When do cats start cleaning themselves?

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Michelle Fulton - 12 Jul 2003 04:02 GMT

Hey, everyone :-) I'm new to this group and have recently adopted a kitten.
I've never had a kitten before, as I've always adopted stray *cats*. The
kitten is obviously trying to get a grip on her instincts, because she will
start to clean herself when one of her body parts gets in her way and then
stop and look like she didn't quite understand why she was doing that :-)
It's very cute to watch, but she doesn't smell so nice and so I started to
wonder when they really start being thorough about cleaning themselves????

Thanks,
M

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m l briggs - 12 Jul 2003 06:22 GMT

Just like with any little kid, there are times when you need to help them get clean.MLB

> Hey, everyone :-) I'm new to this group and have recently adopted a kitten.
> I've never had a kitten before, as I've always adopted stray *cats*. The
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Thanks,
> M

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Five Cats - 12 Jul 2003 13:15 GMT

>Hey, everyone :-) I'm new to this group and have recently adopted a kitten.
>I've never had a kitten before, as I've always adopted stray *cats*. The
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>It's very cute to watch, but she doesn't smell so nice and so I started to
>wonder when they really start being thorough about cleaning themselves????

The kittens I've seen are usually starting to clean themselves at 4-5
weeks old, and are pretty good in general by 8 weeks, but their mum's
usually carry on cleaning them until at least 13 weeks. My adult cats
clean each other as well - it's sociable for them, and it gets that nice
feeling of being licked in the few places they can't reach like behind
their ears!

If she doesn't smell so nice can you work out if it's her mouth or the
other end?

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Five Cats

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Michelle Fulton - 12 Jul 2003 18:02 GMT

> If she doesn't smell so nice can you work out if it's her mouth or the >

other end?

Definitely the other end :-) She doesn't look dirty, just smells a bit.

M

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Victor M. Martinez - 12 Jul 2003 16:41 GMT

How old is she? We're fostering some kittens for the humane society, they
are about 6 weeks old now (their mom supposedly got killed by a car two
weeks ago) and have started cleaning themselves. It helps that we have
other cats that they are imitating.

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Victor M. Martinez
martiv@FAKE.che.utexas.edu
http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

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