What Age Do Kittens Have To Be To Leave Their Mom

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

What age do kittens have to be to leave their mom. You should also do this for any kittens that a mother cat is neglecting even if she s still around. Why the wait is necessary. 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.

Kittens this age can start to eliminate waste on their own without the help of mom or a caregiver. While there is no set time for doing this kittens will have achieved the above skills at the age of between 8 12 weeks. 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. Dry off the kittens.

Kittens are usually weaned at about 6 to 8 weeks and by three months 12 weeks the mother will leave them on their own. This is usually considered an appropriate time for them to 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. If the mother isn t around or is neglecting them you ll need to.

The separation should be done in such a way that the mother the kittens and the prospective owners get to have an easy time while adjusting. Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development. 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.

A caring mother cat reduces kitten s stress. While some kittens can go home earlier the closer you wait until 12 or 13 weeks the better off the kitten will be. The earliest a kitten can leave its mother. Also kittens should receive their first vaccinations prior to leaving their birth home something that cannot be achieved at eight weeks old.

Now that the kittens have reached this milestone it s time to start litter box training. In many cases kittens begin eating strictly solid foods at around 8 weeks and then may be ready to leave their mothers for good. Use a damp washcloth or piece of gauze and wipe it across their genitals until clean. Many if not all good cat breeders strongly advise that you should not.