How Long Till Kittens Can Leave Their Mother
Should never give 6 or 8 week old kittens away as.
How long till kittens can leave their mother. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development. The best time to separate a kitten from their mother and siblings is when they are 12 13 weeks old. When and if possible kittens should remain with their mothers until they are matured enough to cope without her care and this is usually from the sixth week. Check this for more about nutrition needs in all cats.
During this time the kittens will still occasionally nurse on their mother but they will also start to eat liquid kitten food. This helps insure good physical and mental health. The weaning process usually continues for about another month until the kittens are fully weaned between eight and 10 weeks of age. First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done.
In many cases kittens begin eating strictly solid foods at around 8 weeks and then may be ready to leave their mothers for good. By eight weeks she will start to wean them. The mother is the sole nutritional source for kittens until they re about 4 weeks of age although weaning often continues until the cuties are between 8 and 10 weeks according to the aspca. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age.
If the queen does not have any further litters or lives as part of a colony of cats the kittens will begin to gradually draw away as they reach sexual maturity and set out in search of mates of their own. How soon can kittens leave their mother. In the wild kittens will usually stay with their mother until the mother becomes pregnant again when she will naturally begin to push them away in preparation for raising her new litter. The nursing periods occur less frequently.
Really the best age to give kittens away is about 12 weeks. Wiki user 2013 05 24 17 06 03. The liquid kitten food should gradually get thicker until it is a watered down canned kitten food or a moistened kitten kibble. How long until a kitten can leave their mother.
At this point she is nursing the kittens for shorter lengths of time. Around three weeks of age the mother cat stays away from her babies a little longer or she lays close to the nest to allow her kitties to move around explore. Mommy cat may spend a little longer away from the kittens exploring a bit or finding you for a bit of cuddling before returning to her maternal responsibilities. Over the four to six week weaning period the kitten will consume less and less milk from its mother.
There are several reasons why this is recommended and they are discussed above. This is because they will need to stay with their mother to feed on her nutritious milk as well as stay with their siblings to learn valuable social skills. At about 4 weeks the kittens can begin to wean onto kitten food. However all of these processes can take several months to a year and of course when we.
She is watching that they do not stray too far.