Newborn kittens
Healthy newborn kitten is satisfied with everything for the first three weeks and the majority of time he sleeps and wakes up only to eat. About eight hours during a day the kitten spends on eating and doesn‘t stop sucking mother’s milk for 45 minutes. The most of kittens adapt to one of the nips and find it by its smell. If one of the nips doesn’t attract the kittens it stops lactation.
Perfect mother-cat defends the nest instinctively and keeps kittens in clean conditions. She stimulates the reflex of urination and defecation by licking of the kitten’s tummy and rectum.
The kittens are born blind (with close eyes) and begin to open them on the eighth day and open them by the fourteenth day.
Shorthair race cats open their eyes earlier than longhair cats. All kittens are born with blue eyes, they begin to pigment after 3 weeks age and finish the pigmentation up to 9-12 weeks age.
Newborn kittens have their ears firmly closed, they are opened on the 5-8 day and risen up to 3 weeks age. The kitten’s sex can be identified after his birth, though it is easier to do it in junior age.
At the age of 25 days the kittens are guided by eyesight and hearing. Usually they rise up at the age of 18 days and start to go by the 21 day. At this time they will begin to eat from a saucer by themselves. At the age of four weeks they begin to urinate and defecate themselves. They try to do it on the paper not in the nest.
Try to disturb the kittens less. At least when they are some weeks old and they begin to crawl. Moreover the majority of cats are nervous when their kittens are taken away. They say it is bad for the kitten and it affects his socialization and prevents from communicating with mother and other kittens and getting along well with them. Intermediate relations are necessary for the kitten’s developing, for him to know that he is a cat. Lacking of early socialization the kitten can show aggression, fear, and untidiness during the eating and other unwilling behavior. After 6 weeks age the kitten begins to communicate with people and faces with new unpredictable situations so necessary for his adaptation in the surrounding world and for he to become a true pet.
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