How to determine kitten's age?

[N4S]

Well, I got a new kitten on Thursday and the lady said he was 6 weeks old.

I find that hard to believe.

He is just so tiny and you can tell his balance and eye sight is off.

I'm guessing 3-4 weeks.

Few details:

-has all his fur
-alot of baby teeth
-eating soft canned food
-drinking lactaid milk and also water
-cries alot

Thoughts?

[slartibartfast]

1. Weigh him. A healthy kitten of average size should weigh a pound for every month. So at six weeks, he should be around 1.5 lbs. Runty kittens will be smaller, heavy-boned ones bigger (We have four-month olds at work right now that weigh 7lbs...will be biiiiig boys).

2. Using the litterbox....this comes in around the fourth week, although I've had some start as early as the third, but it's very fumbly and you can tell they don't really have any idea why they are there.

3. Eating solid food. 4-5 weeks of age. They will start late 3 to early 4, but again they will be very clumsy and messy about it. By the 5th week, they should be adept at taking canned food from a bowl.

4. Grooming. 3 week old kittens don't groom themselves. That behavior coincides with with the ability to eat solid food. At 5-6 weeks, they should be fairly attentive to their hygiene (mostly...some cats are slobs for life).

Hope this helps!

If you post a picture of it next to a coffee-mug, I can give you a guesstimate.

[N4S]

Well, cool thanks for the tips!

Forgot to mention.

He uses the litter box already and grooms himself quite often.

[coldbloodaddict]

A trip to the Vet should answer your question...

[Jay_Bunny]

A vet should be able to give you an estimate on age. From what you tell us, the cat should be around 4 weeks old. The couple that sold me some sugar gliders just found a little kitten that is almost four weeks old. It is starting soft food mixed with milk and it crys ALOT. It does not groom itself just yet and if it does it is only slightly. Messy little kitten.

[jglass38]

Count the rings...Oh wait, that is just with trees..

[N4S]

hahaha, I wish it were that easy.

[Kagez28]

ask for her kitty license...