When Can Kittens Leave The Mother
However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age.
When can kittens leave the mother. 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. How soon can kittens leave their mother. During this time the kittens will still occasionally nurse on their mother but they will also start to eat liquid kitten food. At what age can you take kittens away from their mother.
Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old. In fact according to the cat fanciers association one of the ways to tell if a breeder is reputableis that he or she will never sell a kitten younger than 12 weeks old. Once the kittens are fully weaned around 10 to 12 weeks old they are old enough to move away from their mama. 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.
More specifically there are three main reasons for our 12 14 week recommendation. The weaning process usually continues for about another month until the kittens are fully weaned between eight and 10 weeks of age. The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. 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.
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. Even though kittens are relatively independent by 8 10 weeks and can survive without their mother. The short answer is that kittens should stay with the mother cat until they are 12 16 weeks old. A kitten should stay with his mother until a minimum of 10 weeks but preferably 12 weeks.
Why the wait is necessary. First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done. Curious as to why this is the recommended age span. The perfect age seems to be between eight and twelve weeks.