Determining Kitten Age

A few weeks ago I thought I found a  8 week old kitten but after taking cat to the veterinarians I found out that the kitten was older.   The veterinarian examined the cat and asked questions pertaining to the kitten eating habits, feeding schedule, sleeping habits and activity, and then determined an approximate age.

I learned that the kitten was approximately 10 weeks old. The cat was small for its age because it was underdeveloped. As a stray, the kitten did not get the proper nutrition. Know that an orphaned kitten could appear to be small due to their lack of food from queen cat or from being abandoned, left to forage on their own.

Feral kitten with Queen cat

Other ways to Determine Age of Kitten 

1. Determine an approximate age for the kitten by their eating-sleeping habits. 
2. A kitten that is not able to go to the bathroom on their own or needs to be fed a milk replacement by way of bottle is a newborn age three weeks and under.
3. If the kitten is drinking replacement milk from a glass bowl, eating soft kitten food or wellness core kitten formula grain free and no GMO kibble moistened with replacement milk and eats five to six times a day the age is 4 to 8 weeks.
4. Kittens that are age 12 to 24 weeks old are weaned from replacement milk and eating solid foods that is moistened with water or canned kitten food. These kittens generally eat three times a day.
Another way to determine the age of a kitten is by their weight: each pound represents month (example 2 pounds = two months)

*The photographs that you view on this post are of the many kittens I have rescued over the years.