Habits to Get Your Kitten Used To

When Thelma and Louis were little, I really wanted to hold them as much as possible—aka bug them as much as possible—to get them used to us in different scenarios. That could be when they were eating or playing or sleeping, it didn’t matter, I was there like when your mom annoyed you in the car pickup line growing up! LOL. I just wanted them to really get familiar with us, because the stuff you do in those first weeks is the stuff that sticks! Here’s a few things that we did that I think really worked.

Get them used to feet, yes, feet

This one sounds weird, but I wanted to get Louis and Thelma really comfortable with our feet. Sometimes I would pet Louis with my feet a little bit, so he wouldn’t get nervous of feet. And now it’s funny, because Louis actually has more of a foot fetish. So that worked, err, maybe a little too well.

Hold them, and switch off

We would also take the time, when they were very little (we’re talking 7 weeks old), to take turns holding them. So if Cory was on the living room couch, he would put Thelma on his chest while she was sleeping, and I would put Louis on mine back in the bedroom. And then we would switch. So they really kind of got close to both of us, which I think helped a lot. It’s easy for a kitten to pick a person, and we wanted them bonded to us both! Not to say they don’t pick favorites, but I think they love us equally (or so I hope!)

Pet them while they eat

When they were young, I also didn’t want them to be nervous about being touched while they were eating, so I would go and rub their backs a little bit during meals. Thelma was a different story, because she has specific food she has to eat because of her allergies, and we didn’t want her brother Louis to eat her food, because he’s a chomper. So we would sit there, partly so he wouldn’t try to steal her food, but also because we wanted her to feel really comfortable, so we would just stay with her. And now that she has her own microchip feeder, she still sort of wants that, so we’re trying to get her out of that habit. But these days she’s very comfortable with us petting her while she eats, and also Louis has learned not to bug her while she eats, too.

Make the scary stuff boring

If you have a new kitten, my advice is to get them used to noises or objects that might typically scare a cat. For instance I would get the vacuum out a lot when they were young so they could get used to it. Same with their carrier! They had to go to the vet quite a bit because they came to us with a few different issues (like ringworm, eye infections, and Thelma’s unknown-at-the-time allergy) and we didn’t want them afraid of getting in the carrier. So we left it out and now they love it. Play music, keep the TV on, and spend that cuddly time with them. Do all of it while they’re little and most of it just never becomes a big deal.

Sometimes it’s just their personality…

Despite everything we did, I have to say there are still parts of their personalities that are clearly just…them! We held both of them equally when they were young, did all the same things, and they still came out completely different. Louis really doesn’t want to be held. He’s fine for a minute, and then he’s done. Thelma has certain times when she doesn’t want to be held either, but my husband will take her on what he calls a “papa walk” (where he adorably walks her around the apartment so she can look at all the sights) and she’s purring and in seventh heaven. You can try that with Louis, but he just really doesn’t love to be held. And again, we held them exactly the same as kittens. So it just goes to show you, sometimes it’s just their personality, and your job is less about forcing that and more about making sure that whoever they turn out to be, they’re comfortable and above all feel safe in their own home.