This is called “social play”. It is the way kittens interact with each other. It is different to how children play. Kitten playtime is based on fights and predation (hunting animals) whereas although children sometimes fight their play together is … Continue reading →
A healthy kitten weighs about 3-4 ounces at birth. This is 100-125 grams. They should double their birth weight within 2 weeks. This is an average. Some modern cat breeds such as the Maine Coon and Savannah cat (F1s and … Continue reading →
All the discussions we have about domestic cat socialisation concerns socialisation to humans. Little is known about the important time for kitten-to-kitten socialisation. I try and address the topic generally here. During the first two weeks kittens form an attachment … Continue reading →
People ask: “when do kittens open their eyes?”. The answer is that most kittens open their eyes sometime during their second week of life. There is considerable variation in the time when kittens first open their eyes. The range is … Continue reading →
Each cat learns to meow at different stages in their lives dependent on the circumstance and the individual cat but around 4-6 months might be the first time. When did your cat first meow? My cat Gabriel has just uttered … Continue reading →
This is a chart showing milestones in a kitten’s development before and after birth over the first weeks. It is based on John Bradshaw’s Cat Sense: The Feline Enigma Revealed. If you click on it you go to my Flickr … Continue reading →
The answer to the question in the title is found in genetics, cat anatomy, kitten development and physics. When kittens are born they are not fully developed. Some development takes place after birth. One aspect of development that takes place … Continue reading →
DW emailed a nice photograph of what appears to be mother and father cats with their offspring. In groups, sometimes the mothers receive support from other female cats… There appears to be at least seven kittens, six of which are … Continue reading →
Newborn Kitten Care – an article by author and cat rescuer Elisa Black-Taylor. Newborn kitten care is a subject that is covered very well on the internet. During the height of my kitten care days in the 1980’s, I’d have … Continue reading →
by Daisy Duke (Stevenage, UK) My nan has a cat that gave birth to 5 beautiful kittens 2 weeks ago. That same day, 3 died. There were two left. They were healthy and feeding well. Unfortunately, one of them died. … Continue reading →
