The beautiful Peaches and her 5 three week old babies
THREE WEEK OLD KITTENS UPDATE
This week I have begun to handle the kittens a lot more and encourage them out of their enclosures. I sit with them and interact with them and let them feel safe to crawl all over me. I am doing this with both litters separately at this point, and will introduce them to each other in the coming weeks. Both litters have been effectively introduced to the mother of the other litter - Blue’s litter to Peaches, and Peaches litter to Blue. This helps to teach the kittens that other adult cats are safe to be around and not to be feared.
Genetically the temperament of kittens is passed to them by the father. But, Dr Mikel Delgado, a feline behavioural scientist, currently undertaking post Doctoral research on feline behaviour with UC Davis suggests, a sound temperament evolves from a mix of both genetics and environmental factors. She emphasises, that kittens effectively exposed to new and positive experiences, from the ages of 2 to 9 weeks are much more likely to be comfortable with new situations as they develop into adult cats. Now, personality is always a little more complicated than that. The Sire of these litters was already carefully chosen because of his sound and friendly temperament, but kitten will develop their own personality, based on their experiences as well. So, we can encourage a shy kitten, for example, to be a lot less shy and comfortable in new situations, than they would normally have been in the absence effective socialisation and positive reinforcement.
Blue’s Kitten’s Under her watchful eye
THREE WEEK OLD KITTENS UPDATE.
Lots of milestones have been reached this week. At this age both litters of kittens are up on their feet and taking their first wobbly steps. Apart from learning how to walk - and run and inevitably fall over, at this age their first teeth are starting to appear at the front of their mouth. These teeth are not designed to eat meat, but designed for grooming. Their hearing has now matured dramatically, and they are able to respond to sound and become a lot more interactive. They are now showing the very first little signs of play behaviour. Their body temperature should be around 37 degrees Celsius at this age and as they are still not able to completely self thermoregulate, they still need a heat source and an ambient temperature around 24 degrees.
Their eyesight has improved dramatically and their pupils are able to dilate, responding to light and images around them, it still has a long way to go before maturity. It is important to note, that a Cats eyesight is very different from ours. They don’t have as sharp a focus on still objects and don’t see as broad a range of colours as we do. Their eyes are geared up to catch pray and see fast moving objects. In opposition to humans, cats have a high concentration of rod receptors and a low concentration of cone receptors in their retina. A higher concentration of rod receptions accounts for their ability to see well in the dark. They also have a wider field of vision or peripheral vision than humans, but miss out on sharp focus at a distance. Their colour perception is said to be similar to someone who has red green colour blindness.
Their weight should be between 350 and 450 grams and they are now feeding every 4 to 5 hours, giving both mums a break to sit on laps, play and smooch. But they also don’t need as much sleep and are awake a lot more often after every meal, and will cry out for mum when they wander out of the nest and struggle to find their way back to
