What Age Are Kittens Ready To Leave Their Mother
In many cases kittens begin eating strictly solid foods at around 8 weeks and then may be ready to leave their mothers for good.
What age are kittens ready to leave their mother. How soon can kittens leave their mother. 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. 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. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age.
Benefits of staying with the mother and siblings. The perfect age seems to be between eight and twelve weeks. First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done. Kittens are generally ready to leave their mother and start eating regular food at about eight weeks of age.
The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. A kitten should stay with his mother until a minimum of 10 weeks but preferably 12 weeks. Twelve to thirteen weeks of age is the time that is almost universally considered to be the optimum earliest time to remove kittens from their queen and by this age the kittens should be ready to go out into the world and begin the next stage of their learning development. That clever lady mother nature has designed cat mommies to encourage her kittens to leave the nest so that she can get busy with the next lot.
Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development. Until this age kittens get all the nutrition they need from their mother s milk although they may start tasting their mother s food at four weeks old. Many people think between 6 to 8 weeks but in between those few weeks the kittens immune system and many other body functions start improving. The best time to separate a kitten from their mother and siblings is when they are 12 13 weeks old.
Your cat s chances of being healthy well socialized and properly developed are dramatically increased by allowing it to spend extra time with its mother and littermates. Even though kittens are relatively independent by 8 10 weeks and can survive without their mother. No less than 12 weeks. A minimum of 12 weeks is best.
Also kittens should receive their first vaccinations prior to leaving their birth home something that cannot be achieved at eight weeks old. While some kittens can go home earlier the closer you wait until 12 or 13 weeks the better off the kitten will be. Kittens can leave they re mothers as soon as 6 weeks but it is best to wait until about 8 weeks. But in their forever homes the little ones won t.
By the way don t worry about mommy being upset when her babies leave.