When Do Newborn Cats Open Their Eyes?

When the kittens that our cat has been waiting for come into the world, we must provide both them and their mother with a good shelter in which they feel safe, warm and can rest peacefully. Newborn felines do not have vision since are born with their eyes closed and therefore totally dependent on their mother. In fact, when kittens are born, not only can they not see, but they cannot hear either, and for these two reasons they do not separate from their mother or move away from the bed or shelter in which they were born.

In addition to giving them protection and warmth, it is very important that while your cat is recovering from childbirth and lactating, you provide her with all the food she needs to produce enough milk so that the kittens come out strong, healthy and begin to develop all their abilities properly.

In the case of the vision of puppies, we always ask ourselves: when do newborn cats open their eyes? It seems strange to us to see that days go by and they still haven’t opened, especially since we are used to looking at ourselves and seeing that humans open their eyes at the moment of birth or shortly after. The answer to the question about How long do cats open their eyes? is that newborn felines open their eyes between the first and second week of life, normally around 10 days after birth.

If you see day 10 coming up, which is usually around the time a kitten begins to open its eyes, but your kittens haven’t, don’t panic. As we indicated at the beginning, until day 15 is normal.

If from this day on, when they are two weeks old, they do not begin to open their eyes even a little, then you should talk about it with your trusted vet, because nothing may happen and they will open soon or they may have a problem. Except if the specialist tells you otherwise because he considers that there is a problem, you can massage your eyes gently and softness, with sterile gauzes and one for each eye and a new one each time. This gentle massage, without squeezing anything, stimulates the area.

Once they begin to see something, the vision of the little ones improves and improves quite quickly, at the end of the second week or at the beginning of the third they are already able to recognize their mother and siblings, locate them with a glance and go towards them . Also in these weeks they are able to begin to identify obstacles and go around and avoid them, although they still move quite clumsily. The little ones have a well-developed vision at 12 weeks of age. In addition, all domestic feline puppies are born with blue eyes and it is during these 12 weeks until they reach good vision, when the color of the eyes they will have as adults is defined.

At three weeks of life, or a maximum of three and a half weeks, kittens already begin to have enough mobility and enough vision to be able to be more independent, so you will see that they come out of the hiding place in which they were sheltered until now and explore everything what is around you. Also, at this age they can start to include solid foods in their diet.

It’s good to know what kind of vision your kitten will have as she grows older and once she’s an adult. As we have already mentioned, it is not until 12 weeks that they begin to have perfect vision and use all the ability of vision that cats have.

It is important to know that felines have a wider field of vision than ours, reaching up to 200 degrees. Felines have a part of eye tissue with cells that capture a large amount of light, this part is known as tapetum lucidum and makes them see something more blurred than us during the day, but at night the cats see perfectly and thanks to this and to the vertical shape of their pupils that allows more light to enter, they are excellent night hunters. Also, they don’t see as many colors as we do, they can only see a few like blue, green, or yellow.

There are certain basic cares that newborn kittens require, for example, they need a hot place, for without excessive heat, in which to rest and spend your first days in a calm and safe way. In addition, they require the company of their siblings and their mother, a way in which they maintain the necessary heat to develop well and in which they can feed without any problem when they are able to eat. easy access to breast milk.

A newborn puppy cannot lack warmth or food, so if the cat is not present or does not produce enough milk for all the kittens, you must know how to feed a baby cat, for this, you will have to use bottle and milk powder Special for recently born felines that you can find in pet stores and veterinary centers.

Also, you should keep the area where they are born and begin to breed very clean, so it is good that you clean it and change the towels or blankets once a day or every two days maximum, hygiene in a newborn kitten It is something vital so that you do not get sick. As long as they depend completely on their mother, that is, until they are at least 4 weeks old, try not to touch them and handle them a lot since they are very weak and her mother will take care of everything that is necessary. Obviously, if you see any symptoms that something is wrong with the health of any of the little ones or the cat, you should immediately contact your trusted veterinarian.

If you liked meeting how old are kittens when they open their eyesyou probably also want to know more details about how to take care of a newborn cat.

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