How Old is My Kitten?

In order to figure out your kitten’s approximate age, you need to look at several physical characteristics:

• Are the kitten’s eyes open?
• Is the kitten’s umbilical cord still attached?
• What color are the eyes? Most kittens are born with bright blue eyes.
• Is the kitten crawling or walking?
• Does the kitten have any teeth?
• Is the kitten eating dry kitten food or canned food?

From birth, the kitten’s eyes are closed. All he is concerned with is eating and sleeping. If mom is in the picture, the kitty will pee and poop after mom grooms him. Mom will be the clean-up committee. By three days old, the umbilical cord will crumble off and die. Again mom is on clean-up. The kitty won’t be much of an explorer right now. He will crawl a bit on the blanket but stay fairly close to mom’s milk bar and (if any) his littermates. If kitty is a bottle baby ,keep him warm and contained inside of an opened cardboard box with plenty of bedding.

After ten days, the kitten’s eyes should be fully open. If they appear stuck with goo, don’t force him to open the eyes. Use some sterile cotton pads soaked in eye wash and gently press the pads to his eyes. This will loosen the gook. If the gunk stays put, kitty needs a vet quickly. Keep the room lights dim as these developing eyes will have problems with harsh lighting you are used to living under. Night lights are preferable.

By three weeks, the kitten’s ear canals are opened. If you have a white kitty with blue eyes, you can test for deafness by sitting behind the kitty and snapping your fingers over kitty’s ears. Some white kitties with blue eyes can be born deaf. You will also see the baby teeth appearing and the kitty will begin to purr. At this stage, if you are raising a bottle baby, start introducing the kitten to a litter pan. He should start peeing and pooping on his own now. Use plain clay litter- no clumping litter as kitties like to explore their surroundings and eat litter. Best litter pans for baby kittens are paint trays you buy at the hardware store.

At four to five weeks of age kitty becomes much more active and will easily get underfoot, so be careful where you walk. He should still be in one room and not the whole house- to many accidents waiting to happen when such a young kitten is allowed to run around the home. His prey drive is being developed now so introducing play time is important. If kitty misses the litter pan, simply put the waste into the litter and cover it up just a bit. Kitty will catch on soon. If kitty is being raised by you, he may or may not cover his waste. Right now, you just want him to hit the litter pan and not miss. During this growth sprint, you will see the kitten’s eyes start to change.

At six to seven weeks you want to wean the kitten off the bottle. Use the kitten formula and place some dry kibble into a small bowl. Cover with the formula and let set in the fridge until the kibble is swollen with moisture. Pour a bit of formula over the mixture and let set to room temperature. Offer this to kitty inside of a small jar lid at first because kittens love to take a bath in food. Or, use canned kitten food and puree it with the kitten formula. Just be sure the formula isn’t chilled before serving to kitty.

At eight to ten weeks old, you might be tempted to find homes for the kitten. But if mom is in the picture, keep the kittens with her until they are twelve weeks old. You reduce any behavior issues that might occur later. If you are raising a bottle baby and you can’t keep him, you should also wait. The problems people encounter with younger kittens arise because so many people as anxious as they were to have kittens, they become equally anxious to get rid of them (a term you should never use) when you are trying to find a loving home for a kitten.