Socialization Period

The socialization period for a kitten lasts from week 3 through week 9 of development. The following timeline describes the development of an average kitten during this period.

Week 3 Kittens start to stand and walk on wobbly legs. The sense of smell becomes fully developed. Kittens start to clumsily play with each other, follow Mom around, learn about the litterbox, and can now retract their claws. They start self-grooming and begin exploring their world. By the end of the 3rd week, they’ve developed visual depth perception, although sight continues to improve through week 16. Kittens handled a few minutes daily by people during their first month of life have an improved learning ability.

Week 4 By now the kitten’s hearing is fully developed. The weight has doubled again. Kittens fully understand the concept of the litterbox. The needle-sharp canine teeth appear next to the incisors, and premolars grow behind the canines. The righting mechanism that allows cats to land on their feet has fully developed – but be careful, kittens can still be injured by falls! Kittens may spend about 25 minutes a day sampling solid food. It is important to feed a kitten food to your kitten to ensure that he gets the critical nutrition required during his first year of life. Social play with Mom and siblings begins now, and includes running, rolling, biting, wrestling, climbing and jumping.

Weeks 5-7 By the 6th week, kittens spend nearly an hour a day eating solid food. The last premolars erupt by 6 to 8 weeks of age. Kittens naturally sample Mom’s food to learn what’s safe to eat. Play and interaction with others takes over. This is the prime socialization period when kittens learn to recognize friends and enemies, and good experiences with people and other pets during this time ensures they’ll be well adjusted adult pet cats.

Weeks 8-9 Kittens are fully weaned and eating a kitten food now. At this age kittens spend up to an hour each day in play learning to stalk, and switch from playing with each other to concentrate on playing with objects like toys, feathers, etc. This strengthens muscles, practices social skills, and teaches life lessons by learning to inhibit bites and claws, discover what rolls or bounces when patted with a forepaw, and what runs away or fights back.