When Can Kittens Leave Their Mum
How soon can kittens leave their mother.
When can kittens leave their mum. 8 weeks the organization cats international recommends keeping kittens with their fellow litter mates and mothers until about 8 weeks in age. The best time to separate a kitten from their mother and siblings is when they are 12 13 weeks old. So when can kittens leave their mothers. In many cases kittens begin eating strictly solid foods at around 8 weeks and then may be ready to leave their mothers for good.
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. Why the wait is necessary. More specifically there are three main reasons for our 12 14 week recommendation. The perfect age seems to be between eight and twelve weeks.
Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old. This does not mean that this is the time that the kittens can go home though. Timeline for weaning kittens mother cats will typically start to wean their kittens off their milk at one month of age. The earliest a kitten can leave its mother while you may want your kitten to stay as long as is needed with the mother the conditions on ground may leave you with no option.
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. Expect to separate the kittens from their mother when they are around 12 weeks old. If the queen does not have any further litters or lives as part of a colony of cats the. But in their forever homes the little ones won t.
However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age. We have collected all the information you need to know about kittens between the time of their birth to the time when they are considered ready to leave their mother for your perusal. Benefits of staying with the mother and siblings. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development.
The next month of life is still full of essentials for a growing kitten even if it isn t consuming its mother s milk all of the time. While most kittens are weaned by 8 10 weeks most experts recommend leaving kittens with their littermates until 12 13 weeks so they can be properly socialized. At what age can you take kittens away from their mother. There is considerable debate over what age it is considered to be appropriate to separate a kitten from their mother and allow them to go on to their new homes where they will live for the remainder of their lives.
By waiting until the kitten is 12 14 weeks old you will have minimized the risk for health and behavioral issues and maximized the chance for getting a healthy and happy cat. Even though kittens are relatively independent by 8 10 weeks and can survive without 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. By the way don t worry about mommy being upset when her babies leave.