How Old Before Kittens Can Leave Their Mother

This first stage is all about basic survival.

How old before kittens can leave their mother. Expect to separate the kittens from their mother when they are around 12 weeks old. The best time to separate a kitten from their mother and siblings is when they are 12 13 weeks old. 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. 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.

However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age. The bigger the family the sooner they learn how to be cats. Why the wait is necessary. It is very important for kittens to remain with mom until weaning is completed.

Until they are about 4 weeks old the kittens are completely dependant on their mother. She will clean them keep them warm and safe and stimulate the bowl movements and bladder to help them urinate and defecate. The weaning process usually continues for about another month until the kittens are fully weaned between eight and 10 weeks of age. As a general rule the number of kittens in a litter determines how quickly they can leave the nest.

During this time the kittens will still occasionally nurse on their mother but they will also start to eat liquid kitten food. Sometimes kittens are adopted at a very young age. Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old. Rescued kittens can be as young as a day old separated from their mother for unknown reasons.

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. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development. In other cases backyard breeders or irresponsible cat owners who allow their cat to breed may be unaware of the guidelines and separate their kittens too early. They get 100 of all nutrition from her milk.

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. First time queens normally have a maximum of three or four kittens but experienced mothers may have as many as 10 or 12 in a single litter.