Kittens are dependent on their mother’s care for survival from birth to about 6 to 8 weeks. It’s pretty remarkable to watch the progression from a helpless neonate to a curious athlete in less than two months! Knowing what to expect from your cat as a kitten can help set you up successfully for every stage of their life.
Newborn Kitten
With the exception of catteries, or cat breeding facilities, it seems many feline births are an oops! People are often surprised to learn that cats have seasonal reproduction, meaning they are designed to give birth during warmer, longer days. Cats as young as five to six months can be reproductively mature enough to become pregnant, especially if the season is correct.
A mother cat is called a Queen, and she typically has a litter of 3 to 5 kittens at a time. Gestation is just over two months, around 63 days. Queens don’t have many special needs during gestation, other than a good quality diet meant for growth, such as a kitten food.
If you live in an area with fleas, flea control is very important, as flea anemia is one of the many causes of neonatal feline death. Always discuss the use a flea control product on a pregnant animal with your veterinarian, not all are safe!
Kitten Dependent on Mom
Cats are typically devoted and caring mothers, which is necessary since kittens are 100% dependent on their mother. She will clean them, nurse them, keep them warm and even has to stimulate urination and defecation for the first 3 to 4 weeks.
Most Queens have started to wean their kittens by 3 to 4 weeks of age. This is a good time to start introducing ‘solid’ food. Canned kitten food mixed with kitten milk replacer is a perfect way to start. Prepare for a mess! It can take 1 to 2 weeks for kittens to figure out how to get that food successfully into their mouths.
Kitten Development
Kittens are born with their eyes and ears sealed shut, rendering them blind and mostly deaf at birth. The ear canals typically open between 10 days and two weeks of age, and eyes open between one and two weeks as well. Kittens are born with a good sense of smell, which is crucial for them to help locate their food source- milk!
They are born with no teeth, and will start to get deciduous, or ‘milk’ teeth around 3 weeks of age (no coincidence that this coincides with weaning!). Kittens have 26 deciduous teeth, which will all fall out and be replaced by 30 permanent teeth by the time they are 6 months old.
Most kittens can stand by 10 days of age and are capable of walking on their own by three weeks. By 6 to 8 weeks, kittens are agile and active!
Kitten Growth
Kittens usually weigh 3 to 4 ounces at birth and by one month of age, most kittens weigh a pound. A general rule of thumb is that kittens gain about a pound a month until 6 months of age. Growth varies after that, depending on the size the cat will be when full grown.
Kitten Litter box training
About when kittens are weaned is a great time to introduce them to a litter box as well. Kittens are inclined to use the bathroom in sand-like surfaces. Many just ‘learn’ to use the box when it is strategically placed near them. They also follow their mom’s lead.
Limiting the amount of space the kittens have access to will help aid in litter box training. Cats are clean creatures and don’t prefer to urinate or defecate near their food sources, or their beds, and will choose a box over soiling near food and comfort.
As the kittens become more trustworthy using the box, they can be given more freedom and space to explore. Most kittens are fully litter box trained by 8 weeks of age.
Socializing your kitten
Socialization is the act of exposing kittens to human interaction, such as petting and holding. There is a fairly narrow window of opportunity to imprint on kittens, usually between 2 and 10 weeks of age. Spending at least an hour a day handling them, petting and holding them, is critical to ensuring cats are comfortable living with us, humans, when they are adults.
When feral (wild) cats, for example, are introduced to human companionship early, by 2 weeks of age, their chances of being a tame and friendly adult cat becomes exponentially more likely. Past 10 weeks of age, socialization becomes very challenging and kittens may never be comfortable living with people.
When to worry about your new kitten
Most Queens do a good job of caring for their kittens without intervention (with the exception of socialization!), but there are some health concerns that you might look out for. Failing to reach the kitten milestones listed above would be a reason for reaching out to your veterinarian.
Any discharge from eyes or ears or nose can be a sign of infection and should be brought to a veterinarian’s attention. Sneezing can be a common sign of respiratory infection, and when accompanied by nasal discharge veterinary attention should be sought.
Diarrhea and constipation are other clinical signs to watch for. Kittens can dehydrate quickly without medical intervention when they have diarrhea and constipation is uncomfortable and can lead to decreased appetite.
First veterinary visits with your kitten
Most kittens don’t need to see a veterinarian until they are 6 to 8 weeks of age. At this time, they should be dewormed (if they haven’t already been) and vaccinated. Kittens need vaccines to be performed in a series until they are 16 weeks of age in order to ensure they develop immunity to the diseases we vaccinate for.
As we touched on earlier, kittens can reach sexual reproductive maturity very quickly and should be spayed or neutered between 4 and 6 months of age to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to prevent behaviors such as urine marking in male cats.
Time really does fly when it comes to kittens. In the blink of an eye, that sweet kitten will change into a confident, curious and full of personality adult! Having Pets PETLANTA Insurance can give you peace of mind during all your cats stages of life.
