Kittens. The number one phenomenon that has taken over the internet and produce content that always garners views. With such a high profile, who doesn’t want to take home a kitten or emotional support animal? But before you do that, you have to know when a good time to bring a kitten home is, and that means understanding the development timeline of the adorable furballs that have won your hearts.
1-3 Weeks
Cats give birth in litters, and on average, this can include three to four kittens. When the kittens are born, their ears and eyes are closed. They spend most of their time meowing for their mom so she can feed them milk, keep them warm and clean them. Their mom helps them pee and poo by stimulating the respective regions via licking.
During the second week, their eyes open, but they still can’t see well. All kittens start life with blue eyes. They will still spend most of their time being fed, sleeping, and getting cleaned by their mother. Their baby teeth also start coming in by this time. You can find good quality food at Catpet.
The third week is when their ears start opening up, and their eyes start changing colors. And this is the week, to everyone’s joy, that they also start purring.
3-5 Weeks
Now that they can see and hear, they also start becoming more active in exploring. However, they are still very small and vulnerable, so their mom keeps them very close. They still have wobbly legs and can’t balance too well.
By week 4, their legs become stronger. They have improved balance and, in most cases, don’t wobble. They become more eager and confident about exploring, to mom’s annoyance because now it would be more challenging for her to keep them nearby, but the good news is that they still stick closer to her and start calling for her if they lose sight of her. By this point, they start eating solid food.
By week 5, their balance becomes excellent. They no longer have trouble moving and jumping around. They also no longer rely on their mom to help them pee or poop. At this point, they start learning important social and survival skills from their mother.
6-8 Weeks
Weeks 6-7, kittens continue learning survival and social skills from mom but become even more active in playing and often start going off to play further (still under mom’s watchful eye from a distance).
By week 8, they have all their teeth. Eventually, their baby teeth will be replaced by adult teeth, but they’ll be four months old by then.
9-12 Weeks
And now is the time you can bring a kitten home. When they are between 9-12 weeks old, kittens have learned all that they can from their mom and are ready for the world. When you bring the kitten home, make sure they have plenty of water, and the food is high-quality kitten food. Kittens at this age might be stronger, confident, and active but they are still very sensitive and vulnerable, so make sure to let them explore their new home and be comfortable before you start trying to engage them in play.