we're gonna do some checks with you
some kitten football going on
you are very wriggly today
Right hello to everyone who's joined us on the Facebook livestream for week 2 of our kitten
socialization Facebook live streams we're here same litter as last week so these guys
are now six weeks old six weeks so it's six weeks old with this litter and if you missed it
last week we're just illustrating the important job that um some of our volunteer kitten
socializers do they spend time with the kittens between weeks two and eight
to help develop their social skills and help them learn to play properly and their motor
skills and everything as well but they'll also be given a kind of daily checks so they'll
be looking at their eyes and teeth making sure that they're all healthy and growing
nice and strong until they're ready to be rehomed at one of our cat's protection centres
this one likes to play a little bit of tug of war with the straw it's pretty strong
so what are the main changes you've noticed Jo from last week
to this week or maybe from a few weeks ago I didn't think it would be possible but they're even more energetic now
they've discovered the balls as you might be able to see they love chasing those around
they're very good at football they are definitely contenders for the next world cup it's actually good for them to do because it helps them learn and they keep hunting
they're doing a lot more sort of play fighting between themselves as well which sometimes it can look a bit violent
but it's actually good for them to do because it helps them learn and those key hunting
behaviours and when and when they go too far as well it helps them learn that so though it's
tempting to break up a fight sometimes it's better to just leave them to it
got a lot of them that are really interested by the camera today
and actually another one of the things I noticed from last week is their eye colour starting to really change now as well
yeah definitely oh hello so all kittens are born with blue eyes and then
it's not til they're about 4 5 weeks old that their true eye colour starts to come through
so I think these guys a lot of them have now turned green which is what it should be for the rest of their lives now
amazing oh hello got one of them trying to pull the wire out of the camera
they're definitely getting better at climbing as well I've noticed and jumping
obviously when they do get more energetic it gets a lot more difficult to do their socialisation checks
because they get very wriggly they don't like being in one place for too long
so just run us through some of the checks that you might do as well as obviously just
sitting and having fun playing with them it's good to do sort of some of the checks
that a vet will normally do for them when they go and have their check up so things like
looking inside their ears and checking their eyes making sure they're not weepy checking their paws
are nice and clean and healthy just giving them general sort of strokes and looking inside their
mouth to check their teeth are healthy and all these sorts of things and we do try and sort
of practice putting them in a cat carrier as well because that helps new owners obviously a lot of cats are not
fans of going in cat carriers so it's good to get them used to it when they're this age
then they'll be a bit keener on doing it when they're a bit older perfect
I'm noticing this week certainly compared to last that our camera operator is having to do
better job of being quick and actually trying to jump over the top of the fencing escape artists
they are very quick and like to climb they're definitely getting more curious as to what's in
the outside world now and they're six weeks down it won't be long until they're ready to start
looking at being rehomed so but before they before they get rehomed from Cats Protection
there's a few things that will make sure apart from obviously being especially socialized by
the likes of you guys um what else will we make sure that these guys have before they go
home to their forever homes? So the key thing that all Cats protection cats have before they
get rehomed is they will always be neutered to make sure that they themselves can't have any kittens and
they'll be microchipped to make sure that they can be returned home if they ever get
lost and they'll have all their vaccinations that they need against common cat diseases
to make sure that they don't catch any of those that was a big jump so they're well cared for and
ready to go to their forever homes yeah quite a handful there we've got one trying to jump out of the top pen at the moment
gotta make sure he doesn't do that leap
so presumably you'll only do this until these guys are eight weeks old it's good sort
of make people aware that these are the sorts of things that that they should continue doing
when they get their kitten home so continue gently getting them used to different people
and being stroked and stuff also giving them their space is there any other advice you can give to new kitten owners
yeah so their socialisation period here is 2 to 8 weeks so that's when
their brains are still developing there it's really important to get them used to things that
they need to know are safe for the rest of their lives but that's by no means means you
need to stop when they are eight weeks it's still good to get them used to being put in a cat carrier
one climbing my back at the moment and getting them used to doing all those little vet checks
checking their ears and paws and stuff it's also really important especially with kittens to make sure they get enough
play obviously as you can see these guys are big fans of playing running around and but yeah it's a
natural behaviour for them to want to hunt and pounce catch things so it's good to make sure they have
lots of opportunity to do that with appropriate toys such as little ping pong balls they can chase around
and fishing rod toys really good and also like cat nip mice are good for them to use as well
and also by the looks of it straws I think straws is probably the most underrated cat toy having had kittens myself
a straw goes a long way in fact a straw and a cardboard box is probably the cheapest
and most exciting toys for kittens definitely you don't need
to spend a lot of money on toys for cats because they are very easily pleased with basic things they
do love the cardboard box they like hiding inside it and yeah straws but they're really useful straws
because obviously kittens are very curious at this age and they do tend to want to go for your hands and
feet because they anything that moves basically they'll try them pounce on and obviously it can be
a bit painful when they do go for your hands and feet so the straws are really good for
distracting them away from your fingers and toes and getting them to attack the straw instead it's a lot safer for you
they won't grow up to be a finger grabbing cat yes exactly not so painful when they do it
this age they have a fully grown cat it's gonna be quite painful when they go for your toes
they like the rustling of the plastic on the ground as well we usually get a lot of people asking about why we cover
up when we do these socialization sessions why you know we're not just sort of
sitting playing with them kind of in our own clothes and stuff like why the gloves and that
so yeah wanna just explain a little bit about what why the precautions yeah so it's really important for us
to wear this protective plastic clothing um basically these guys not being vaccinated
against anything yet they're a bit too young so they're quite vulnerable to catching all sorts of diseases so we wear
the plastic just protect them against catching anything that we might bring in from the outside and so we make sure we
cover our shoes our hands and wear these floppy arm protectors as well and the apron um just to
make sure and then the towels are quite handy for protecting our own clothes because their claws can obviously
do a bit of damage
they are very entertaining at this age you have to keep your eye on them though you do
do you think a lot of people underestimate just how full on having a kitten is
from there yeah they are adorable yeah definitely a bit of work just because they've got so much energy at this age
and then they're actually very curious so they'll get try and get into all sorts of trouble
but there is no doubt that they're very entertaining as well
they're really making the most of their extra space to have a run around yeah they do like to get our of the pen
shows the importance of play sort of keeping them stimulated they have got a big bit out the back of their pen where they
can run around as well the more space they have the happier they are generally
for anyone who's watching who's maybe thinking about getting a cat or a kitten or just learning a bit more about
either kitten socialization or how to care for a kitten or maybe how to prepare for getting a kitten
we've got loads of videos on our YouTube channel just search for Cats Protection on YouTube and also
on our website at cats.org.uk we'll be going through and making sure we answer all of your comments
and any questions anyone's asked during the live stream after this so don't worry all your questions
will get answered but we hope you've enjoyed another 15 minutes of kitten cuteness in your
lunch break this Monday and we'll be back next week maybe with the same litter maybe
with a different litter who knows but we'll see everyone next week for the next kittens live at lunch thanks for joining