All cats deserve a chance. No cats are bad.
Some cats need more time than others to adjust to indoor life. As cat caretakers (or future caretakers) we must have clear, realistic expectations of our feline companions.
First: Some Definitions
What is “socialization”?
A “socialized” cat is accustomed to and (more importantly) enjoys companionship with humans. It’s helpful to think about socialization as a scale or spectrum with each cat falling into their own level of comfort with humans. A cat can move along the socialization spectrum throughout their life depending on their lived experiences.
Socializing a cat means acclimating them to human touch, human spaces, as well as human sights, smells, and sounds. This process takes time, effort, and unconditional compassion from kind humans.
Kittens become socialized by interacting with people—being held, spoken to, and played with—from an early age. If a kitten does not become accustomed to people holding and petting them within this crucial window of their first few months of life, they can grow up apprehensive of humans.
Some rescues will tell you that kittens found outside after after a few months of age (or adult cats living outside) cannot be socialized and this is completely untrue; these cats and kittens cannot be easily socialized, but they absolutely have the potential to adapt to indoor life and become happy, indoor cats.
Stray Cat
A stray cat is a socialized cat who lived indoors with humans at some time in their lives but now lives on the streets with no defined human owner.
These cats may have been left behind during a move, may have escaped and become lost, or many other possibilities.
Sadly, over time, a stray cat can become so unfriendly towards humans that they are labelled “feral” by rescuers (particularly animal control officers who do not have a focus on helping animals find new homes.)
If you meet a friendly cat outside who does not have a collar or other indicator of where it lives or who it belongs to, your best first step is to get that cat to someone who can check if it has a micro-chip: this could be a local vet clinic, animal shelter, or (as a last resort) animal control.
If you are here in Holyoke, you can reach out to the Cats of Oakdale team and we can help with this; we have our own chip reader and can check cats for you.
Spirit Cat
Spirit cats are very shy with people. They are rarely aggressive –more “flight” than “fight”.
Often these cats weren’t socialized properly as kittens (e.g. did not have human contact or positive interactions with humans. They can also be adult cats that spent their whole lives in one home and don’t cope well with the shock of being displaced from their home.
While spirit cats may struggle with human companionship, they are often great friends and companions for other cats
Given time, consistency, and patience, spirit cats can eventually be great companions for people, too! Most will eventually become accustomed to one or two owners, in a calm and quiet home.
Feral Cat
A feral cat is an unsocialized outdoor cat who has either never had any physical contact with humans, has only had negative interactions with humans. or human contact has diminished over enough time that they are no longer accustomed to it.
Most feral cats are fearful or people and are unlikely to ever become a lap cat but MAY enjoy living indoors.
Not every human wants a lap cat, some humans just needs a quiet companion who resides in their home–a rescued feral cat might actually be an okay match for this type of person.
How Does Cats Of Oakdale Socialize Cats?
Consistency, Repetition, Routine
By nature, cats prefer stable routines. By establishing routines and schedules, we help cats new to our space feel safe and begin to understand the general rhythms of indoor life with humans.
Never Underestimate Food
A cat living outside may have had limited access to food, may have had to fight with other cats or animals for their food, may have had to eat garbage or scraps or rotten foods, or they may have given up and may be on the path to starvation.
One way to help cats feel comfortable when they come inside is to provide them a bowl of dry food that is always full and accessible to them. As they start to lose the fear and desperation around finding their next meal they start to relax and be able to do things like groom themselves or play or even just take a much needed nap.
Petting, Grooming, & Touching
Having positive experiences in which the cats are receiving pets or are being groomed by humans goes a long way towards building the trust necessary for them to live comfortably inside.
We make sure to touch ears, faces, toes, tails - places that cats may naturally be inclined to protect - so that they become comfortable with basic care routines like nail trimming, etc.
Play! Play! Play!
All cats love to play but sadly, when they are living outside, they may not have a chance to enjoy play time as they are focused on surviving.
Engaging in and encouraging play time with the cats is a key step to helping them feel safe and allows them to relax into their indoor spaces.
Define Boundaries
Outdoor cats are lawless beings - they have never really had to follow any house rules and will (often) go anywhere and do anything they like when they come inside for the first time.
It’s important to help them learn some basic indoor rules that will apply to most households: like staying off of counters and tables, not taking food off human plates, not stealing out of the trash cans, etc.
We use positive reinforcement, clickers, treats, and a healthy does of “no thank you”s to help our new cat friends learn how best to behave inside.
For More Information…
Check out the Alley Cat Allies site. Founded in 1990, they are widely considered the leader of the global movement to protect and improve cats’ lives.