When Can Kittens Leave Their Momma

A kitten should stay with his mother until a minimum of 10 weeks but preferably 12 weeks.

When can kittens leave their momma. 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. Benefits of staying with the mother and siblings. The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. 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.

First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development. Even though kittens are relatively independent by 8 10 weeks and can survive without their mother. So it s normal that a cat will reject her kittens when they re about 3 4 months.

Leave it to instinct mama cat knows best kittens can acquire a lot of negative behaviors because of this early separation as well as health deficiencies. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age. During this time the kittens will still occasionally nurse on their mother but they will also start to eat liquid kitten food. If they don t like their kitten food dry add a little milk to soften it up for them.

Why the wait is necessary. The perfect age seems to be between eight and twelve weeks. By that time some cats might start growling at their older kittens or beat them when they attempted to nurse. Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old.

8 weeks the organization cats international recommends keeping kittens with their fellow litter mates and mothers until about 8 weeks in age. Most specialists recommend that kittens remain with their mothers until they re 12 weeks old. A mother cat wean her babies naturally when kittens are about 2 3 months old by starting to reject her kittens. By the way don t worry about mommy being upset when her babies leave.

Also if they aren t eating much at all but will eat a bit with the milk on their food try a milk egg mixture rather than pure milk. In many cases kittens begin eating strictly solid foods at around 8 weeks and then may be ready to leave their mothers for good.