As they get bigger, you may ponder the best time to switch from kitten food to adult food. There’s much to know about the transition to an adult food that is worth considering. This includes factors such as the difference between your average house cat and larger breed cats, ensuring they don’t exceed the ideal adult body weight and the key difference between kitten food vs. cat food. Read on to find out more.

Can Kittens Eat Adult Cat Food?

At such a young age, kittens have their own nutritional needs compared to adult cats. Kitten food has more nutrients, such as protein, fat, DHA, and extra calories, than adult cat food. Kittens will rely on these increased levels of nutrients to be able to develop and grow effectively.

It’s not all about nutrition, either. Dry kitten food, in particular, is smaller so that their tiny mouths and teeth can pick it up and break it down.

Note: It’s worth noting that if a particular cat food states that it is suitable for all life stages, it’s perfectly acceptable to feed it to your kitten. However, the crucial thing to remember here is that you must pay special attention to the feeding guidelines. Just because it’s safe for your kitten to eat doesn’t mean they will require the same volume of food as an adult cat.

When Can Kittens Eat Wet Food?

Kittens can begin eating wet food when they are between four and eight weeks old. At this time, they are weaning or have been weaned and require a more balanced kitten food to support their needs.

When Can Kittens Eat Dry Food?

Kittens can begin to eat dry food around the same time (four to eight weeks old), but it’s ideal to provide soft foods. If you eventually plan on introducing them to dry food, you must soften the kibble with water to make it easier to chew and digest.

The Importance of Making the Switch

As mentioned previously, kittens require a different level of nutrients compared to adult cats. Since they are growing fast and have significantly higher energy levels, they need these nutrients to support these factors and won’t get what they need from an adult formula.

When they mature, your kitten’s nutritional needs will also change. It will no longer rely on the extra support and therefore need to transition to adult cat food to prevent unnecessary weight gain.

When Can Kittens Eat Adult Food

You can begin feeding your kitten cat food when they reach their first birthday. To avoid digestive upset, you will need to gradually introduce adult cat food over a short period. You must transition your kitten over a seven to ten-day period.

How to Make the Switch From Kitten to Adult Cat Food

Take a look at the guidelines below, which detail how to make the switch to adult cat food

• Day 1 – 2: Use 1/4 of the new food and 3/4 of the kitten food.
• Day 3 – 4: Use 1/2 of the new food and 1/2 of the kitten food
• Day 5 – 6: Use 3/4 of the new adult food and 1/4 of the kitten food
• Day 7 – 10: Primarily use the adult cat food

Note: Since larger breeds, such as the Maine Coon will mature slower, you will have to wait 18 months to two years before transitioning your kitten food to cat food.

Potential Problems

When kittens eat cat food, it’s not uncommon for them to experience digestive distress. If this is the case, it’s completely safe for them to resume eating their previous kitten food. This also applies if you’ve found that your kitten has seemingly lost their appetite.

What to Do if Your Kitten Experiences Issues

Apart from giving your now adult cat kitten food, there are also a couple of things to consider to help them with the transition process.

1. First, when choosing your adult cat food, ensure it’s a brand offering high-quality ingredients and nutrients.

Take the time to analyze what the food offers your feline friend. In particular, look out for the ingredients here and the amount that the food contains:

• Protein – to support rapid growth and development. Felines require far more protein than dogs
• DHA – contains fatty acids for brain and vision development
• Fat – this also impacts rapid growth and development
• Taurine – this supports vision, digestion, and heart muscle function.
• Vitamins & Minerals – vitamin A, magnesium, and copper are crucial for kittens during development.

All the ingredients above are vital to your cat’s well-being as they can help maintain their eyesight, heart health, immune system, and more. If you’re unsure about the best option, give your fur friend a talk to your vet.

2. If you’ve attempted to transition to dry adult cat food, consider feeding them wet food instead.

As expected, wet food has a higher water content that is integral to your cat’s weight and urinary health. In addition, wet alternatives can help prevent dehydration in cats.

3. It’s a long shot, but it’s crucial to understand that cats can develop food allergies. This is uncommon, but it can happen. If you notice troubling signs and symptoms in your kitten, take them to your vet.

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In this article, we will look at kitten’s eyes in more detail. We’ll look at when they first open their eyes to when their eyes change color. If you were wondering if you could predict the color of your cat’s eyes, read on for clues. We will also look at how to keep your cat’s eyes healthy.

When Do Newborn Kittens Open Their Eyes?

The first thing we need to acknowledge before answering this question is that kittens are born blind with both eyes sealed closed, with the only functional senses being smell and touch. Between 8-12 days, the kitten’s eyes will open slowly. A newborn kitten will have blue eyes, likely changing color as they mature. After two weeks, a kitten’s eyes will be open fully, and they will have baby blue eyes. At this stage, a kitten’s eyes are still very much developing.

It is worth mentioning that these developmental milestones are for reference only, and all kittens develop at their own pace. Usually, at around four to five weeks of age, a kitten will have blurred vision, which means that they may stumble and have issues with coordination. A kitten’s eyes are usually fully developed around five to seven weeks, but their color is not yet fully matured – this can occur from around three to six months.

When Do Kittens’ Eyes Change Color?

As we have established, most kittens are born with blue eyes. After a few months, the kitten’s eyes will slowly change color to the color they will remain in adult life.

Common eye colors include green, yellow, orange, brown eyes, and copper colored eyes but some cat breeds typically have blue eyes in adult life, such as Siamese, Ragdoll, Himalayan, and Tonkinese. When a cat’s eye color matures, it is common to see flecks of different colors. These derive from the pigment cells called melanocytes, which dictate the final color.

The Science Bit…

There are two layers in the iris: the stroma and epithelium, and these pigmented cells determine eye color. These cells work together to contribute to the overall pigment. If the eye has a lot of pigment, the cat’s eye color will be golden or orange, whereas less pigment creates green. If a cat does not have pigment in their eyes, they will be blue-eyed.

It can take a year for a cat’s eye color to develop fully.

Can You Predict a Cat’s Final Color?

It can be difficult to predict what color your cat’s eyes will be as the color has nothing to do with gender or coat color/pattern. A kitten’s eyes will commonly change from green to yellow to orange and then copper, but as we’ve discussed, certain breeds, such as Siamese and Ragdoll, are predisposed to have blue eyes.

Sadly, there is no way of knowing what color eyes your adult cat will have. But we also think that this creates a beautiful surprise as they mature. Will they have a majestic amber eye color? Unusual yellow eyes or beautiful blue eyes?

Are Your Cat’s Eyes Healthy?

It can be normal for a cat’s eyes to change color slightly as they age, but a sudden color change over a short period could indicate serious health issues. Eye color change can be a symptom of an eye infection, but it can also be a symptom of a serious condition called uveitis which can cause permanent damage if left untreated. If your cat’s eyes change color and look abnormally red, orange, or yellow, please consult your vet for advice as soon as possible. If your cat’s eyes return to their original blue color, it can also signify vision loss or eye damage.

Eye color changes later in life can be a sign of a serious eye condition, so if you notice any changes, seek veterinary advice immediately.

Final Thoughts

Getting a kitten is an amazing experience; seeing them open their eyes for the first time is a special milestone. One of the most wonderful things about owning a cat is not knowing their adult eye color – there’s no way of knowing. Watching as your cat’s eye color changes over the weeks and months is a beautiful experience – and we believe that cats’ eyes are stunning no matter their color.

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Adding some different toys to their routine can really help to give your young kit the stimulation they need as well as help to burn off some of that youthful energy. And having a variety of toys will also ensure they don’t get bored.  We’ve taken a look at some of the best kitten toys on the market that can help to keep your gorgeous kitty happy and entertained.

The 10 Top Kitten Toys to Keep Your Kitty Entertained

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More importantly, kittens need high-calorie food from animal protein-rich, not carbohydrate, sources. Good nutrition starts from kittenhood, just as optimum nutrition starts from babyhood in humans. For this reason, we embarked on a quest to find out the ten best kitten foods for your cat, so you’ll be more empowered to look after their optimum growth and development. After all, you are their parent now.

A Quick Overview of 10 Best Kitten Foods

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Nutrient Requirements of Kittens

It is important to understand that like all mammals, the first year of life is characterized by explosive growth and development. For kittens, their weight typically doubles or even triples in just a matter of a few weeks after birth. This growth spurt requires tremendous amounts of energy. As such, you can expect kittens to require more energy. Unfortunately, they will not be able to obtain the needed amount of calories on a single feeding alone. Most adult cats are fed once or twice a day. Kittens, on the other hand, will require three to four times a day.

Kittens also require more proteins, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids for building cells and tissues, especially the nervous system and muscles. Experts actually recommend that kittens obtain 30% of their energy needs from proteins. This is in addition to the main function of proteins as structural building blocks. When it comes to fatty acids, most vitamins, and fats, the levels are almost the same as in adult cats.

It is hence not surprising that some folks would give kittens adult cat food. As much as possible, this should be avoided since the formulation of adult cat food is not the same as the nutrient requirements of kittens.

Wet or Dry?

The issue with dry cat food is that the kibbles may be too hard for the little teeth of kittens to break down into smaller pieces. Additionally, it contains very little moisture to meet the recommended requirements of your kitten’s hydration needs. If one really has to give dry cat food, this should be softened with water to allow kittens to chew on the food properly and provide them with much-needed hydration at the same time.

A much better option is to give kittens canned wet foods as these are generally considered to be more nutrient-dense than dry food. They contain more moisture and taste a lot better, too. The downside is that wet cat food is usually expensive. As such, most cat owners typically combine wet food and dry food. This helps provide more balanced nutrition for your growing kitten.

So, the deal here is to feed your kitten at least 4 times a day, if you intend to give it wet kitten canned food. If you prefer giving it a combination of wet and dry kitten food, then twice-a-day feeding is often substantial.

Related Post: Best Cat Water Fountain

Feeding Your Kitten in Stages

Here’s a simple guide to help you determine how much to feed your kitten.

• 0 to 4 weeks

Exclusive breast milk from mommy cat is best. If this is not possible, you may have to hand-feed your young kitten with a bottle. The current guideline is to give 8 mL of milk formula for every ounce of your kitten’s body weight.

• 4 to 8 weeks

Mix 3 parts of kitten milk replacement with 1 part of dry kitten food. Give for the first week. For the following week, mix 2 parts milk replacement with 1 part dry food. The idea is to gradually reduce the amount of milk replacement in this period. The current recommendation is ¼ to 1/3 cup of kitten food at each feeding.

• 2 to 3 months

Feed your kitten at least 4 times a day, giving it 1/3 to ¾ cup per feeding. Its tummy is still too small to contain the much-needed amounts of food that will give it the right amounts of nutrients if fed as frequently as adult cats.

• 3 to 6 months

By this age, you can give your kitten 1/3 to 1 cup of kitten food per feeding three times a day. If giving wet food, you can give 2/3 of a 3-ounce can for every pound of bodyweight on a daily basis.

• 6 to 12 months

 Give ½ of a 3-ounce can of kitten food for every pound of body weight per day.

The best person to help you determine the right amount of food to give to your kitten is your vet. He will make the necessary assessments to provide you with more definitive answers as to how much to feed your kitten.

Sources:

1. Annie Stuart, Feeding Kittens: What, When, How Much, WebMD
2. John Perritano, You’re Feeding Your Cats All Wrong, HowStuffWorks
3. Ryan Llera, BSc, DVM, Feeding Times and Frequency for Your Cat, VCA Hospitals

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How to Know When a Kitten is Teething

When you want nothing more than to make your baby cat feel better, you will do anything to help. Being able to recognize the signs of teething and knowing their teething timeline can be of massive assistance when the situation arises.

When Will My Kitten Start Teething?

In the initial life stage, a kitten’s baby teeth will start to come through around 2-4 weeks of age, this is when you should start preparing some method of pain relief.

How to Recognize Teething

Kittens will likely exhibit at least one, if not several of the following symptoms once their baby teeth start pushing their way through their gums. If you keep an eye out for them, you can know when you help them:

• Irritability: When a kitten is teething they may become irritable, this can begin when they are around 2 weeks of age. Understandably they are grumpy because their mouth and gums are very sore.
• Reduced Appetite: As you’d expect a teething kitten is not likely to feel particularly hungry, when even the softened kitten food is hurting their mouth.
• Excessive Drooling: Due to the pain, they will be unlikely to want to close their mouth, and so significant drooling is a real possibility.
• Whining: This is not something you imagine a cat doing, however, they may mew and whine in response to their discomfort, much like how human babies cry.
• Face Sensitivity: If you are trying to stroke them but they pull away or not seem to enjoy you touching their face, it is likely that the pressure irritates their mouth.
• Slight Bleeding Gums: As to be expected when something sharp is pushing through the gums, it can cause mild bleeding, you may see spots on their cat toys or in their water or food bowls.
• Increased Chewing: By chewing on something, it can help to ease some of the pressure they are feeling.
• Decreased Grooming: When they are just not feeling themselves they will likely stop grooming as much, due to being preoccupied with their discomfort.
• Pawing at the Mouth: You kitten may also shake their head frequently, this is often a sign that they are trying to dislodge a couple of deciduous teeth.
• Missing Teeth: Kittens teeth falling out around 11 weeks old is completely natural, do not worry. You may find your kitten lost a tooth on the floor, or they can also swallow them, this will not harm them.

How To Help Your Teething Kitten

There are several ways that you could look to help your kitty get through those first few months

Redirect Aggressive Play and Chewing

A kitten going through the teething phase will likely become mouthy and play more aggressively due to their agitated state. When it comes to this, it is best to try and redirect this energy to something made for the task. This will also help you to avoid having a cat that bites at a later age.

Specially design teething toys are created specifically to help alleviate your kitten from their discomfort, and fortunately, teething toys are available almost everywhere. These kitten toys are often made using pet-safe rubber, rope or soft plastics, this will help them to release some of the pressure they’re feeling.

A home-made alternative to store-bought teething toys would be something like a cold, wet washcloth. Something like this would be a fun interaction for them to enjoy, whilst being soft and soothing on their painful gums. Freezing a wet washcloth before giving it to your kitty will provide an extra cooling element that they are guaranteed to love.

If they are seeming agitated and aggressive, you could provide them with a more high energy interactive cat toy to help them to vent their frustration.

Look at Their Diet

It can be difficult to know what to feed your kitten when their appetite is low, and so the best thing to look out for is a food made specifically for their life stage that can provide a dense supply of nutrients and carbohydrates to help keep their energy and weight levels up as they grow. Often people find that softer food encourages their kitty to eat more owing to lack of difficult textures, where dry food can prove potentially painful for them.

Additionally, cat milk will help to encourage your kitten to eat, and will provide them with additional calcium, nutrients, and calories to encourage healthy weight gain and bone growth.

Weekly Dental Check

There are several complications that can arise during a cat’s teething cycle that are worth keeping an eye out for, this is done by gently looking into your kitten’s mouth weekly to check if you can see any abnormalities. A baby tooth that refuses to be dropped could cause complications with their adult teeth, so if you see one that isn’t moving contact your vet for advice, as it may need to be extracted.

Problems That May Require a Vet

There are not too many problems that would require a veterinarian’s attention, however, if you notice any of the following symptoms during your weekly checkups, then it is worth giving them a call for further advice.

• Baby teeth stuck in the way of adult teeth: If the baby teeth are not falling out and are still in when the adult teeth start to come through they can cause the new tooth to crack or become misaligned. A way to recognize this if you’re not sure on the difference between the adult and baby teeth is to look for overcrowding, there they may appear to have 2 rows of teeth, it is likely that the milk tooth has been pushed back.
• Infection: If their gums and mouth seem to become inflamed, or very red, or more severely if they seem to be having discharge coming from their gums, it will require veterinary treatment to clear the infection.
• Abnormal behavior: You will know your cat better than anyone. Aside from the typical symptoms of teething, if you are worried that your cat seems especially upset or is acting strangely, do not be embarrassed to call your vet for a little advice.

The 6 Month Checkup

When your kitten reaches around six months old, even if you haven’t noticed any problems watching their milk teeth come through, it is still worth booking a preliminary appointment with your vet around the 6 month mark for a final check before the permanent set has fully come through.

Your veterinarian  will have several things that they will need to check for to ensure that your feline friend is ready for their grown up teeth:

• Misalignment: This is probably the most common issue experienced with a kitten teething. Some deciduous teeth may get stuck and cause the adult teeth beneath to grow in at a bad angle or crack, this is usually treated with a simple extraction procedure.
• Tartar and Plaque: A build-up of either of these things can cause several dental complications later in life, it is best to keep on top of dental care from the off.
• Gum Disease: Due to the exposed nature of teething, it can, unfortunately, result in gum disease such as gingivitis another simple fix when caught early.

The Importance of Oral Hygiene

Dental hygiene is imperative with all species to keep them happy and healthy, humans included! Dental disease is unfortunately common among cats, but you can keep the risk if it developing to a minimum, by making a point of taking care of their teeth from the start.

Keeping a routine is the best way to ensure that their teeth and gums stay happy and healthy is the perfect way to maintain their dental health. When establishing your routine, it is best to begin once the kitten teething cycle has concluded (around 6-7 months), this will avoid any needless discomfort for your kitty, and will also avoid negative association with the activity, making both your lives easier later.

Your dental care routine with your kitty should include daily brushing, and regular checkups with your vet, in order to avoid the possibility of their developing periodontitis, gingivitis, or tooth resorption.

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Do Cats’ Teeth Fall Out?

No, they shouldn’t. Adult cats with a full set of teeth should not be losing any more. Their permanent set of teeth should be cared for and kept healthy in order to prevent this from happening, and if you should notice that your cat’s teeth are coming away, or that they have particularly bad breath for a prolonged period of time, it would be best to contact your vet to arrange a dental checkup to determine the cause.

Source:

1.  10 Facts You Need To Know To Protect Your Pet’s Oral – American Animal Hospital Association

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In this article, we talk about one of the most common problems cat owners face, the problem of kitten suckling and nursing behavior. There are two major problems related with these. The first one is the lack of awareness and proper knowledge among the owners. The second problem is the fact that owners deal with the situation in a way that they are actually not supposed to. As a cat owner, we would highly recommend that you be patient with your cat and properly understand the issues of suckling and nursing behavior.

Difference Between Suckling and Nursing

Although both the terms might be used interchangeably in various platforms, there is a distinctive difference between the two.

What is Suckling?

Suckling refers to the continuous suckling of objects. The objects could be fur, clothing, blanket, wool, own self, other kittens or any other toy. This behavior is considered normal when the kitten does that within the five to six weeks when it is born. The matter of concern rises when even in the adult stage, your cat resorts to such behavior.

What is Nursing Behavior?

When the kitten initially develops to react to the new surroundings, it resorts to the owner for its comfort. Suckling on to the owner, their foot, hands or other body parts is part of nursing behavior. It is highly recommended that you go with the flow as long as your cat is in the kitten stage.

Common Traits of Unhealthy Suckling or Nursing Behaviour

Suckling or nursing behavior as explained before is part of the natural growing process of the kitten. The problem arises when the cat cannot opt out of this activity.

• Compulsive behavior

The first and foremost aspect to identify if something is wrong is when you see that your cat is adopting a compulsive behavioral pattern. It is continuously suckling on to something and reacts in a negative way when you try to stop that. This sort of addictive behavior is harmful for the cat and steps need to be taken to tackle this problem. From your part, it will take patience and continuous positive re-enforcement for habit changes and new habit building.

• Out of the ordinary activity

Our research says that there are plenty of activities that owners get concerned about which might be just part of the growing process. For instance, we found owners getting concerned when two of their cats lick each other. But kitten trying to nurse on other cat is a completely natural activity performed by the cats. There are instances when the cat sucks on itself for a long period of time. This is also part of the natural process.

You will also find moments when your kitten sucks your hands or foot as a source of affection. All of these seem normal up to a certain extent. But problems arise when things get out of the normal scenario.

Reasons Why Suckling Behaviour Occurs

There are various reasons why your cat would resort to suckling. Here we will be discussing the key reasons why the suckling actually persists among the cats.

• Stress and boredom

Stress and anxiety are some of the major reasons why cats resort to suckling. This stress or anxiety could be for any reason. It could be because of the fact that the owner does not spend much time with the cat or the loss of a close family member. To deal with the anxiety and stress situation, cats resort to suckling as part of their coping mechanism. Other than ordinary suckling, stress also induces some other behavioral patterns among cats such as over-grooming behaviors, flank-licking, paw-sucking and tail chewing. Boredom also leads to suckling behavior. When the cat has nothing to do, it finds the easiest way to pass time is to knead with a wool or blanket.

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• Taken apart from mother

Recent studies show that a kitten is supposed to stay with its mother for at least twelve weeks. If the kitten is taken away from the mother before that period of time, the probability of suckling increases to the peak. The kittens then find an inherent need to suck onto something warm, soft or comforting that can replace its mother. Basically, any object that has the slightest resemblance of its mother might be the target of suckling. Initially, it is fine for the kittens to go for alternative comforting materials in absence of the mother. However, the behavior needs to be discouraged after a period of time when your cat starts to grow.

• Skin issues

When the cat is licking a specific part of the body all the time, chances are that the cat is suffering from a skin disease. When a certain part of the skin is hampered, cats end up licking that region constantly to provide comfort in that place. You can identify whether the cat is licking for a skin problem or some other reasons from the noise it makes. That is, if your cat is making purring or comforting noises, the cat is probably not infected with skin problems. But if your cat makes loud shrieks, this means that there is something wrong with the specific part of that body where the cat is licking.

• Hereditary behavior

Sometimes the persistent suckling or nursing behavior is due to genetics. Now this is completely based on abstract research. Usually, we find European or North American breeds of cats not possessing the suckling or nursing behavior. But it is seen that the situation is more prevalent among the Siamese, Balinese, Tonkinese breeds and even their crosses. Basically, the probability of oriental breeds suffering from this problem is higher compared to European or North American breeds.

When to Worry?

As mentioned before, sometimes it is completely natural for a kitten or cat to do suckling, kneading or nursing behavior. But there are times when it should become a matter of concern for you. As cat owners, the responsibility falls under you to keep track of your cat’s behavior and take appropriate actions when things go wrong. Here are some of the situations when you should become worried.

• Natural behavior VS unnatural behavior

When the kitten is licking itself and making purr noises, that is part of natural behavior. But you need to start worrying when she specifically licks one region of the body and makes really loud noises while doing so. This implies that she is suffering from pain in that particular region and licking is just a source of comfort. Kitten trying to nurse on other cat is a completely normal activity. In this case, you have nothing to worry about.

When the kitten is licking a certain person, which means it is trying to show affection to that person or the kitten is extremely comfortable with that person’s company. Now if you don’t like the licking, you can opt for habit building for your kitten. However, when the kitten’s suckling is converted to biting, that is a problem that requires immediate attention.

• Intake of fabrics

Kneading of wool or suckling clothing is a cute activity to see among kittens. The concern rises if your kitten is obsessed with the fabric. This repetitive action finally leads to chewing the fabric and taking them inside the body. That can, of course, lead to infections and other diseases.

• Involvement of claws

Whenever there is an involvement of claws along with suckling, it’s a strict no! Specifically when the suckling is involved with a human. We understand that with cats, you will end up getting few scratches anyway. But turning this into a habit is not encouraged at all.

What Should You Do?

Now that you know what the specific problems associated with suckling and nursing behavior are, it’s time to understand what actions you can take to stop the compulsive behavior of your kittens or cats.

• Subtle gestures of less affection

When your cat is obsessed with suckling you, from your end you have to be a little strict. By that we don’t mean scolding the cat or punishing it. Simply take the cat away from you when it resorts to such behavior. When you perform the same activity every time the cat resorts to suckling, it will start to associate suckling as an activity that drives it away from you. However, with this process you will have to be a little patient.

• Bitter-apple treatment

If your cat is highly attached to a certain piece of clothing or fabric, simply rub bitter apple to the clothing. Cats hate the smell of bitter apple and will eventually move away from the clothing. This is a simple act of classical conditioning. After continuous smell of bitter apple from the fabric, the cat will start associating bad smell with that fabric and will eventually stop sucking the clothing.

• Use distraction

The ideal situation to tackle suckling or nursing behavior is to provide a form of distraction to the kittens or cats. Whenever it is suckling, simply call the cat and divert its attention towards a specific kitten toy or object. You can use a cat pacifier for instance. This method might not work for those cats whose attention spans are higher.

• More fiber in diet

One of the reasons kittens or cats ingests fabric or clothing is because they do not feel full after a meal. To compensate for that, cats go for suckling clothes, wools and fabrics. What you can do is, incorporate more fiber in your pet’s diet. Fiber will keep your kitten healthy as well as keep the stomach full for a longer period of time.

• Keep a happy place

You can create a designated place for your kitchen. The place can be something soft and comfortable for the kitten to simply lie down and relax. This method is a good way to keep your kittens happy and stress free. Make sure you put a cat pacifier in the place.

• Medication

Our final recommendation would be to go for medication in order to stop suckling or nursing behavior. However, this is the most radical step to take. We would advise you to use the techniques mentioned before and if those do not work out, only then you should opt for medication. We would still discourage this option and keep trying to change your kitten’s habit in a natural way.

What Should You Avoid?

When it comes to changing the behavior of cats, there are a few things that you should avoid. Otherwise, you will not actually get the desired results. For instance, do not scold your kitten or cat for suckling or nursing behavior. That is because, most of the time they resort to such behavior to find comfort from a problem (absence of a mother, dealing with a new neighborhood, etc.). Punishing for suckling or nursing behavior is also highly discouraged. That is again for the same reason; punishing will not solve the problem.

Conclusion

The final tip from us would be to spend more time with your kitten or cat, play with them and provide them with a comfortable zone to relax. In this way, they will get less bored and be less stressful about any changes that occur around them. Simply sitting or lying down in the designated comfort zone will act as a substitute for suckling.

Sources:

1. Ken Lambrecht, DVM, Is Your Cat Suckling as an Adult?, PetMD
2. Pippa Elliott, MRCVS, How to Manage Wool Sucking in Cats, WikiHow

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Why Are Kittens Born with Their Eyes Closed?

If you have ever seen a kitten in the first stages of their life, you will know that their eyes remain tightly shut for the first few days after they are born. This is important in protecting their vision. Newborn kittens are hypersensitive to light and so need this shield to protect their vision. As well as this, newborn kittens are also born deaf and without the ability to eat by themselves or regulate their own temperature. For all these reasons, kittens in the earliest stages of their life are entirely reliant on their mothers for survival. This is why there is a limit on when you can adopt a newborn kitten into your life.

How Old Are Kittens When They Open Their Eyes?

Kittens tend to be between five and 14 days old when they first open their eyes, though sometimes this may happen a little earlier or later than this. In fact, it is shorter-haired kittens who tend to open their eyes earlier around 5 to 8 days after birth, while longer haired cats tend to be around 10 to 14 days old before their peepers are properly in action.

However, when their eyes first open, this will only happen gradually. It takes a little time to go from a world of darkness to a world of light. For this reason, you should never try and force your kitten’s eyes open. During these first few weeks, kittens are more susceptible to developing eye infections. When they reach their third week of life, kittens generally have wide open eyes and they are ready to start exploring the world in earnest! However, their depth perception does not kick in until the fourth week.

If a kitten has still not opened their eye as they move into their third week of life, this may be the stage when intervention from a veterinarian is required. They can also help if a kitten has one eye open but not the other yet.

What Color Are Newborn Kitten Eyes?

An interesting fact is that all kittens have blue eyes when they are first born. Over time, their eye color will start to change into different shades, but all baby cats started off from the same place.

What to Do if You Find a Kitten with Closed Eyes

If stray cats are common in your area, there is always the chance that you find a kitten with closed eyes, and it is important that you know how to react in this situation as it could prove to be a matter of life and death for the little ball of fluff. The most obvious thing to do is call animal rescue to get them picked up. These kittens need urgent veterinary care in order to stay alive.

How Do Kittens Communicate Before They Open Their Eyes?

One of the big questions that people ask regarding kittens and opening their eyes is how they communicate before they can do so. Kittens are initially born with just a sense of touch and smell. Their mother will move them around and help them to feed and go to the bathroom in these very early stages of life. As for their sense of smell, it is very adept at a young age – so much so that you may notice your kitten hissing at unfamiliar scents. This is to alert their mother that they are around something unfamiliar and to call for her intervention if it is required.

What Are Some of the Other Common Stages of Development in Kittens?

Now that you know a bit more about kittens and opening their eyes, you may also be wondering about some other common development stages in kittens. We have already established that their eyes tend to open around the second week of life. During the third week, this is when their ear canals will be entirely open. Kittens are also able to eliminate by themselves as their digestive systems properly develop. This is also when socialization starts to occur.

Around the fourth week of life, this is when depth perception starts to develop – as we discussed earlier on. Also around this time is the development of their sense of smell. At the same time, kittens will begin learning to walk without stumbling over. And this is when the early parts of socialization begin, so you may notice the kitten interacting with their brothers and sisters more and more. As for socialization with humans, this tends to happen more around the sixth week of life. At this stage, different types of food can be introduced in their diet and they will start to enjoy all of the taste pleasures that exist beyond their mother’s milk!

Final Thoughts

In this blog post, we have thoroughly answered the questions: at what age do kittens open their eyes. To recap, it is generally in their second week of life between five and 14 days old. Before this, they are entirely blind and reliant on their mother to stay alive. This is why you adopt kittens at a later stage in their life. If the mother cannot look after them for any reason, it is essential that a kitten is properly cared for in a facility that takes care of their health and wellbeing.

Sources:

1. Betty Lewis, What Can Kittens See After Opening Their Eyes?, The Nest
2. Dr. Patty Khuly VMD, 12 Questions Owners Ask About New Kittens, Vetstreet

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