks on, to learn the social skills they need to function in a family.
At KRCF we make great effort to ensure the orphans are introduced to other kittens if they are singletons (a singleton is a kitten without siblings) and that they are introduced to other cats from 4 weeks on. This way we ensure them to grow up stable and social creatures.
