This is a chart showing milestones in a kitten’s development before and after birth over the first weeks. It is based on John Bradshaw’s Cat Sense: The Feline Enigma Revealed. If you click on it you go to my Flickr photostream where you can use it, if you want to, by grabbing Flickr’s code to embed it in webpages etc..
Bradshaw states that the personalities of cats are strongly affected by what happens to them when they’re tiny kittens. I suppose we know that because it is the same for us when we are babies. Kittens who undergo prolonged stress during their first few weeks of life may end up with personality problems. He also says that they may have cognitive problems. I presume this means learning difficulties. This hints at the different intelligence levels of individual cats being affected by the environment.
A kitten can become excessively attention seeking towards his or her first owner if he is abandoned by his mother and then hand reared by the person. Some may grow out of this attention seeking behavior.
The best cat pets come from kittens who had a relaxed mother and were well fed by her. They grow up in a stable world, one in which they are able to hone their social skills. Conversely, kittens raised by a mother who struggles leads to an uncertain world in which the kittens have to survive with more difficulty. Consequently, there is more stress and more competition. The kitten may develop into a cat that is less successful as a pet. This seems to mirror human development as well.
I think Bradshaw is referring to the two general personality types of cats, namely, the more confident and outgoing cat versus the more timid, nervous and cautious cat. In general, people prefer their pet to be the former.
good aricle by the way its interesting the different stages alot like children id imagine. Jasin is definitly at 12 weeks and very playful, and independence loves having chasing with ozzie its so great to see they have becoming good friend 🙂
Spotted this pregnant tabby inside the “Paro Dzong” in Bhutan.A cute and friendly stray that must have been looked after by the Buddhist monks residing inside the Dzong.The film “Little Buddha” was filmed in this Dzong.
aww shes beautiful , i wander what breed she is?
This may be a naturally occurring Abyssinian cat. Bhutan is just north of India and India is where the Abyssinian cat comes from, some people say.
This cat looks like an Abyssinian, which is very interesting because the Abyssinian cat is said by some to originate in India-actually on the west coast of India-and was exported from their by ship to Abyssinia. Your photograph gives some credence to that theory.
This cat is a tabby cat but the markings are only on the face and legs so the coat is what is called a ticked tabby, just like the Abyssinian cat.
totally beautiful for sure 🙂 Hope all well with everyone its been very wet had a cyclone weather here in nz for last 4 days thankfully the weather has cleared.
The weather here has been excellent for the past week or so. It has been good cat weather here. There have been lots of cats in the garden over the past few days. It is a time of year when cats can come out of hibernation over the winter and enjoy some of the spring weather
Awesome that sounds great. So lucky to have spring weather. Jasmin goes out on her own outside now and seems to certainly love it. She can go out the cat door and in without much trouble. i still keep a good eye on her though. Was abit hard last nite as dont like her going outside at night. But she comes back inside at night. will try and post an article soon just got to get motivated and organised. 🙂