When Do Mother Cats Leave Their Kittens In The Wild

Plus the female kitten can be impregnated as young as 4 months old and have several litters a year.

When do mother cats leave their kittens in the wild. Hint for determining the age of nursing kittens. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age. The humane society explains that cats that spend more time with their mothers are usually better socialized. In most cases mom will provide pretty intensive care for her babies during the first three weeks of their lives when they re at their most vulnerable.

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. Kittens begin to nibble at wet food at 4 weeks of age and are fully capable of eating on their own at 6 weeks. And when something happens to a mother cat the babies are taken in by another mother cat. Mother cats will typically start to wean their kittens off their milk at one month of age.

The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. Mother cats often like to move their kittens around in the first few weeks of their life. Instinctively the kittens will be moved in the first days following the birth so as to throw off any potential predators mommy wants a cleaner nest for her kittens. First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done.

There a a few reasons for this including. They all hunt together and they are all related in one way or another. Most cats are naturally good mothers. If your cat has left her kittens it could be because she s looking for a place to move them to or simply taking a break.

Once the kittens are fully weaned around 10 to 12 weeks old they are old enough to move away from their mama. Feral kittens that are from the same litter may remain together for a time but they face disease cars predators and starvation that may separate them. It s best to leave them with mom until they re weaned. One goes to seek food and never returns.

We have lots of feral cats in our area. If they are nursing and their eyes haven t opened they are under 2 weeks. One mother cat that lost her kittens took over mothering of another mother cats kittens.