How to Determine a Kitten’s Age
When kittens enter your shelter accompanied by little or no background information, do you know how to determine their ages? Determining a kitten’s age is important for the timely administration of vaccines, deworming medication, and flea treatments. Age also plays a role in kitten socialization, particularly during the critical period before 8 weeks of age, as it may be more difficult to socialize older kittens. Proper age assessment also helps us determine if the kitten needs foster care or is old enough to be spayed or neutered and adopted. We have 4 key questions that can help you establish a kitten’s age.
1) Are kitten’s eyes open?
Kittens are born with their eyes closed. Their eyes begin to open around 8-12 days of age and are fully open by 2 weeks old.
2) How much does kitten weigh?
Kittens will gain weight at a relatively predictable rate that is most reliable until about 10 weeks of age. For animals in good body condition, you can estimate that a 1-pound kitten is about 4 weeks old, a 2-pound kitten is about 8 weeks old, and a 2.5-pound kitten is about 10 weeks old.
3) Is the kitten walking and playing?
Most kittens start walking around 3 weeks of age but take a little longer to gain coordination. You can be comfortable saying a kitten who is walking pretty well and playing is at least 4 weeks of age.
4) How do the kitten’s teeth look?
Baby teeth start to come in around 3 weeks of age. The first permanent teeth are the middle incisors and appear at 12 weeks of age. The 2nd and 3rd incisors follow at about 14 and 16 weeks, respectively.
Kitten teeth are tiny, which makes it tricky to tell if the incisors are baby or permanent teeth. It’s easiest when you have some of both types of teeth to serve as a comparison. The baby teeth are a little smaller with pointed tips, while permanent teeth are a little wider with flat edges.
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