I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but are kittens and puppies actually born without eyes? And if they aren't, why does it take so long for them to open their eyes?
They technically have the base structures of the eyes but they are not properly developed. Puppies and kittens are practically still fetuses when they are born. It’s why even being just a day or 2 premature often means they won’t survive. They develop just enough to survive outside the uterine environment and then they’re popped out into the world unable to see, hear, urinate or defecate on their own, and are barely mobile.
Even when their eyes open their vision is quite poor and doesn’t fully mature until after 2 months of age. But because the eyelids are still fused at birth many foster parents like to refer to the point where the lids start separating so you can see the eyes as ‘making eyeballs’.
