Everything You Need To Know About Six Week Old Kittens

The first six weeks in a kitten’s life is crucial for its development. They will grow and develop quickly, however they are susceptible to a number of threats. Now outside the womb, a kitten will need warmth, food, and protection from infectious diseases and parasites (such as fleas).

I want this to be a complete guide for caring for a kitten week by week. If you find a kitten, as always, you want to try your hardest to keep with them with their mothers. Their mothers will be able to nurse them, keep them warm, and protect them.

Mothers know how to care for their babies so if they can be left with their mothers, they should for at least 8 weeks.

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Orphaned 6 Week Old Kittens

If you find a kitten who has no mother nearby, then you have just found an orphaned kitten. This kitten now needs you to be their mother. They will need to be fed and protected by you, the human. .

We have already talked about caring for a two-week-old kitten through five-week-old kittens.

So, if you have read those articles, that means that you are now caring for a SIX-week-old kitten. Can you believe it SIX GUYS! You have survived at least 6 weeks with your kitten! That’s longer than a month!

Or, you have just found a kitten are thinking it is about five, maybe six weeks, though we will mention how to be sure in a little.

Six-week-old kittens are at that wonderful age where they can start to show desires to start weaning them onto wet food and really become little kittens.

They should be weening onto wet kitten food and still require a bottle fed from time to time. However, for the most part they should be on a combination of slurry and wet food, which we will talk more about in the food section of this post.

They should really be getting the hang of litter box training , and continuing to gain weight as they grow. They should be continuing to gain weight steadily until they are full grown.

At this age the speed may be slowing down slightly, but you should still see weight gain week after week.

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What Does A Kitten Look Like At 6 Weeks?

First, let’s talk about how to tell a kitten is six weeks old. At five weeks, they will really start looking like a kitten! They will be socializing more, and really coming into their unique personality. Kittens at six weeks old will have their little kitten canines in.

They should be starting to get the hang of grooming themselves, though you can continue to help them with a toothbrush until they really get it down pat.

You really don’t need a fancy toothbrush, I just get a cheap set that has a bunch of extra brushes and designate one of the kitten. This should hopefully be one of the least stressful pieces of taking care of your kitten.

At the beginning of six weeks, kittens will still have baby blue eyes. However, as the week draws to and end and the seventh week starts to roll in, you will start to see their eye colors change. This means their eyes are changing to the color they will be as an adult!

One step closer guys!

Theirs claws will still not retract, though you will start to notice the skin getting very close to being ready to.

How Much Do 6 Week Old Kittens Weigh?

Their weight at this age should be between 650-750 grams depending on the kitten and should still continue to steadily gain weight each day.

If you notice your kitten is not gaining weight for a few days, make sure you are feeding them enough, and speak to your vet about possible other reasons for delayed weight gain.

At six weeks, they will be able to keep warm on their own. They may still want to cuddle up with you form extra warms, but the extra heating sources that we talking about on weeks two and three are no longer necessary. Guys! We are moving into an easy cat phase!

How excited are you?!

>> You May Also Like The Five Week Old Kitten Guide:

What Should a Six Week Old Kitten Eat?

Let’s talk about feeding a six week old kitten.

I talked a lot about feeding a little bit in my articles from two-week-old kittens to five-week-old kittens. This one starts to get a little different.

You may notice your kitten was getting frustrated with the bottle at five-weeks-old and started to introduce a a ‘slurry’.

I talk more about slurries in my weaning post. But in short, it is a combination of wet kitten food and formula.

You want to use the same formula you were using when you were bottle feeding kittens. If you just got a kitten at six week, I like to recommend KMR 2nd Step formula as a milk replacer. It has been a hit on the kitten , and when it comes to choosing a kitten food, you can really choose any canned kitten food to do the job. I personally like Fancy Feast because they have kitten and cat food.

Slurries help your cat feel comfortable with wet food, without completely taking them off the bottle. I personally like using the same bottle that I used in weeks one through five. With these different tips, you can slowly start cutting the holes of the nipple more and more until it is basically a thick smoothie.

At six weeks, kittens should be starting to really get the hang of the slurry and you can start adding more wet cat food and less formula into the slurry mix.

With that being said, you will still want to supplement anything that your kitten does not eat in a slurry. These best way to tell if your cat has eaten enough is to continue weighing them everyday. If they continue to gain weigh them everyday and make sure you see them eat. If they aren’t gaining weight, then that’s when you should supplement with the bottle.

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How Often Do You Feed 6 Week Old Kittens?

This part can be a little frustrating for them to start to figure out the wet food process, but just remember, you are one step closer to an easy, typical cat

The feeding should still occur every 6 hours, but can usually go through the night without having to be fed. YES! You still get to sleep!

And as long as they are continuing to grow and eat when they are hungry, the schedule can start to loosen a little.

 

Bringing Home A 6 Week Old Kitten

Kittens at six weeks old will be will walking confidently on their own and running in their little sprinting fashion.

This is really the age in which they start to come into themselves.

They really seem like a real cat! This is where I think the fun really begins.

At six weeks, they should be able to confidently go to the bathroom on their own, and the accidents should minimal to not at all. …The litter box should be small enough for them to walk in and out of, but still enough room for them to move around.

You can also start introducing a small litter box into the mix, instead of the small make-shift one you were using during week four and week five.

How Often Do 6 Week Old Kittens Poop?

You should expect your cat to poop roughly a similar amount to what the kitten eats. As they eat more slurry, there is a chance they may go a little more often with a new substance in their system.

If you notice your cat going more than once or twice a day for a few days, or if you notice they are not using the bathroom at all for a few days, go to a vet immediately.

Another IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! thing you should know about the litter box is that kittens cannot use clumping litter at this point.

Kittens are like babies where they want to put nearly everything in their mouth.

If your kitten eats clumping litter, it could cause bowel obstructions and serious harms to your already sensitive kitten. You want to get a non-clumping litter, like this one that I use.

You will want to change this out a little more often than clumping litter to keep if clean, but I think your kitten’s health is worth it.

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Where Should 6 Week Old Kittens Sleep?

Finally, and maybe the most important is you want them to still have a safe space.

At this point, they are probably safer to start roaming around on their own, but you want to make sure you have kitten proofed the house. Loose wires, or things they can chew and eat should be places away from them.

They won’t be able to jump high quite yet, so height can always be a safe place for things. For Binx, when she was about 5 weeks old, she was able to climb out of the bin we used for her not too long ago.

We started locking her in the bathroom at night so she could roam and be safe, and eventually just let her roam the apartment.

If you are in a house, I recommend getting a cat playpen! This is a great option to put your kitten somewhere safe for them to move around without having them wander the house. The older they get, the more they can roam different rooms and eventually be able to be in the house on their own.

At 6 weeks she was pretty much free to roam around after we did the necessary cleaning and kitten-proofing. But if you have a home with a lot of kids or pets, I would still keep them in a playpen until they can be supervised. You don’t want your kitten getting in a small space and getting stuck.

We always gave her a little cat bed near my bed that she could sleep in so she felt like part of the family.

My best advice is if you have a big home, slowly start to let them roam around small areas on their own until you feel comfortable with them out completely on their own.

This probably won’t happen until week 5 or 6.

The last, and still important thing I want to mention is taking them to the vet. They can get their first round of shots at around 4 weeks.

There is also a good chance that your little kitten will have worms. Especially if they were orphaned at a young age.

You want to make sure you take them to the vet and get them their needed shots, de-wormer, and anything else they may need medically.

If you’ve read Binx’s story, you know that her worms caused a lot of problems for us. So the earlier you can get the de-wormed, the better!

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Can You Get A Kitten at 6 Weeks?

If you find a six-week-old kitten, they still need to be kept with the mother.

Kittens this young still need need their mother to help them get big and strong even though they are looking like a real kitten.

However, if no mother is found, that is not a death sentence to your kitty. Educate yourself, get the supplies you need, and become the kitty mother of the world!

Remember to have patience throughout this whole process, especially if this is your first time handling orphaned kittens. Everything will come with time and getting frustrated won’t help anyone.

The most important things for them right now are warmth, shelter, and food. If they have that and are starting to gain weight as they should then you doing good! And that means in a few days you will move onto week

SEVEN!!! WHAT!!!. Are you guys ready for that one?!

 

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