We all love kittens, they’re just too cute!
There’s something that I find fascinating about them and when I’m in the presence of a kitten I’m totally captivated.
I had a dig around on the web to see if I could find some interesting facts about our furry friends and here are 4 fascinating facts about kittens…
Kittens are always born with blue eyes
When kittens are born the melanin needed for a cat’s eyes to show color isn’t present.
Cats begin to develop eye color at around six to seven weeks old.
The darker the cat’s fur the more melanistic they are and vice versa. Cats who retain the blue eye color have very low levels of melanin.
Kittens are born deaf and blind
When a kitten is born they are what is known as altricial meaning that they are totally reliant on their mother.
Kitten are immobile and very immature upon birth, their eyes are closed disabling vision, their ears are folded preventing hearing and they can’t walk.
Kittens usually open their eyes around 8-12 days after being born but their vision doesn’t develop until around 2-3 weeks of age.
Kittens have milk teeth
Yes, you read that correctly, kittens are born without visible teeth however after around 3 weeks their teeth begin to appear.
Kittens have what is known as deciduous teeth which can also be described as baby or milk teeth.
They have 26 teeth initially that will eventually fall out and be replaced by 30 adult teeth when the kitty is around 6-7 months old.
Kittens in the same litter can have different fathers
This sounds like an episode of The Jerry Springer Show…
If a litter is large, there’s a good chance that more than one father was involved in mating.
When a female cat is on heat, her eggs can be fertilized by more than one male and this is known as superfecundation.
My Thoughts
There are many more kitten facts to be discovered and I must admit, this has been an education.
We took in a little black kitten called Coco but he was already 3-4 months old when he made our home his own.
I’ve just been talking with my wife and neither of us remembers seeing Coco’s milk teeth around the house when he was 6-7 months old?
Did he swallow them or something?
How well do you know your cat? Want to do a quick quiz about cats? Click here…
Lee Harris
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