Do Some Kittens Mature Faster Then Others?

[Dacatchair]

I recently adopted a male kitten that is 16 weeks old today and am feeling a bit puzzled by both it's size and behavior which remind me of a 9 week old kitten I adopted a couple years ago.

Yesterday it was taken for it's first wellness check and initially the *vet*, didn't think it was likely to be 16 weeks as it appears to be perfectly normal and healthy but weighs only 3.13 lbs.

The ** is because in my unfortunate past experience this vet has exhibited rather shocking incompetence. Unfortunately, the only clinic in my area has a number of vets working out of it and people have no say in who they get.

But according to this *vet*, looking at his teeth, him being 16 weeks old looks accurate.

But it isn't just his small size that seems younger.

In the past couple years I have raised a couple kittens, and this one is still at the frantic kitten stage. On a constant ongoing basis my fingers get pounced and chewed on if I try to type, My head gets repeatedly pounced on if I lay down, my back gets run up and so do the drapes of my skirt .

I have experienced this before with the 9 week old kitten I adopted and remember this mellowing considerably at about 12 weeks, and when I heard it is better kittens stay with their Mom and siblings until they are at least 12 weeks, this made a lot of sense as they are cute when younger but a lot of work to manage.

The other kitten I recently raised was 21 weeks when I adopted him and he came with a calm but playful disposition and a clear understanding of good manners.

Additionally my new 16 week old kitten sometimes seems to frantically search my face for a nipple and to be a bit confused about the whole coordinated pooping where you dig the hole in the litter box and then covering that specific spot. Even the 9 month old kitten I adopted was well past this.

Leaving me to wonder if some kittens just mature a lot faster than others?

 

[Furballsmom]

I believe yes, somewhat in line of the nature vs nuture thought, that the environment, genetic makeup, mom-cat or no mom, mom's physical condition and level of ability, and how any one kitten is going to react/learn or not, --there are a lot of variables involved

 

[Kieka]

I believe yes, somewhat in line of the nature vs nuture thought, that the environment, genetic makeup, mom-cat or no mom, mom's physical condition and level of ability, and how any one kitten is going to react/learn or not, --there are a lot of variables involved

I've had a four month old that looked two months and acted six months. I've had a kitten who was in the manic kitten energy phase until nearly six months and still super high energy until two years (that one is crazy). General growth and behavior milestones are general even in humans.

 

[Dacatchair]

Thanks for the responses! It does make sense that kittens mature at different rates same as humans.

It was difficult to get a good look, but I did and my squirmy little kitten still has all his baby teeth. All his front incisors are the tiny pointy baby teeth, and from what I am reading

https://cattention.com/how-to-tell-a-cats-age-by-her-teeth/#howtoexamineacatsmouth
"If your kitten has all 26 of her baby teeth in place, she is likely between the ages of 6 weeks and 3 months."

And similar information is found here
Tip of the Week: 4 Ways to Tell a Kitten’s Age

My kitten may just be a late bloomer and his adult teeth will start coming in sometime in the next couple weeks. He may well be 16 weeks old...

But with all his baby teeth still there, and the baby teeth normally all being there from about 8 weeks on, and none of his adult teeth coming in yet, I don't see how the *vet* could see anything by looking at his teeth indicating he was in fact 16 weeks old and not younger. And all he did was a 1 or 2 second glance with his eyes a couple feet away. I had to wear magnifying visors to get a good look... Him having all his baby teeth just shows he is for sure somewhere between 2 and 3 months, and I guess possibly a bit more if he is an unusually slow developer...

Which is upsetting in a number of ways, but most importantly because the vet really wanted to give my kitten it's first rabies shot which according to some sources should not be done until they are 4 months old. I refused feeling he just got taken from his Mom and siblings and that in itself is a lot of stress and he is still too tiny and fragile to have rabies vaccine in his system.

 

[Furballsmom]

Bless you for your instincts!!

 

[Dacatchair]

I managed to get a picture of his teeth... If anyone can confirm my belief that I am looking at baby teeth, and there is no way to be sure a kitten is older than 10-11 weeks based on these teeth, I would appreciate it.

 

[Moka]

They do look like baby teeth to me.

 

[Kflowers]

This isn't about the kitten exactly, but in vet practices of more than one vet that are open on Saturday and/ or have a vet on call in the evenings,. most of the vets get one day off during the week. If you call and ask if the vet you don't like has a day off, tell the girl you want to have a chance of getting him when you come in, so you want to know what day he isn't there... She'll probably tell you.

 

[Kflowers]

Okay, now I've read the rest of the thread and this is about kitten age.

If a kitten hasn't gotten enough to eat the growth process will slow. Cats, other than the giant breeds, are supposed to be grown by age 2. We rescued one the vet told us would just be small since she was 2 years and small. She got down to the business of growing and used all of her third year to make up for the food she'd missed and grew another third larger than when we got her. She was healthy, except for bad teeth later. There is no reason not to expect your kit to be healthy.

 

[Dacatchair]

Thank you for the responses... My question is both about the kittens stated age not seeming to match his development, and renewed concerns about the competence of the vet who examined him. And I do plan to try and avoid this vet in the future by trying to pick days he is not in, for appointments.

My kitten is now about 4 months and 1 week and his pointy upper front teeth are no longer visible and I think the first of his adult upper incisors will be appearing soon.

He eats more than my 12 lb cat and is up to about 4.25 lbs, so his growth is catching up to his age, but behaviorally he is still in between the energizer bunny frisky impulsive kitten stage and the the stage where they get more aware of the context of moving objects and stop being compelled to pounce on everything that twitches. In the few kittens I have known, this transition seems to start at around 3 - 3.5 months, but I have only known a few kittens and this one generally seems more triggered and responsive to anything that moves. He will madly chase a laser or bat at a cat dancer toy clamped to a table for hours. When he gets bored, clamping it something different makes it all new again. My previous 2 recent kittens never played by themselves more than a couple minutes and only rolled their eyes and walked up and swatted my hand holding holding the laser. And the cat dancer toy clamped to an object was never of any interest. So some of the seemingly immature behavior may just be his "I'm gonna pounce on your head" type of personality.

At any rate he is a sweety, he enjoys a quiet lap by a fire much more than my older cat, and he usually remembers to pounce and climb my legs without claws. But best of all my resident cat absolutely adores him, they play each day for hours and the older cat seems a lot happier to have company.

 

[Kflowers]

It's not unusual for kittens to eat more than adult cats. Kittens play hard and they grow hard. Their bodies need a lot to do that. Can you remember when you were growing and you were hungry almost all the time? The few times you managed to get full, you were hungry again in half an hour. That's what's going on with kittens. It's why the food made especially for kittens has higher protein, fat, and calories than that for adult cats.