Birth - 2 weeks: 

• Kittens spend their time eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating... and growing!

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2 weeks:

• Eyes begin to open

• Kittens begin to crawl around on their bellies

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3 weeks:

• Kittens are up on all 4 paws, and begin to learn how to walk. Their movements are very shaky and uncoordinated. 

• They turn towards sounds, and begin to track movements slowly.

• They begin to mew occasionally, and have been able to hiss from birth.

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4 weeks:

• Kittens' coordination have improved exponentially. 

• They begin to start to run, do little hops, and begin to climb.

• They play a lot, and use their claws and teeth as a way to play and explore their surroundings (including your hands!)

• Their hearing and eyesight is improving, and they will react to both sounds and movement stimuli.

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5 weeks:

• Kittens can run, jump, and climb with precision. 

• Their play has begun to include stalking, pouncing, and puffing up to look big and scary.

• They meow a lot, begin to purr when people come to play, run to visitors, and enjoy attention from people.

• They still sleep a lot, but their nap times include longer periods of play and exploration.​

• By 5 weeks some, or all, of the kittens will have begun to eat some raw food.

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6 weeks:

• Kitten's eyes are changing colors.

• Kittens are still quite small, under 2#'s each.

• Eye/paw coordination is greatly improved; kittens are perfecting their pounce and stalking skills.

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7-8 weeks:

• Kittens continue to perfect their run, jump, stalk, climbing skills. Hand-paw coordination is excellent on all kittens. 

• At this stage kittens are excellent climbers and frequent the top sleeping bunks on the cat tree, and on the various perches around the cat room.

• While all kittens should now be regularly eating raw foods and drinking water, they are still not weaned, and won't be for several more weeks.

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8-10 weeks:

• At 8 weeks kittens will visit the Vet and be thoroughly checked out. They will receive their first round of CORE vaccinations & de-worming. 

• Kittens are eating more solid foods, though they still nurse from Momma periodically.

• Their motor skills continue to improve, they are more vocal for attention, and they are fast to the door when they hear people approaching.

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11-13 weeks:

• At 11 weeks kittens will receive their 2nd Wellness checkup and 2nd round of CORE vaccinations. 

• Between 10-11 weeks the kittens will be allowed outside the cat room to explore more of the house, and begin to interact more with the other cats and our 2 farm dogs.

• They will be socialized regularly, and become introduced to the various sounds and activities of typical house life.

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14weeks onward:

• Kittens will receive their final round of CORE vaccinations, as well as their rabies shot, at 14 weeks. 

• At this stage we work even more diligently to socialize the kittens to the other animals in our home (cats and dogs), as well as the typical sounds and busyness of home-life.

• Kittens often start to use "soft paws" (paws without claws) when playing with people. 

• While kittens have been picked up, handled, and played with since birth, they are learning to enjoy rubs, kisses, and cuddles at this stage. They also begin to pick out favorite lounging spots within the main house. Sometimes that's on a window perch, sometimes in one of the many cat trees, and sometimes sitting on the chair with us humans.

• Kittens will be scheduled for spay/neuter surgery and microchipping at 15-16 weeks of age. They will then spend the next 14 days healing and getting ready to move to their furever homes with their new/furever families. Most kittens are able to move to their new homes by 17-18 weeks of age.