# age of my kitten



## ells (Sep 15, 2011)

Im wondering if you guys can help...

we took in a kitten 2 weeks ago, (2nd sept ) Im not the most knowlegable of kittens...

she was apparently ten weeks old then. The owners said she was a runt of the litter, but she wasnt much smaller than her brothers...

When I weighed her, ( at what they would say was 11 weeks) she weighed 500g.
this weeks she's at 600g. and her eyes ave just recently turned from blue to green. 

I really dont believe the age of her now. Especially as Ive just seen the woman posting that they are now ten weeks. 

Shes happy and healthy, she's eating and drinking fine. she was quite nervous when we first got her, but I guess that comes with being seperated from her family. 

So apparently she's now twelve weeks. at 600g. with just turned green eyes. I;ve attatched a photo but i dont know if it's much help, this was her on the day we took her in. Can anyone give any advice on how old she's more likely to be? I just want to know I'm doing the best thing for her

ah another thing, the mother cat still was quite, well very, enlarged in the nipple area, I didnt think about it until I spoke to a friend who's had a litter of kittens some time before. But the owner had said they kittens were all weaned. It just makes me think I took her on far too early  and I really should of realised something beofre getting her home.


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## NicoleW (Aug 28, 2010)

I'd say maybe around 6 - 7 weeks with the eye changing colour.

If you wasn't the most knowledgeable with kittens then IMO you shouldn't have bought one, or ''took one in''. But what is done is done. 

Spend lots of time with her, playing and whatnot 

Very pretty kitten though


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## ells (Sep 15, 2011)

Oh she is played with constantly, and she sleeps, a lot. 
When I say I dont have a lot of knowlege, I more mean, I'm not an expert I don't know enoguh about them from birth up until a bit older. I didnt realise about how much they shoudl weigh, or their eyes,.. Our old cat we got him at 8 weeks, and from what I remember apart from the eyes he was the same. 

You are probably right, I shouldn't of got her, ...but my cat died a couple of months ago before, and although she isnt a replacement, the house seems right again with a cat in it. 

Thankyou for your help, she is very pretty and content,


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## NicoleW (Aug 28, 2010)

So sorry to hear about your previous cat.

Have you got a name for your new kitten?


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## emmar (Aug 1, 2008)

she looks about 8wks old to me ...she is very bootiful 
has she got a name? 
good for you taking her on ..esp sounds like the person you got her off doesnt really care about them :thumbup:


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## ells (Sep 15, 2011)

Her name is Lulu...she's prettier now, it took a while for her to grow into her face. 

What surprised me about the owners was that they were telling me about someone theyd turned down who'd come for a kitten...so I thought they knew what they were doing. 

According to the owners, in the photo, she was ten weeks then. adamant infact it was ten weeks. Ive got little faith in them now...

i dont suppose a couple of weeks wll matter in a few months, its like with any young animal/person. 

but now im just a bit worriedabout her weight and age being right,


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

she looks about 5/6 weeks in that photo and if her eyes were still blue when you got her I'd say that's about right. Kittens are born with murky blue eyes and they change as they grow and are normally changed over by 6/7 weeks though the colour may still deepen or lighten afterwards for a while. SO blue eyes around 5 weeks old! Horrid person telling you she was 10 weeks - she doesn't even have the body of a 10 weeks old - they start to go all leggy at that stage - this is my kitten at 3 wks and 11wks - big difference!














you can see at 3 weeks she still has blue eyes, but by 11 wks they are already aqua


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## Chewie39 (Jul 24, 2011)

Lulu looks much younger than 10 weeks in that picture to me (the eyes and also general look of her). Has she been vet checked? A vet should be able to make a reasonable estimation of her current age and also tell if she's underweight for her age. My kitten weighed 1kg at 9 weeks and the vet said he was on the light side but as he was eating well it wasn't an issue and he's a normal weight now.

Sadly it seems Lulu's previous owners weren't entirely honest with you - although (and a breeder would know this, I don't) do very small kittens develop mjore slowly than normal weight at birth ones? Might that account for the eye colour? I don't think so but I'm not 100% sure.

She's lovely, bless her.


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

Oh, as well if she was only 5/6 weeks then 500g isn't that underweight either - and if her eyes have just changed she's now about 6 weeks and should be around 700g so 600g isn't too bad, just keep feeding her up - IF she was now 12 weeks old she would be severely underweight and starving - she should be about 1.3 kgs for that age.


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## ells (Sep 15, 2011)

Thanks, all of you, thankyou.

she's in the vets on monday morning so I guess they'll be able to give me an age for her and check she's ok, I would hope they know what they're doing!! 

she is more than happy in herself, I just dont want to have done any damage.


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## jenny armour (Feb 28, 2010)

cats eyes usually change colour at about 8 weeks so 500 grams isnt a bad weight


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

She's very pretty, if much younger than they told you. It's a familiar story--these BYBs always say they're about 10 weeks old (that seems to be the magic age for them), but they usually turn out to be 6 instead. At least she'll get loving care and attention with you, so while she'll lose out on time spent with mum and litter mates, she's in a much healthier environment otherwise with someone who actually wants to do what's best for her.


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## ells (Sep 15, 2011)

Thnakyou, again,vets today, they've put her at 8/9 weeks, and are not concernered about her weight or anything else. 

she's back in next week for her immunisations because the vet and I both agreed she was too small for them now. 

I emailed the woman....she replied 'there is no way they are 8 weeks old, they are defiantly ten' - which is really funny, because I know animals have different years to humans and stuff, but to stay ten weeks for the full two weeks Ive had her is quite a miracle.!


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## harrys_mum (Aug 18, 2010)

she looks very young, my kitten was bigger than that at 8-9wks, weve had him 2weeks now and he still has amazing blue eyes, which i hope are going to stay for good. hes gorgeous.
michelle x


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## missye87 (Apr 4, 2011)

She is a gorgeous little baby, but much younger than the breeder claims her to be.

On another note, have you thought about getting her a play mate? As she is missing out on all the important socialisation weeks with mum and litter mates it is a possibility she has behavioural problems later on, but it's not certain she will. It's als nice for them to have a companion when you go to work and just be a naughty little kitten with!


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

SO you got her on the 2nd Sept (thinking she was 10 weeks old) and on the 19th the vets put her at around 8/9 weeks (when she was expected to be 12 weeks old) - so on the 2nd, 2 and 1/2 weeks earlier, she must have been around 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 weeks old - the breeder definitely pulled the wool over your eyes didn't she? - I would be a little miffed and be having words!


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## ells (Sep 15, 2011)

oh yes I've had words, believe me....she's changed their ages, to saying they were 8 weeks when we got them and is adamant they were no younger. ...it's still rubbish. ( 9 weeks now according to the vet and in for her jabs tomorrow)



She's happy though and currently asleep over my arm. She's started to behave like a more lively kitten now too, must remember to hide my socks and tights and keep my feet under the duvet....

I did think about a playmate for her....but my husband very firmly put his foot down. 
I don't work particually long hours and she is played with all the time by me, and the two little monsters I call my children


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## NicoleW (Aug 28, 2010)

Get another one and if your husband says anything just say "That's not another kitten, it's just her shadow now come along tea is ready"


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## notsure (Sep 2, 2011)

ells said:


> I did think about a playmate for her....but my husband very firmly put his foot down.


Mine was also adament that we'd only get one - but when we picked our first guy up, we ended up taking his littermate to kitten sit a few days - took just 1 pic before hubby decided our guy needed a playmate (he'd had to go to work right after we got them home).

We picked up our 2nd kitten yesterday, and already I know it was the best thing we could of done, for a start, now when Oslo does his kitten on krack impersonations - he bugs Odin rather than me :thumbup:

Believe it or not, 2 kittens are actually less work than one.

notsure


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## hope (May 25, 2011)

congratulations on your new kitten just take what most people say on here like a pinch of salt because some members on here like to put downers on people because they think they know whats best


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

hope said:


> congratulations on your new kitten just take what most people say on here like a pinch of salt because some members on here like to put downers on people because they think they know whats best


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

hope said:


> congratulations on your new kitten just take what most people say on here like a pinch of salt because some members on here like to put downers on people because they think they know whats best


You know, it's not a reflection of your self-worth if someone sold you a kitten that was younger than they claimed. I said this before, and maybe you didn't get it, but I really don't think people in your thread were attacking you, they were saying the breeders had done something misleading and therefore wrong. Some people perhaps didn't take the time to word their criticisms super carefully, to cover all the sharp points in cotton wool, so maybe you took it personally. There are many people on here who are super adamant that we shouldn't support BYB's of this sort and believe that by buying their kittens the problem will just continue. They are rightly frustrated, but the flip side is that these young kittens will end up with bad lives most likely (or very short ones) if someone like you doesn't take them home and so you've done a good thing and a bad thing, but it's a good thing for your particular kittens.

People get kittens all of the time that breeders "say" are 10 weeks, and it turns out their eyes haven't even changed color. It doesn't make you a bad person, and the important thing is that you're prepared for doing what's right for the kittens--that you're aware that there could be some behavioral issues to work through, or that it might be dangerous to give certain vaccinations too young. That's all. Love your adorable kittens, do what's right by them, and don't get your back up too quickly when asking for advice. Even with smileys, sometimes inflection doesn't come through on an internet forum, but I really do think pretty much everyone on here who bothers to post really does have the best interest of the kittens at heart, and they just want to educate future kitten buyers about the signs to look for so that they don't take a kitten home younger than the ideal age.


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

_congratulations on your new kitten shes gorgeous, please can we have some more pictures of her.,,_


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

colliemerles said:


> _congratulations on your new kitten shes gorgeous, please can we have some more pictures of her.,,_


What she said ^^^^^^^^^^^

We've only got that one tiny pic. I want to see more of her pretty little face!


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