Kit

A kit is the Clan term for a cat before it turns six moons old. Their names end with -kit (for example, Bramblekit).

Description
When a kit is born, their mother or father names them, usually after its appearance, or sometimes to honor another cat of the same name. Kits stay in the nursery together with their mother who nurses them and takes care of them for six moons.

All Clan cats, and especially the queens, are very protective of the kits. They are fed first and are not expected to catch their own food or do chores. No warrior may neglect a kit in danger, even if it is from a different Clan. However, half-Clan kits or those of non-Clan origins are usually frowned upon by pure-blood Clan cats as their commitment to their foster Clan can be questioned. Half-Clan kits are usually taken in by the Clan of the mother.

Kits are not allowed out of the nursery until their mother feels the time is right. After that, they can go around the camp, though never far from their mother. A kit cannot leave the Clan camp; however, sometimes they get away and get in trouble.

Kits tend to have soft and fluffy fur. They are usually curious, mischievous, and playful, trying to get the Clan warriors to play with them. Most of them are too young to fully understand the Clan traditions or the Warrior Code, but if they break a rule, they are not punished and sometimes very lightly scolded depending on the severity of their deed. They often accidentally annoy warriors and elders, but are fascinated in the stories the elders tell. They often want to start training or becoming warriors immediately, and have to be reminded that they must wait until they are six moons old.

Education
While in the nursery, kits gradually learn about their Clanmates, Clan ways, traditions, rivals and about The Warrior Code as they get older. Their mother, the other queens in the nursery, and the elders will tell them stories of great battles, journeys and cats. The care of the kits is shared by all of the queens.

Once reaching the age of six moons, they become apprentices, which will replace the last part of their name to from "kit" to "paw" (for example, Bramblekit becomes Bramblepaw). They will either go on the path of a medicine cat or a warrior, and their mentor will teach them the ways of the path they choose.

Trivia

 * Kits are sometimes called "kittens" in the first two books of the Original Series and in Secrets of the Clans, though not in other books.