When Should A Kitten Leave Its Mom
A mother cat wean her babies naturally when kittens are about 2 3 months old by starting to reject her kittens.
When should a kitten leave its mom. The weaning process usually continues for about another month until the kittens are fully weaned between eight and 10 weeks of age. 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. Until kittens are a year old give them as much as they want to eat. When her kittens first leave your cat may be a little upset.
Unlike puppies most kittens are unlikely to overeat and they won t get the bone and joint problems that fat puppies can develop. First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done. 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. 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.
By the way don t worry about mommy being upset when her babies leave. Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old. Normally this only happens for a couple of days and then mom will go back to her normal routine. The perfect age seems to be between eight and twelve weeks.
At about eight weeks of age kittens are ready to leave the mother. The kittens will leave to have their own lives eventually having kittens of their own. She might search the house looking for them or meow expecting a response. Benefits of staying with the mother and siblings.
Even though kittens are relatively independent by 8 10 weeks and can survive without their mother. During this time the kittens will still occasionally nurse on their mother but they will also start to eat liquid kitten food. The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. How soon can kittens leave their mother.
Leave it to instinct mama cat knows best kittens can acquire a lot of negative behaviors because of this early separation as well as health deficiencies. The best time to separate a kitten from their mother and siblings is when they are 12 13 weeks old. While it may seem cold that she lets go so easily it s natural. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age.
A kitten should stay with his mother until a minimum of 10 weeks but preferably 12 weeks. 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.