Is My Kitten Teething?
If you have rescued a newborn kitten, or if you have recently adopted a kitten, you may take a peak inside their mouths and see that they don’t really have many teeth in there!
Or when they try and “bite” you, it feels a little gummy. But as kitten starts to get older, you may sense them starting to bite you more, or even maybe starting to chew on things that they hadn’t done before.
Let’s talk about what to do if your cat is teething!
When Do Kittens Start Teething?
Their first set of teeth are called deciduous teeth. They start coming in at 2 weeks.
Kittens will continue to get more and more teeth and will continue to get more teeth until about 2-2 ½ months.
How Many Baby Teeth Do Kittens Have?
Cats have twenty-six baby teeth. (that means your little kitten gaining around 6 or more teeth per week! (Poor babies).
The ASPCA reports that kittens start losing their baby teeth around 5 months of age—about the time their adult incisors began to erupt. Some kittens do start to lose their baby teeth around month 3.
Which leads into one of our next common questions
When Do Kittens Get Their Adult Teeth?
Adult teeth, on the other hand, start erupting around 6 to 8 months of age.
By one year, all thirty adult teeth will come in. You can expect the teething process to last 3 to 6 months depending on the individual cat.
How Long Do Cats Teeth For?
From the first few questions, it sounds like kittens are just always teething!
Cats typically go through a teething phase similar to human babies. In this biting phase, they will want to bite on anything and everything.
Like we mentioned earlier, cats start to lose their baby teeth around 12 weeks of age. During this time, they will be in a lot of pain and will need your help to relieve it.
Keep a close eye on your little teething baby. But don’t worry, you cat will have all their teeth around 6 months of age.
What to Do During the Teething Phase
You read that while cats are actually teething, they can be in some pain and want to chew an everything. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to help you little furbaby. Here’s how you can help during the teething phase:
- Offer plenty of chew toys: You know I love to compare kittens to babies. And here is another example. You can get some cat-specific chew toys that can act like pacifiers for your kitten. If you can’t find any chew toys, you can always offer up a cold washcloths for your little cat to suckle on.
- Teach them not to bite: If you give them plenty of toys to chew on, you always to train them properly. Even though they are teething, you don’t want to get them in the habit of biting your hand or feet. Start showing your cat what is acceptable to bite, and what is not acceptable to bite.
- Reward good behavior: Just like teaching them what they cannot bite, you want to reward them when they do bite on the things designed for that. You can reward good behavior with treats, extra playtime, and lots of pets and scratches!
In summary, all you need is patience and love as your companion grows into an adult and before you know it, your kitten becomes a cat. If you speak and act gently and lovingly, you will have a loving, gentle kitten.
And remember teething is only a short period of time in your kittens life. It will get easier, don’t worry.
