How Many Weeks Does A Kitten Leave Its Mother

The weaning process can begin around five weeks of age.

How many weeks does a kitten leave its mother. 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. Although they are no longer as dependent on her and she will spend longer amounts of time away from them mommy cat is still teaching her babies important skills and socialization until they are 10 to 12 weeks old. The weaning process is usually pretty complete when the kittens are around 12 to 16 weeks old. There is no real time frame for this to happen.

Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old. Not all kittens will take to food immediately so patience is important. Mother cats begin to wean their litter around 4 5 weeks and it can last several weeks as they bounce between nursing and eating and killing things. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development.

She will begin to be tired of babying her offspring. Expect to separate the kittens from their mother when they are around 12 weeks old. It can be due to stress she senses something is wrong fear of a predator the list goes on. While some kittens can go home earlier the closer you wait until 12 or 13 weeks the better off the kitten will be.

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. It is very important for kittens to remain with mom until weaning is completed. First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done. Introduce a small amount initially.

Start slowly by mixing canned or dry cat food in with some kitten formula to make baby food check the ingredients to make sure the food contains no onion as this is toxic to cats. The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. 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. The mother is the sole nutritional source for kittens until they re about 4 weeks of age although weaning often continues until the cuties are between 8 and 10 weeks according to the aspca.

Ideally kittens should go to their new home around 12 weeks of age.