So they are now almost 8 wks old...

One of the six little furballs went to a good home last thursday.

So now there's five of them.

But I have noticed that all but one can't meow.. They have been this way since birth.

They try.. they open their mouths and make a whisper type of sound and i can hear their lips when they first open to meow, but nothing other than that comes out of them.. They seem healthy in all other aspects.. and can purr just fine.. and hiss just fine too lol..

I thought i was just due to their size and age, and now it seems cute at this age, but i'm worrying due to i never knew any cats that didn't meow.

I have one that will just lay there in my arms when going to sleep and will look up into my eyes and just look at me and if i look away he will do a smacking meow (as i have come to call it). but they even do it when it's feeding time and they want my attention and want the food right at that very moment before i can get it prepared lol!

the one that does meow, hes the screamer.. I seriously heard him screaming before he was all the way out. it was a muffled scream which then turned into a kitten who was very vocal.

It might be a good home but 7 weeks is far too young for a kitten to be away from it's mother and siblings.  Please keep the rest to 12 weeks.

I believe meowing is in part something they do learn.  Some can it from beginning, but quite a lot others learn along the way.  One variation you often see is the silent meow.  They move the lips but you dont hear anything. It is like, they do meow on  wavelenght other then the usual, so humans cant hear, and they learn to meow in our wavelenght with time, as we dont react on the silent meows.

Other kittens can have squeeks of sorts, even intensive and loud, but classical meows comes later.

OrientalSlave said:

It might be a good home but 7 weeks is far too young for a kitten to be away from it's mother and siblings.  Please keep the rest to 12 weeks.

Click to expand...

I thought 7 wks was over the norm. as here kittens go anywhere from 4weeks to 6 weeks.

Even the place that's wanting to foster those that I dont have homes for, want them in afew days (which they will be 8wks old)..

not that i'm disagreeing but i'm wondering what and why till 12 weeks is a good time? If i know more and understand, then I can work in their case for 12 wks old.

Saphris25 said:

I thought 7 wks was over the norm. as here kittens go anywhere from 4weeks to 6 weeks.

Even the place that's wanting to foster those that I dont have homes for, want them in afew days (which they will be 8wks old)..

not that i'm disagreeing but i'm wondering what and why till 12 weeks is a good time? If i know more and understand, then I can work in their case for 12 wks old.

Click to expand...

Ideally they have been vaccinated at 12 weeks so have a better immune system.  The immunity from their mother keeps waning, and at 8 weeks is about at it's lowest.  I did once find a reference for this and have never been able to find it again.

They are also much more mature both mentally and physically.  A 6-week old kitten is barely weaned and still has a lot to learn from it's mother and siblings.  Kittens homed at that age are far more likely to get ill, or have toilet problems, or have bejhavioural problems than those homed later.