How High Can Kittens Jump?

Kitten-proofing your home can be a serious chore, and it’s always more work than you think.

It doesn’t take long for those cute, awkward little kitties to start exploring your whole house.

Which quickly begs the question: how high can kittens jump?

How Hich Can Kittens Jump?

Kittens can’t jump that high when they are little; on average, they can jump about one foot, but it depends on the kitten’s age. As the kitten grows older, their jumping abilities will change quickly, gaining more height. By the time a kitten is a full-grown cat, they’ll be able to jump around 5 feet high.

This inability to jump high doesn’t mean that a kitten won’t get onto something in its home environment.

On the contrary, a kitten that can’t jump more than a foot or so high up in the air will find other ways to get to what they want to explore.

Kittens are curious creatures, and at this youthful age, they want to learn and explore; therefore, their inability to jump high will mean they must climb to get to where they want to go.

Kittens can’t jump high until they are close to twenty-eight weeks and older when their body has grown, and their muscle strength and abilities are stronger.

At this time, their bodies’ capabilities and coordination are much better than when they were younger, and they will begin to jump higher than the approximate length of a foot.

At this point, the kittens still won’t be able to jump as high as they will be able to do when they are adult cats. They still have quite a few weeks yet to go before they are capable of that.

Some kittens will be able to jump a bit higher up and others will not, those that can are physically more developed than those that can’t. 

It is helpful to keep a watchful eye on the kittens at this age, so they don’t get in trouble if they do jump and somehow hurt themselves.

Not all kittens are the same; some breeds and some kittens will naturally develop this ability sooner rather than later, and vice versa. 

There truly is no exact time for a kitten to develop jumping abilities and measurement of how high they can jump at any given age.

The above-noted heights and ages are based on most kittens and cats. 

Those ambitious kittens who have developed more physically may reach these goals a little sooner, or they might go a bit higher.

There could also be cases where a kitten takes a bit longer than the average listed above because they are slow to develop physically or have less curiosity about the world around them.

Temperament, personality, and physical attributes contribute to how high a kitten can jump and how fast they increase this height. 

Each kitten is an individual, and while they share attributes with their litter mates and other kittens of various breeds, each will develop differently.

How high can kittens jump at eight weeks?

Eight-week-old kittens can jump a small height. 

At this point, their bodies are not capable of getting much height. Somewhere around or under a foot of height can be expected, but this is ambitious at this point.

Depending on the eight-week-old kitten’s physical development, they may be close to a foot, while another kitten might get hardly any height at all. 

They also do not usually have the capabilities yet to climb around on the furniture.

As they continue to grow and develop physically, their abilities and strength for jumping high and far will increase. 

Their activity level and energy will begin to increase at this point, and they will be more engaging and playful.

According to the ASPCA, eight weeks old is the recommended age to send kittens home with adopters. Many kittens may be sent home later at ten, twelve, or even sixteen weeks of age, and this choice has many benefits.

At what age do kittens start jumping?

Kittens will usually start to jump and be more physically engaging with the world around them at seven or eight weeks old. 

Some kittens will be capable of jumping sooner, and others might develop this skill a bit later.

Kittens only begin to walk at around three to four weeks old, and new parents need to understand that they are still little, even at seven or eight weeks old.

The kittens’ abilities to jump, climb or do anything else are developed based on internal and external factors.

They may look like a miniature version of a cat at this tender age, but they are still small. Playtime with your kitten at this age can increase their learning in many areas and help build their physical abilities for such tasks as jumping and climbing.

Guidelines provide an average time for most kittens, but some learn earlier and some later. 

At seven to eight weeks old, a kitten is mobile and will be exploring the world around them with avid curiosity on their new adventures.

Like human children, first kittens will crawl, stand, walk, and climb and jump. During the first few weeks of life for kittens, tremendous growth and development are going on.

How fast they develop previous skills and how coordinated they are will determine when they reach future goals and milestones in their growth and development.

If your kittens don’t reach a certain milestone by a particular time, it is no cause for alarm. 

Eventually, they will have the eye-to-paw coordination down and other skills necessary to jump high and climb.

There is nothing wrong if a kitten doesn’t reach a certain milestone at a set time. 

The above-listed time frames give an idea, nothing more than that.

In Conclusion

Kittens are adorable, there is no doubt about it, and with all the growth and development that happens in their lives during the first eight weeks, it is no wonder they can’t jump until about seven or eight weeks.

Once they begin to jump, their abilities are small at this point as they can reach a height of one foot or less.

While this may not seem like much, it is important to remember how small and undeveloped they are at this point. 

Rest assured, once they have developed their world, and yours will grow, and you will soon find them hanging from your bedroom curtains, so enjoy it while it lasts!