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Should you adopted a single kitten underneath the age of six months, chances are you’ll start to note some troubling habits over time. In case your kitten is excessively vocal, harmful, and/or aggressive, they’re probably experiencing “single kitten syndrome,” a situation that may develop in kittens who are usually not 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. Actually, it’s the primary motive that many shelters and rescue organizations encourage and even require adopters to deliver residence 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, often known as “solely kitten syndrome” or “single cat syndrome,” is a situation that may develop in kittens who are usually not raised with different kittens or cats. Kittens are virtually at all times 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 improvement.
Primarily, lone kittens develop up with out the advantage of socializing with their littermates and don’t obtain the form of suggestions from their fellow kittens that helps educate them which behaviors are acceptable 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 turn 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 Pal to Your Pet. Different kittens could change into “excessively bonded” to their pet dad and mom.
Signs of Single Kitten Syndrome
Signs of single kitten syndrome can embrace:
How can I acknowledge if my kitten has single kitten syndrome?
If in case you have adopted a kitten they usually begin exhibiting the above signs, they might have single kitten syndrome.
What are the long-term results of single kitten syndrome?
With out intervention from their pet mother or father, a veterinarian, or a behaviorist, cats with single kitten syndrome will proceed to have interaction in harmful behaviors. What’s extra, cats experiencing single kitten syndrome are all too typically 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 resulting from their lack of contact with different cats,” says Bradshaw. However offering socialization throughout the third and fourth months of age, even when it’s late, could be useful. “…it appears doable that continued interactions with their peer group throughout adolescence might make a significant contribution to cats’ improvement as social animals.”
Methods to deal with solely kitten syndrome.
The very best therapy for single kitten syndrome is commonly to undertake one other cat. Whereas bringing residence one new member of the family can (understandably) really feel like an enormous step and dedication in and of itself, it could truly make your life simpler, and profit your cat, to deliver residence one other.
Should you go this route, it’s greatest to select a cat who’s as shut in age, dimension, and vitality stage as your resident cat as doable. Some cat specialists advocate having cats of reverse sexes, too (however make sure you spay and neuter them each!).
Should you resolve to undertake a brand new cat, nonetheless, be certain that to introduce your resident cat and new member of the family rigorously and slowly. You’ll wish to comply with a multi-step course of that includes isolating your cats in their very own environments after which introducing each to the opposite’s scent. Solely when each cats appear prepared, introduce them head to head.
Present your kitten with loads of toys and actions.
Should you can solely undertake one kitten, it is very important present them with loads of stimulation and a spotlight. Play along with your kitten no less than 3 times a day or till they’re so drained they don’t wish to play anymore.
It’s additionally typically useful to supply 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 bushes and birds. Bonus factors when you can grasp up a chicken feeder and let your cat observe from the within.
You can too deliver residence new objects to your kitten to cover in, similar to huge cardboard bins or paper buying luggage (with the handles safely lower off) and tall objects on which they’ll safely climb. You may additionally wish to purchase or make sufficient toys to cover some and do a each day rotation. Primarily, you wish to make your kitten’s life as enjoyable and stimulating as doable.
Present your kitten with a safe, cozy place to sleep.
You may recreate the comforting surroundings 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 scorching) in your mattress if doable, 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 residence for routine care, and a vet you’ve already established a relationship with is a good useful resource to show to when you start to note signs of single kitten syndrome. It’s necessary to rule out any underlying medical points that might be inflicting the behavioral signs that additionally include single kitten syndrome.
You may additionally think about enlisting the assistance of a licensed cat behaviorist, who may help you deal with your cat’s behavioral points. Earlier than hiring a behaviorist, nonetheless, ensure you ask just a few key questions, similar to in the event that they’ve labored with purchasers with comparable points (and, if that’s the case, what the end result was) and if they’ll present references.
What if none of this works?
What when you sought out an expert and it didn’t assist, or you might be unable to make the funding in serving to your cat with their habits issues? Rehoming your cat to a household that may higher deal with these wants could also be a really variety and accountable selection. Rehome is a peer-to-peer adoption service that enables pet dad and mom to put up their pets on adoptapet.com to be seen by hundreds of thousands of potential adopters. Should 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 doable. Whenever you’ve accomplished all you may, it’s necessary to do not forget that pets are people, and generally your property won’t be the appropriate match.
Can single kitten syndrome be prevented?
One of the best ways to stop single kitten syndrome is to undertake two kittens on the identical time. Being raised with one other kitten affords cats many advantages, together with holding one another occupied (and, subsequently, out of hassle) and bodily and mentally engaged. Many kittens can be found for adoption at native shelters and rescue teams throughout the US. 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 behavioral signs.
Fading kitten syndrome happens when a kitten fails to thrive between beginning 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 fulfill developmental milestones and different signs, similar to labored respiration, lack of urge for food, weak point, and an incapacity 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: Components Predisposing to ‘Faders’ and Therapy Choices
Affiliative Conduct of Associated and Unrelated Pairs of Cats in Catteries
Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Higher Pal to Your Pet
Sociality in Cats: A Comparative Overview
Social Group in The Cat: A Fashionable Understanding
Julie Zeilinger is a NYC-based author and editor whose writing has been revealed in Marie Claire, Vox, HuffPost, Forbes, and different publications. She can also be the writer of two books: Faculty 101: A Woman’s Information to Freshman Yr (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 canine by way of Badass Animal Rescue.
