Tips for running a successful kitten kinder program

Introduction

It is common for pet owners to call their kittens their ‘little fur-babys’ and this could not be closer to the truth. Just like human babies, kittens need to be educated on what behaviours are acceptable and are a problem so that in later years they can continue to be the perfect angel for clients. By implementing kitten schools in the veterinary facility, it is possible to provide an environment that provides a place for socialization. Forming resilient cats, and even educating clients with the goal to reduce premature euthanasias due to poorly socialized and inadequately educated pet owners. 

Kitten socialization/sensitive period and its importance 

The critical socialisation period for a kitten is within the range of two to eight weeks old. During this time, the kitten's brain and sensory system are still developing and any stimuli they encounter will influence how this development occurs. As such, positive experiences within this time will teach them that these experiences are non-threatening.

During kitten kinder, these stimuli must include being carried in a carrier, socialization with other cats and good hygiene with the use of a litter box and other grooming methods. It has been shown that negative experiences during this time can cause a kitten to become fearful and anxious later in life, resulting in unwanted behavior for owners. Even before classes, it is important to convey to owners the importance of stimulating experiences for their young kittens. Ideally have an owner-only session first to educate owners before kittens come along. Kittens should not come along if they are over 13 weeks old.  

These stimuli should include:

• Different people, especially, people who will be in the house regularly
• Handling (vet handling, touching their paws)
• Sounds (cat socialization, vacuums, etc…)
• Litter trays and types of litter
• Minimum of 5 non-noxious and non-toxic scents 
• Minimum of 5 different foods and toys
• Ride within a car, both inside and outside of a carrier 
• Familiarize your kitten to wearing a leash, collar and vest
• Taste 5 different versions of cat food and treats 
• Familiarize them with loud sounds such as thunder and fireworks but at a low and controlled volume
• Teach them to enjoy taking medication, this requires talks with your veterinarian 
• Touch them on various body parts, giving them a treat each time you do

Socialization is essential for a kitten to have a chance of growing up as a healthy, happy adult cat. By utilizing different techniques during their socialization phase, including kitten kinder, you are providing care for the welfare of your cat for the foreseeable future. While it is still possible to train kittens outside of the socialization period, literature shows that kittens older than 8 weeks up to 6-8 months old, even adult cats can be socialized, but they need more time and experienced attention.

Kitten socialisation | Kittens & pregnancy | Cats Protection. (2022). Cats Protection. https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/pregnancy-and-kitten-care/kitten-socialisation

Why should kittens attend school?

Classes from kitten school provide kittens with a guided exploration of common interactions they will have with their owners within a supervised environment. These interactions include positive interactions with the vet team - being in the carrier nail trimming and grooming. These have been found through research-based programs to decrease the fear, anxiety and stress that kittens have associated with veterinary visits. Additionally, client attendees benefit from learning about a cat’s needs, body language, normal and abnormal behaviouir, how to modify behaviours and how to help provide low-stress health care. This allows clients to get professional answers to their very real questions on how to care for a cat properly. 

Moreover, kitten classes create structured positive exposure during their socialization phase, which promotes resiliency in their later years. By also exposing owners to this environment it teaches them how to provide a healthy environment and use positive reinforcement-based training for their cats behavioral problems. This has shown to be effective in alleviating behavioral problems down the line. 

When should kittens attend?

Kitten classes heavily rely on the kitten’s early development stages, when they are most receptive to engaging and learning socially and from their environment. Their primary socialization phase is from 2 to 7 weeks, but up to 12 weeks of age is still within this critical time frame. Beyond 14 weeks of age and learning ability starts to dwindle, as they can become potentially aggressive to unfamiliar cats. Yet, it is still beneficial for owners to attend without their cat if they have a cat over 14 weeks. As such, it is critical to get cats within these schools early if owners plan to add another cat to the family. 

Tips for setting up your own kitten school

• Identify who will lead classes

The first step is to identify who will teach the course. It is recommended to use a veterinary nurse as they allow veterinary nurses to expand their communication skills and expertise, as well as allow for extra client education opportunities. It is also important to discuss reimbursement, such as their regular hourly rate or a percentage pay based on the number of enrolled clients. 

It is important to discuss details, address concerns and generate motivation with your veterinary nurses. Once a veterinary nurse has been decided, invite additional nurses to simply observe or participate to generate a positive workplace environment and generate future leaders if they’re interested. The teacher must be an experienced nurse or trainer with a good understanding of feline body language and cat behavior to ensure experiences for kittens are positive. Fear free can provide excellent online training for staff who are interested in improving skills in this area. 

• Team Preparation

Veterinary nurses that become instructors must be proficient with a number of things:

• Reading feline body language and the responses to them
• Desensitization techniques to properly introduce carriers to the kittens
• Conditioning methods, to teach both owners and their kittens proper techniques for positive reinforcement
• The specific needs to care for a house cat
• Creating effective clinic-to-client communication tools

1. Define the curriculum

Determine what the program will look like throughout time and accurately create a program plan detailing:

• What the class will cover
• What materials the class will need
• If other faculties need to be used
• If this will be held in person or virtually
• If held in person, where will it be held?
• Any other constraints that might require splitting the group (i.e. Problem kittens or kittens with disabilities)

It is also important to decide if the clinic wishes to host open enrollment or continuously rotate weekly classes to allow for more opportunities to reach young kittens. Also discuss the possibility of hosting virtual workshops for those who live in rural areas or for owners who have adult cats and can not bring them to the kitten class personally. 

1. Set the cost of the class

Discuss if you wish for this venture to be more of a client-to-patient relationship builder, or if the clinic will like to focus on it as a profit center. The main point is to provide education to patients for their benefit so choose a price that fits within the expectations of the veterinary nurse, facilities, and other working costs. 

1. Recruit patients/kittens

The best recruiting technique has been found by promotion through a client’s visit. The client care team may work to mention classes when first scheduling kitten visits; veterinary assistants or nurses can mention them when they check in their patient; or the veterinarian can recommend the class during an examination. The main ways to advertise include:

• Pictures of the class themselves in poster format
• Social media posts with attached videos of the class showing the workshop
• Graduate photos showing kittens that have graduated the class and highlighting what they have learned
• A segment on your clinic’s website
• Client-to-client conversations outside of the clinic (i.e. recommendation by ear)

It may also be beneficial to think about offering discounts/incentives for kitten owners, which may help sway undecided clients. It is important to discuss with new kitten owners at first contact with the practice even if just over the phone as it is important to start socialization as early as possible.  Additionally, reach out to cat breeders in the area so that potential new clients can be guided to your clinic.

1. Double check the health of every kitten that enrolls

Kittens have the ability to spread disease and contaminants to each other. This means that it is vitally important to allow for the kitten to be:

• Be at least 2 weeks post adoption
• 8-12 weeks of age
• 1 FVRCP vaccine at least 7 days before the class
• Negative fecal results
• Negative retrovirus (FeLV/FIP) test results
• Inspect for upper respiratory illnesses and other illnesses

If the kitten does not satisfy this checklist it is important to talk to the owner about the potential risks the kitten may bring or be susceptible to. Offer virtual workshops instead. 

1. Set goals to share with clients

Set goals with clients and share what the classes and skill their kitten will learn, such as: 

• Getting into carriers willingly and calmly
• Remaining calm while in carriers when going to the veterinary clinic
• Teaching about grooming and proper veterinary care
• Be more comfortable around new experiences
• Communicating with other cats

Set goals with the clients and share the knowledge the owner will learn about, such as:

• Simple prevention and management techniques for behavioral problems
• How to approach cats without initiating a fight 
• What cats need to be healthy and happy 
• How to initiate introductions between kittens and other animals
• Cat tricks

Conclusion

For kittens, it is important to initiate classes at least 2 weeks post-adoption, preferably starting classes within the 8-12 weeks of age period. Kittens cannot attend after they turn 14 weeks old so they must finish the course prior to 14 weeks. It is also important to hand out the class schedule to each client. 

Overall, offering kitten classes is beneficial to the clinic as it will improve cat handling and feline behavior. By participating in classes, owners can feel more confident in owning a cat, and their cat can become a much more resilient pet for the family. By teaching cats to be more resilient it increases the safety of clinic staff during handling while also building the client’s bond with the clinic. For the clinic, it offers a secondary pathway to communicate with clients and the classes can generate revenue for the use of the clinic. Kitten classes provide a multitude of benefits with minimal risk to the practice.