My kitten used to be uncomfortable during grooming, nail trims, petting, veterinary exams, and petting.
My kitten hated cuddling especially!
Thanks to the tips I followed, now I can cuddle my kitten more often without any struggle.
Your kitten may show some dislike behaviours like squirming or wiggling when touched or cuddled.
It is your job to train your kitten to tolerate, if not enjoy, being cuddled.
I will discuss some of the best ways you can raise your kitten to be cuddly that include:
- Treating your kitten like a kitten not like an adult
- Offer more playtime
- Giving your kitten traditions and rituals to enjoy
- Keep your house cooler
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How To Raise A Kitten To Be Cuddly
Here’s some simple ways to raise your kitten to be cuddly…
1. Offer more playtime to your kitten
You still have a chance of raising your kitten to be snuggly and cuddly even when you were absent for the first 4 or 8 weeks.
I started by handling my kitten a little more gently and a lot.
Lightly snuggle and squeeze your kitten.
Different kittens or cats have different spots where they like being patted and other sensitive areas they dislike being patted.
While patting your kitten, try to figure out sensitive areas and avoid for comfortability.
The key is to know where to touch and where to avoid.
Also, you should approach your cat more slowly.
Start by letting your kitten sniff your hand before petting it to avoid unwanted gestures.
You should play with your kitten more often to build a bond and help your cat be social.
Some activities you may involve your cat in include:
- Using interactive toy in your house
- Chasing a feather wand
- Clicker training your kitten
The more you spend time with your kitten, the better and closer you will be.
Also, a kitten will want to cuddle if it doesn’t have a lot of pent-up energy.
Cat Trees are great ways to give your cat fun even when you’re not around which will burn off some energy and make them more likely to cuddle up to you…
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2. Giving your kitten traditions and rituals to enjoy
Cats love rituals and traditions to follow. Also, the stronger the bond you have with your kitten, the more likely it will become cuddly.
Therefore, put in place some rituals and traditions for your kitten to look forward to every day.
This may include the way you greet each other every time you enter the house or every morning (ever wondered why your cat bites your face in the morning?) when you get up from the bed.
You can create a small opening on your door or window for your kitten to smell the outside world.
Give your cat a treat sometimes.
Also, you can let your kitten chase you in the house while carrying a wand with a toy mouse at the end.
Regardless of the type of tradition you set for your kitten, it will strengthen your bond hence being cuddlier.
3. Keep your house cooler so your Kitten wants to cuddle for warmth
It might seem slightly off, but your cat will want to sleep on your land and be cuddly if the environment is a little cooler.
Therefore, your kitten will seek your laps when they feel cold, especially in the winter.
This is another reason you may find your kitten at your bedside at night.
You can offer your kitten a warm place to sleep when they feel cold.
However, what is the point of that if you want your kitten to be cuddly?
Always be there when it is cold in the house to offer your kitten comfort and warmth, hence making it cuddlier with time.
4. Treating your kitten like a kitten not like an adult
Naturally, kittens need to spend as much time with their siblings and mother as possible.
If that is not possible, you should nurture, bottle-feed and cuddle your little kitten to supplement the natural care.
The younger the kitten is, the more time you need to be present if you want a cuddly cat eventually.
The good care you give your kitten when young makes it start to rely on and trust you as a human parent.
Therefore, you will not have a hard time cuddling with your kitten from a young age to when it is a big, mature cat.
You can try to keep your kitten away from other cats since the immune system is yet to be strong and still young for kitten vaccination.
Ensure your cuddle and keep your kitten warm at all times, the same way its siblings and mother would if there were together.
5) Keep It’s Litter Box Clean And It Will Show You More Love
Make sure your Kittys litter box is cleaned regularly
You wouldn’t want to use a dirty toilet, right?
Well no Cat would want to use a litter box that is filthy either, right?
Cats are very clean animals who like to go to the bathroom in clean areas, so keep that litter box spotless.
And I know cleaning up the litter box is no fun thing so you want to have a litter box that your Kitten will love and you will love too!
If you’re out the home all day for work or otherwise and can’t be there to clean up after your kitten then consider an automatic litter box…
Have You Considered Automatic Robotic Self Cleaning Litter Boxes?
These automatically clean the box after use so your cat is more likely to use it later in the day, see how these work here…
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6) Use Soft Litter To Avoid Hurting Her Feet (And Feelings)
Use litter that your cat will love not something that may hurt your cats paws
Remember young kittens may have soft and sensitive feet.
So you need a soft litter that isn’t too harsh on their soft little paws.
Want to know what the best soft litter you should get for your kitten?
There are many out there but here’s a popular one…
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7) A Cuddly Cat Bed Can Make Your Cat Enjoy Cuddling With You More
This may sound counter inutitive because you’ll be thinking if it has it’s own warm, cuddly, bed then it won’t spend any time with you but consider this…
Your kitty would want their own personal space and own sleeping place too.
So, you should buy them a good Cat bed or make them one with soft bedding.
What you could also do is…
Rub her bedding against you as that way the bedding will have some of your scent to it.
Why?
Because her safe resting area will be associated with your scent.
That way she will be more inclined to cuddle with you due to the scent
Now I know you want the best bed for your Cat so here’s one of the best you can get…
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8) Practive Calmness Around Your Kitty And She’s More Likely To Approach For Kitty Cuddles
Being calm around your kitty is vital in order to build that connection. Kittens do get scared very easily with sudden movements.
Don’t forget they are still kinda new to the world.
You have to make sure you do not show any kind of aggression.
Always be calm and happy around your kitten
There may be times where your kitten may test your patience for example not using the litter box.
If they do create an accident and you are having problems with your kitten not using the litter box then I would strongly recommend checking out my other article I wrote on how to litter train your kitten fast
If your kitten has just moved in with you then you should try and move slowly around her and let her get used to you and being in your presence.
This will be appreciated by your kitten for sure!
RELATED – How To Make Your Kitten Love You (The Ultimate Guide)
9) Stroke your Kitty in places she loves in exchange for cuddles
So where are those places to stoke your kitty that she loves?
Let me tell you…
Behind the ears – Your kitten will love that. Give it a go and see how she responds
Under the chin – Watch how your kitty will lift her head up and push it more towards you when you do this!
At least once a day stroke your kitten as this will also build a great bond and connection.
Your kitty will get used to this and in no time will jump on your lap wanting to be stroked
And also don’t forget
Stroking a Cat does have benefits!
It relaxes you and also is very soothing for your Cat
So, next time you have had a long day at work, try stroking your Cat and see how that releases your stress and makes your feel calm.
What If Your Kitten Doesn’t Want To Cuddle?!
All kittens are different, sometimes kittens will just be cuddly as soon as you show them some love
Other kittens are born cuddly.
But some kittens don’t want to cuddle, in the beginning.
This is fine and nothing to worry about
It may take some time but just keep doing what is being said in this article
Have some patience because eventually your little kitten will become a cuddle bug
The quote “good things come to those who wait” comes to mind
You should keep this in your mind too!
Let your kitten cuddle with you in their own time
Try not to force it no matter how much you want them to cuddle
And I don’t blame you because they’re so cute!
But trust me,
It’ll be worth the wait for sure.
If you still have no luck then maybe you have a communication issue with your kitten that needs to be addressed, you can learn how to speak to your kitten in a way they understand here in The Cat Language Bible…
9 Ways to Raise a Kitten to Be Cuddly
Remember, cats have different personalities.
Some kittens may want to cuddle naturally, snuggle in your laps and follow you from one room to another.
Others may want some independent time but still want to be petted.
Celebrate the uniqueness your cat has and ensure you offer lots of cuddles.
However, if you want to make your kitten cuddly, you can:
- Treat your kitten like a kitten not like an adult
- Offer more playtime
- Give your kitten traditions and rituals to enjoy
- Keep your house cooler
- Keep It’s Litter Box Clean And It Will Show You More Love
- Use Soft Litter To Avoid Hurting Her Feet (And Feelings)
- A Cuddly Cat Bed Can Make Your Cat Enjoy Cuddling With You More
- Practive Calmness Around Your Kitty And She’s More Likely To Approach For Kitty Cuddles
- Stroke your Kitty in places she loves in exchange for cuddles
Last update on 2023-03-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Hey!
I haven’t followed the steps in this article yet, but I want to thank you for writing it and giving me some ideas.
My cat had some kittens (they’re about 10-12 weeks old now) and I’ve been wondering if there was any way to teach them to be more affectionate, so this will probably prove useful. 🙂
They’re so cute and I want to cuddle them all the time, but they rarely want me to pet them.
And I love my cat for so many reasons! But one is that she constantly begs for my attention, and it makes me feel wanted and needed even though it’s annoying a lot of the time. :’)