When Do Kittens Open Their Eyes?

Kittens are born with their eyes closed, just like their furry dog pals, but when do kittens open their eyes? We’ll answer this question and give you plenty of information you’ll need to know in the first few weeks of your kitten’s life.

If your favourite furry companion has given birth to your first litter of kittens, congrats! Don’t worry that their eyes are closed and their ears folded, it’s normal. There are a lot of other things you may be unaware of that we’ll go over to catch you up. And if you’re interested, you can find more info on cat health care milestones in their first year.

Let’s go into how kittens develop into their regal adolescence.

Newborn kittens

When kittens are born they should weigh about 100 grams. They’ll have their umbilical cord attached, but don’t worry this’ll hang around for three or so days before it falls off by itself.

These little kittens are very fragile when they’re born. And if you’re champing at the bit to see when do kittens open their eyes then have patience… They’re born with their eyes closed and it will take quite a few days.

This means that they’re blind and, not only that, they’re also born deaf. As if this wasn’t enough for these poor little ones, they also can’t urinate or defecate on their own.

Before kittens open their eyes – one week old

When do kittens open their eyes? Not just yet!

After a week, the kittens are living the good life. They’ll sleep 90% of the time, and in their brief waking moments they’ll suckle on their mother.

Their mother’s milk has everything they need, like important antibodies, making it the perfect diet for a baby kitten. Of course, there may be times where the mother has either abandoned her litter or the kittens needed to be separated for health reasons. If this is the case, you’ll need to create your own kitten formula and feed the kittens yourself.

Here are 5 things every new kitten parent should know.

When do kittens open their eyes? At two weeks old!

Lets finally answer the question: when do kittens open their eyes? Well, it’s at 10-14 days old.

At around the two week mark you’ll find these adorable little furballs will start opening their eyes. Kittens’ eyes will always be blue when they open and will slowly develop and reach their permanent eye colour at between three and eight weeks of age. This means they may possibly – probably – change colour.

At two weeks old the kittens’ ears will open and begin to stand up. They should also begin their attempts at crawling and start kneading. They’ll now become interactive with the world around them as they can see (while still not having developed their eyesight fully) and hear.

At three weeks

Now that kittens can open their eyes, at this stage of a kitten’s life their eyes may start taking on their true colour and their eyesight will improve. You can also prepare yourself to have a very proud pet parent moment when your furbaby takes their very first wobbly steps.

They will start growing their canines at this point too, so you might notice them coming through. Yup, just like us, kittens have two sets of teeth and will have a teething phase.

At four weeks

Congratulations, you’ve reached a milestone in your kitten’s life. This is where litterbox training can begin and you can start slowwwly weaning them off their mother’s milk.

If you’ve not yet thought about it, routine pet care for your kitten is a the best way to make sure nothing flies under the radar when raising your beautiful furry family.

At five weeks

You’ve reached another pet parenting milestone moment! At five weeks your kitten’s canines will start to grow out and they’ll be ready to munch on solid food. You should also probably start thinking about how to stop your kitten scratching furniture and other valuables in claws’ reach.

If you have other cats in the home, have you thought about how you’re going to go about kitten and cat introductions? You’ll want to ensure their relationship starts out and continues on the right paw.

Kittens open their eyes, now keep them insured

Cat insurance is a great way of providing a soft financial landing when visiting the vet for a check-up or if your furbaby requires medical attention for all kinds of issues, big or small. And here’s a kicker – PD Insurance gives one or more months of pet insurance free to all new customers who sign up online!