Starting Kittens off Right: Preventing Problematic Behaviors Through Socialization & Training with Kristyn Vitale, PhD
This webinar session was broadcast as part of the All About Puppies and Kittens Event
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Webinar Description
There are approximately 74 million cats living in U.S. homes. Despite the prevalence of cats in the lives of humans, relatively few people think of training or socializing a new kitten. Just like puppies, kittens can greatly benefit from additional training and socialization and doing so can help prevent problem behaviors before they begin.
In this session we will discuss how to set kittens up for success through socialization and training. We will begin with a discussion on key natural behaviors related to cat welfare and how natural behaviors can become problematic if they are not supported through proper human interaction and appropriate environmental conditions, such as the provision of enrichment. We will discuss the basics of how kittens learn and provide an overview of animal learning principles. We will also review scientific literature on cat learning. We will then move into a discussion on ways that cat caregivers can apply this information to support kitten learning through socialization and training. We will discuss socialization opportunities that can provide kittens with positive experiences inside and outside of the home, as well as positive encounters with strangers and new animals. Reward-based training and training techniques such as shaping, luring, and capturing will be discussed along with examples of key behaviors to teach kittens. We will also briefly discuss cat body language and its importance when socializing or training a kitten.
To highlight these concepts, Dr. Vitale will share her experience in setting up and running kitten training and socialization classes. In these classes, more than fifty kittens aged 3-8 months old participated in 6, 45-minute-long classes outside of the home. Kittens learned behaviors such as sit, target, go to mat and stay, and walk on harness and leash. Kittens also socialized with new humans and unfamiliar cats.
We will end the session by considering how cats learn from human behavior, even when the person is not actively training them. The goal of this session is to learn how to apply behavioral and learning principles to ensure proper kitten welfare, which can reduce the prevalence of problem behaviors as the kitten grows.
Learning Objectives
- Recognize natural behaviors related to kitten welfare.
- Identify learning principles related to kitten training and socialization.
- Interpret how human behavior and environmental conditions can impact kitten behavior and welfare.
Your Presenter – Kristyn Vitale, PhD
Dr. Kristyn Vitale an internally recognized expert in cat behavior and cognition. Vitale received a Master of Environmental Science from Miami University (USA) where she studied free-ranging cat social behavior and a Ph.D. in Animal Science from Oregon State University (USA) where she studied cat social cognition and cat welfare. During her graduate career she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Visiting Research Fellow at Kyoto University (Japan). Vitale’s research interests include cross-cultural comparisons of human-animal interactions, factors that impact animal social behavior, human-animal attachment relationships, animal learning and training, and ways to improve the welfare of captive and companion animals. Vitale’s main area of expertise is focused on cat social behavior, human-cat interactions, and the impact of life experiences, such as cat training and socialization classes, on cat cognition and the cat-human relationship. She has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Current Biology, Animal Cognition, and Applied Animal Behaviour Science and published academic book chapters in textbooks such as the Clinical Handbook of Feline Behavior Medicine and Feline Behavior and Welfare. Kristyn is also an active public speaker and is frequently invited to speak to professional and academic audiences as well as public audiences of all ages. Her work has been internationally featured in media outlets such as Science and National Geographic and in film documentaries such as How the Cat Conquered the World (ARTE France) and Inside the Mind of a Cat (Netflix). She is currently a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist at Maueyes where she focuses on cat science and education.
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