When Do Kittens Open Their Eyes?

When do kittens open their eyes?

All kittens are born with their eyes closed, which enables the eyes to continue developing after birth and protect them from light. The kitten’s eyes will begin to open from 7 to 10 days post-birth.

Cats are altricial, which essentially means that newborn kittens are born almost immobile, with fused eyelids and completely helpless for some time after birth (in comparison to say a horse, who is on its feet within an hour). This makes evolutionary sense as cats are predators, who in the wild spend a lot of time stalking, chasing and hunting down their prey which would be difficult to do in a heavily pregnant female. So a trade-off is to have a shorter gestation period than other species that don’t hunt for their food.

The shorter gestation period means that altricial offspring are born underdeveloped in many ways (birds are born without feathers). The eyelids of newborn kittens are fused, and even once they have opened, their eyesight is quite poor. The kitten’s eyesight is fully developed by five weeks of age.

It is not uncommon for kittens to have a bit of crustiness around the eyes when they open. Please see a veterinarian if you notice crusting as eye infections left untreated can lead to blindness.

Kitten eye colour

All kittens are born with blue eyes which change colour between 8 – 12 weeks of age.

Kitten milestones

• Kittens are also born toothless. Their baby teeth come in around week three and should have all of their baby teeth by 6-8 weeks. The adult teeth come in around four months of age. Kittens have 26 baby teeth, and adult cats have 30.
• Worm kittens from two weeks of age and then every two weeks until they are 12 weeks, then every three months from then on.
• Kittens start to walk around from three weeks of age, albeit shakily at first.
• At six weeks old your kitten should receive his first vaccination, and again at 8 and 12 weeks.
• The weaning process starts at five weeks of age. You can offer your kittens soft food at this stage.
• Kittens are ready to leave their mum around 10-12 weeks of age.

Other kitten facts

Sometimes the mother cat (known as a queen) will chew off the whiskers of her kittens.

You may notice when a kitten is nursing from his mother that he gently kneads her belly. Kittens do this to help stimulate the mother’s flow of milk. Some cats continue to knead soft objects well into adulthood. I have a ten-year-old Singapura cat who still kneads soft blankets.

Milk is essential for young kittens; however, they can only consume milk for the first few weeks of their life as once they wean, they lose their ability to digest the lactose in milk, which can cause gastrointestinal issues.

The average size of a litter is between 3 – 5 kittens. First-time mothers may have smaller litters of just one or two kittens.