Kittenhood Matters – The importance of early life experiences for domestic cats

The all day National Kitten Coalition Veterinary Conference will feature talks from Dr. Sarah Heath, Dr. Natalie Marks, myself, and more!! An all day kitten extravaganza!!!

Although kittenhood may seem short, it has an oversized impact on later life outcomes for pet cats. This talk will review our current understanding of best practices related to the early life experiences of domestic cats. From the moment of conception, several environmental factors are already potentially operating on the future health and behavior of kittens. Most kittens are born outdoors, and many more orphaned kittens are being rescued and hand-raised. What are the possible implications?

Throughout the talk I will incorporate the results of existing research on kitten socialization and behavior in kittens’ first few months of life, with an emphasis on what happens from birth to weaning to adoption,
with an eye on how we can all best help kittens thrive beyond kittenhood.