Help with aging these kittens?

[moxiewild]

I always second guess my judgment on this, so any input would be appreciated. I was initially thinking 6-8 weeks, but now I'm leaning more toward 8-10.

They are still weaning from Momma, but also eating wet and dry food.

Sorry for the crappy quality, I was grabbing screen shots from our game cameras.Thanks for any input!

 

[Sarthur2]

These kittens actually look very healthy at the moment, but I think they appear even older than you think. They really look more like 3-4 months old (12-16 weeks). They are a perfect age to trap and spay or neuter and re-home once socialized, or they will end up with sad lives in the wild.

Thank you for caring for them, but I do think they are past 8-10 weeks. I hope you can do something to catch them soon and give them better lives. They are very beautiful!

 

[jefferd18]

I agree with your second guess- they look bigger and more developed than 6-8 weeks.

 

[moxiewild]

These kittens actually look very healthy at the moment, but I think they appear even older than you think. They really look more like 3-4 months old (12-16 weeks). They are a perfect age to trap and spay or neuter and re-home once socialized, or they will end up with sad lives in the wild.

Thank you for caring for them, but I do think they are past 8-10 weeks. I hope you can do something to catch them soon and give them better lives. They are very beautiful!

Thanks!

It took us a while to get a good look, so we initially thought they were younger. We're tracking two other kittens at another colony that we are know are ten weeks old and these guys looked similar to them, but I can definitely see them being older than that too!

We're definitely trapping everyone, and we're hoping to socialize and home the kittens... but I can't trap them until I can find a foster who is experienced or willing to tame/socialize older feral kittens, or a rescue to take them (also difficult to do when they're older and feral).

That's kind of where we've been stuck with these and the other two kittens for the past couple of weeks unfortunately, and we have another litter somewhere that's a week old that we're trying to find placement for well in advance too (we unfortunately weren't able to trap Mom in time, so waiting until she starts bringing them around to eat at this point).

We're keeping a very good eye on them in the meantime, though!

 

[Sarthur2]

It sounds like you have your hands full, but it also sounds like you are doing a great job helping all these cats and litters. I do hope you’ll find fosters soon!

 

[moxiewild]

Sarthur2 Mind helping me out again with the age of these kittens?

Size comparison to adults -

Mom's nipples, in case that helps -

I was thinking in the 8-10 week range? Am I getting any better at this yet?

 

[Sarthur2]

I would guess more 10-12 weeks. Are they human friendly?

 

[cataholic07]

Can you trap mom to be fixed?

 

[moxiewild]

I would guess more 10-12 weeks. Are they human friendly?

Nope, ughh.

But they have at least been seeing me feed for a couple of weeks now, so it’s something.

 

[moxiewild]

Can you trap mom to be fixed?

She’s on the list.

Haven’t been able to get her because I’m working on 4 different colonies at a time. We’ve have to take in other kittens, two sick feral adults for long term (and extremely expensive) recovery, then recently a cat who turned out VERY friendly that we’re trying to locate an owner for now, so it’s taking a while to get through everyone.

It never ends.

 

[di and bob]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping these little ones. You are an angel. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers that you get all them fixed and find homes for the little ones!