At what rate do kittens develop?

When they are born the kittens are blind and deaf, but have a strong sense of smell. They are also sensitive to touch and soon start rooting for the mother's nipples. At this stage they weigh between two and four ounces, the average birth weight being roughly three-and-a-half ounces.

They are about five inches long.

By day four, the kittens have already started the paw-treading action which helps to stimulate the mother's milk-flow. At the end of the first week of life their eyes begin to open and they have by now doubled their body weight. As they approach the end of their first month of life, they show the first signs of playing with one another.

They can move themselves about with more efficiency and can sit up.

Whatever colour their eyes will be later in life, at this stage all kittens are blueeyed and remain so until they are about three months old. Their teeth are beginning to break through at the age of one month.

At roughly thirty-two days, they eat their first solid food, but they will not be weaned until they are two months old. (Wild cats take longer to wean their kittens – about four months.) During their second month of life they become very lively and intensely playful with one another.

Inside the house, pet kittens will use their mother's dirt tray by the time they are one-and-a-half months old. Play-fighting and play-hunting become dominant features at the end of the second month.

In their third month of life they are in for a shock. The mother refuses to allow them access to her nipples. They must now make do entirely with solids and with liquids lapped from a dish. Before long their mother will be coming into oestrus again and concentrating on tom-cats once more.

In their fifth month the young cats begin to scent-mark their home range. They are shedding their milk teeth and exploring their exciting new world in a less playful manner. The chances are that their mother is already pregnant again by now, unless her human owners have kept her indoors against her will.

At six months, the young cats are fully independent, capable of hunting prey and fending for themselves.