How well socialized is a cat? A test that will tell you.

Curious and seriously cute kitten
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Curious and seriously cute kitten. Photo: Pinterest.

As I see it, this is a test to assess the degree of socialisation of a domestic cat. I am working backwards from a study on the socialisation of kittens.

The researchers handled kittens at various stages of their young lives.

They handled some for the first time from:

  1. 3 weeks old;
  2. 7 weeks old;
  3. 14 weeks old.

The kittens handled from their 3rd week were happy to sit on a lap when they reached 14 weeks old.

Useful links
Anxiety - reduce it
FULL Maine Coon guide - lots of pages
Children and cats - important

The kittens who were handled at 7 weeks old stayed on the lap for a while but jumped off within 30 seconds.

The kittens who were handled for the first time at 14 weeks old stayed on the lap for less than 15 seconds.

The study seems to be a precise way to gauge the level of socialisation.

How long will a cat stay on a person’s lap? But there may be a weakness in the concept as some cats have personalities which predisposes them to like being on laps. This would blur this method of measuring the degree of socialisation.

The study confirms what we know, namely that there is a window of opportunity when a kitten can be socialised. Miss the window and you have a long journey to socialise.

All kittens are not born to be attached to people as Dr Bradshaw says. But they are born with the ability to learn how to become attached. This is a trait of the wildcat ancestor I’d argue.

Southern African wildcat

Southern African wildcat. Photo by hyper7pro on Flickr. Note: This cat is clearly semi-domesticated as the photographer wouldn’t have been able to approach so closely.

The African wildcat has the personality trait to become attached to humans via socialisation. Not all the small wild cats have this ability. For instance, the Asiatic leopard cat retains its fierce independence. When attempts are made to domestic the Asiatic leopard cat you only get so far. They have to be kept in an enclosure.

This makes sense because if all the small wild cats were as predisposed as the African wildcat to become attached to people it would have happened. They would have migrated towards villages and got matey with the humans as the wild cat does even today. There’d be more than one wild cat ancestor of the domestic cat.

Street cat regularly jumps on this person's lap when he comes by

Street cat regularly jumps on this person’s lap when he comes by. Photo: Pinterest.

Clouded leopard lap cat

Clouded leopard lap cat. This clouded leopard must have been socialised like a domestic cat. Clouded leopards are friendlier than the average wild cat as are snow leopards. Picture: in public domain.

SOME MORE ON SOCIALISATION:

Human hand and cat

Test that your cat is fully domesticated when interacting with you

Introduction: this test requires that the cat's owner has never used their hand as a toy for their cat. If ...
Read More
Sweet kitten

Presence of mother during socialisation of kittens can be a positive or negative influence

This is a quick note and no more because there is not a lot of information about this due to ...
Read More
'Journey' a stray cat from China being socialised through positive reinforcement training

Example of using positive reinforcement to socialise a cat (video)

We hear a lot about positive reinforcement in socialising feral and stray cats. Positive reinforcement is a way of training ...
Read More
Mr B

Awesome FIV senior TNR cat story. She socialized him with a wooden spoon!

This is an awesome FIV senior TNR cat story. He's a great looking, jowly, beat up, male cat with a ...
Read More
Woman's Lifelong Project. Socializing a Blind Feral Cat

Woman’s Lifelong Project. Socializing a Blind Feral Cat

A woman's lifelong project. Socializing a blind feral cat. And what a project; which had an interesting beginning full of ...
Read More
Kitten imprinting

What does raised underfoot mean?

What does raised underfoot mean? It means to raise kittens in your home, literally under your feet, as a process ...
Read More
My cat the moment he was socialized

Socialized and Domesticated Feral Cat Prefers Cats to Humans

This is a slightly sad story of a feral kitten who found his way into a couple's backyard 18 years ...
Read More
Useful tag. Click to see the articles: Cat behavior

Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.

Michael Broad

Hi, I'm a 74-year-old retired solicitor (attorney in the US). Before qualifying I worked in many jobs including professional photography. I love nature, cats and all animals. I am concerned about their welfare. If you want to read more click here.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *