What Age Should Kittens Leave Their 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.
What age should kittens leave their 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. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age. The earliest a kitten can leave its mother. Your cat s chances of being healthy well socialized and properly developed are dramatically increased by allowing it to spend extra time with its mother and littermates.
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. And those kittens won t stay kittens for long soon they ll be busy with kittens of their own unless they re neutered. What age can a kitten leave its mother. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development.
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. At what age can you take kittens away from their mother. 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 perusal. Once the kittens are fully weaned around 10 to 12 weeks old they are old enough to move away from their mama.
Why the wait is necessary. 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. Also kittens should receive their first vaccinations prior to leaving their birth home something that cannot be achieved at eight weeks old. Twelve weeks is the optimal time to allow the kitten to have its first two vaccinations and be litter trained.
More specifically there are three main reasons for our 12 14 week recommendation. Ideally kittens should go to their new home around 12 weeks of age. By the way don t worry about mommy being upset when her babies leave. The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play.
While some kittens can go home earlier the closer you wait until 12 or 13 weeks the better off the kitten will be. But in their forever homes the little. Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old.