How Long Before Kittens Can Leave Their Mother

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.

How long before kittens can leave their mother. Until they are about 4 weeks old the kittens are completely dependant on their mother. 8 weeks the organization cats international recommends keeping kittens with their fellow litter mates and mothers until about 8 weeks in age. How soon can kittens leave their mother. Human care at that early stage may not compare to a feline mother s care but it can go a long way when combined with lots of love and dedication.

Expect to separate the kittens from their mother when they are around 12 weeks old. 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. During this time the kittens will still occasionally nurse on their mother but they will also start to eat liquid kitten food. Their eyes and ears have opened and they are starting to walk.

Socialization is the process whereby kittens explore their surroundings and accept what they find as normal. The weaning process usually continues for about another month until the kittens are fully weaned between eight and 10 weeks of age. At this point she is nursing the kittens for shorter lengths of time. By the way don t worry about mommy being upset when her babies leave.

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. This process could take from a few months up to a year and would be the natural way for a kitten to be separated from its mother. 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.

The best time to separate a kitten from their mother and siblings is when they are 12 13 weeks old. Mommy cat may spend a little longer away from the kittens exploring a bit or finding you for a bit of cuddling before returning to her maternal responsibilities. The perfect age seems to be between eight and twelve weeks. But when cats are kept as pets this is the typical process.

In many cases kittens begin eating strictly solid foods at around 8 weeks and then may be ready to leave their mothers for good. However because certain conditions may affect when kittens can leave their moms they must be well cared for when they leave their mother earlier than what is ideal. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age.