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In the event you adopted a single kitten below the age of six months, chances are you’ll start to note some troubling conduct over time. In case your kitten is excessively vocal, damaging, and/or aggressive, they’re probably experiencing “single kitten syndrome,” a situation that may develop in kittens who will not be raised with different kittens or cats.
Although it’s not a acknowledged medical situation, “single kitten syndrome” is an anecdotal grouping of behaviors that may be detrimental to each a cat and their pet dad and mom. In actual fact, it’s the principle cause that many shelters and rescue organizations encourage and even require adopters to carry house kittens in pairs.
Not each single kitten adopted alone will expertise this syndrome, but when your lone kitten is exhibiting indicators of it, there’s hope for assist. Learn on to study extra about single kitten syndrome and how one can assist a cat experiencing it.
What’s single kitten syndrome?
Single kitten syndrome, also called “solely kitten syndrome” or “single cat syndrome,” is a situation that may develop in kittens who will not be raised with different kittens or cats. Kittens are nearly all the time born in a litter with a number of siblings, and together with their mother’s care, these litter dynamics play an necessary function in kittens’ social growth.
Primarily, lone kittens develop up with out the good thing about socializing with their littermates and don’t obtain the form of suggestions from their fellow kittens that helps train them which behaviors are applicable and which aren’t.
“If a kitten from a litter of 1 is launched to a kitten that has grown up with different kittens, [the lone kitten] will play extra roughly than regular. Hand-raised kittens are much more inept: some change into so aggressive that different kittens actively keep away from them,” says famend anthrozoologist John Bradshaw in his guide Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Higher Good friend to Your Pet. Different kittens could develop into “excessively bonded” to their pet dad and mom.
Signs of Single Kitten Syndrome
Signs of single kitten syndrome can embody:
How can I acknowledge if my kitten has single kitten syndrome?
In case you have adopted a kitten they usually begin exhibiting the above signs, they could have single kitten syndrome.
What are the long-term results of single kitten syndrome?
With out intervention from their pet father or mother, a veterinarian, or a behaviorist, cats with single kitten syndrome will proceed to interact in damaging behaviors. What’s extra, cats experiencing single kitten syndrome are all too usually returned to the shelters or rescues from which they had been adopted or in any other case surrendered by their households due to their behaviors.
“Hand-reared kittens could develop excessive personalities as a result of they miss out on these interactions as a consequence of their lack of contact with different cats,” says Bradshaw. However offering socialization in the course of the third and fourth months of age, even when it’s late, will be helpful. “…it appears potential that continued interactions with their peer group throughout adolescence may make a serious contribution to cats’ growth as social animals.”
Easy methods to deal with solely kitten syndrome.
The most effective remedy for single kitten syndrome is usually to undertake one other cat. Whereas bringing house one new member of the family can (understandably) really feel like a giant step and dedication in and of itself, it might truly make your life simpler, and profit your cat, to carry house one other.
In the event you go this route, it’s finest to select a cat who’s as shut in age, dimension, and vitality degree as your resident cat as potential. Some cat specialists suggest having cats of reverse sexes, too (however you should definitely spay and neuter them each!).
In the event you determine to undertake a brand new cat, nonetheless, be certain to introduce your resident cat and new member of the family fastidiously and slowly. You’ll need to comply with a multi-step course of that includes isolating your cats in their very own environments after which introducing every one to the opposite’s scent. Solely when each cats appear prepared, introduce them nose to nose.
Present your kitten with loads of toys and actions.
In the event you can solely undertake one kitten, it is very important present them with loads of stimulation and a focus. Play together with your kitten at the least 3 times a day or till they’re so drained they don’t need to play anymore.
It’s additionally usually helpful to offer your kitten a safe “room with a view” with a cat tree or couch backed up in opposition to a window with a view of timber and birds. Bonus factors for those who can grasp up a chicken feeder and let your cat observe from the within.
You can too carry house new objects to your kitten to cover in, comparable to large cardboard packing containers or paper procuring luggage (with the handles safely lower off) and tall objects on which they’ll safely climb. You might also need to purchase or make sufficient toys to cover some and do a day by day rotation. Primarily, you need to make your kitten’s life as enjoyable and stimulating as potential.
Present your kitten with a safe, cozy place to sleep.
You’ll be able to recreate the comforting setting a kitten would expertise with their mom and littermates by offering them with a lined, heated cat mattress (one particularly designed for cats — a human heating pad will get too sizzling) in your mattress if potential, or on a chair proper subsequent to your mattress. You can too give them a stuffed animal the dimensions of one other kitten or cat for firm.
Seek the advice of with a veterinarian or licensed cat behaviorist.
Kittens ought to see a veterinarian inside the first week of coming to a brand new house for routine care, and a vet you’ve already established a relationship with is a superb useful resource to show to for those who start to note signs of single kitten syndrome. It’s necessary to rule out any underlying medical points that could possibly be inflicting the behavioral signs that additionally include single kitten syndrome.
You might also think about enlisting the assistance of a licensed cat behaviorist, who may help you tackle your cat’s behavioral points. Earlier than hiring a behaviorist, nonetheless, ensure you ask a number of key questions, comparable to in the event that they’ve labored with purchasers with comparable points (and, in that case, what the result was) and if they’ll present references.
What if none of this works?
What for those who sought out an expert and it didn’t assist, or you’re unable to make the funding in serving to your cat with their conduct issues? Rehoming your cat to a household that may higher tackle these wants could also be a really sort and accountable alternative. Rehome is a peer-to-peer adoption service that permits pet dad and mom to publish their pets on adoptapet.com to be seen by hundreds of thousands of potential adopters. In the event you’re within the tough place of contemplating whether or not to rehome your pet, it’s necessary to take an sincere take a look at the state of affairs and do your homework. Rehome may help make the method straightforward and as secure as potential. Once you’ve accomplished all you’ll be able to, it’s necessary to do not forget that pets are people, and typically your private home may not be the correct match.
Can single kitten syndrome be prevented?
The easiest way to forestall single kitten syndrome is to undertake two kittens on the identical time. Being raised with one other kitten presents cats many advantages, together with maintaining one another occupied (and, due to this fact, out of hassle) and bodily and mentally engaged. Many kittens can be found for adoption at native shelters and rescue teams throughout america. Begin your seek for a pleasant cat or kitten at adoptapet.com
FAQ (Folks Additionally Ask)
How is single kitten syndrome totally different from fading kitten syndrome?
Fading kitten syndrome threatens a kitten’s bodily well-being and includes health-related signs, whereas single kitten syndrome primarily impacts their psychological well-being and is exhibited by way of behavioral signs.
Fading kitten syndrome happens when a kitten fails to thrive between start and after they wean from their mom (or from a bottle, within the case of hand-fed kittens) and is evidenced by the kitten failing to satisfy developmental milestones and different signs, comparable to labored respiratory, lack of urge for food, weak spot, and an incapability to achieve weight. This syndrome normally happens throughout a interval of 4 to 5 weeks and is normally deadly.
References
One Is the Loneliest Quantity: Single Kitten “Syndrome” Behaviors
Fading Kitten Syndrome: Elements Predisposing to ‘Faders’ and Therapy Choices
Affiliative Habits of Associated and Unrelated Pairs of Cats in Catteries
Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Higher Good friend to Your Pet
Sociality in Cats: A Comparative Evaluation
Social Group in The Cat: A Fashionable Understanding
Julie Zeilinger is a NYC-based author and editor whose writing has been printed in Marie Claire, Vox, HuffPost, Forbes, and different publications. She can be the writer of two books: School 101: A Lady’s Information to Freshman 12 months (2014) and A Little F’d Up: Why Feminism Is Not a Soiled Phrase (2012). She is the mother to Baloo, a two-year-old Bichpoo and foster mother to canines by way of Badass Animal Rescue.
