Kitten calendar

The stage that happens before it comes home

In cats, the sensitive socialisation period is very early: it runs roughly from two to seven or nine weeks, and stays partly open a little longer. In that time the kitten learns what is normal: human hands, household noises, other animals. That means much of the work has already been done, or not, by the time you pick it up. So it is worth asking the foster home or breeder how it spent those weeks: whether it was handled often, whether it heard the vacuum cleaner and visitors, whether it lived with other cats. What comes later also counts, but that starting point weighs a lot.

When it should come home

Ideally at around eight to twelve weeks, and never before eight. Before that age it is still learning from its mother and littermates things that cannot be taught as well later, such as controlling the strength of its bite and claws in play. A kitten separated too early tends to be more fearful or to bite more. In the first week, a quiet room with its litter tray, water, food and a hiding place is best, opening up the rest of the house little by little. Keep it on the food it was eating at first and, if you want to, change it gradually.

Vaccines, tests and paperwork

The first core vaccine (panleukopenia, herpesvirus and calicivirus) is given at about eight weeks, with boosters every three or four weeks until sixteen weeks or later. It is worth testing it for feline leukaemia and immunodeficiency virus, especially if it comes from the street or will live with other cats. The leukaemia vaccine is added if it will go outdoors or lives with cats that do. In Spain, rabies is compulsory only in some regions and for travel. Worming is frequent in the first months, on your vet’s schedule. And the microchip is compulsory in Spain: the calendar shows when each thing is due.

Teeth, heat and neutering

Between three and six months it swaps its 26 milk teeth for 30 permanent ones; its gums may be a little sore and it may bite more, and you will hardly ever find the teeth that fall out. At the same time sexual maturity arrives: a female can have her first heat at four to six months, and an entire male starts spraying urine. Spain’s animal welfare law, Law 7/2023, requires cats to be neutered before six months, except those of registered breeders, so the calendar places it in that window. Ask your vet for a date in good time, at the booster check-up.

What you practise now pays off for fifteen years

Play with wand toys and toys, never with your hands: what is cute in a one-kilo kitten stops being cute in a five-kilo adult. Leave the carrier open as just another piece of furniture, with a blanket inside, so it does not only mean the vet. Get it used to the brush and to having its paws, ears and mouth touched. And put nets on windows and balcony before it discovers it can climb up. A kitten usually gains about 100 g a week in its first months, and moves on to adult food at about twelve months, except large breeds such as the Maine Coon, which keep growing until three or four years old.