Resource:Cat Reference/Development Timeline

Are you a new mother of kits, and clueless on how to RP well as a queen? Have you just adopted a kit, but are unsure of when, where and how to go about playing them? Well, this is the guide for you, then!

In this page you should find all the questions you've ever had about Kit development!

Stage 1: Pregnancy


 * Queens expecting kits are pregnant somewhere between 1 to 2 weeks IRL. This is considered a half moon to a moon (3-6 weeks) in RP, which is a fourth to a half of the length of normal cat gestation. You can thank us later.
 * During this time your queen may become lazier and stuffed in, her appetite getting stronger.

Stage 2: Birth


 * A medicine cat is recommended to be present if there is a birth undergoing.
 * Preferably, birth roleplay would be skipped and the results would be roleplayed out accordingly.
 * If the kits are not present for the birth, this is fine. They won't get to do anything much when they're born, considering they will be newborns.

Stage 3: Kits!

Physical Development Timeline


 * Kits do not open their eyes and ears and know speech the day they're born! Here's a quick reference for when they do, for roleplay purposes:
 * Their eyes open about a quarter-moon (4-8 days) in, but their vision is incredibly poor as their eyes are still developing. Kits do not have the same vision quality as adult cats until a moon and a half (10 weeks) in. Until then, their vision is blurry and they may not detect colors as well as light or darkness.
 * Their ears open about 4 days in.
 * Their baby teeth first grow in around 3 weeks, which is about 2 weeks in real life.
 * For the purposes of SP, kits should begin speaking words about 1-2 weeks in.
 * Kits are not born with their adult eye colors. All kits start off with blue eyes, and then begin developing their adult color about 8 weeks in, they're fully colored 9 weeks in. This translates to about 3 weeks in real life.

High Dependency


 * For the first 3 weeks of roleplay, cats will have to stick to their mothers strictly.
 * For the first week, however, cats will be in a somewhat catatonic state, unable to see, hear, or smell anything and only be attracted to their mother.
 * Cats may start becoming more active 5 weeks in. For convenience, it has been shorted to 3.

Exploration & Play


 * After 4 weeks, cats begin to gain more balance and no longer wobble.
 * After 5-6 weeks, the kit is weened and can stop drinking milk, and start switching to easy to eat prey. Same goes for interaction with other cats.
 * Once a kit is 8 weeks old, it has passed infancy and is predicted to have all scenes moderately grown.