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How long until newborn kittens open their eyes and start walking?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female

Hiiii doc.. My cat has given birth to 3 beautiful and healthy kittens. Thanks for the Petco Pet Education Center who helped me for many queries. The kittens are small and they have not opened there eyes, I need to know in how many days the kittens will open there eyes and walk ?

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2 Answers

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Answered By Tomasz Wnuk

Veterinarian

Published on May 30th, 2020

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Very sweet and happy kittens :) Kittens start slowly opening their eyes when they are about 1 week old. Initially, the eyes are blue and they cannot see very well. The eyes should be fully opened when the kittens are about 12-14 days old. Kittens try to walk as soon as soon as they are born but they become fully mobile when they are around 3 weeks old.

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on August 30th, 2017

    Kittens usually open their eyes around 7-10 days after birth - so if they're only a week old, it's not necessarily abnormal that they aren't open yet :) It's possible that they may have been born a bit early, but not by more than a day or two - otherwise they wouldn't have survived. Cats have a fairly short pregnancy of only about 60 days, so there isn't much "wiggle room" on when live kittens can be born.

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