Owners generally find it difficult to tell the age of a kitten just by looking at it. It is crucial to know the exact age of a kitten and give them the different nurturing requirements at various stages of their lives.
There are many ways to age a kitten, and teething is one of the prominent ones. Like humans, these adorable creatures also have teething cycles that give us an idea of their age. So, check out your kitten’s teeth and read the article to find their exact age.
Newborn Kitten
A newborn kitten is as tiny as a mouse. Also, if you open the kitten’s mouth, you will find nothing. A newborn kitten doesn’t have any teeth. They only appear at 3 weeks.
Interestingly, newborn kittens don’t open their eyes for the first 8-10 days and start to hear after weeks. These traits will help you classify that your kitten is between 0-3 weeks old.
But what if you open a kitten’s mouth and find teeth? It is no cause for concern. We can distinguish a kitten’s age by the different teeth types and stages. Below is how to do it.
Aging A Kitten With Temporary Teeth
New temporary teeth appear in the 3 weeks after a kitten is born. Many might ask how to distinguish between temporary and permanent teeth. It is simple, and you have to look closely enough.
The temporary teeth are smaller and pointier than the permanent ones. Permanent teeth are strong, broad, and easily recognizable. Search online for permanent teeth images, and then you can easily distinguish between the two.
But not all teeth appear at the same time. Incisors, canines, molars, and premolars emerge individually at different times. Thus, it gives us the ability to age a kitten accordingly.
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Temporary Incisors
Temporary Incisors are the first ones to appear. They are the teeth that are present in the front. If a kitten has only incisors, then most likely, the kitten is 3 weeks old. As they grow, more teeth begin to appear rapidly.
Experts recommend only feeding liquid to a kitten until the canines appear.
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Temporary Canines
Temporary canines appear soon after the incisors. Around the 4th week, canines make their entrance. Canines are the sharp teeth that every cat family has. They can tear the food easily. The cat is now ready for chewing.
Owners usually give their kittens semi-solid food and chew toys to strengthen their teeth. Petstages Foodie Fun Catnip & Dental Cat Toy can be a good choice. It is a soft, sweet-smelling toy that helps a cat grow stronger teeth and keep them healthier.
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Temporary Molars And Premolars
These types of teeth appear after 6 weeks, completing the whole set of temporary teeth. Molars and premolars are the chewing teeth in the back of the mouth. Now, a kitten can eat regular cat food and be ready to play with you.
Ageing A Kitten With Permanent Teeth
Milk teeth are the first stage of the process of the teeth cycle. Others then replace teeth after certain intervals of time.
The same happens in little kittens as we humans grow and lose our milk teeth and new strong teeth take their place. After a few months, they began losing their milk teeth, and the permanent teeth appeared in intervals. We can distinguish these intervals, and below is how they look in cats.
Types Of Permanent Teeth |
Age Group |
Incisors |
They are the first ones to appear as permanent teeth, the same as temporary teeth. The front teeth help a kitten to tear apart its foodforcefully.They generally appear between 3.5 to 4.5 months. It equals nearly 15 weeks. |
Premolars |
The second teeth to appear are the premolars. As the cat begins to eat chewy food, these teeth become more worked up.They appear between 4 to 5 months or after 16 weeks or so. They are very crucial teeth sets for kittens and the most abundant ones. |
Canines |
Last to appear are canines. They are the sharpest and the strongest among the rest. They are much broader than the temporary ones and easy to recognize.Permanent teeth appear between 5.5 to 6.5 months or after 22 weeks. |
Now the kitten has its own complete set of 26 teeth. But it is not all. If a kitten has its complete teeth, you can still tell the age by some means. Most popular ones are by checking their weight or eye color, but the teeth still tell you much more.
Aging Of Their Complete Set Of Teeth
After 24 weeks, a kitten has a complete set of teeth. These teeth are going to remain forever. But we still see some changes in the full set. The teeth are brand new and unused, so they adapt to the circumstances and take a final form after 2 weeks.
The kitten’s teeth are white and shiny for the first year. A kitten aged less than a year will have sharp, glossy, and scratchless white teeth. But after a year or two, the kitten’s teeth appear yellowish and scratchy.
Your kitten will have grown up by now. Thus, it will be a full-fledged cat at this time. Its permanent teeth will help it hunt for pests and have a varied diet.
But don’t just sit back and see your kitten’s teeth growing and falling. Reports suggest that they felt moderate to high pain during their teething process. Experts recommend taking good care of teeth during the transition from temporary to permanent teeth.
Conclusion
Checking a kitten’s age by looking at its teeth is the best-practiced method, even among professionals. It’s the easiest yet most reliable way to know the age of a growing kitten. It is vital for owners to know the kitten’s age.
A kitten is fragile and needs appropriate nursing to grow strong and healthy. Therefore, the teeth aging process is handy. If you will own a kitten shortly, take a paper pan and write down the details in the article. It will help you get a kitten of the appropriate age.
