How old do you think he is?

This may be impossible to tell just from pics, but I'll give it a try. We adopted a little tortoiseshell kitten from the shelter a few days ago. First of all, they said he's a male which I know is really rare but I'm not very experienced at sexing kittens so I'll have to wait until we take him into the vet. Anyway, they said he's 8 weeks old, but he seems awfully tiny and still has that squacking baby meow (sounds sort of like a dolphin). Plus he's not digesting hard, dry food very well (we've since changed him to soft food).

When he's curled up in a ball, he's a little smaller than a grapefruit. So if anyone wants to guess at his age, I'd appreciate it.




-Chelle

 

if he's 8 weeks old I don't have any gray to cover.

Try Royal Canin Baby Kat dry food...it's considered dry food but it's not really crunchy hard and the pellets are very tiny - geared for those little mouths and soft baby teeth.

If you can tell his sex yet chances are good she's really young. You should be able to see the buds of testicles at that age - could be the fur hiding them. I fostered a long haired kitten and by the age of 5-6 weeks I could tell he was a male.

 

And also, it's hard to tell without a reference, like something held up next to him/her to show a size reference. But even then, you can't always tell age by size either.

 

I don't think you can tell age by the meowing either. Copper was tiny--maybe 2 weeks old and had a "real" meow in protest when his formula wasn't warm enough. I weaned him to kitten food mixed with warm kitten formula--kinda like a gruel--and then to dry kibble. Maybe you could try that?

He (?) sure is cute!

 

What a doll!
Hard to tell but I'd guess about 6wks. I think feeding the canned food is fine. If you really want to feed dry you could just soak it in a bit of warm water to make it moist.

 

ditto on the 6 weeks. hes a cute lil guy! very fuzzy :lol:

 

Thanks everyone. We were thinking he was closer to 6 weeks, but we haven't had a kitten this small in over 10 years. He has an eye infection (had it before we got him and it started to clear up but now it's coming back) so we're going to take him to the vet tomorrow and I'll ask the vet if he's a male or female (his rear end is pretty fuzzy so it's difficult to see anything especially when I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for).

For food, I've been making my oldest cat (17) homemade, all natural food because she has CRF. So we've been giving him either some of that with kitten chow ground up in it or kitten chow soaked in kitten formula. He's doing good with both of those.

-Chelle

 

Aww, what a cutie! :love_y_t_much: I don't know much about things like this, but he doesn't look 8 weeks old to me... :|

 

Well, we took "him" to the vet and found out "he" is a little girl. And she's pretty malnourised so the vet said it's almost impossible to tell an accurate age, but his best guess is around 7 weeks (she only weighed 1 lb, btw).

Also, while at the shelter, 2 of the 4 kittens in her litter died suddenly for no apparent reason. Because of that and her malnutrition he decided to do some blood work. Nothing looks too horrible, but FIV and feline leukemia are slim possiblities (she's too young to test, though) so we have to really baby her (which we've been doing) and keep her away from our other cats for a while (again, we've been doing that because of the size difference). Two of our older cats are going to get vaccinated tomorrow and we normally don't do the leukemia, but we'll go ahead and get that done too just to be safe.

I think she's going to be fine, though. She eats a ton, sleeps a ton, and plays a tone. Other than being thin and having a yucky eye she seems perfectly fine.

-Chelle

 

oh a little girl now! hope all the tests come back ok.

you know what she reminds me of? a pre gremlin, what are they called? mogwai? nonetheless, very cute!

 

LOL. You're right she does sort of look like a mogwai. We were thinking along the lines of a very fuzzy Yoda. I really like her ears because they're huge, really fuzzy, as a while they're tilted forward, and the tips also tip a little further forward.

-Chelle

 

So...what's HER name??

 

What a beautiful little girl!

 

Oops, I totally forgot to mention her name. It's Tennessee.

And here's some new pics.





Meeting Sherbert




And the other kitties.

Jupiter


Lizzy


Emily (she weighs 12lbs 3.5oz and still has about 1 - 2 more years of growing to do)


-Chelle

 

Great pics, encore, encore! :y_the_best: :m11:

 

:lol: :lol: The pics were well put together, meeting Sherbert and the next one she was licking her lips.....funny :lol:

 

LOL. I didn't intentionally put them in that order, but you're right it is kinda funny.

-Chelle

 

she is adorable...great pics..and welcome to the forum

 

Oh what a doll.

Id guse 6-7 weeks.

Too young to be away from mom.

 

kitten age ie: Teeth

I adopted 2 small Manx kittens few years ago. The breeder though not a cat breeder was an AKC breeder of Poms and a judge to boot so though I thought they were too young I felt that an AKC breeder who happened to raise Manx's definetly not let kittens go to early so my mistake was assuming they were just small. Took them to my vets first week and was informed that they also were only between 6 & 7 weeks old. He was able to tell by their teeth. Your vet probably did the same. I am not sure what he saw but I am confident he was correct. Unfortunately one past away a few days later and the one that survived had severe Manx Syndrome and had to be put down. In the case of Manx's they should not be released until at least 14 weeks of age for health as well as adjustment period. I never let my kittens go til that time to determine if they have manx syndrome or tempermant issues. I have been fortunate with the Symdrome but have had to keep one kitten that if I was not sure was born to one of my females would swore it was one of my farm ferals. It likes no contact even by me. It at least tolerates me. (my females only breed with my tom) none are out door cats so that leaves out even a chance. I have him in the cattery with his 1/2 brother and an aunt who he will play with them but really is uncomfortable with the other cats if around them to long he wants back in cattery so at least he has a big bay window and all his toys to play with. I will be working with him more these next few months. As is I took in a little 6 year female Min Pin that had been abused and prior foster before I adopted her had her for a year and they really could not touch her. I have her to the point where she will now come over to me and let me pet her. Each time I do force handle her it is to put her on my lap and after about a minute she stops shivering and while I pet her she nods off. I than stop and gently put her down. At first she is totally amazed that I put her down instead of trying to get away from me then she is so giddy she has to go rub up against all other 9 pins to show off.