None! Unlike other more traditional forms of socialization, this method works to socialize cats of ANY age—from 4 weeks to 16 years old (probably older, we just haven’t had a case older than that yet).

No matter how "vicious" the cat may seem, remember that they are not mean. They are just scared. As far as the kitty knows, they have just been kidnapped by an unknown species and are being held hostage. How would you feel and react if you were in that situation?

Even though the traditional method “works” for kittens under 8 weeks old, this method is more effective and compassionate (without any purritos — imagine being put in a straight jacket and touched by strangers who you are scared of). SSL is also quicker for socializing kittens. There are minor variations for kittens 4 months old and younger because they absolutely love to play and tend to be at each step for only 2-3 days. The key is to read the cat’s body language, and when the cat is completely oblivious to the step (or does it very quickly) then she is ready to move on to the next step.

If the medical condition is temporary (or the cat needs surgery) and the cat needs medication, take care of the medical condition first. I hide the medication in a little bit of food and give that before giving the rest of the meal (hide liquid in very fishy food such as Tiki Cat sardines and mackerel canned cat food and hide pills in Pill Pockets or Pill Masker and stick it to a dry treat). Once the cat is recovered, then you can start the socialization program. It’s hard to gain the cat’s trust while we have to handle the cat to treat medical conditions.

However, you can still do The Reset and the Deep Breaths and Slow Blinks outside of the cat’s playpen while treating the medical condition.

Cats who are permanently blind, the cat can be socialized right away. If the cat needs an amputation and will become a tripod, complete the surgery and recovery period before starting the socialization program. Refer to the variations sections of the Full Guide.

If a cat has another permanent medication condition, contact us for assistance on how to modify some of the steps as needed.

No, you MUST follow this process and listen to your guide (if you have one). The steps are sequential because each steps builds on the foundation created by the prior step.

Some cats are further along when they start SSL and in those instances you could start at a later step. Make sure the cat is able to do all the prior steps (test it out!) before jumping ahead because the future steps build on the prior ones.

No, do not incorporate techniques you may have used before or heard about. Most of the traditional approaches such as flooding or “forced love” are contrary to the methods of this technique because they ignore the cat’s boundaries and fear responses. This is why there is a misconception that you can’t socialize kittens over 8 weeks old--it’s not you, it’s not the cat... it’s the faulty traditional method.

The theory and foundation of this method is opposite the traditional “forced love” approach, so if you mix and match techniques from other methods, this will not work and you will be undoing what you achieved to gain the cat’s trust.

Do not jump ahead without consulting your guide (if you have one). Don’t rush the cat. Follow the cat’s lead to sense when the cat is comfortable with the current step before moving on to the next step. Once a cat is able to do a particular step, we have the adult cat stay at that step for a few days before moving onto the next step. This will create a solid foundation and make the cat move more quickly through the future steps.

There is a lot of misinformation on how to socialize cats on the internet and if you implement those methods, or skip these steps, or progress too quickly, you can undo the work you’ve done.

There’s no set answer for this question, as every cat is different. It will take time (though probably not as long as you think) for the cat to be fully socialized. The actual daily time commitment is only 30 minutes a day! Here’s some things to keep in mind:

You need to have patience. Socializing can sometimes FEEL slow, but do yourself a favor and mark in a calendar the day you start this method. Often it feels like months have gone by when only 3-4 weeks have passed. When people compare what the cat is capable of “now” vs the beginning before they started the method, they are always so amazed at the progress in such a short amount of time. When you consider how long this method takes vs. NEVER (since other methods don’t work for cats over 8 weeks old), it’s actually quite fast!

You need to move slowly in order for the cat to progress more quickly. This might sound backwards but the slower you move through the steps the stronger a foundation you build and ultimately the faster you will reach the end. If you rush through the steps, the cat will often plateau in the later stage. When you rush a cat, you usually end up having to go back to the earlier steps and start again to build the proper foundation.

Let go of all expectations. You need to be in the present moment with the cat. If you have a deadline in your mind or when you have expectations of the cat, you will feel frustrated if they don’t meet your expectations. Cats are very sensitive to our energy, and when the cat senses your tension or frustration, they will not make progress. Alternatively, if you go into every session with no expectations and meeting the cat where they are at, you will find yourself surprised by their leaps of progress.

You must follow the cat’s lead and pace. Every cat is unique and moves at a different pace based on his age, previous experiences, personality, medical conditions or injuries, etc.

It’s very common to feel discouraged at some point in the process. For example, you may see steady progress for awhile and then have to linger on one step for longer than you have before. Remember that before finding this method, you were already probably discouraged and not making any progress at all.

Also know that we have hundreds of success stories, and you are saving the life of the cat you are socializing!

Be prepared for this moment, as it will likely happen at least once and that is the time when you have to be very careful not to get impatient or frustrated and try to push the cat past their comfort level. This is why its important to watch the Theory videos before you start, so that you understand the “progress graph” and can recognize it when it happens.

We find the best thing to do is to count how many weeks it has been since you started this method (after the reset), remember what the cat was like before you started and compare it to how the cat is now. The cat has made amazing progress in such a short amount of time! And that was all due to your dedication and love!

Talk to someone who has been through this process when you start to feel discouraged or tired or frustrated. Reach out to one of the SSL guides or check out the Testimonials to hear about success stories of cats who started off in worse shape than your cat.

You can also take a break and move back a few steps to something the cat is comfortable with or just do a day or two of reset and slow blinks.

You are allowed to need space too. So if you need three days to mentally and emotionally reset yourself, take them. Your emotions matter a lot because the cat can sense them and will feed off of them.

As long as the rescue cat is not proven to hate other cats, you always want to invite other human friendly cats to the area/room. Initially keep the other cats outside of the playpen.

When a rescue cat is really petrified and won’t come out of the cat cave for weeks even with the reset and lots of correct slow blinks from you, the best thing to try is to bring a human friendly cat into the picture. (as long as the cat is known to not hate other cats).

The rescue cat is in the play pen and the human friendly cat roams the home, and you lure the human friendly cat up to the playpen door with treat (initially outside of the playpen). When you aren’t doing sessions spend a lot of time playing with, petting and giving treats to the human friendly cat in front of/outside of the playpen where the rescue cat can observe.

Often the rescue cat will gain confidence in watching the other cat, and as long as you are careful to keep both cats safe (that’s why we start with the human friendly cat outside of the playpen only so you can observe the body language of both cats), you can then unzip the door of the playpen and sit inside the playpen right next to the open door. This prevents the rescue cat from running out because the rescue cat would have to go over you first to do so. Then lure the human friendly cat into the playpen to walk across and play on your extended legs. Often you’ll see the rescue cat curiously observe the other cat then after a few days the rescue cat starts to join in on the fun! Make sure the eyes of the rescue cat show curiosity and not fear or too much focus (that look when a cat gives a stare down before attacking another cat).