Kittens at 7 Weeks Old. Eyes and Claws

They posed as if they knew it was picture day.   7 weeks old.

The role of mama cat is substantially changing now that the kittens have reached the 7 week mark.  They did need their nails clipped and another bath.  But litter box use is consistent. You will also catch them grooming each other.  They clean each others ears, lick off any remaining food on each others faces and generally help each other in those difficult to reach places.  It's very cute to watch.

They are eating more of the dry kibble and I only feed them some canned food twice a day.  If I have a day that I need to be gone for 8 hours, there's no need to worry about them going hungry.  Although, socialization is very important at this age and they need human interaction throughout the day, so I limit long days away or arrange for someone to come by and play with them when I'm gone.

Look at those ears!  Especially the gray girls. See how they are disproportionately large for their head.  I have reason to believe the black one is gestationally a few days younger than the girls and his will have that appearance later in the week.  They are weighing in at about 1 lb. 13 oz.   Their tails are 7 inches long.

These three love to cuddle.  When you rub them behind the neck just right, they go simply limp in your hands.  As sweet and snugly as they are, it's good to be cautious when they are near your face.  Eyelashes can be a great fascination to little ones.

Iris

Back in 2004 and my more novice years, we had a little tortie who would get really close.  She thought those eyelashes were a great toy, tried to catch them and scratched my cornea from top to bottom across the iris of my eye.  That was a painful experience, with a trip to urgent care, where they put me on oral and eye drop antibiotics along with updating my tetanus shot.  We named that little girl Iris.  When adoption time came, a woman saw her name on the internet page.  She had another tortie, one month older, and her name was Tulip.  Seeing that, she knew this was her kitten....

Iris and Tulip, adopted sisters for life.