What Age Do Feral Kittens Leave Their Mother
It s not done snap just like that it can take several weeks to several months for mother and kittens to grow apart i ve seen it take up to a year before.
What age do feral kittens leave their mother. If you don t see her monitor the kittens from a distance for a few hours. If we do not find the kittens until they are at least 4 5 weeks old or older we raise them without their mother. It is easy to wean them now and they are just the right age for handling and intensive bonding with humans. The weaning process usually continues for about another month until the kittens are fully weaned between eight and 10 weeks of age.
The enduring relationship seems to be between a mother cat and both her male and female kittens. 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. The kittens will leave to have their own lives eventually having kittens of their own. A male will leave to claim his own territory and sow his seed.
Sometimes a kitten may refuse to eat or seem depressed for several days after leaving his mom. If allowed the mom and her kittens will stay together. 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. Before you do anything remember never separate kittens from their mother cat.
If left with her much longer they will start imitating her shy attitude. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age. Many of these litters are either strays or ferals. 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.
As the mother s milk production is reducing her physical urge to nurse her kittens diminishes. Between the months of march and september every shelter in the region will be overrun with kittens both orphaned litters and those with a mother. However the difference between a stray cat or a feral cat is that a stray cat is accustomed to people and a feral cat has. During this time the kittens will still occasionally nurse on their mother but they will also start to eat liquid kitten food.
Learn what to do when you find kittens outdoors. Learn more about kittens and their needs as they grow in our kitten guide. If their mother returns leave them be. Male feral cats will sometimes join together to defend a common territory.
The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. Female feral cats will band together to raise their kittens and form colonies that add to their safety. Stray and feral kittens are an epidemic. The kittens however may have a little more trouble with the process.
The liquid kitten food should gradually get thicker until it is a watered down canned kitten food or a moistened kitten kibble.