Being an 8-week old kitten is an important milestone for a cat in their life. Starting from their birthday until they reach the age of 7 weeks, they are mostly dependent, either on their mother or on you as their owner.
Contents show
Of course, an 8-week old kitten is by no means entirely independent, they can naturally handle their basic needs alone.
Most kittens don’t need their mother anymore to satisfy their nutritional needs because normally, kitten has become fully weaned by the time they reach 8 weeks of their age.
Here we will show you what to expect from your young feline, how to feed them, their size and weight, any medical measures you should take to protect them, and how to keep them away from flea.
What to Expect from an 8-Week Old Kitten?
By the time your kitten reaches 8 weeks of age, which is roughly similar to 2 months, your kitten will enter the third stage of their growth and development: the exploration stage.
They will be less dependent on their mother and begin to explore their basic instincts and survival abilities, but they still need to wait for about 4 weeks before they can become fully independent. For now, your kitten has officially become your pet and no longer their mom’s cute baby.
8-Week Old Kitten Size and Weight
People tend to use kitten’s size and weight to determine how old they are. Indeed, healthy kitten should be of a particular size and weight when they reach a particular age. There is a chart that you can refer to if you want to determine the correct size and weight for your 8-week old kitten.
Generally speaking, an 8-week old kitten should weigh between 1.4 and 2.6 pounds. Anything outside that range is a sign that your kitten is either too thin or too obese.
8-Week Old Kitten Interaction and Socialization
You can interact with your kitten more freely once they are 8 weeks old. Their legs have become so strong that they can now jump, run and punch everything they are interested in. So, it is a good time for you to let them play with ball, furry bundles, and anything that attract them.
A 8-week old kitten should also be trained to be social. Raise them, hug them, hold them, and expose them to people other than you so that it will be easier for your kitten to be a social cat.
Failure to do this essential training will make your kitten an introvert. They will shun other people, flee or become panic when being approached, and even attack them.
Although you need to train them to interact and socialize with human properly, your kitten is still a young kitten that needs a lot of rest. Normally, an 8-week old kitten will sleep for about 20 hours in a day, so make sure that you make use of the remaining 4 hours optimally.
8 Week Old Kitten Feeding
Your 8-week old kitten has already had deciduous teeth that they can use to munch both dry and wet food.
If you wish to supply them with healthy nutrients, you can also add kitten formula to the menu. Now is the best time for you to teach your kitten about eating routine and healthy eating habit.
Make an eating schedule and rule that you and your kitten can abide by and make sure that you never violate it.
Bad eating habit is easier to change now than it is later when your kitten has grown up. Don’t forget to balance meal with exercise to prevent your kitten from becoming overweight.
8-Week Old Kitten Health
One very important thing to mind when your kitten has reached 8 weeks of age is vaccination. Your kitten is now fully weaned. When they still drank their mom’s milk, the content of the milk boosted their immune system.
Now that your kitten no longer drinks their mom’s milk, you should get them vaccinated to protect them from dangerous diseases.
There are a number of vaccinations that your kitten must get. The mandatory ones are vaccinations against feline herpesvirus, feline calicivirus, rabies, and feline panleukopenia virus.
For kittens that spend their time outdoors a lot, additional vaccinations, including those against feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus are required.
Talk with your vet about vaccination, about the right flea treatment for them (because toxic treatments for adult cats might be dangerous for them), and about whether spaying or neutering is needed.
8-Week Old Kitten Litter Training
Normally, kitten should have mastered litter training when they are somewhere around 6 weeks of age. If you haven’t done it by the time your kitten reaches 8 weeks of age, don’t worry because you are not late yet.
How to Litter Train a Kitten
Just prepare a litter box for them and encourage them to use it. Kittens, and cats, normally relieve themselves in sand, so it should not be too difficult for you to introduce the use of litter box to your 8-week old kitten.
